Centuries:	15th century - 16th century - 17th century
Decades:	1490s  1500s  1510s  - 1520s -  1530s  1540s  1550s
Years:	1520 1521 1522 - 1523 - 1524 1525 1526

June 6: Gustav Vasa becomes King.

Year 1523 (MDXXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events of 1523

January - June

• June 6 - Gustav Vasa is elected king of Sweden, finally establishing its full independence from Denmark.

July - December

• November 19 - Pope Clement VII succeeds Pope Adrian VI as the 219th pope.

Undated

• The Ming Dynasty Chinese navy captures two Western ships with Portuguese breech–loading culverins aboard, which the Chinese call a fo–lang–ji (Frankish culverin). According to the Ming Shi, these cannons are soon presented to the Jiajing Emperor by Wang Hong, and their design is copied in 1529.
• Martin Luther translates the New Testament into German.

Births

• April 5 - Blaise de Vigenère, French diplomat and cryptographer (d. 1596)
• June 5 - Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1574)
• September 22 - Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, French church leader and pretender to the throne (d. 1590)
• October 18 - Anna Jagiellon, daughter of Sigismund I of Poland (d. 1596)
• December 6 - Barbara Radziwiłł, queen of Poland (d. 1551)
• date unknown
  • Sancho d'Avila, Spanish military leader (d. 1583)
  • Gabriele Falloppio, Italian anatomist and physician (d. 1562)
  • Martín Cortés, Spanish conquistador (d. 1589)
• probable
  • Crispin van den Broeck, Flemish painter (d. 1591)
  • Richard Edwards, English poet (d. 1566)

See also Category: 1523 births.

Deaths

• February 4 - Thomas Ruthall, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge
• May 7 - Franz von Sickingen, German knight (b. 1481)
• May 23 - Ashikaga Yoshitane, Japanese shogun (b. 1466)
• May 24 - Henry Marney, 1st Baron Marney, English politician (b. 1447)
• August 13 - Gerard David, Flemish artist (b. c. 1455)
• August 29 - Ulrich von Hutten, Lutheran reformer (b. 1488)
• September 14 - Pope Adrian VI (b. 1459)
• October - William Cornysh, English composer (b. 1465)
• date unknown
  • Alessandro Alessandri, Italian jurist (b. 1461)
  • Bartolomeo Montagna, Italian painter (b. 1450)
  • Abi Ahmet Celebi, chief physician of the Ottoman Empire, (b. 1436)
• probable
  • Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, Spanish navigator (b. 1460)

See also Category: 1523 deaths.

Ongoing Events

• Knight's Revolt in Germany.