| 26 December 963 | Italy, Germany, Holy Roman Empire [political events] | The Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I of Germany, captures former king Berengar II of Italy and exiles him to Germany. |
| 26 December 1135 | England [administration] | Stephen of Blois, nephew of the late king Henry I of England and grandson of William the Conqueror, is crowned as king of England. |
| 26 December 1194 | Holy Roman Empire, Italy [births and deaths] | Frederick II, King of Sicily 1197–1250, king of Germany 1212–1250, and Holy Roman Emperor 1220–1250, King of Jerusalem 1229–1243, grandson of Frederick I Barbarossa, born in Jesi, Ancona, Italy (–1250). |
| 26 December 1530 | India, Mogul Empire [births and deaths] | Babur (original name Zahir-ud-Din Mohammad), emperor of India 1526–30, founder of the Mogul dynasty, descendant of Genghis Khan and of Timur Leng (Tamerlane), dies in Agra, India (47). |
| 26 December 1620 | UK, North America [colonization] | The Pilgrim Fathers land at New Plymouth (modern Plymouth), Massachusetts, North America, to found the Plymouth Colony, with John Carver as governor. The colony is outside the territory assigned to the Plymouth Company of London. |
| 26 December 1646 | France [births and deaths] | Henry II de Bourbon, 3rd Prince of Condé, French army commander and former rebel against the late kings Henry IV and Louis XIII, dies. |
| 26 December 1647 | UK [treaties] | King Charles I of Great Britain and Ireland signs the ‘Engagement’ with the Scots in which he pledges to confirm the Solemn League and Covenant, to establish the Presbyterian Church in England for three years, and to unify England and Scotland more closely in return for Scottish support in restoring him to power. |
| 26 December 1792 | England [births and deaths] | Charles Babbage, English inventor who designed the first digital computer, born in Teignmouth, Devon, England (–1871). |
| 26 December 1797 | England [births and deaths] | John Wilkes, outspoken English journalist and politician who championed radical principles of political and civil liberty, dies in London, England (70). |
| 26 December 1891 | USA [births and deaths] | Henry Miller, US novelist, born in New York City (–1980). |
| 26 December 1893 | China [births and deaths] | Mao Zedong, Chinese Marxist theorist who is chairman of the People's Republic of China 1949–59 and chairman of the Chinese Communist Party 1949–76, born in Shaoshan, Hunan Province, China (–1976). |
| 26 December 1908 | USA, Australia, Canada [boxing] | Jack Johnson of the USA becomes the first black fighter to win the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship, beating the defending champion, Tommy Burns of Canada, in 14 rounds in Sydney, Australia. |
| 26 December 1972 | USA [births and deaths] | Harry S Truman, 33rd president of the USA 1945–53, a Democrat, dies in Kansas City, Missouri (88). |
| 26 December 2003 | Iran [natural disasters] | An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale devastates the Iranian town of Bam in the southeast of the country. The death toll of at least 28,000 is expected to rise further. |
