On This Day: December 10th

Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.

France adopts the metre as its official unit of length.

The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published.

Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmond Halley.

The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps is founded by Michiel de Ruyter.

Defeat at the Battle of Dungeness causes the Commonwealth of England to reform its navy.

Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and wife of Henry VIII.

Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.

The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon as an alliance against Venice.

The Nyköping Banquet: Birger, King of Sweden treacherously seizes his two brothers, dukes Valdemar and Erik, who are subsequently starved to death in the dungeon of Nyköping Castle.