/year

February 23 in history

217 sourced entries recorded on February 23, from 255 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 532Emperor Justinian I orders the building of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople – the Hagia Sophia. He chooses Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles as architects. The material for the construction is brought from all over the empire, such as large stones from quarries in Porphyry, Egypt. More than 10,000 people are employed.source
  • 1023The Chitragupta Temple (now in India at Khajuraho at the Madhya Pradesh state) is consecrated to the Hindu god Shiva, at the Maha Shivaratri celebration.source
  • 1204February 21–23 – A large solar storm takes place, and is recorded in Meigetsuki, the diary of the Japanese poet Fujiwara no Sadaie.source
  • 1383The English Parliament opens at Westminster for its 9th session under the rule of King Richard II, and Sir James Pickering is elected as the Speaker of the House of Commons.source
  • 1406(4 Ramadan 808 AH) Pir Muhammad bin Jahangir is forced to retreat from the forces of Khalil Sultan after attempting an invasion of Transoxiana during the confusion after the death of Tamerlane.source
  • 1421The coronation of Catherine of Valois as Queen consort of England takes place at Westminster Abbey.source
  • 1427In Spain, the first tremors are felt in the Principality of Catalonia of what will become a devastating 6.7 magnitude earthquake that will happen less than a year later, on February 2, 1428.source
  • 1455The Gutenberg Bible is the first book printed with movable type.source
  • 1464Prince Zhu Jianshen becomes the new Ming dynasty Emperor of China, taking the regnal name Emperor Xianzong upon the death of his father, the Emperor Yingzong of Ming. His reign is subsequently designated as the Chenghua Era.source
  • 1467(19th day of 1st month of Bunshō 2) The Ōnin War begins with the Battle of Goryo, also called the "Battle of the Spirits", ends after two days near Kyoto initially as a battle between to factions in the Hatakeyama clan. Hatakeyama Yoshinari defeats Hatakeyama Masanaga for control of the Kami-Goryo Shrine. The Onin War will continue for more than 10 years until ending on 25 December 1477.source
  • 1473Charles the Bold gained the titles of Duke of Guelders and Count of Zutphen.source
  • 1503Third Italian War: Battle of Ruvo – The Spanish defeat the French in Italy.source
  • 1503French–Spanish Wars in Italy – Battle of Ruvo: The Spanish defeat the French.source
  • 1534A group of Anabaptists, led by Jan Matthys, seize Münster, Westphalia and declare it The New Jerusalem, begin to exile dissenters, and forcibly baptize all others.source
  • 1551At the Kremlin in Moscow, Tsar Ivan IV and the Metropolitan Macarius, present the proposed code of laws, drafted by the Stoglavy Synod, to the clergy, nobility and principal Russian citizens for their approval.source
  • 1568Akbar the Great of the Mughal Empire captures the massive Chittor Fort in northern India from the Kingdom of Mewar after the Siege of Chittorgarh that began on October 23, 1567.source
  • 1573In the province of Munster in Ireland, the first Desmond Rebellion, led by James FitzMaurice FitzGerald, cousin of the Earl of Desmond, ends at Kilmallock as FitzGerald makes a humiliating surrender to John Perrot, the provincial leader.source
  • 1573James FitzMaurice FitzGerald submits to John Perrot, Lord Deputy of Ireland, at Kilmallock.source
  • 1573The "Pacification of Perth" was a step to ending the Marian Civil War.source
  • 1574The fifth War of Religion against the Huguenots begins in France.source
  • 1577The new Shah of Iran, Ismail II, has most of the advisers of his late father executed, including Prince Ibrahim Mirza. "Ebrāhīm Mīrzā", by Marianna S. Simpson, insource
  • 1581The Spanish Army is forced to abandon the siege of Steenwijk in the Netherlands after more than four months.source
  • 1586The Scottish crown jewels, recovered for King James VI by William Stewart of Caverston, are formally returned to the royal treasurer, Lord Melville. The jewels include a square gold pendant, inlaid with a large diamond and a ruby and several other diamonds, the "Great H of Scotland".source
  • 1601Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia, arrives in Prague to enlist the assistance of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor in driving Ottoman troops out of Transylvania. Michael leaves on March 5, having received a pledge of Austrian troops to the fight.source
  • 1631Marie de' Medici is exiled to Compiègne.source
  • 1642March 11 – Henrietta Maria, queen consort of England, and her eldest daughter Mary, newly created Princess Royal, leave Falmouth, Cornwall, to go into exile at the Dutch court in The Hague.source
  • 164223 February–11 March – Queen Henrietta Maria and her eldest daughter Mary leave Falmouth, Cornwall, to go into exile at the Dutch court in The Hague. Just before she leaves, Mary becomes the first child of an English Sovereign to be granted the title Princess Royal.source
  • 1656London's Lord Mayor Christopher Packe suggests to Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector and chief executive of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, that the monarchy should be restored with Cromwell as its King. Cromwell declines to become King Oliver, but his right to name his successor becomes effective on May 25, 1657 with the commencement of the Humble Petition and Advice.source
  • 1657In England, the Humble Petition and Advice offers Lord Protector Cromwell the crown.source
  • 1657Oliver Cromwell is offered the Crown by the Humble Petition and Advice.source
  • 1669Isaac Newton writes his first description of his new invention, the reflecting telescope.source
  • 1669Isaac Newton writes his first description of his new invention, the reflecting telescope.source
  • 1676While the Massachusetts Council debates how to handle the Christian Indians they had exiled to Deer Island on October 13, 1675, a coalition of Indians led by Metacomet attacks colonial settlements just 16 km outside of Boston.source
  • 1689February 23 (February 13, 1688 O.S.) – William III and Mary II are proclaimed co-rulers of England, Scotland and Ireland.source
  • 1696A royal proclamation is issued to arrest suspected Jacobite conspirators who had plotted the assassination of King William III, including gunman Robert Charnock and organizers George Barclay, and Sir John Fenwick. Barclay eludes capture, but Charnock and Fenwick are executed.source
  • 1725J. S. Bach leads his Tafel-Music Shepherd Cantata for the birthday of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels.source
  • 1742John Myddelton completes his term as MP for Denbighshire.source
  • 1744February 22–23 – Battle of Toulon: A British fleet fights a Franco-Spanish fleet; the battle is tactically inconclusive but results in a strategic success for the allies.source
  • 1745The royal wedding of the crown prince of France takes place at Versailles: the Dauphin Louis Ferdiand, eldest son of King Louis XV, is united in marriage to Princess Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain, daughter of King Philip V. The Dauphin never takes the throne, dying in 1765, eight years before the death of his father.source
  • 1752Messier 83 (M83), the "Southern Pinwheel Galaxy" and the first to be cataloged outside the "Local Group" of galaxies nearest to Earth's galaxy, the Milky Way, is discovered by French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille. Lacaille, who observes M83 during a research voyage in the Southern Hemisphere, is the first to identify the body as a nebulous object rather than a star. M83, 15 million light-years away, is the most distant object to be identified up to that time.source
  • 1757A revolt against the government of King Joseph I of Portugal takes place in the city of Porto. After the riot's suppression, the King's minister, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, orders harsh punishments against the perpetrators, carried out in October.source
  • 1758Jonathan Edwards, the famed English theologian who had assumed the presidency of what is now Princeton University only a week earlier, sets an example for students and faculty by publicly receiving an inoculation against smallpox. Unfortunately, the vaccine contains live smallpox; Edwards develops the disease and dies on March 22 at the age of 54.source
  • 1760February 21–26 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Carrickfergus in the north of Ireland – A force of French troops, under the command of privateer François Thurot, captures and holds the town and castle of Carrickfergus before retiring; the force is defeated (and Thurot killed) in the naval Battle of Bishops Court in the Irish Sea on February 28.source
  • 1763The Berbice Slave Uprising starts in the former Dutch colony of Berbice.source
  • 1766Lorraine and Bar become French again, on the death of Stanisław Leszczyński, King of Poland and last Duke of Lorraine.source
  • 1778American Revolutionary War: Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania and begins to train the American troops.source
  • 1781Hans Eilersen Hagerup was ennobled, and given the noble family name Gyldenpalm.source
  • 1807The Slave Trade Act is passed in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom by an overwhelming majority.source
  • 1819Battle of Mesamávidasource
  • 1820The Cato Street Conspiracy, a plot to assassinate Britain's Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, and his Cabinet is thwarted when police in London arrest 13 plotters after being warned by an informant.source
  • 1820A plot to murder the Cabinet, the Cato Street Conspiracy, is exposed. Bow Street Runners arrest conspirators in Paddington. Richard Smithers, a constable, is killed in the struggle.source
  • 1826Russian mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky develops non-Euclidean geometry (independently of János Bolyai).source
  • 1830William Carey becomes Bishop of St Asaph.source
  • 1833Grand Orient of Belgium established, with Goswin de Stassart as first Grand Mastersource
  • 1836Texas Revolution: The Battle of the Alamo begins, with an American settler army surrounded by the Mexican Army, under Santa Anna.source
  • 1846February 20–March 3 – Kraków uprising: Polish nationalists stage an uprising in the Free City of Kraków; it is suppressed by forces of the Austrian Empire, supported by peasants.source
  • 1849Public meeting in Perth calls for introduction of convicts to the help the colony's depressed economy, first consignment arrive in the following June.source
  • 1851Willemsfonds established.source
  • 1861President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C. in light of suspicions of a conspiracy in Baltimore to kill him.source
  • 1863A magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes Hawke's Bay.source
  • 1870Military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.source
  • 1874Walter Clopton Wingfield patents in Britain a game called "sphairistike", more commonly called lawn tennis.source
  • 1878Gajanan Maharaj appears at Shegaon, Maharashtra.source
  • 1883Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.source
  • 1885Sino-French War: Battle of Đồng Đăng – France gains an important victory over China, in the Tonkin region of modern-day Vietnam.source
  • 1885An English executioner fails after several attempts to hang John Babbacombe Lee, sentenced for the murder of his employer Emma Keyse; Lee's sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.source
  • 1885The executioner at HM Prison Exeter fails after several attempts to hang John 'Babbacombe' Lee, sentenced for the murder of his employer Emma Keyse; Lee's sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.source
  • 1887The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000 along the coast of the Mediterranean.source
  • 1887The French Riviera is hit by a powerful earthquake originating in Liguria, killing around 2,000 along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.source
  • 1887The 1887 Liguria earthquake strikes off the coast of Imperia, with an estimated moment magnitude of 6.8–6.9, killing about 600–3,000 people. It also generated a tsunami that had a run-up height of 2 meters.source
  • 1892The 7.1–7.2 Mw Laguna Salada earthquake shakes Southern California and northern Mexico with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe).source
  • 1893Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for the diesel engine.source
  • 1898Émile Zola is imprisoned in France, after writing J'Accuse…!.source
  • 1899Because of distrubances at the funeral of the late President Faure, parliament members Paul Déroulède, Lucien Millevoye and Marcel Habert are arrested.source
  • 1901The United Kingdom and Germany agree on the frontier between German East Africa and Nyasaland.source
  • 1901Germany agrees the frontier between German East Africa and the British colony of Nyasaland with the United Kingdom.source
  • 190123 February 23–27 August – Battle of Aguadulcesource
  • 1901The Instituto Butantan is launched by biomedical scientist Vital Brazil.source
  • 1903Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".source
  • 1904Japan–Korea Treaty of February 1904source
  • 1904For $10 million, the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.source
  • 1905Rotary International is founded in Chicago in the U.S.source
  • 1906Tommy Burns becomes the First Canadian to be Boxing's Heavyweight champion by defeating Marvin Hartsource
  • 1913Joseph Stalin is arrested by the Russian secret police, the Okhrana, in Petrograd, and exiled to Siberia.source
  • 1914Light cruiser HMS Cordelia is launched at Pembroke Dock.source
  • 1918February 19–25 – WWI: The Imperial Russian Navy evacuates Tallinn through thick ice, over the Gulf of Finland.source
  • 1920February 12–24 – Conference of London: Leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Italy meet to discuss the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 1921The moderately conservative public official Oscar von Sydow takes over the Swedish premiership from Baron Louis De Geer the Younger.source
  • 1927The U.S. Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies.source
  • 1933The Imperial Japanese Army invades Rehe province in northern China.source
  • 1934Leopold III sworn in as King, following the death of his father Albert I, on 17 February.source
  • 1934King Leopold III of Belgium succeeds to the throne, following the death (February 17) of his father King Albert I.source
  • 1938The Port of Tel Aviv officially opens, as a competing (Jewish) port to the port in Jaffa, the latter having been crippled by the Arab revolt and general strike since 1936.source
  • 1941Glenn T. Seaborg and associates isolate and discover plutonium, at the University of California, Berkeley.source
  • 1942WWII: Japanese submarine I-17 fires 17 high-explosive shells toward an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California, causing little damage.source
  • 1943The architect of the Genocide Talat Pasha's remnants were transported from Germany to Turkey and buried in Abide-i Hurriyet Cemetery (Monument of Liberty), Istanbul.source
  • 1944Deportation of the Chechens and Ingush ("Operation Lentil"): Forced deportation of Chechens and Ingush people from North Caucasus to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia by the Soviet authorities begins.source
  • 1945Bombing of Pforzheim: The heaviest of a series of bombing raids on Pforzheim, Germany, by Allied aircraft is carried out by the British Royal Air Force. As many as 17,600 people, or 31.4% of the town's population, are killed in the raid and about 83% of the town's buildings destroyed, two-thirds of its complete area and between 80 and 100% of the inner city.source
  • 1945Battle of Iwo Jima: A group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island, and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (taken by Joe Rosenthal), later wins a Pulitzer Prize.source
  • 1945The US Army 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free the captives of the Los Baños internment camp.source
  • 1947The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.source
  • 1948The film Kapati Arakshakaya is released.source
  • 19501950 United Kingdom general election: The Labour Party, led by Clement Attlee, remains in office, but the Tories, led by Winston Churchill, increase their seats in the House of Commons.source
  • 1952February 14–25 – The Winter Olympics are held in Oslo, Norway.source
  • 1953The Finnish oil tanker Wiima, carrying 7,000 tons of jet fuels and bound for Communist China, was ordered to sail into Singapore waters by the British authority. The ship was eventually allowed to leave Singapore for Kokkola on 12 May 1953 after it sold its cargo to the US Navy ship USS Cahaba for a price of US$500,000 (about US$5.9 million in 2024 money).source
  • 1954The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.source
  • 1954The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.source
  • 1956February 14–25 – The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held in Moscow.source
  • 1957The founding congress of the Senegalese Popular Bloc opens in Dakar.source
  • 1958Arturo Frondizi is elected president of Argentina.source
  • 1958Cuban rebels kidnap five-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio, releasing him 28 hours later.source
  • 19661966 Syrian coup d'état: An intra-party military coup in Syria replaces the previous government of Amin al-Hafiz by one led by Salah Jadid.source
  • 1967The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution is enacted.source
  • 1972February 21–28 – U.S. President Richard Nixon makes an unprecedented 8-day visit to the People's Republic of China and meets with Mao Zedong.source
  • 1972US activist Angela Davis is released from jail. Rodger McAfee, a farmer from Caruthers, California, helps her make bail.source
  • 1977Óscar Romero, an outspoken opponent of violence, becomes Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador.source
  • 1980Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.source
  • 19811981 Spanish coup d'état attempt ("23-F"): Antonio Tejero, with members of the Guardia Civil, enters the Spanish Congress of Deputies and stops the session where Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo is about to be named president of the government. The coup fails after being denounced by King Juan Carlos.source
  • 1984TED (conference) is founded.source
  • 1987SN 1987A, the first "naked-eye" supernova since 1604, is observed.source
  • 1988Start of Anfal campaign, a genocidal counterinsurgency operation within the Iran–Iraq War carried out by Ba'athist Iraqi forces led by Ali Hassan al-Majid on the orders of President Saddam Hussein that will kill between 50,000 and 182,000 Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan.source
  • 1989The Muslim rebels set up an interim government in Pakistan. After three weeks of fractious debate, an assembly of 440 delegates elects an interim government with Sibghatullah Mojadedi, considered a moderate, as president. Rasul Sayaf, a hard-line fundamentalist from the Ittehad-i-Islami rebel group, is elected prime minister. Afghan Shi`ite guerrillas, most of whom are in Iran, boycott the assembly after the Pakistan-based rebels, the majority of whom are Sunnites, refused to give them the representation they sought. The Shi`ites constitute only 17% of the Afghan population but make up 40% of the refugees, who provide many of the guerrillas. The rebel government is officially recognized by Saudi Arabia on March 9, and Bahrain, Malaysia, and The Sudan also announce their recognition. The U.S. and Pakistan, the rebels' main backers, withhold recognition until a functioning administration is established, but the U.S. names a special presidential envoy to the Afghanistan resistance, with the rank of ambassador.source
  • 1993The Armed Forces of the Republic of Tajikistan is established by decree of Chairman Rahmon and February 23 is declared a national holiday.source
  • 1993The National Council of the country was founded.source
  • 1999Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.source
  • 19991999 Galtür avalanche: An avalanche destroys the village of Galtür, Austria, killing 31.source
  • 2000February 23–March 7 – Mayon volcano in Albay erupts, with the most violent occurred, February 28 – March 1; its status is raised to the highest, Alert Level 5, on February 24 due to its hazardous explosions with pyroclastic and lahar flows that affected parts of the province, with several thousands evacuated even outside identified danger zones.source
  • 2002A ceasefire ends Eelam War III in Sri Lanka. It stays in effect until January 2008.source
  • 2002The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia kidnap the presidential candidate Íngrid Betancourt, holding her captive for the next six years.source
  • 2002Presidential candidate Íngrid Betancourt and her campaign manager Clara Rojas are kidnapped by the FARC near San Vicente del Caguán.source
  • 2007Following the death of Pascal Yoadimnadji, Infrastructure Minister Adoum Younousmi assumes the interim as Prime Minister of Chad.source
  • 2013Tajik Armed Forces Day celebrations.source
  • 20192019 Nigerian general election: Incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari is reelected and the All Progressives Congress party wins 63 out of 109 seats in the Senate of Nigeria and 202 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives.source
  • 2019Venezuelan presidential crisis: President Maduro severs diplomatic ties with Colombia amid attempts to send humanitarian aid to the country across the border.source
  • 2020Police in Port-au-Prince violently protest against money being spent on a carnaval celebrations instead of their salaries.source
  • 2021Governor Pedro Pierluisi rejects a proposed debt settlement because of concerns about the effect on the territory′s pension system.source
  • 2022February 21 – February 24 – Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a decree declaring the Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic as independent from Ukraine, and, despite international condemnation and sanctions, launched the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine; at dawn on 24 February missiles strike Kyiv. Ukraine severs diplomatic relations with Russia, followed by the Federated States of Micronesia on 25 February.source
  • 2023Oman opens its airspace to Israeli airlines for the first time. Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen calls the decision historic.source
  • 20252025 German federal election: After being pushed forward as a result of the 2024 German government crisis, the centre-right CDU/CSU becomes the largest party, with big gains from the far-right AfD, resulting in a second-place finish.source

Births

  • 1133Al-Zafir, Fatimid caliph (died 1154)source
  • 1187Peter I (Pedro), count of Urgell (died 1258)source
  • 1417Pope Paul II (died 1471)source
  • 1417Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria-Landshut (1450–1479) (died 1479)source
  • 1443Matthias Corvinus, of Hungary (died 1490)source
  • 1529Onofrio Panvinio, Augustinian historian (died 1568)source
  • 1539Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire as a wife of Emperor Akbar (died 1613)source
  • 1539Henry XI of Legnica, thrice Duke of Legnica (died 1588)source
  • 1606George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen, officer in the Dutch Army (died 1674)source
  • 1620Francis Newport, 1st Earl of Bradford, English politician (died 1708)source
  • 1633Samuel Pepys, English civil servant and diarist (died 1703)source
  • 1646Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shōgun (died 1709)source
  • 1680Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, French colonizer and Governor of Louisiana (died 1767)source
  • 1685George Frideric Handel, German composer (died 1759)source
  • 1723Richard Price, Welsh philosopher (died 1791)source
  • 1744Mayer Amschel Rothschild, German banker, founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty (died 1812)source
  • 1769Princess Pauline of Anhalt-Bernburg; German regent and social reformer (died 1820)source
  • 1787Emma Willard, American educator (died 1870)source
  • 1810Matías Cousiño (died 1863)source
  • 1850César Ritz, hotelier (died 1918)source
  • 1863Katsusaburō Yamagiwa, pathologistsource
  • 1868W. E. B. Du Bois, African American civil rights leader (died 1963)source
  • 1874Konstantin Päts, 1st President of Estonia (died 1956)source
  • 1929Jaan Einasto, Estonian astrophysicistsource
  • 1997Márcio Rosa, footballersource

Deaths

  • 255Guo Huai (or Boji), Chinese generalsource
  • 375Saint Gorgonia, daughter of Gregory the Eldersource
  • 715Caliph Al-Walid I dies at Damascus after a 10-year reign, and is succeeded by his brother Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik. During his rule the Umayyad Caliphate reaches its greatest height, with successful campaigns undertaken in Transoxiana (Central Asia), Sindh (Pakistan), Hispania and against the Byzantine Empire.source
  • 715Al-Walid I, Muslim caliph (born 668)source
  • 908Li Keyong, Shatuo governor (born 856)source
  • 943Herbert II, Frankish noblemansource
  • 943David I, prince of Tao-Klarjeti (Georgia)source
  • 1011Willigis, archbishop of Mainzsource
  • 1100Zhezong, Chinese emperor (born 1077)source
  • 1100Emperor Zhezong dies after a 15-year reign. He is succeeded by his 17-year-old brother Huizong as ruler of the Song dynasty. At about this date, the Chinese population reaches around 100 million and in Kaifeng, his capital, the number of registered citizens within the walls is about 1,050,000 with the army stationed here boosting the overall populace to some 1.4 million people.source
  • 1216Geoffrey de Mandeville, English noblemansource
  • 1270Saint Isabelle of France, French princess and saint (born 1225)source
  • 1447Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (born 1390)source
  • 1447Pope Eugene IV (born 1383)source
  • 1448Petru III becomes Prince of Moldavia for a third time when Prince Roman II dies.source
  • 1462Thomas Tuddenham, English landowner (born 1401)source
  • 1464Zhengtong Emperor of China (born 1427)source
  • 1466Girishawardhana Dyah Suryawikrama, 9th Maharaja of Majapahitsource
  • 1473Arnold, Duke of Guelders (born 1410)source
  • 1476Pietro Mocenigo, Doge of the Republic of Venice, dies after 15 months in office.source
  • 1503Annamacharya, Indian mystic saint composer (born 1408)source
  • 1526Diego Colón, Spanish Viceroy of the Indies (born c. 1479)source
  • 1546Francis, Count of Enghien, French military leader (born 1519)source
  • 1546Francis, Count of Enghien (b.1519 )source
  • 1554Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, English politician (executed) (born c.1517)source
  • 1603Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician and botanist (born 1519)source
  • 1603Franciscus Vieta, French mathematician (born 1540)source
  • 1620Nicholas Fuller, English politician (born 1543)source
  • 1625The First Gjæsling Accident: 210 fishermen are killed in a storm in the fjord Folda, Trøndelag.source
  • 1688Abaza Siyavuş Pasha, the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, is assassinated by the Janissaries, the Turkish troops who had placed him in power in September, after the new Sultan fails to make payment of an expected bonus.source
  • 1690Elizabeth Walker, English pharmacist (born 1623)source
  • 1717Magnus Stenbock, Swedish military officer (born 1664)source
  • 1719Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg, German Lutheran clergy (born 1682)source
  • 1766Stanisław Leszczyński, King of Poland (born 1677)source
  • 1781George Taylor, Founding Father of the United States and signer of the Declaration of Independence (born c. 1716)source
  • 1792Sir Joshua Reynolds, English painter (born 1723)source
  • 1821John Keats, British poet (born 1795)source
  • 1822Vicente Benavides (born 1777)source
  • 1844Martim Francisco Ribeiro de Andrada, politician (born 1775)source
  • 1848French Revolution of 1848: François Guizot, Prime Minister of France, resigns; 52 people from the Paris mob are killed by soldiers guarding public buildings.source
  • 1848John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States, son of John Adams and Abigail Adams (born 1767)source
  • 1851Joanna Baillie, Scottish poet, dramatist (born 1762)source
  • 1855Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (born 1777)source
  • 1931Dame Nellie Melba, Australian soprano (born 1861)source
  • 1934Sir Edward Elgar, British composer (born 1857)source
  • 1943February 23–24 – Cavan Orphanage Fire: 35 girls and a cook from St Joseph's Orphanage, an industrial school at Cavan, Ireland, are killed in a fire in their dormitories. A subsequent inquiry absolves the Poor Clares of blame.source
  • 1946Tomoyuki Yamashita, general of the Imperial Japanese Army, also known as "The Tiger of Malaya" (born 1885)source
  • 1969Madhubala, Indian actress (born 1933)source
  • 1971Operation Lam Son 719: South Vietnamese General Do Cao Tri is killed in a helicopter crash en route to taking control of the faltering campaign.source
  • 1996William Bonin, 49, American serial killer and sex offender known as the Freeway Killer, execution by lethal injection.source
  • 2000Sir Stanley Matthews, 85, English football player.source
  • 2007Hanna Barysevich, 118?, claimed to be world's oldest person.source
  • 2008Janez Drnovšek, 57, Slovenian Prime Minister (1992–2002) and President (2002–2007), cancer.source