What happened on December 31 ?

192 - Commodus, Roman Emperor (b. 161)

1164 - Margrave Ottokar III of Styria (b. 1124)

1194 - Duke Leopold V of Austria (killed at a tournament) (b. 1157)

1297 - Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b. 1249)

1302 - Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1238)

1384 - John Wycliffe, English theologian and Bible translator

1424 - Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter, English military leader

1460 - Edmund, Earl of Rutland, brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (executed) (b. 1443)

1460 - Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, English politician (b. 1400)

1510 - Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1472)

1535 - William Skeffington, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1465)

1568 - Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese warlord (b. 1493)

1575 - Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (b. 1502)

1583 - Thomas Erastus, Swiss theologian (b. 1524)

1610 - Ludolph van Ceulen, German mathematician (b. 1540)

1650 - Dorgon, Chinese emperor (b. 1612)

1673 - Oliver St John, English statesman and judge

1679 - Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (b. 1608)

1691 - Dudley North, English economist (b. 1641)

1719 - John Flamsteed, English astronomer (b. 1646)

1742 - Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine (b. 1661)

1799 - Jean-François Marmontel, French historian and writer (b. 1723)

1872 - Aleksis Kivi, Finnish author (b. 1834)

1877 - Gustave Courbet, French painter (b. 1819)

1888 - Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (b. 1808)

1889 - Ion Creang?, Romanian writer (b. 1837 or 1839)

1905 - Alexander Popov, Russian physicist (b. 1859)

1921 - Boies Penrose, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (b. 1860)

1936 - Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish writer and philosopher (b. 1864)

1948 - Malcolm Campbell, English race car driver (b. 1885)

1953 - Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer (b. 1889)

1964 - ÿlafur Thors, Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1892)

1969 - George Lewis, American musician (b. 1900)

1971 - Marin Sais, American actress (b. 1890)

1971 - Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (b. 1919)

1972 - Roberto Clemente, baseball player (b. 1934)

1977 - Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah, ruler of Kuwait (b. 1924)

1980 - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian writer (b. 1911)

1980 - Raoul Walsh, American film director (b. 1887)

1985 - Rick Nelson, American singer (b. 1940)

1990 - Vasili Lazarev, cosmonaut (b. 1928)

1993 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia, first President of Georgia (b. 1939)

1997 - Floyd Cramer, American musician (b. 1933)

1997 - Michael Kennedy, American politician (b. 1958)

1999 - Elliot Richardson, American politician (b. 1920)

2000 - Alan Cranston, American politician (b. 1914)

2003 - Arthur R. von Hippel German-born physicist (b. 1898)

2004 - Gerard Debreu, French-born economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner (b. 1921)

2005 - Phillip Whitehead, British politician (b. 1937)