May 23

Events
Up to 1900
1430 - Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while loading an army to relieve Compiegne.
1498 - Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy.
1533 - The marriage between King Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
1555 - Giovanni Pietro Carafa becomes Pope Paul VI.
1568 - The Netherlands declare their independence from Spain.
1568 - Dutch rebels, lead by Louis of Nassau, brother of William I of Orange, defeat Jean de Ligne, Duke of Arenberg and his loyalist troops in the Battle of Heiligerlee, starting the Eighty Years' War.
1609 - Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place.
1618 - The Second Defenestration of Prague leads to the start of the Thirty Years' War.
1701 - After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is executed by hanging in London.
1706 - Battle of Ramillies: John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough defeats a French army under Marshal Francois de Neufville, duc de Villeroi.
1788 - South Carolina becomes the 8th State of the US.
1793 - Battle of Famars during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
1805 - Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned King of Italy in Milan Cathedral.
1829 - A patent for the accordion is granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna, Austria.
1844 - Declaration of the Bab: A merchant from Shiraz, Persia, announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement that is later crushed by the Persian government. This movement is considered to be a forerunner of the Baha'i faith, in which this date is celebrated as a holy day.
1846 - Mexican-American War: President of Mexico Mariano Paredes unofficially declares war on the United States.
1873 - The Canadian government creates the North-West Mounted Police force. This is a forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police force.
1901 2000
1911 - The New York Public Library is opened.
1915 - World War I: Italy joins the Allies against Austria-Hungary.
1932 - In Brazil, four students are shot and killed during a protest against the country's leader Getulio Vargas in Sao Paulo.
1934 - The outlaws Bonnie and Clyde are shot dead by law officers in the Texas-Louisiana border region.
1939 - The United States Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off New Hampshire.
1945 - SS leader Heinrich Himmler commits suicide.
1945 - The Flensburg Government under Karl Doenitz is dissolved when its members are arrested by British forces in the city of Flensburg in Northern Germany, next to the border with Denmark.
1949 - The Federal Republic of Germany is founded.
1951 - Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet with China.
1958 - Space probe Explorer 1 ceases (ends) transmission.
1960 - Israel announces the capture of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who was hiding in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1967 - Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran and blockades the port of Eilat, Israel, at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea, to Israeli shipping.
1992 - Italian anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, along with his wife and three bodyguards, is killed by the Corleonesi clan with a half-ton bomb near Capaci, Sicily.
1993 - Cambodia holds its first free elections in over 20 years.
1994 - Roman Herzog is elected President of Germany.
1997 - Mohammad Khatami is elected President of Iran.
1998 - Voters in Northern Ireland approve the Good Friday Agreement in a referendum.
1999 - Johannes Rau is elected President of Germany.
From 2001
2002 - Iceland ratifies the Kyoto protocol.
2004 - Horst Kohler is chosen as the new German President, to succeed Johannes Rau.
2004 - Part of the roof of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport's Terminal 2E collapses, killing 4 people.
2006 - Alaskan volcano Mount Cleveland erupts.
2008 - The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) is founded.
2009 - Former President of South Korea Roh Moo-hyun commits suicide, while facing a corruption investigation.
2009 - Horst Koehler is elected to a second term as President of Germany. However, he resigns just over a year later, on May 31, 2010.
2014 - The Glasgow School of Art, one of the most famous buildings in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, is heavily damaged by fire.
2015 - Mans Zelmerlow of Sweden wins the 60th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria. Special guest Australia, represented by Guy Sebastian, finishes 5th out of 27. Host nation Austria finishes joint-bottom with Germany on 0 points, making it the worst performance of a host nation in the contest's history.
2016 - Bomb attacks in western Syria result in the deaths of more than 100 people.
2019 - Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party wins India's general election, giving it a big parliamentary majority.
2019 - The 2019 election to the European Parliament begin.
Births
Up to 1850
635 - K'inich Kan B'alam II, Mayan King (d. 702)
1052 - King Philip I of France (d. 1108)
1100 - Emperor Quinzong of China (d. 1161)
1606 - Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish philosopher, mathematician and writer (d. 1682)
1617 - Elias Ashmole, English astrologer and politician (d. 1692)
1696 - Johann Caspar Vogler, German organist and composer (d. 1763)
1707 - Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish biologist (d. 1778)
1718 - William Hunter, Scottish anatomist (d. 1783)
1729 - Giuseppe Parini, Italian writer (d. 1799)
1734 - Franz Anton Mesmer, Austrian physician (d. 1815)
1741 - Andrea Luchesi, Italian composer (d. 1815)
1754 - Andrea Appiani, Italian painter (d. 1817)
1790 - Jules Dumont D'Urville, French explorer (d. 1842)
1794 - Ignaz Moscheles, Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso (d. 1870)
1795 - Charles Barry, English architect (d. 1860)
1810 - Margaret Fuller, American journalist and feminist (d. 1850)
1820 - James Buchanan Eads, American engineer and inventor (d. 1887)
1824 - Ambrose Burnside, American general (d. 1881)
1827 - Milton Latham, 6th Governor of California (d. 1882)
1834 - Carl Bloch, Danish painter (d. 1890)
1837 - Anatole Mallet, Swiss engineer (d. 1919)
1840 - George Throssell, Irish-Australian politician, 30th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1910)
1842 - Maria Konopnicka, Polish writer (d. 1910)
1844 - Abdu'l Baha, leading member of the Baha'i faith (d. 1921)
1848 - Otto Lilienthal, German aviator (d. 1896)
1851 1900
1865 - Epitacio Pessoa, President of Brazil (d. 1942)
1872 - Julio Acosta Garcia, President of Peru (d. 1954)
1883 - Ferenc Talanyi, Slovenian writer, journalist and painter (d. 1959)
1883 - Douglas Fairbanks, American actor (d. 1939)
1884 - Corrado Gini, Italian sociologist (d. 1965)
1887 - Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician (d. 1963)
1888 - Zack Wheat, American baseball player (d. 1972)
1889 - Ernst Niekisch, German politician (d. 1967)
1890 - Herbert Marshall, English actor (d. 1969)
1891 - Par Lagerkvist, Swedish writer (d. 1974)
1892 - Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer, British nobleman (d. 1975)
1892 - Rafael Moreno Aranzadi, Spanish footballer (d. 1922)
1896 - Felix Martin Julius Steiner, German SS officer (d. 1966)
1898 - Georgios Grivas, Greek-Cypriot political activist (d. 1974)
1898 - Scott O'Dell, American writer (d. 1989)
1898 - Josef Terboven, Nazi Reichskommissar in occupied Norway (d. 1945)
1899 - Jeralean Talley, American supercentenarian (d. 2015)
1900 - Hans Frank, Nazi official (d. 1946)
1901 1950
1905 - Ramiro Ledesma Ramos, Spanish writer, journalist and politician (d. 1936)
1908 - John Bardeen, American physicist (d. 1991)
1908 - Helene Boucher, French pilot (d. 1934)
1908 - Max Abramovitz, American architect (d. 2004)
1910 - Scatman Crothers, American musician (d. 1986)
1910 - Artie Shaw, American musician (d. 2004)
1911 - Paul Mayer, German cardinal (d. 2010)
1911 - Betty Nuthall, English tennis player (d. 1983)
1912 - Jean Francaix, French composer, pianist and orchestrator (d. 1997)
1912 - John Payne, American movie actor (d. 1989)
1917 - Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (d. 2008)
1918 - Denis Compton, English cricketer (d. 1997)
1919 - Betty Garrett, American actress (d. 2011)
1921 - Humphrey Lyttelton, British musician (d. 2008)
1921 - James Blish, American science fiction writer (d. 1975)
1923 - Alicia de Larrocha, Spanish pianist (d. 2009)
1924 - Karlheinz Deschner, German writer and humanist (d. 2014)
1925 - Joshua Lederberg, American biologist (d. 2008)
1926 - Joe Slovo, Lithuanian-South African politician (d. 1995)
1927 - Dieter Hildebrandt, German entertainer (d. 2013)
1928 - Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (d. 2002)
1928 - Nigel Davenport, British actor (d. 2013)
1929 - Ulla Jacobsson, Swedish actress (d. 1982)
1933 - Joan Collins, British actress
1933 - Ove Fundin, Swedish motorcycle racer
1933 - Alberto Natusch, Bolivian military leader (d. 1994)
1934 - Robert Moog, American inventor (d. 2005)
1935 - Susan Cooper, British writer
1936 - Ingeborg Hallstein, German soprano and actress
1936 - Charles Kimbrough, American actor
1938 - Johnny Ball, British television personality
1938 - Peter Preston, British journalist and newspaper editor (d. 2018)
1939 - Michel Colombier, French-American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
1940 - Levan Mesashvili, Georgian basketball player and coach
1942 - Gabriel Liiceanu, Romanian philosopher
1942 - Jose Omar Pastoriza, Argentine footballer
1943 - Peter Kenilorea, 1st Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (d. 2016)
1944 - John Newcombe, Australian tennis player
1944 - Lena Nyman, Swedish actress (d. 2011)
1945 - Lauren Chapin, American actress
1948 - Myriam Boyer, French actress, director and producer
1949 - Alan Garcia, former President of Peru (d. 2019)
1950 - Martin McGuinness, Northern Irish politician (d. 2017)
1951 1975
1951 - Anatoly Karpov, Russian chess player
1951 - Antonis Samaras, Greek politician, former Prime Minister of Greece
1952 - Anne-Marie David, French singer
1954 - Hans Kruize, Dutch field hockey player
1956 - Ursula Plassnik, Austrian politician
1957 - Craig Brown, English journalist and critic
1958 - Mitch Albom, American journalist, author and screenwriter
1958 - Drew Carey, American actor, comedian and game show host
1958 - Thomas Reiter, German astronaut
1959 - Ryuta Kawashima, Japanese neuroscientist, creator of Brain Training
1959 - Bob Mortimer, English comedian
1960 - Michel Roux Jr., French-English chef
1965 - Manuel Sanchis Hontiyuelo, Spanish footballer
1965 - Melissa McBride, American actress
1967 - Phil Selway, American drummer (Radiohead)
1967 - Carlos Mercenario, Mexican race walker
1970 - Matt Flynn, American drummer and producer (Maroon 5)
1970 - Yigal Amir, assassin of Yitzhak Rabin
1971 - George Osborne, British politician, former Chancellor of the Exchequer
1972 - Rubens Barrichello, Brazilian Formula One racecar driver
1973 - Maxwell, American singer-songwriter, musician and producer
1974 - Manuela Schwesig, German politician
1974 - Ken Jennings, American gameshow contestant
1974 - Jewel, American singer
From 1976
1976 - Ricardinho, Brazilian footballer
1977 - Richard Ayoade, English actor, writer, comedian and presenter
1978 - Mike Gonzalez, American baseball player
1980 - Theofanis Gekas, Greek footballer
1981 - Tim Robinson, American comedian
1983 - Heidi Range, British singer (The Sugababes)
1984 - Hugo Almeida, Portuguese footballer
1984 - Lizzie Waterworth, English voice actress
1984 - Adam Wylie, American actor
1985 - Ross Wallace, Scottish footballer
1985 - Sebastian Fernandez, Uruguayan footballer
1985 - Wim Stroetinga, Dutch cyclist
1988 - Lorenzo De Silvestri, Italian footballer
1988 - Morgan Pressel, American golfer
1990 - Ricardo dos Santos, Brazilian surfer (d. 2015)
1991 - Lena Meyer-Landrut, German singer
1992 - Olesia Karmi, Finnish figure skater
1993 - Sargis Adamyan, Armenian footballer
1995 - Jillian Janson, American pornographic actress
Deaths
Up to 1900
230 - Pope Urban I
779 - Emperor Daizong of Tang, Chinese Emperor (b. 727)
1125 - Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1081)
1498 - Girolamo Savonarola, Italian religious reformer and ruler of Florence (b. 1452)
1523 - Ashikaga Yoshitane, Japanese shogun (b. 1466)
1524 - Ismail I, Shah of Persia (b. 1487)
1669 - Joris van der Haagen, Dutch painter (b. 1615)
1670 - Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1610)
1691 - Adrien Auzout, French astronomer (b. 1622)
1701 - William Kidd, Scottish pirate (b. 1645)
1754 - John Wood, the Elder, English architect (b. 1704)
1786 - Maurice Benyovszky, Hungarian count, explorer and writer (b. 1746)
1825 - Gugsa of Yejju, Regent of Ethiopia
1841 - Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1765)
1857 - Augustin-Louis Cauchy, French mathematician (b. 1789)
1868 - Kit Carson, American Western figure (b. 1809)
1886 - Leopold von Ranke, German historian (b. 1795)
1893 - Anton von Schmerling, Austrian statesman (b. 1805)
1895 - Franz Ernst Neumann, German mineralogist and physicist (b. 1798)
1901 2000
1906 - Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian writer and playwright (b. 1828)
1914 - William O'Connell Bradley, American politician, Governor of Kentucky (b. 1847)
1917 - Ranavalona III, Queen of Madagascar (b. 1861)
1921 - August Nilsson, Swedish athlete (b. 1872)
1934 - Bonnie and Clyde, American outlaws (b. 1909 and 1910)
1937 - John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and philanthropist (b. 1839)
1944 - Thomas Curtis, American hurdler (b. 1870)
1945 - Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official (b. 1900)
1947 - Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, Swiss writer (b. 1878)
1955 - Roy E. Ayers, American politician, Governor of Montana (b. 1882)
1960 - Georges Claude, French engineer and inventor (b. 1870)
1965 - Earl Webb, American baseball player (b. 1897)
1966 - Demchugdongrub, Mongolian politician (b. 1902)
1967 - Ernst Niekisch, German politician (b. 1889)
1981 - George Jessel, American actor, singer and producer (b. 1898)
1986 - Sterling Hayden, American actor and writer (b. 1916)
1989 - Karl Koch, German computer hacker (b. 1965)
1991 - Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist and composer (b. 1895)
1991 - Jean Van Houtte, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1907)
1992 - Giovanni Falcone, Italian magistrate and anti-Mafia judge (b. 1939)
1992 - Atahualpa Yupanqui, Argentine singer, songwriter, guitarist and songwriter (b. 1908)
1996 - Bernhard Klodt, German footballer (b. 1926)
1999 - Owen Hart, professional wrestler (b. 1965)
From 2001
2002 - Sam Snead, American golfer (b. 1912)
2003 - Jean Yanne, French actor, writer, director and composer (b. 1933)
2006 - Kazimierz Gorski, Polish footballer (b. 1921)
2006 - Lloyd Bentsen, American politician (b. 1921)
2008 - Heinz Kwiatkowski, German footballer (b. 1926)
2008 - Utah Phillips, American singer-songwriter, poet and activist (b. 1935)
2009 - Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea (b. 1946)
2010 - Leonida Georgievna, Grand Duchess of Russia (b. 1914)
2011 - Nasser Hejazi, Iranian footballer (b. 1949)
2011 - Xavier Tondo, Spanish cyclist (b. 1978)
2012 - Paul Fussell, American historian, writer and educator (b. 1924)
2013 - Georges Moustaki, French singer and composer (b. 1934)
2013 - James Sisnett, Barbadian supercentenarian (b. 1900)
2014 - Joel Camargo, Brazilian footballer (b. 1946)
2014 - Walter Romberg, East German politician (b. 1928)
2014 - Mona Freeman, American actress (b. 1926)
2015 - Aleksey Mozgovoy, Ukrainian pro-Russian separatist (b. 1975)
2015 - John Forbes Nash Jr., American mathematician (b. 1928)
2015 - Anne Meara, American actress and comedienne (b. 1929)
2015 - Ali Raymi, Yemeni boxer (b. 1973)
2016 - John Brophy, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1933)
2016 - Joe Fleishaker, American actor (b. 1954)
2017 - Roger Moore, English actor (b. 1927)
2017 - Stefano Farina, Italian football referee (b. 1962)
2017 - Jerry Perenchio, American businessman (b. 1930)
2017 - William Carney, American politician (b. 1942)
2017 - Kaoru Yosano, Japanese politician (b. 1938)
2018 - Luis Posada Carriles, Cuban militant (b. 1928)
2018 - Antonio Horvath, Chilean civil servant and politician (b. 1950)
2018 - Richard Peck, American novelist (b. 1934)
2018 - Daniel Robin, French wrestler (b. 1943)
2019 - Dumiso Dabengwa, Zimbabwean politician (b. 1939)
2019 - Bobby Joe Long, American serial killer (b. 1953)
2019 - Hosei Norota, Japanese politician (b. 1929)
2019 - Beaton Tulk, Canadian politician, 7th Premier of Newfoundland (b. 1944)
2019 - Anna Udvardy, Hungarian film producer (b. 1949)
Observances
Gravity Day
Birthday of Guru Amar Das (Sikhism)
Declaration of the Bab (Baha'i faith)
Labour Day (Jamaica)
Students' Day (Mexico)
World Turtle Day
Days of the year