| 23 December 1294 | Papal States, Italy [administration] | Benedict Gaetani is elected Pope Boniface VIII. |
| 23 December 1482 | France, Holy Roman Empire [treaties] | By the Treaty of Arras, King Louis XI of France and the Habsburg regent Maximilian agree the partition of the Burgundian lands. Maximilian's daughter Margaret is to marry the dauphin (soon to be Charles VIII), taking as her dowry Artois and the Franche-Comté. Maximilian's infant son Philip is to retain the Netherlands, while the duchy of Burgundy, with Picardy and the Boullonais, will go to France. |
| 23–29 December 1546 | Holy Roman Empire [Schmalkaldic War (1546–53)] | The Schmalkaldic cities of Ulm and Frankfurt submit to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, bringing his forces to the border of the most powerful Protestant Schmalkaldic leader, Philip, Landgrave of Hesse. |
| 23 December 1588 | France [wars] | King Henry III of France mounts a coup against the Catholic League. He has Henri, Duke of Guise, assassinated at Blois, followed the next day by his brother Cardinal Louis, and takes the Catholic claimant to the throne, Cardinal Charles de Bourbon, prisoner. Charles, Duke of Mayenne, the third Guise brother, assumes leadership of the League. |
| 23 December 1728 | Holy Roman Empire, Prussia [treaties] | The Treaty of Berlin is agreed between the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and Frederick William of Prussia, by which the emperor recognizes Prussia's claim to the duchies of Berg and Ravenstein in the Holy Roman Empire, while Prussia guarantees the Pragmatic Sanction, accepting the right of the Emperor's daughter, Maria Theresa, to succeed him as ruler of all the Habsburg domains. |
| 23 December 1834 | England [births and deaths] | Thomas Malthus, English economist and demographer who theorized that population growth, unless checked, would always outstrip the food supply, dies in St Catherine, near Bath, England (68). |
| 23 December 1876 | Ottoman Empire [law and government] | An Ottoman constitution is proclaimed by the reformist grand vizier (chief minister) Midhat Pasha, guaranteeing parliamentary government, freedom of worship, and a free press throughout the empire. |
| 23 December 1905 | United Kingdom [everyday life] | The first British beauty contest, the ‘Blond and Brunette Beauty Show’, takes place in Newcastle upon Tyne. |
| 23 December 1913 | USA [legislation] | The US Congress passes the Glass-Owen Currency Act (Federal Reserve Bank Act), establishing a Federal Reserve Board with power over monetary policy and 12 district Federal Reserve banks, and creating the nation's first central banking system since the dissolution of the Second Bank of the United States in the 1830s. |
| 23 December 2006 | Iran [diplomacy] | The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution authorising sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend its uranium enrichment programme which has heightened international fears about the country's nuclear weapon ambitions. |
