January 23

Events

Pre-1600

393 – Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.

971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.

1229 – The episcopal seat is moved from Nousiainen to Koroinen (located near the current centre of Turku) by the permission of Pope Gregory IX. The date is starting to be considered as the founding of Turku.

1264 – In the conflict between King Henry III of England and his rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, King Louis IX of France issues the Mise of Amiens, a one-sided decision in favour of Henry that later leads to the Second Barons' War.

1368 – Zhu Yuanzhang proclaims himself the Hongwu Emperor, beginning the Ming dynasty.

1546 – Having published nothing for eleven years, François Rabelais publishes the Tiers Livre, his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel.

1556 – The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000.

1565 – The Deccan Sultanates defeat Rama Raya of the Vijayanagara Empire at the Battle of Talikota, resulting in over 100,000 casualties and the destruction of the capital Vijayanagara.

1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent for the infant King James VI of Scotland, is assassinated by firearm, the first recorded instance of such.

1571 – The Royal Exchange opens in London.

1579 – The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.

1601–1900

1656 – Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales.

1719 – The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.

1755 – Moscow University is established (12 January 1755 O.S.).

1789 – Georgetown College, the first Catholic university in the United States, is founded in Georgetown, Maryland (now a part of Washington, D.C.) when Bishop John Carroll, Rev. Robert Molyneux, and Rev. John Ashton purchase land for the proposed academy for the education of youth.

1793 – Second Partition of Poland.

1795 – After crossing the frozen Zuiderzee, the French cavalry capture 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns, in a rare occurrence of surrender of naval vessels to land forces.

1846 – Slavery in Tunisia is abolished.

1849 – Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Geneva Medical College of Geneva, New York, becoming the United States' first female doctor.

1870 – In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in what becomes known as the Marias Massacre.

1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: The Battle of Rorke's Drift ends.

1899 – The Malolos Constitution is inaugurated, establishing the First Philippine Republic. Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as its first president.

1900 – Second Boer War: The Battle of Spion Kop between the forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State and British forces ends in a British defeat.

1901–present

1904 – Ålesund Fire: The Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.

1909 – RMS Republic, a passenger ship of the White Star Line, becomes the first ship to use the CQD distress signal after colliding with another ship, the SS Florida, off the Massachusetts coastline, an event that kills six people. The Republic sinks the next day.

1912 – The First International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.

1919 – The First Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is held by the Makhnovshchina at Velykomykhailivka.

1920 – The Netherlands refuses to surrender the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.

1922 – The first successful treatment with insulin is given to 14-year-old diabetic Leonard Thompson.

1937 – The trial of the anti-Soviet Trotskyist center sees seventeen mid-level Communists accused of sympathizing with Leon Trotsky and plotting to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime.

1941 – Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.

1942 – World War II: The Battle of Rabaul commences Japan's invasion of Australia's Territory of New Guinea.

1943 – World War II: Troops of the British Eighth Army capture Tripoli in Libya from the German–Italian Panzer Army.

1945 – World War II: German admiral Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal, the evacuation of areas along the eastern Baltic coast.

Births

Pre-1600

1350 – Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (died 1419)

1378 – Louis III, Elector Palatine (died 1436)

1514 – Hai Rui, Chinese politician (died 1587)

1585 – Mary Ward, English Catholic Religious Sister (died 1645)

1601–1900

1622 – Abraham Diepraam, Dutch painter (died 1670)

1719 – John Landen, English mathematician and theorist (died 1790)

1737 – John Hancock, American general and politician, first Governor of Massachusetts (died 1793)

1745 – William Jessop, English engineer, built the Cromford Canal (died 1814)

1752 – Muzio Clementi, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1832)

1780 – Georgios Karaiskakis, Greek general (died 1827)

1783 – Stendhal, French novelist (died 1842)

1786 – Auguste de Montferrand, French-Russian architect, designed Saint Isaac's Cathedral and Alexander Column (died 1858)

1799 – Alois Negrelli, Tyrolean engineer and railroad pioneer active in the Austrian Empire (died 1858)

1809 – Surendra Sai, Indian activist (died 1884)

1813 – Camilla Collett, Norwegian novelist and activist (died 1895)

1828 – Saigō Takamori, Japanese samurai (died 1877)

1832 – Édouard Manet, French painter (died 1883)

1833 – Muthu Coomaraswamy, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (died 1879)

1838 – Marianne Cope, German-American nun and saint (died 1918)

1901–present

1901 – Arthur Wirtz, American businessman (died 1983)

1903 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian lawyer and politician, 16th Minister of National Education of Colombia (died 1948)

1905 – Erich Borchmeyer, German sprinter (died 2000)

1907 – Dan Duryea, American actor and singer (died 1968)

1907 – Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1981)

1910 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist and composer (died 1953)

1912 – Boris Pokrovsky, Russian director and manager (died 2009)

1913 – Jean-Michel Atlan, Algerian-French painter (died 1960)

1913 – Wally Parks, American businessman, founded the National Hot Rod Association (died 2007)

1915 – Herma Bauma, Austrian javelin thrower and handball player (died 2003)

1915 – W. Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian-Barbadian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1991)

1915 – Potter Stewart, American lawyer and judge (died 1985)

1916 – David Douglas Duncan, American photographer and journalist (died 2018)

1916 – Airey Neave, English colonel, lawyer, and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (died 1979)

Deaths

Pre-1600

667 – Ildefonsus, bishop of Toledo

989 – Adalbero, archbishop of Reims

1002 – Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (born 980)

1199 – Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, Moroccan caliph (born 1160)

1252 – Isabella, Queen of Armenia

1297 – Florent of Hainaut, Prince of Achaea (born c. 1255)

1423 – Margaret of Bavaria, Burgundian regent (born 1363)

1516 – Ferdinand II of Aragon (born 1452)

1548 – Bernardo Pisano, Italian priest, scholar, and composer (born 1490)

1549 – Johannes Honter, Romanian-Hungarian cartographer and theologian (born 1498)

1567 – Jiajing Emperor of China (born 1507)

1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, Scottish politician (born 1531)

1601–1900

1620 – John Croke, English politician and judge (born 1553)

1622 – William Baffin, English explorer and navigator (born 1584)

1650 – Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke (born 1584)

1744 – Giambattista Vico, Italian historian and philosopher (born 1668)

1785 – Matthew Stewart, Scottish mathematician and academic (born 1717)

1789 – Frances Brooke, English author and playwright (born 1724)

1789 – John Cleland, English author (born 1709)

1800 – Edward Rutledge, American captain and politician, 39th Governor of South Carolina (born 1749)

1803 – Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer, founded Guinness (born 1725)

1805 – Claude Chappe, French engineer (born 1763)

1806 – William Pitt the Younger, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1759)

1810 – Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German chemist and physicist (born 1776)

1812 – Robert Craufurd, Scottish general and politician (born 1764)

1820 – Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (born 1767)

1833 – Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, English admiral and politician (born 1757)

1901–present

1921 – Mykola Leontovych, Ukrainian composer and conductor (born 1877)

1922 – René Beeh, Alsatian painter and draughtsman (born 1886)

1922 – Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor and academic (born 1855)

1923 – Max Nordau, Austrian physician and author (born 1849)

1931 – Anna Pavlova, Russian-English ballerina (born 1881)

1937 – Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist and politician (born 1876)

1939 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer and manager (born 1903)

1943 – Alexander Woollcott, American actor, playwright, and critic (born 1887)

1944 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter and illustrator (born 1863)

1947 – Pierre Bonnard, French painter (born 1867)

1956 – Alexander Korda, Hungarian-English director and producer (born 1893)

1963 – Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor (born 1908)

1966 – T. M. Sabaratnam, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (born 1895)

1971 – Fritz Feigl, Austrian-Brazilian chemist and academic (born 1871)

1973 – Alexander Onassis, American-Greek businessman (born 1948)

Holidays and observances

Bounty Day (Pitcairn Islands)

Christian feast day:

Abakuh

Marianne of Molokai

Emerentiana

Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Ildefonsus of Toledo

Phillips Brooks (Episcopal Church (USA))

January 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's Jayanti (Assam, Orissa, Tripura, and West Bengal, India)

World Freedom Day (Taiwan and South Korea)