What happened on December 20 ?

217 - Pope Zephyrinus

860 - King Ethelbald of Wessex

910 - Alfonso III of Leon

1022 - Elvira Mendes, wife of Alfonso V of Castile (b. 996)

1355 - Stefan Du?an, Serb king and tsar (b. circa 1308)

1494 - Matteo Maria Boiardo, Italian poet

1524 - Thomas Linacre, English scholar and physician

1539 - Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer

1590 - Ambroise Paré, French physician (b. 1510)

1722 - Kangxi Emperor of China (b. 1654)

1723 - Augustus Quirinus Rivinus (b. 1652)

1740 - Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English military officer and statesman (b. 1675)

1768 - Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (b. 1692)

1812 - Sacagawea, Shoshone guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition

1921 - Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general (b. 1850)

1929 - ÿmile Loubet, 7th President of France (b.1838)

1937 - Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)

1941 - Igor Severyanin, Russian poet (b. 1887)

1954 - James Hilton, American author (b. 1900)

1956 - Ramon Carrillo, Argentine neuroscientist and Public Health minister (b. 1906)

1961 - Moss Hart, American author (b. 1904)

1961 - Earle Page, eleventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)

1968 - John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)

1973 - Luis Carrero Blanco, Prime Minister of Spain (assassinated) (b. 1903)

1973 - Bobby Darin, American singer (b. 1936)

1974 - André Jolivet, French composer (b. 1905)

1976 - Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1902)

1982 - Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-born pianist (b. 1887)

1984 - Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (b. 1946)

1989 - Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)

1994 - Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State (b. 1909)

1996 - Carl Sagan, American astronomer and writer (b. 1934)

1997 - Denise Levertov, English-born poet (b. 1923)

1997 - Juzo Itami, Japanese actor and director (b. 1933)

1998 - Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1910)

1998 - Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1916)

1999 - Hank Snow, Canadian singer (b. 1914)

2000 - Mirza Ghulam Hafiz, Indian statesman, politician, and philanthropist (b. 1920)

2001 - Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (b. 1912)

2001 - Léopold Sédar Senghor, first President of Senegal (b. 1906)