Battle of Tudela: French Marshal Lannes defeats a Spanish army. December 1 – Tsar Alexander I of Russia proclaims Finland a part of Russia. December 4 – Napoleon joins his army in Spain. December 9 – At 20:34 UTC, Mercury occults Saturn (there are no observation records). December 20 Peninsular War: Second siege of Zaragoza begins. The original Covent Garden Theatre in London is destroyed by a fire, along with most of the scenery, costumes and scripts. December 22 – Beethoven concert of 22 December 1808: Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and plays piano in a marathon benefit concert, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, consisting entirely of first public performances of works by him, including Symphony No. 5, Symphony No. 6, Piano Concerto No. 4 and Choral Fantasy. Date unknown Goethe's Faust, Part One (Faust. Eine Tragödie, erster Teil) is published in full in Tübingen. The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich is given the title of Royal Academy of Fine Arts by King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. The Rijksmuseum moves from The Hague to Amsterdam, where it is located temporarily at the Royal Palace. Births January–June January 6 – Joseph Pitty Couthouy, American naval officer (d. 1864) January 13 – Salmon P. Chase, American politician, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1873) January 19 – Lysander Spooner, American philosopher (d. 1887) January 27 – David Strauss, German theologian (d. 1874) February 5 – Carl Spitzweg, German painter (d. 1885) February 26 – Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator and sculptor (d. 1879) March 1 – Edward "Ned" Kendall, American bandleader, instrumentalist (keyed bugle) (d. 1861) March 17 – Pierre-Louis Dietsch, French composer, conductor (d. 1865) March 19 – José María Urvina, 5th President of Ecuador (d. 1891) March 24 – Maria Malibran, née García, Spanish-French operatic singer (d. 1836) April 13 – Antonio Meucci, Italian-born inventor (d. 1889) April 20 – Napoleon III, Emperor of the French (d. 1873) May 6 – William Strong, American politician, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1895) May 9 – John Scott Russell, Scottish civil engineer (d. 1882) May 18 – Venancio Flores, general, president of Uruguay (d. 1868) May 21 – David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo, Dutch Talmudist (d. 1890) May 22 – Gérard de Nerval, French writer (d. 1855) May 30 – Caroline Chisholm, Australian humanitarian (d. 1877) June 3 – Jefferson Davis, President