1723 CE

The Estates of the Realm is assembled. The party in favor of naming Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp as heir to the throne is strengthened, supported by the Empire of Russia. Parliament passes the Black Act making poaching a capital offence. Christian von Wolff holds a lecture for students and the magistrates at the end of his term as a rector, as a result of which he is banned from Prussia, on a charge of atheism.

In the 1720s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January – Frederick I tries, but fail, to strengthen the royal power against the parliament with the support of Hovpartiet, the Holstein Party fills the royal council with its followers, and Arvid Horn become a leading force within Swedish politics.Swedensource
  • February 15 – King Louis XV of France attains his majority on his 13th birthday, bringing an end to the regency of his cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans.source
  • 15 February – King Louis XV attains his majority on his 13th birthday, bringing an end to the 7½-year Régence of his cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans.Francesource
  • May – Parliament passes the Black Act making poaching a capital offence.United Kingdomsource
  • September 1 – The Treaty of Saint Petersburg is signed in Russia, ending the Russo-Persian War (1722–1723).source
  • 21 September: The Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1723) concluded the Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723 between Imperial Russia and Safavid Iran.Russiasource
  • 10 October – Treaty of Charlottenburg signed with Prussia.United Kingdomsource
  • 17 October - A law is passed, in which the Riksdag of the Estates is granted power over the monarch and the royal council.Swedensource
  • November 23 – The Province of Carolina charters New Bern as Newbern (the town later becomes the capital of North Carolina until Raleigh is founded).source
  • The Estates of the Realm passes a new Order on Parliamentary Proceedings, which will be a cornerstone of the Age of Liberty in Sweden. It is one of the fundamental laws of Sweden together with the Instrument of Government of 1719/1720.Swedensource
  • Parliament passes the Workhouse Test Act.United Kingdomsource

Conflict & Security

  • March 9 – The Mapuche Uprising begins in Chile as the indigenous Mapuche people, commanded by Toqui (war chief) Vilumilla, leading an attack against the city of Tucapel. The war lasts until February 13, 1726.source
  • March 28 – The capture of Rasht from the Persian Empire by the Russian Empire brings Rasht and the Gilan Province under Russian control.source
  • June 26 – Russo-Persian War: Baku surrenders to the Russians.source
  • October 23 – Russian Emperor Peter the Great authorizes an incentive for men of Serbia to join a new Russian Imperial Army unit, the Serbian Hussar Regiment. The Emperor sends Jovan Albanez to recruit new officers and troops with a grant of farmable land in Russia, and 1,070 take advantage of the offer over the next two years.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • 7 May – The town of Arendal was given market town privileges.Norwaysource
  • The town of Risør was given market town privileges.Norwaysource

Religion & Belief

  • 22 March – 4 Protestant preachers are hanged at Montpellier.Francesource
  • May 30 – Johann Sebastian Bach assumed the office of Thomaskantor in Leipzig, presenting his first new cantata, Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75, in the St. Nicholas Church on the first Sunday after Trinity.source
  • June – Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, receives a pardon for his part in the Jacobite Rebellion and is allowed to return to Britain, but not to sit in the House of Lords. Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, is banished from the country during the year for his part in Jacobite plotting.United Kingdomsource
  • July 12 – Christian von Wolff holds a lecture for students and the magistrates at the end of his term as a rector, as a result of which he is banned from Prussia, on a charge of atheism.source
  • September 14 – Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller António Manoel de Vilhena lays down the first stone of Fort Manoel in Malta.source
  • October - Following the death of Adam Ottley, bishop of St Davids, while in office, Richard Smalbroke, Treasurer of Llandaff, is selected as his successor.Walessource
  • December 14 – Bernard O'Gara is selected to succeed Francis Burke as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tuam.Irelandsource
  • The Nærøy manuscript was made.Norwaysource

Economy & Finance

  • August 11 – The Ostend Company is chartered by merchants and shipowners to establish trade for the Austrian Netherlands in the East Indies and West Indies. Over the next two days, 54 major investors in Antwerp purchase the shares of stock in the company.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 8 March – the Chelsea Waterworks Company receives a Royal Charter.United Kingdomsource
  • The Province of Carolina incorporates Beaufort, North Carolina, as the Port of Beaufort, making it the third incorporated town in the province.source
  • Mavisbank House in Midlothian is designed by William Adam in collaboration with his client, Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, and construction begins; it is the first Palladian villa in Scotland.Scotlandsource

Science & Discovery

Health & Medicine

  • October 31 – Gian Gastone de' Medici becomes the new Grand Duke of Tuscany upon the death of his father Cosimo III de' Medici; he will be the state's last ruler from the House of Medici. During his reign, the state treasury is depleted and Tuscany becomes one of the poorest nations in Europe.source
  • The first portion of Dr Steevens' Hospital is opened at Kilmainham, Dublin.Irelandsource

Crime & Justice

  • January 25 – English-born pirate Edward Low intercepts the Portuguese ship Nostra Signiora de Victoria. After the Portuguese captain throws his treasure of 11,000 gold coins into the sea rather than surrendering it, Low orders the captain's brutal torture and execution, then has the rest of the Victoria crew murdered. Low commits more atrocities this year, but is not certainly heard of after the end of the year.source
  • April 1 – In Switzerland, the attempt by Major Abraham Davel to make the canton of Vaud independent of the Swiss government, is put down, one day after he and 500 men had taken control of the Vaudois capital, Lausanne. Davel is arrested, tortured and tried for treason; he is beheaded on April 24.source
  • 17 May – Christopher Layer is hanged, drawn and quartered for his part in the Jacobite Atterbury PlotUnited Kingdomsource
  • May 27 – The Black Act 1723, intended to combat illegal hunting in Great Britain, comes into force and expands the number of crimes that are punishable by death, and remains in effect for 100 years.source
  • Avoca Handweavers, Ireland's oldest surviving business, is established in County Wicklow.Irelandsource
  • Henry Rowlands - Mona Antiqua RestaurataWalessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 1 May - A great fire in Stockholm destroys the Katarina Church and a large part of the city around it.Swedensource
  • 11 November – 18 people drown in the River Tweed near Melrose when a ferry boat capsizes.Scotlandsource

Culture & Society

  • January – The Estates of the Realm is assembled. The party in favor of naming Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp as heir to the throne is strengthened, supported by the Empire of Russia.Swedensource
  • February 4 – The Kangxi Era ends in Qing dynasty China, and the Yongzheng Era begins, with the coronation of Yinzhen, the Yongzheng Emperor.source
  • March 12 – the title of Viscount Palmerston is created in the Peerage of Ireland for the politician Henry Temple.Irelandsource
  • 8 June – The Honourable Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland is formed in Edinburgh by over 300 landowners, part of the Scottish Enlightenment.Scotlandsource
  • July 2 – Bach's Magnificat is first performed.source
  • July 18 – Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz, BWV 136, in Leipzig on the eighth Sunday after Trinity.source
  • August 15 – The Peterhof Palace is opened in a formal ceremony just outside Saint Petersburg, capital of the Russian Empire.source
  • December 26 – Bach leads the first performance of Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40, his first Christmas Cantata composed for Leipzig.source
  • Ludvig Holbergs comedy plays «Jacob von Tyboe», «Erasmus Montanus», Den stundesløse and other comedy plays is first published.Norwaysource
  • Cairney-born painter William Aikman settles in London as a portraitist under the patronage of John Campbell, Duke of Argyll.Scotlandsource
  • date unknown - The roles of Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire and Custos Rotulorum of Brecknockshire are merged.Walessource

Births

  • 1 January - Goronwy Owen, poet (died 1769)Walessource
  • January 5 – Nicole-Reine Lepaute, French astronomer, mathematician (died 1788)source
  • January 11 – Prithvi Narayan Shah, First Monarch of Nepal (died 1775)source
  • February 15 – John Witherspoon, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (died 1794)source
  • February 23 – Richard Price, Welsh philosopher (died 1791)source
  • March 31 – King Frederick V of Denmark (died 1766)source
  • June 16 – (baptised) Adam Smith, Scottish economist, philosopher (died 1790)source
  • 16 June (5 June O.S.) – Adam Smith, Scottish economist and philosopher (died 1790)United Kingdomsource
  • June 20 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher, historian (died 1816)source
  • June 20 – Theophilus Lindsey, English theologian (died 1808)source
  • July 1 – Pedro Rodríguez, Count of Campomanes, Spanish statesman, writer (died 1802)source
  • July 10 – William Blackstone, English jurist (died 1780)source
  • July 16 – Sir Joshua Reynolds, English painter (died 1792)source
  • July 19 - Jean-Marie Ducharme, fur trader (died 1807)Canadasource
  • November 8 – John Byron, English admiral (died 1786)source
  • November 30 – William Livingston, American politician, journalist (died 1790)source
  • December 26 – Friedrich Melchior, baron von Grimm, German writer (died 1807)source
  • Maria Choglokova, courtier (born 1756)Russiasource

Deaths

  • February 25 – Sir Christopher Wren, English architect, astronomer and mathematician (born 1632)source
  • 25 February – Sir Christopher Wren, architect, astronomer and mathematician (born 1632)United Kingdomsource
  • 8 March – The Povel Juel Plot: Povel Juel was executed in Copenhagen, for his plans to depose Frederick IV as King of Norway.Norwaysource
  • March 30 – Filippo Bonanni, Italian Jesuit scholar (born 1638)source
  • March 31 – Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, British Governor of New York and New Jersey (born 1661)source
  • 3 April – George Watson, accountant and benefactor (born 1654)Scotlandsource
  • April 5 – Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, Austrian architect (born 1656)source
  • 31 May - William Baxter, classical scholar, 72Walessource
  • July 26 – Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (born 1660)source
  • August 10 – Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who had served as the Regent of France to rule for King Louis XV from 1715 until the latter's attainment of majority on February 15, is appointed by the King to serve as his Prime Minister, but dies in office less than four months later.source
  • August 21 – Dimitrie Cantemir, Moldavian linguist and scholar (born 1673)source
  • August 23 – Increase Mather, American Puritan minister (born 1639)source
  • August 26 – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch scientist (born 1632)source
  • October 10 – William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper, Lord Chancellor of England (born c. 1665)source
  • October 19 – Godfrey Kneller, German-born artist (born 1646)source
  • October 31 – Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (born 1642)source
  • December 1 – Susanna Centlivre, English dramatist, actress (born 1669)source
  • December 2 – Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, regent of France (born 1674)source