Home > The People's Chronology > 10Th Century A.D.

901 A.D.–925 A.D.

901 A.D.: political events

Lombards at Pavia choose the 21-year-old son of the late king of Provence (or Lower Burgundy) Boso as their king (see 900 A.D.). Crowned at Rome in February by Pope Benedict IV, he will reign until 928 as the Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig III, but Berengar of Friuli will expel him from Italy within a year (see 905 A.D.).

Edward the Elder takes the title "King of the Angles and Saxons."

This century will be marked by struggles between Muslims and Christians; Greeks and Russians; and Lombards, Bulgarians, Arabs, and Byzantines.

901 A.D.: energy

The work collar for draft animals will come into general use in this century. Also called the broad-breast collar, it allows a horse to draw from its shoulders without pressing upon its windpipe and quadruples a horse's efficiency as compared with horsepower derived from animals harnessed with neck yokes of the kind employed on oxen.

901 A.D.: science

Mathematician-physician-philosopher Thabit ibn Qurrah dies at Baghdad at age 65 (approximate), having served as court astronomer to the Abbasid caliph al-Mutadid. After inheriting a large fortune in his youth, he studied at Baghdad, returned to his native Harran, antagonized the local Hellenistic community with his liberal philosophical ideas, and escaped persecution only by recanting his "heresies" and fleeing to Baghdad. He has spent his life translating and teaching the works of Greek mathematicians and writing works of his own on mathematics, philosophy, and medicine.

901 A.D.: medicine

England receives her first shipments of East Indian spices, used chiefly for their alleged medical benefits.

901 A.D.: agriculture

Horses will come into wider use in this century in those parts of Europe where the three-field system produces grain surpluses for feed, but hay-fed oxen will be more economical, if less efficient, in terms of time and labor and will remain almost the sole source of animal power in southern Europe, where most farmers will continue to use the two-field system.

901 A.D.: food availability

Europe will suffer 20 severe famines in this century, some of them lasting for 3 to 4 years. An alimentary crisis will occur every few years for the next 3 centuries, in fact, and as populations grow and become more urbanized, the famines will strike more cruelly, although they may be fewer in number than in some earlier centuries.

902 A.D.: political events

Troops of the great Abbasid caliph al-Mutadid meet with defeat at the hands of the Qarmatians (a schismatic religious sect that is also a political movement), and Abbasid caliph al-Mutadid dies after a ruthless 10-year reign in which he has played off Alids, Dulafids, Saffarids, and other factions against each other to increase the power of the Hamdanids and Samaids. He has been poisoned in a palace intrigue by some accounts.

903 A.D.: religion

Pope Benedict IV dies at his native Rome in July after a 3-year reign and is succeeded by a cleric who ascends the papal throne as Leo V but is imprisoned and tortured by one Christophorus after a reign of just 1 month. Christophorus makes himself pope (see 904 A.D.).

904 A.D.: political events

The Saracen corsair Leo of Tripoli storms Thessalonika July 31, plunders the town, and carries off 20,000 of its men and women as slaves.

The 52-year-old Chinese general Zhu Wen (Chu Wen) murders the Tang emperor Zhao Zong (Chao Tsung) along with all of his sons except for a 13-year-old boy, who is placed on the imperial throne that he will occupy until he is ousted in 907.

904 A.D.: religion

Pope Christophorus is deposed and strangled to death on orders from an ambitious cleric who finally gains the papal throne with support from Alberic I of Spoleto and is consecrated January 29 as Sergius III. The new pope also has Christophorus's predecessor Leo V killed. He allies himself with one Theophylactus, who becomes virtual dictator of the papal administration, and begins a reign that will continue until 911, during which time there will be conflicts between those who want to rehabilitate the late Pope Formosus and those who want to repeat his degradation.

905 A.D.: political events

The Welsh chieftain Cadell ap Rhodri makes his 25-year-old son Howell governor of Dyfed, having conquered that territory. Young Howell will consolidate his position by marrying a daughter of Dyfed's previous ruler, acquire part of Seisyllwg upon his father's death in 909, merge Dyfed with Seisyllwg upon his brother's death in 920, and reign until his death in 950 as Howell the Good (Hywel Dda, or Hywel ap Cadell) (see 928 A.D.).

The Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig III returns to Italy and subdues the Lombards, but Berengar of Friuli takes him by surprise July 21, has him blinded, and sends him back to Arles, in Provence (see 901 A.D.; 915 A.D.).

Navarre is made a kingdom as the Christian reconquest of Spain begins under Alfonso III, 57, of León and the Asturias.

906 A.D.: political events

Vietnamese landowner Khuc Thua Du leads an uprising against the Chinese governor of provinces surrounding the Red River Delta, forcing the Chinese to recognize him as the new and legitimate governor (see 939 A.D.; Trung sisters, 43 A.D.).

The Chola king Aditya dies after a 35-year reign in which he has expanded his empire to cover all of southeast India.

907 A.D.: political events

The former Bulgarian khan Boris I dies at Preslav May 2, having long since retired to a monastery.

Hungary's Magyar chief Arpád dies June 5 at age 72 (approximate), having founded a dynasty that will reign until 1301 (although its first king will not be crowned as such until 997). The Magyars destroy the Moravian Empire and make raids into German and Italian territory.

Kiev's Varangian prince Oleg lays siege to Constantinople with 2,000 ships and secures trading rights from the world's leading center of commerce and culture (see 850 A.D.; 941 A.D.).

Persia's Samanid dynasty shah Ismail I ibn Ahmad dies after a 15-year reign in which he has extended his borders to encompass Tabaristana and Khorasan, establishing independence throughout the eastern part of his country from his capital at Bukhara while remaining nominally a subject of the caliphate at Baghdad.

China's Tang dynasty comes to an end after 289 years as the nomadic Qi Dan (Khitan) Mongols under Ye-lü A-Bao-Ji (Ye-Lü A-pao-chi) begins to conquer much of the country. Gen. Zhu Wen (Chu Wen) forces the young emperor to abdicate and usurps the throne and proclaims himself the first emperor of the Later Liang dynasty (but see 912 A.D.).

909 A.D.: political events

Edward the Elder of Wessex defeats an army of invading Danes, but Danish forces continue to pose a problem (see 910 A.D.).

The Fatimid dynasty founded by Shiite Muslims in Ifriqiyah (Tunisia) will gain suzerainty over North Africa and reign until 1171 (see exploration, colonization [Cairo], 969 A.D.).

The Japanese imperial minister Tokihara Fujiwara dies at his native Kyoto April 26 at age 37, having governed the country since age 21; his 28-year-old brother Tadahira will rule as chancellor (kampaku) until his death in 949.

910 A.D.: political events

Edward the Elder of Wessex gains fresh victories over the Danes of Northumbria, handing them a crushing defeat at Tettenhall (see 911 A.D.). He takes possession of London and Oxford upon the death of his brother-in-law Ethelred of Mercia and builds a ring of fortresses to protect Wessex.

The kingdom of Asturias becomes the kingdom of León with Alfonso III as its monarch.

The Byzantine emperor Leo VI (the Wise) is forced to pay tribute to the Magyars.

910 A.D.: religion

The Benedictine Abbey of Cluny is founded.

911 A.D.: political events

The Treaty of St. Clair-sur-Epte establishes the duchy of Normandy; Rollo the Viking (Gange-Rolv Ragnvaldsson, or Hrolf the Ganger) becomes France's first duc d'Orléans as the Scandinavian Norsemen extend their domination over the Franks. Now about 51, Rollo will be baptized next year, taking the name Robert, and will acquire large parts of what later will be called Normandy.

Bavaria has her beginnings in a duchy created under the rule of an indigenous duke but will be subject for years to raids by Magyar tribesmen (see 947 A.D.).

The East Frankish Carolingian emperor Ludwig III (Louis the Child) dies in early November at age 18, and the son of Conrad, count of Lahngau, is chosen German king November 8 at Forchheim. Conrad, duke of Franconia, is chosen East Frankish king through the influence of Ludwig's guardian and regent, Hatto I, archbishop of Mainz, who has sided with the Franconians against the house of Babenberg. Lorraine transfers her allegiance to France.

Mercian forces in Britain rout Danish invaders at a battle near Tettenhall (see 910 A.D.). Commanding the Mercians are their ealdorman Aethelred and his wife, Aethelflaed, eldest daughter of the late Alfred the Great, who becomes leader of her husband's people upon his death later in the year (see 912 A.D.).

911 A.D.: religion

Pope Sergius III dies at his native Rome April 14 after a 7-year reign in which he is rumored to have fathered a son by Marozia, the teenaged daughter of the senator and papal dictator Theophylactus, who belongs to the powerful Crescentii family. Sergius is succeeded by a Rome-born cleric who will reign until 913 as Anastasius III, but the real authority in his pontificate will reside in Theophylactus.

912 A.D.: political events

Edward of Wessex begins a series of expeditions into the Danelaw (Danish territory in England) established in 886 (see 911 A.D.). Edward will build fortress after fortress as he proceeds until he has regained Essex, East Anglia, and the east Midlands. Aethelflaed of Mercia, meanwhile, will advance through what later will be Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Lincoln, and Stamford.

The Guelph king Rudolf I of Juran (Upper Burgundy) dies October 25 after a 24-year reign.

The Byzantine emperor Leo VI dies after a 26-year reign in which he has completed the Basilian code of laws begun by his predecessor. He is succeeded by his brother, who will reign for less than a year.

The Chinese emperor Zhu Wen (Chu Wen) is murdered at Kaifeng (Kai-feng) by his eldest son after a 5-year reign and the son succeeds to power. Five different dynasties will assert imperial authority in the next 47 years, but none will exercise much power beyond the Huanghe (Yellow River) Basin (see Song [Sung] dynasty, 960).

913 A.D.: political events

The Byzantine emperor Alexander II dies and is succeeded by his 8-year-old nephew, a son of the late Leo VI, who will reign until 959 as Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus ("born to the purple"). The government is administered by a regency composed of Constantine's mother, Zoë Carbonopsina; the patriarch Nikolas; and John Eladas.

Bulgarian forces menace Constantinople. Their khan Symeon has reigned since 893 and calls himself emperor of the Romans.

913 A.D.: religion

Hatto I, archbishop of Mainz, dies May 15 at age 62 (approximate); Saxon chroniclers will record either that he was struck by lightning or thrown by the devil into the crater of Mt. Etna.

Pope Anastasius III dies in June (or August) after a 2-year reign and is succeeded by a cleric who will reign until next year as Lando.

914 A.D.: political events

England's Warwick Castle near Stratford-upon-Avon is fortified by Alfred the Great's daughter Aethelflaed, who leads the Mercians in their fight against Danish invaders.

Adrianople falls to the Bulgarian khan Symeon, but Byzantine forces soon retake the city.

914 A.D.: religion

Pope Lando dies in March after a reign of less than a year and is succeeded by the archbishop of Ravenna, who will reign until 928 as John X. He has been installed according to some accounts by one Theodora, wife of the Roman senator and papal dictator Theophylactus.

915 A.D.: political events

Papal forces defeat Muslim invaders on the Garigliano River in August with support from the Roman senator Theophylactus and Duke Alberic I of Spoleto.

Berengar of Friuli is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John X in December but soon encounters opposition from some of the Italian nobility (see 922 A.D.).

915 A.D.: food availability

Famine strikes the Iberian Peninsula, possibly as a result of a wheat crop failure due to rust.

917 A.D.: political events

The king of Wessex Edward the Elder invades East Anglia with an army that includes West Saxon troops to drive out Danish invaders.

The Bulgarian khan Symeon overruns Thrace in violation of a 913 agreement with Constantinople. The Byzantines launch a counterattack, but Symeon routs their forces August 20 at Anchialus and goes on to gain control of the Balkans, extending his realm to cover what later will be southern Macedonia, southern Albania, and Serbia, which collectively become a Bulgarian vassal.

918 A.D.: political events

The German king Conrad I dies September 23 after a 7-year reign in which he has warred with the Danes, the Slavs, the Magyars, and the duke of Saxony, 42. Conrad has advised his nobles to make the duke of Saxony the next German king, defying the power of the Holy Roman Emperor Berengar. They will elect the duke king at Fritzlar next May, and he will reign until 936 as Heinrich the Fowler.

The king of Wessex's sister Aethelflaed is killed in June at age 48 while fighting the Danes. She has united Mercia, conquered Wales, and become de facto ruler of the Danes and Mercians. Her daughter Aelfwyn inherits the Mercian crown (but see 919 A.D.).

The Korean general Wang Kon overthrows a government established by the monk Kungye in the north-central part of the peninsula and makes Songak (later Kaesōng) his capital (see 935 A.D.).

919 A.D.: political events

The Norse leader Raegnald crosses the sea from Dublin and proclaims himself king at Jorvik (later York) (but see 920 A.D.).

Mercia's queen Aelfwyn loses her throne to her late mother's brother Edward the Elder of Wessex, who will rule Mercia as well as Wessex until his death in 924.

919 A.D.: food availability

Famine returns to the Iberian Peninsula, which is ruled in the south by the Umayyad caliph Abd ar-Rahman III and in the north by Christian princes who are establishing the beginnings of León, Castile, and Navarre.

920 A.D.: political events

Edward of Wessex receives the submission of the Norse leader Raegnald, who last year made himself king at Jorvik (later York, although Norse kings will rule at Jorvik off and on until 954). The Scots, Strathclyde Welsh, and all of Northumbria also submit to Edward's rule.

921 A.D.: religion

The wife of Bohemia's first Christian duke is murdered by her pagan daughter-in-law, Drahomira. Ludmilla will be canonized and become the patron saint of Bohemia.

Jewish philosopher Sa'adia ben Joseph, 39, leads a group of Babylonian scholars in opposition to the Palestinian scholar Aaron ben Meir, who has promulgated an extensive change in Jewish calendrical computation. Sa'adia had compiled a Hebrew-Arabic dictionary by the time he departed Egypt for Palestine at age 23, leaving behind his wife, two sons, and his devoted students; in Palestine he found a growing sect of Jews known as Karaites who denied the teachings of the Talmud and had found support from local Muslim authorities. He also found Jews who rejected the bases of all monotheistic religions and left for Babylon after writing refutations of these "heresies."

922 A.D.: political events

Rebellious Frankish barons depose Charles III (the Simple) and replace him with Robert, brother of King Odo, who is crowned king of the Franks at Reims June 29 while Charles gathers a Carolingian army to march against the usurper. Robert I will reign for slightly less than 1 year.

Italian noblemen lose patience with their ruler Berengar of Friuli and invite Burgundy's Rudolf II to accept Berengar's throne. Rudolf has helped his father-in-law, Robert, overthrow France's Charles III and he is crowned at Pavia (see 923 A.D.).

922 A.D.: religion

The Persian mystic Al-Hallaj (abu al-Mughith-al-Hsayn ibn Mansur), 64, is sentenced to death for heresy after a long trial at Baghdad. Having supported reform of the caliphate, he has been seen as a rabble-rouser and is flogged, mutilated, and beheaded March 27.

923 A.D.: political events

The Battle of Soissons June 15 ends with the death of Robert I (Rollo of Normandy) at the hands of the deposed Charles III, but Charles the Simple is defeated and the barons elect Robert's son-in-law, Rudolf II, duke of Burgundy, to succeed their slain king. They imprison Charles at Péronne on the Somme (see 929 A.D.).

Burgundy's Rudolf II defeats Berengar of Friuli's forces July 17 at Fiorenzuola, near Piacenza, and will rule Italy (as well as France and Jurane Burgundy) until 926.

924 A.D.: political events

The former king of Italy (and Holy Roman Emperor) Berengar of Friuli is assassinated by one of his own men April 7 (see 923 A.D.; 926 A.D.).

Edward the Elder of Wessex and Mercia dies July 17 after a 25-year reign in which he has gained direct control over all of Mercia, including the Danish-occupied areas. He is succeeded by his 29-year-old son Aethelstan (Athelstan), who will reign until 940, continuing his father's conquest of the Danelaw north of the Thames-Lea line from the Vikings who have been in Britain since 787.

Bulgaria's khan Symeon attacks Constantinople but is repelled at the city walls. He will call himself "czar of all the Bulgarians" beginning next year.

925 A.D.: political events

The German king Heinrich the Fowler annexes Lotharingia (Lorraine) as the French fight among themselves, with many not accepting the rule of Burgundy's Rudolf I.

926 A.D.–950 A.D.

926 A.D.: political events

Aethelstan (Athelstan) of Wessex and Mercia annexes Northumbria and forces the kings of Wales and Strathclyde to acknowledge his sovereignty along with the Picts and the Scots.

Italian noblemen lose patience with Burgundy's Rudolf II and invite Hugh of Provence to assume the throne (see 924 A.D.). Rudolf returns to Burgundy (see 931 A.D.). Pope John X allies himself with Hugh of Provence (Hugh of Italy), provoking the ire of the Roman senator Theophylactus's daughter Marozia, who has herself become a senator (see 928 A.D.).

The Bulgarian czar Symeon attacks Croat forces who have allied themselves with the Byzantines and is repulsed, meeting with his first defeat.

927 A.D.: political events

Bulgaria's czar Symeon dies of a heart attack May 27 at age 62 after building an empire that stretches from the Ionian to the Black Sea. The first Bulgarian czar, Symeon the Great is survived by four sons and succeeded by his second son, Peter, who signs a peace treaty with the Byzantines in October.

927 A.D.: food availability

Famine devastates the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople's Constantine VII and his co-emperor father-in-law, Romanus Lecapenus, push through stringent laws to prevent great landed magnates from buying up the small holdings of poor farmers.

928 A.D.: political events

Burgundy's Rudolf I loses the support of Herbert, comte de Vermandois, who controls the prison in which Charles III (the Simple) is incarcerated and uses that as leverage to blackmail Rudolf and make him cede sovereignty over Laon.

The Welsh king Howell the Good (Hywel Dda) makes a pilgrimage to Rome and studies the English legal system (see 905 A.D.). Now 48, he has minted his own coinage and begins to formulate advanced ideas about government (see 945 A.D.).

The former Lombard king Ludwig III (Louis the Blind) of Provence dies at Arles in September at age 48 after a 27-year reign, of which 23 were sightless. His son Charles Constantine is in prison and succeeds only to the county of Vienne.

928 A.D.: religion

Pope John X is deposed and imprisoned in the Castel Sant'Angelo at Rome in May by order of the Roman senatrix Marozia after a 14-year reign; he is soon smothered to death, a cardinal priest is elected to succeed him and reigns as Leo VI until his death in December, whereupon another cardinal priest is elected and will reign until 931 as Stephen VII (or VIII).

928 A.D.: literature

Nonfiction: Book of Discernment (Kitab attamyiz) by Sa'adia ben Joseph is a defense of the traditional Jewish calendar. The exilarch David ben Zakkai who heads Babylonia's Jewry appoints Sa'adia gaon of the academy of Sura May 22, the academy having been transferred from Baghdad.

929 A.D.: political events

The former French king Charles III (the Simple) dies in prison at Péronne October 7 at age 50, leaving Rudolf I of Burgundy with virtually no opposition except that of Herbert, comte de Vermandois.

Wenceslas, king of Christian Bohemia, is murdered at Prague by his pagan brother Boleslav.

Córdoba's emir Agbd al-Rahman III proclaims himself caliph, establishing Spain as a Muslim power and a rival to the Fatimids of Ifriqiyah (Tunisia), who have ruled since 909.

929 A.D.: exploration, colonization

Meissen in Saxony has its beginnings in a fortress built on the Elbe by Heinrich the Fowler. The castle of Albrechtsburg will be built on the site in the 12th century.

930 A.D.: political events

Iceland's Althing holds its first session (see 874 A.D.). Chieftains from various tribes assemble for 2 weeks in June to settle disputes, arrange marriages, and the like in a congress that will survive for well over 1,000 years as the world's oldest parliament.

The Japanese emperor Daigo dies at age 45 after a 33-year reign and is succeeded by his 7-year-old son, who will reign until 946 as the emperor Suzaku. The boy was kept indoors until age 3 by his mother, who will dominate him, but his grandfather, the ex-emperor Uda, remains the power behind the throne and will retain that power until his death next year.

931 A.D.: political events

Hugh of Provence cedes Provence to Burgundy's Rudolf II in return for Rudolf's renunciation of all claims to Italy (year approximate; see 926 A.D.). He makes his son Lothair II co-ruler of Provence.

Norway's Harald I dies at age 77 (approximate) after a 59-year reign as the Scandinavian nation's first king. His many sons have fought to succeed him. He divided the country up among them more than 25 years ago to bring peace. Overweight, unable to travel through the country and perform his royal functions, he handed over power 3 years ago to his favorite son Eric Bloodaxe, now 46, and Eric has allegedly killed at least two of his brothers to gain the throne that he will hold until his death in 954.

Rollo the Viking (Hrolf the Ganger) dies at Rouen at age 85 (approximate), having been France's first duc d'Orléans. He turned over governance of his dukedom 4 years ago to his son William I Longsword, now about 38, who has married Sprota de Bretagne and becomes 2nd duke of Normandy.

The former Japanese emperor Uda dies at his native Kyoto September 3 at age 64.

931 A.D.: religion

Pope Stephen VII (or VIII) dies at Rome in February after a 3-year reign and is succeeded by a cleric who will reign until the end of 935 (or early 936) as John XI. He is by some accounts an illegitimate son of the former Pope Sergius III by Sergius's mistress Marozia.

932 A.D.: religion

The Babylonian Jewish exilarch David ben Zakkai excommunicates the philosopher Sa'adia ben Joseph for refusing to endorse one of the exilarch's decision. As gaon of the academy at Sura, Sa'adia has systematized Talmudic law by writing extensively on such subjects as inheritance, deposits, testimony and documents, and forbidden meats. His writings have provoked envy on the part of David ben Zakkai, and they have alienated some of his friends; he responds by excommunicating the exilarch (see 935 A.D.).

932 A.D.: communications, media

Printing is used for the first time to reproduce Confucian classics of the 5th century B.C.

933 A.D.: political events

The German king Heinrich the Fowler routs Magyar raiders March 15 at Merseburg.

934 A.D.: political events

Buyids from the mountains to the southwest of the Caspian Sea take advantage of the anarchy in Persia to seize much of the country's western region (see Baghdad, 945).

935 A.D.: political events

The Koryo dynasty that will rule the Korean peninsula until 1392 comes to power with the surrender of the kingdom of Silla to Gen. Wang Kon (see 918 A.D.; 981 A.D.).

935 A.D.: religion

Pope John XI dies at Rome in late December (or will die in January) after a 5-year reign and will be succeeded January 3 of next year by a cleric who will reign until 939 as Leo VII.

935 A.D.: literature

Nonfiction: The Book of Beliefs and Opinions (Kitab al-amanat wa al-itiqadat) by Jewish philosopher Sa'adia ben Joseph, now 53, who is removed from office as gaon of the Sura academy by order of the Abbasid caliph Al-Radi, who succeeded to power last year. The exilarch has used his powerful connections at Baghdad to influence the caliph, and Sa'adia goes into seclusion (see 937 A.D.).

936 A.D.: political events

Rudolf I of Burgundy dies in mid-January at Auxerre, France, after a 24-year reign in which he ruled Italy from 922 to 926 and united Burgundy. He is succeeded as king of France by a 14-year-old son of the late Charles III (the Simple), whose second wife, Eadgifu, was a daughter of England's Edward I (she fled with the boy to Wessex after the imprisonment of Charles in 922). A nephew of the late Danish leader Aethelstan (Guthrum), the boy is chosen king by the 39-year-old count of Paris Hugh the Great, whose father, Robert, was killed at Soissons in 923. He is consecrated at Laon June 19 and will reign until 954 as Louis IV d'Outremer (from Overseas) (but see revolt, 939 A.D.).

The German king Heinrich the Fowler dies at his palace of Memleben in Thuringia July 2 at age 60 after a 17-year reign in which he has created the Saxon army and founded Saxon town life. He is succeeded as duke of Saxony by his 23-year-old son, who has married a daughter of England's late king Edward the Elder of Wessex and Mercia, is elected German king by dukes assembled at Aachen August 7, is crowned by the archbishops of Mainz and Cologne, and celebrates with a banquet at which he receives fealty from the dukes of Lorraine, Bavaria, Franconia, and Swabia. Otto soon asserts his suzerainty over the dukes who elected him, however, and some of them rebel. Otto refuses to give land to his older but illegitimate half brother Dankmar, who gains support from an influential Saxon nobleman and from Eberhard, duke of Franconia; they seize the fortress of Eresburg and take the king's younger brother Heinrich prisoner, but Otto defeats Dankmar and kills him as he tries to find sanctuary (see 937 A.D.).

Tatars attack Peking (Beijing) and capture the town (see 1151 A.D.).

937 A.D.: political events

The Battle of Brunenburh in England ends in victory for Aethelstan over a coalition of Celts, Danes, Scots, and Vikings; Aethelstan (Athelstan) of Mercia takes the title "King of all Britain" (see 926 A.D.).

The new German king Otto I punishes Eberhard, duke of Franconia, for what he considers an infringement of royal authority (see 936 A.D.). When Eberhard becomes duke of Bavaria next year, Otto will depose him (see 939 A.D.).

937 A.D.: religion

The Jewish philosopher Sa'adia ben Joseph is reinstated as gaon of the academy at Sura after a reconciliation with the exilarch David ben Zakkai (see 935 A.D.). He has put the 2 years of his excommunication to good use by further writing.

939 A.D.: political events

Hugh the Great, count of Paris, rebels against the Frankish king Louis IV and gains support from William I Longsword, 2nd duke of Normandy. The new pope Stephen VIII (or IX) mediates the dispute to end hostilities, and Louis will renew William's investiture of Normandy next year, but William will look northward with a view to expansion (see 942 A.D.).

The German king Otto I gains victory October 6 in the Battle of Andernach over Eberhard, duke of Franconia, and other rebellious dukes, asserting Saxon power over all of Germany after years of anarchy, internal rivalries, and foreign invasions since the breakup of the Frankish empire. A brother of the late German king Conrad, Eberhard has gained support from Otto's brother Heinrich and from Giselbert, duke of Lorraine, but is killed in the battle. Otto prevails with help from Hermann, duke of Swabia, and adds Eberhard's duchy of Franconia to Saxony, making it clear that he will tolerate no further rebellions. Giselbert, duke of Lorraine, transfers his allegiance to France's Louis IV.

Vietnam gains independence after nearly 1,000 years of Chinese rule (see 906 A.D.). The prefect of Giao Chau Province in the valley of the Red River defeats Chinese forces on the Bach Dang River north of Haiphong, Ngo Quyen proclaims an independent kingdom (he calls it Nam Viet), but he will have trouble maintaining control of his territory; feudal lords (su quan) resist his efforts to gain their cooperation and will plague all of his 5-year reign with their efforts to gain control themselves.

Japan's Taira and Minamoto clans challenge the imperial court at Kyoto, causing chaos in the provinces. Masakado Tairo has acquired enough power to govern the entire Kanto district northwest of Edo and calls himself the "new emperor" (shinno). A descendant of the emperor Kammu, who reigned from 781 to 806, he has eliminated several uncles and other blood relatives to organize his own court, installing governors in the country's eight northern provinces (but see 940 A.D.).

939 A.D.: religion

Pope Leo VII dies at his native Rome July 13 after a 3½-year reign and is succeeded July 14 by a Rome-born, German-educated priest who will reign until 942 as Stephen VIII (or IX) under the domination of Duke Alberic II of Spoleto, who rules as virtual dictator of Rome.

940 A.D.: political events

The Anglo-Saxon king Aethelstan (Athelstan) of England dies after a 16-year reign in which he has gained sovereignty over Wales, Strathclyde, the Picts, and the Scots; he is succeeded as king of the English by his son, who will reign until 946 as Edmund I.

Irish-Norse Vikings led by Olaf Guthrifthson conquer Jorvik (later York) and force Edmund to cede lands (see 941 A.D.).

Japan's self-proclaimed "new emperor" Masakado Tairo is subdued by two local rivals who revolt against his rule (see 939 A.D.). He dies at Kitayama in Shimosa Province March 25, but the Taira clan will remain powerful (see 1028 A.D.).

940 A.D.: communications, media

The Arab caligrapher (Abu ali Muhammad Ibn ali) Ibn Muklah dies in prison at his native Baghdad at age 54 (approximate) after a career in which he was appointed vizier three times, lost the office each time through political intrigue, and has been sentenced to life imprisonment. He has reputedly invented a cursive style of Arabic lettering (nashkhi script) that is replacing the angular Kufic as the standard of Islamic calligraphy. Originally intended only for copying the Koran, the rounded forms and curved lines of nashkhi will be refined and used not only for correspondence but also as architectural decoration.

941 A.D.: political events

The Norse-Irish chieftain Olaf Guthfrithson is killed while raiding northern Northumbria; he is succeeded by Olaf Sigtryggson (see 940 A.D.; 942 A.D.).

Kiev's Varangian prince Igor crosses the Black Sea while the Byzantine fleet is in the Aegean, plunders Bithynia, and reaches the gates of Constantinople, but the Greek navy drives off the Russians and nearly annihilates their fleet with the help of "Greek fire," an incendiary liquid that burns atop water.

942 A.D.: political events

The English king Edmund moves north to take the five boroughs of the East Midlands from the Norse-Irish chieftain Olaf Sigtryggson (see 941 A.D.). While also crushing a rebellion by the Welsh king Idwal of Gwynedd, Edmund drives Olaf Sigtryggson nd Ragnall Guthfrithson out of Jorvik (later York), and Olaf retires to Dublin (see 943 A.D.).

William I Longsword, 2nd duke of Normandy, is assassinated in Picardy December 17 at age 50 (approximate), having come to an island in the Somme. His ambitions to extend his realm have worried Arnulf I, count of Flanders, who has ordered that he be put to death. His oldest surviving son Richard becomes 3rd duke of Normandy.

942 A.D.: religion

The Jewish philosopher Sa'adia ben Joseph dies at Sura, Babylonia, in September at age 60 (approximate), having translated the Pentateuch into Arabic with extensive commentaries.

Pope Stephen VIII (or IX) tries to negotiate a peace that will end a feud between Duke Alberic of Spoleto and Hugh of Provence (king of Italy) but dies at Rome in October after a 3-year reign in which he has supported the Cluniac reform of monasticism, given formal recognition to Louis IV d'Outremer as Carolingian king, and threatened to excommunicate anyone who rebelled against him. The Roman despot Alaric II of Spoleto selects as Stephen's successor a cleric who will reign until 946 as Marinus II.

943 A.D.: political events

The English king Edmund ravages Strathclyde and defeats the Scottish king Donald II MacDonald, who has reigned as king of Alba since 900. Constantine of the Picts and Scots abdicates to enter a monastery and yields control of his realm to Donald's son and his own cousin, who will annex Moray and reign until his death in 954 as Malcolm I. Malcolm recognizes Northumbria as the northernmost part of Anglo-Saxon England.

Russified Norsemen (Varangians) sail from the Volga River down the Caspian Sea and capture the fortress of Bärdä. Some of them will marry into Russian and Georgian royal families as they gain power in the north Caucasus.

943 A.D.: medicine

Ergotism strikes Limoges in France, killing an estimated 40,000 people who have eaten bread made from diseased rye (see 857 A.D.; 1039 A.D.).

944 A.D.: political events

Danish settlers help Edmund regain the territory he ceded to Olaf in 940. Edmund cedes Cambria to Malcolm I of the Picts and Scots.

The Vietnamese liberator Ngo Quyen dies at age 47 (approximate) after a 5-year reign as king of an autonomous realm. Duong-Binh Vuong Tam-Kha usurps the late king's throne but will soon be toppled by Ngo Quyen's sons Ngo Nam-Tan Vuong Xuong-Van and Ngo Thien-Sach Vuong Xuong-Ngap, whose joint rule will keep the Ngo dynasty in power until 954. The kingdom will come under repeated attack from the Chinese in centuries to come but will retain its autonomy until the 19th century (see 1284 A.D.).

945 A.D.: political events

A Welsh conference held at Whitland draws up a standardized code of laws and has them set down in writing, much of the work being done by the monk Blegwryd (see 928 A.D.). Howell the Good (Hywel Dda) has played a major role in formulating the new laws.

Kiev's Varangian prince Igor falls in battle with Drevlianian tribesmen and is succeeded by his son, who will reign until his death in 972 as Sviatoslav I but whose mother, Olga, will rule until her death in 969 while he occupies himself in military affairs. She will be the first Slavic ruler to embrace Christianity.

Baghdad falls in December to Shiite forces under the Buyid chief Imad ibn Buwayhid, who takes the capital of the once-powerful Abbasid caliphate but keeps the caliph as a figurehead while he tries to restore peace (see 946 A.D.; Buyids, 934 A.D.).

945 A.D.: agriculture

Farmers invade Kyoto by the thousands to demonstrate against requisition of their rice and other crops.

946 A.D.: political events

The English king Edmund I of Mercia sends envoys to the French court but dies in May at age 25 after being stabbed in the stomach by an outlawed robber while trying to intervene in a dispute at Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire, after a 6-year reign; Edmund is succeeded as king of the English by his younger brother, who will reign until 955 as Edred.

The Abbasid caliph al-Mustaqfi is blinded and deposed in January. He is succeeded by al-Muti, who will reign until 974, but his realm is taken over by the three Buwayhid brothers (Imad al-Dawla, Runk al-Dawla, and Muizz al-Dawla) (see 967 A.D.).

The Japanese emperor Suzaku dies at age 23 after a 16-year reign and is succeeded by his 2-year-old brother Murakami, who will reign until 967.

946 A.D.: religion

Pope Marinus II dies at Rome in April or early May after a reign of nearly 4 years and is succeeded May 10 by a Rome-born cleric who gains election with the support of the Roman despot Alaric II of Spoleto and will reign until 955 as Agapetus II.

947 A.D.: political events

The Lombard king Berengar II of Ivrea, 47, forces Hugh of Provence to flee home, but Hugh's son, Lothair II, marries Adelaide (Adelheide), 16-year-old daughter of Burgundy's Rudolf II, and remains in Italy.

The Saxon king Otto I gives the duchy of Bavaria to his brother Heinrich (see 911 A.D.; 955 A.D.).

949 A.D.: political events

The Japanese chancellor (kampaku) Tadahira Fujiwara dies at his native Kyoto September 9 at age 69, having governed the country since his late brother's death in 909. His family will continue to hold the regency until 1180 (except for one 3-year period between 1068 and 1071), controlling the imperial government by having its daughters become the consorts or chief concubines of the reigning emperors.

950 A.D.: political events

The Welsh king Howell the Good (Hywel Dda) dies at age 70 (approximate) after a 41-year reign in which he has established codified laws far more sophisticated than those in neighboring England. His three sons will divide his realm amongst themselves but his enlightened laws will remain in active use throughout Wales until after 1066.

Lothair II dies at Turin, possibly having been poisoned by Berengar II of Ivrea, who is crowned king of Italy and imprisons Lothair's widow, Adelaide (Adelheide), now 19, but she is rescued by the German king Otto I of Saxony, now 38, who will marry her next year as his second wife (he married Edward the Elder's daughter Edith in 930) (see 962 A.D.).

950 A.D.: science

The treatise Mahasiddhanta by the 30-year-old Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata II examines the longitudes of the planets, eclipses of the sun and moon and how to project them, the lunar crescent, and other subjects studied by the late Brahmagupta in 628 (see Aryabhata I, 499 A.D.). Written in Sanskrit verse, the work also discusses geometry, algebra (with applications to the longitudes of planets), and geography; Aryabhta will later produce a sine table correct up to five decimal places when measured in decimal part of the radius.

950 A.D.: communications, media

Europe's intellectual center is Córdoba in Muslim Spain. The city of 500,000 has libraries, medical schools, and a large paper trade.

951 A.D.–975 A.D.

951 A.D.: political events

The Lombard king Berengar II of Ivrea seizes Liguria with help from the feudal lord Oberto I, who is given the eastern section, including Genoa and its eastern neighbor Luni (see 960 A.D.).

953 A.D.: political events

War breaks out in Lorraine and Swabia and is soon followed by conflicts in Bavaria and Saxony as the duchies rebel against the German king Otto the Great (see 939 A.D.). He fails to take Mainz or Augsburg; his brother Bruno, archbishop of Cologne, succeeds in restoring royal authority in Lorraine, but some of the rebellious dukes receive support from Magyars who have seized the opportunity to invade Bavaria (see Battle of Lechfeld, 955 A.D.).

The Fatimid caliph al-Mansur dies and is succeeded by his 23-year-old son (Abu Tamim Maad), whose authority is recognized over most of what later will be Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia; the son will reign until his death in 975 as al-Muizz (al-Muizz li-Din Allah) (see 958 A.D.).

954 A.D.: political events

Malcolm I, king of the Picts and Scots, is killed after an 11-year reign as the West Saxon king Edred (Eadred) of Mercia reunites the northern counties into his realm. Malcolm's son will rule Alba until his murder in 995 as Kenneth II.

Eric I Bloodaxe of Norway and Northumbria is killed in battle (or murdered) at Stainmore, Westmoreland, at age 69 (approximate), having reigned at Jorik (later York) from 947 to 948 and since 952.

France's Louis IV dies September 10 at age 33 and is succeeded by his 13-year-old son Lothair, who will reign until 986, initially under the guardianship of Hugh the Great, count of Paris, and later under his maternal uncle Bruno, archbishop of Cologne.

The despot Alaric II of Spoleto dies at Rome but will be followed by other despots.

955 A.D.: political events

The Battle of the Lechfeld August 10 ends 50 years of Magyar invasion into the West (see 953 A.D.). The German king Otto the Great of Saxony gains a brilliant victory, defeating the Magyars with an army recruited from all the duchies, captures Regensburg, and ends the rebellion in his realm. He goes on to defeat the Wends (Slavs) on the Recknitz, reestablishes Charlemagne's East Mark (Austria) with Bavarian colonists (see 947 A.D.), and begins what Germans will later call the First Reich.

Edred (Eadred) of Wessex dies childless after a 9-year reign and is succeeded as king of the English by his 16-year-old nephew, who will reign until 959 as Eadwig (Edwy). The new monarch will soon incur the anger of Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury; now about 46, Dunstan is the son of a Saxon princess by a Danish thane. Dunstan will find Eadwig in delicto with the daughter of a nobleman, drag him from the young woman's chamber, and make him repudiate the "strumpet"; Eadwig will exile Dunstan next year and marry the young woman. She will gain respect for her high moral character, and the king will make generous grants to religious institutions.

955 A.D.: religion

Pope Agapetus II dies at his native Rome in December after a 9-year reign and is succeeded by a 19-year-old cleric who will reign until 963 as John XII. He will be accused of sleeping with his father's mistress, castrating a deacon, and committing incest with a niece, but the charges will not be substantiated.

956 A.D.: political events

Hugh the Great, count of Paris, makes himself effective master of Burgundy in mid-April but dies at Deurdan June 17 at age 59 (approximate). He is succeeded by his 18-year-old son Hugh Capet, who is recognized with some reluctance as duke of the Franks by his cousin Lothair IV, king of the Franks.

957 A.D.: political events

Mercia and Northumberland rebel against the young English king Eadwig (Edwy) of Wessex.

958 A.D.: political events

The Fatimid caliph al-Muizz sends his general Jawhar to the western part of his realm, where the people of Fez and other towns have repudiated Fatimid rule. Jawhar will subdue Fez by next year and make his way to the Atlantic (see Egypt, 969 A.D.).

959 A.D.: political events

The first king of England gains recognition as such in the person of Edgar, who ascends the throne at age 16 following the death after a 4-year reign of his elder brother Eadwig (Edwy) at age 20 in October. A son of Edmund I, a great-grandson of Edward the Elder, and a great-great-grandson of Alfred the Great, Edgar will be crowned at Bath in 963 and reign until 975.

The Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus dies after a reign of 47 years. His young son Romanus II begins a 4-year reign that will be marked chiefly by dissipation.

959 A.D.: religion

The new English king Edgar recalls the monk Dunstan from exile in Flanders and makes him bishop of Worcester. Now about 50, Dunstan becomes Archbishop of Canterbury October 21, travels to Rome, and receives the white woolen pallium from Pope John XII. Dunstan will be Edgar's chief adviser.

960 A.D.: political events

The first ruler of Poland establishes himself in the person of Mieszko I, a man of about 25 who has conquered territory between the Oder and the Warthe Rivers. He will be converted to Christianity in 966 and reign until 992 (but see 972 A.D.).

The feudal lord Oberto I loses patience with the rule of Berengar II and travels to the Saxon court of Otto the Great, bringing with him the bishop of Como and the archbishop of Milan to request Otto's intervention (see 951 A.D.; 962 A.D.).

The Song (Sung) dynasty that will rule northern China until 1279 is established at Kaifeng by the 33-year-old military leader Zhao Kuangyin (Chao Kuang-yin), who begins to restore China's unity in the wake of the Tang dynasty that began in 618 and ended in 907. Zhao's bold initiatives have won him command of the Later Zhou (Chou) dynasty army, and when his patron died last year an allied force of Qi Dan (Khitan) and Chinese troops prepared to invade Zhou territory. Zhao has marched to meet them, and while encamped for the night outside the capital his troops reject the idea of being ruled by the child who inherited the throne, hail Zhao as emperor, dress him in imperial yellow robes, mount him on his horse, and urge him to take over the government. He will rule as emperor until 976, founding the dynasty that will overlap the Mongol Yuan dynasty, which will begin in 1260 (see 963 A.D.).

961 A.D.: political events

A great Byzantine armada of nearly 24,000 men under the command of the Cappadocian-born general Nicephorus reconquers Crete from the Saracens, who have held the island since 826. Nicephorus takes Candia, captures Chandax (later Iráklion) March 6, massacres its population without mercy, expels the Muslims, converts the people to Christianity, and returns to Constantinople with the last emir of Crete, Abd al-Aziz, as his prisoner, having gained mastery over the entire eastern Mediterranean.

Armenia's Bagratid king Ashot III (the Merciful) moves his capital from Kars, 5,740 feet above sea level on the Kars River, eastward to Ani on the Akhuryan River. Located on a major east-west caravan route, Ani will become larger than any European city by the early 11th century, with a population of about 100,000 that will rival Baghdad, Cairo, and Constantinople (see environment [earthquake], 1319 A.D.).

962 A.D.: political events

The Saxon king Otto the Great is crowned Holy Roman Emperor February 2 by Pope John XII, ending Rome's feudal anarchy. Otto I makes the feudal lord Oberto I count palatine, a position second only to his own, and revives the Western Empire, beginning a period of friction with Constantinople.

962 A.D.: religion

The Holy Roman Emperor Otto I issues an edict entitled Ottonian Privilege (Privilegium Ottonianum) ordering Pope John XII to take an oath of obedience. The pope refuses (see 963 A.D.).

963 A.D.: political events

Kiev's Varangian prince Sviatoslav I begins a 2-year campaign in which he will defeat Khazar forces along the lower Don River, vanquish the Ossetes and Circassians in the northern Caucusus, and attack Bulgars on the Volga (see 967 A.D.).

Luxembourg has her beginnings in a castle built by Siegfried, count of the Ardennes, on a site that will grow into a walled town with 24 forts linked underground by a network of casemates 23 kilometers in length. The town and its surrounding territory will be ruled in centuries to come by Burgundian, Spanish, French, Austrian, and Dutch monarchs (see 1815 A.D.).

The dissolute Byzantine emperor Romanus II dies at age 25, probably of poison administered by his wife, Theophano. His infant son will reign until 1025 as Basil II with help from the great general Nicephorus, now 41, who will reign as the co-emperor Nicephorus II Phocas until his murder in 969.

China's Song (Sung) emperor Zhao Kuangyin (Chao Kuang-yin) gains the voluntary submission of two dissident states and conquers two others as he works to unite the country (see 960 A.D.). He has forbidden court officials to recommend candidates for public office, insisting that members of his bureaucracy be selected not for reasons of birth or patronage but solely on the basis of merit and demonstrated ability. Within 10 years he will have established the final examination in the imperial palace to verify rankings and ordered public announcement of successful candidates.

963 A.D.: religion

The Holy Roman Emperor Otto I calls a council at St. Peter's in Rome November 6. The council deposes Pope John XII December 4 on charges that he has conducted himself dishonorably and instigated an armed rebellion against the emperor. Otto marches into Rome in December, and he expels the pope from the city. A layman is elected to succeed John and will reign until 965 as Leo VIII, but not without interruption (see 964 A.D.).

964 A.D.: religion

The deposed Pope John XII returns with his supporters to Rome in February and convenes a synod that deposes Pope Leo VIII, who finds refuge with the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I. Pope John dies suddenly in the arms of his mistress May 14 at age 26 (approximate). The Romans ignore Leo and elect the scholarly Benedict the Grammarian May 22. Otto returns to Rome in June and restores Leo to the papal throne; Benedict V is exiled, and Leo will reign until his death early next year.

965 A.D.: political events

Arnulf I, count of Flanders, dies March 27 at age 64 (approximate) after a 47-year reign that was interrupted from 958 to 962, during which time his late son ruled as Baldwin III. Having resisted incursions by the Norsemen and played an active role in the struggle between the emperor Otto I and Hugh Capet for control of Lorraine, Arnulf the Great is succeeded by his grandson, who will rule as Arnulf II the Younger until 988.

965 A.D.: religion

Pope Leo VIII dies on or about March 1 after a 13- or 14-month reign and is succeeded by a cleric who will reign until 972 as John XIII.

965 A.D.: literature

The Mesopotamian poet (Abu at-Tayyis Ahmad ibn Hussein) al-Mutanabbi returns from 5 years in Persia, having lived at Shiraz under the protection of the Buyid emir Aud ad-Dawlah, but bandits attack him near Dayr al-Aqui outside Baghdad September 23 and he is killed at age 50.

966 A.D.: communications, media

The Japanese calligrapher Tōfu Ono (Ono no Tōfu) dies at age 70 (approximate), having established the foundations of the Wayō style of calligraphy while serving the imperial courts of the emperors Daigo, Suzaku, and Murakami.

967 A.D.: political events

Kiev's Varangian prince Sviatoslov I defeats Bulgar forces in the Balkans at the behest of the Byzantine emperor Basil I (or his general Nicephorus) but then announces his attention of establishing a Russo-Bulgarian empire and refuses to give up his conquered territory (see 963 A.D.). The capital of the new empire is to be on the Danube at Pereyaslavets (later Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky) (see 969 A.D.).

Mesopotamia's Buyid emir Nasir ad-Dawlah dies at Mosul and is succeeded by his son, who will reign for a decade as Abu Taghlib.

The Japanese emperor Murakami dies at age 41 after a 21-year reign and is succeeded by his 17-year-old son, who is insane but will nonetheless reign until 969 as the emperor Reizei.

968 A.D.: political events

The Byzantine emperor Basil II annexes the Armenian province of Taron (see 961 A.D.; 970 A.D.).

969 A.D.: political events

Kiev's Varangian prince Sviatoslav I captures the Bulgarian czar Peter as he tries to implement his plan for a Russo-Bulgarian empire (see 967 A.D.; 971 A.D.).

The Fatamid caliph al-Muizz marches east from what later will be Tunisia and conquers Egypt (see 958 A.D.). Now 39, he had prepared an invasion force 3 years ago but delayed action at the request of his mother, who wanted to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. The local Egyptian ruler Kafur treated her well en route, and she asked her son to postpone his advance until after Kafur's death, which occurred last year. The Fatimids have tried twice before to oust Egypt's Ikhshidid regime, this time they are successful, and they will retain suzerainty until 1171.

Antioch falls to Byzantine forces October 28 after a long siege, ending 300 years of Arab rule in the Syrian city.

The Byzantine co-emperor Nicephorus II Phocas who has ruled since 963 is murdered in the fortified palace of Boukoleion at Constantinople the night of December 10 at age 47. Former friends have acted on the instructions of his wife's 45-year-old lover, the Armenian general John Tzimisces, who will himself reign as co-emperor until 976.

The mad Japanese emperor Reizei is removed by the Fujiwara family after a reign of nearly 2 years and succeeded by his 10-year-old brother, who will reign until 984 as the emperor Enyu.

969 A.D.: exploration, colonization

Cairo is founded by Egypt's Fatimid conquerors, who impose their will on the local Sunni. Fourteen miles northeast of the ruins of ancient Memphis, it is initially called al-Mansuriyah but will be renamed al-Qahirah in 973 or 974.

970 A.D.: political events

The prince of Eastern Siuniq declares himself king of Armenia (see 968 A.D.; 1000 A.D.).

970 A.D.: medicine

The vizier Abud al-Daula establishes a great hospital at Baghdad. Physicians are divided into the equivalent of interns and externs, a primitive nursing system is developed, and the hospital's pharmacy is stocked with drugs from all parts of the known world, including spices thought to have medicinal value.

971 A.D.: political events

A large army under the command of the Byzantine emperor John I Tzimisces helps the new Bulgarian czar Ivan drives out Kiev's Varangian prince Sviatoslav I (see 969 A.D.), who is obliged to give up his claim to Balkan territory.

972 A.D.: political events

Kiev's Varangian prince Sviatoslav I is ambushed near the cataracts of the Dnieper River in the spring and killed by Pecheneg tribesmen while returning with a small retinue to Kievan Rus. One of his courtesans gave birth 16 years ago to a son, Vladimir, whom he made duke of Novgorod 2 years ago; his son Yaropolk tries to sieze both Kiev and Novgorod, Vladimir flees to Scandinavia and enlists the support of an uncle to defeat Yaropolk, and within 8 years Vladimir will have consolidated his realm from Ukraine to the Baltic and fortified his borders against incursions by Balts, Bulgarians, and eastern nomads (see 987 A.D.).

The Battle of Cedynia pits 3,000 to 4,000 Polish infantry and mounted soldiers against a force of Germans that has crossed the Oder under command of the margrave Hodo. A brother of Poland's duke Mieszko leads a cavalry charge against the invaders, forces them to pull back, but dies in battle. Cornered in a swamp and cut to pieces, the Germans lose most of their best knights and Poland retains control of eastern Pomerania (see 979 A.D.).

972 A.D.: religion

Pope John XIII dies at Rome September 6 after a 6-year reign and is succeeded by a cardinal deacon who will not be consecrated until early next year and will reign only until July 974 as Benedict VI.

972 A.D.: architecture, real estate

Kyoto's five-story Daigo pagoda is completed after 29 years of construction.

973 A.D.: political events

The Holy Roman Emperor Otto I (Otto the Great) dies at Memleben in Thuringia May 7 at age 60 after an 11-year reign. Survived by his widow, Adelaide, now 42, he is succeeded by their 18-year-old son, who has been joint emperor since Christmas 967 and who last year took as his wife the Byzantine princess Theophano, daughter of Romanus II. Adelaide will exert great influence on the new emperor, although her lavish philanthropies will be a source of contention between them, and he will reign until late 983 as Otto II.

The Fatimid caliph al-Muizz moves his seat of government to the new Egyptian city of al-Mansuriyah, which will soon be renamed al-Qahirah (Cairo). He leaves his lieutenant general Yusuf ibn Ziri to govern his western North African territories, which will become the province of al-Maghrib (meaning "the West").

973 A.D.: commerce

Cloves, ginger, pepper, and other Eastern spices are available for purchase in the marketplace at Mainz, reports the Moorish physician-merchant lbrahim ibn Yaacub, who has visited that city. The spices have been brought to Mainz by Jewish traveling merchants, known as "Radanites," who have kept some international trade channels open in the 3 centuries of conflict between the Christian and Islamic worlds. In addition to spices, the Radanites have traded in numerous other commodities, transporting furs, woolen cloth, Frankish swords, eunuchs, and white female slaves to the Orient, while returning to Christian Europe with musk, pearls, precious stones, aloes, and spices that include cinnamon.

Direct trade begins between Egypt and the Italian states.

974 A.D.: religion

Pope Benedict VI is imprisoned at Rome in June after a 2-year reign and strangled to death in July through the influence of the powerful Crescentii family, which replaces him with the deacon Franco, who reigns briefly as Boniface VII but is then expelled by order of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II and flees to Constantinople, taking the Church treasury along with him (see 984 A.D.). Boniface is succeeded by the Rome-born bishop of Sutri, who is elected at the behest of Otto's surrogate Count Sicco and will reign until 983 as Benedict VII.

975 A.D.: political events

England's Edgar the Peaceful dies July 8 at age 31 after a 16-year reign in which he has ceded Lothian (northern Bernicia) to the Scottish king Kenneth II of Alba for the sake of good will and organized a fleet to resist northern pirates. Edgar is succeeded by his 12-year-old son, who will reign until his murder in 978 as Edward.

The feudal lord Oberto I dies October 15, having become marquis of eastern Liguria and count of Luni. The Este, Malaspina, Massa Parodi, and Pallavicini familes (Obertinghi) will rule Tuscany, eastern Liguria, and the March of Lombardy as his descendants.

William, count of Arles, takes Garde-Freinet from the Arabs.

The Fatimid caliph al-Muizz dies in Egypt at age 45 (approximate) after a 22-year reign in which he has extended his realm from Sicily to the Atlantic; having moved his seat of government to the new city of Cairo, he is succeeded by his ambitious son al-Aziz Billah Nizar abu Mansur, 20, who will battle the rival Abbasid caliphate and the Byzantines in a reign that will continue until his death in 996.

975 A.D.: science

Arabs introduce modern arithmetical notation into Europe (see 825 A.D.; 1134 A.D.).

975 A.D.: food availability

England has a terrible famine that takes many lives.

976 A.D.–1000 A.D.

976 A.D.: political events

The Byzantine co-emperor John I Tzimisces dies at Constantinople January 10 at age 51 after returning from a second campaign against the Saracens. The emperor Basil II, now 20, will reign alone until 1025.

The Bulgarian Samuel sets himself up as czar to begin a 38-year reign in which he will challenge the power of the Byzantine emperor Basil II (see 996 A.D.).

Modern Austria has her beginnings in a margravate on the Danube granted by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II to the Franconian count Leopold (Luitpold), whose family will rule the country until 1246 (see 996 A.D.). Otto defeats Bavaria's 26-year-old duke Heinrich the Quarrelsome (der Zanker), dethrones him, and forces him to give up Carinthia and Verona (but see 984 A.D.).

Córdoba's caliph Hakam II dies at age 63 after a 15-year reign in which he has ended the Fatimid dynasty in Morocco and made the University of Córdoba the greatest institution of learning in the world. He is succeeded by his son Hisham, 12, who will be caliph until 1009 and then again from 1010 to 1013 but will never have any real power (see 978 A.D.).

China's first Song (Sung) dynasty emperor Zhao Kuangyin (Chao Kuang-yin) dies at Kaifeng (Kai-feng) November 14 at age 49 after a 16-year reign and will be given the posthumous name Taizu (Tai-tsu) ("Grand Ancestor"). He is succeeded by his brother, who will complete the job of reunifying the nation by 979 and reign until 997 or 998 as the emperor Tai-tsung.

976 A.D.: environment

Venice's citizens burn down the city's 162-year-old doge's palace (palazzo ducale); it will be reconstructed and ultimately redesigned entirely.

976 A.D.: food availability

The English famine that began last year continues as crop shortfalls create hunger.

977 A.D.: political events

The great Mesopotamian Buyid Aud ad-Dawlah, ruler of Fars in southwestern Persia, drives the Hamdanids out of Mosul and tries to unify the country (see 978 A.D.).

Armenia's Ashot III (the Merciful) dies after a 25-year reign in which he has moved his capital from Kars to the Bagratid family seat of Ani.

The onetime Turkish slave Sebüktigin succeeds his father-in-law as governor of the Afghan town of Ghazna (later Ghazni); now about 35, he will gain control in the next 20 years over much of what will become Afghanistan and large parts of India as well (see 986 A.D.).

978 A.D.: political events

England's King Edward goes hunting in Dorsetshire, stops off at Corfe Castle March 18 to visit his stepmother, Elfthryth (Elfrida), and 7-year-old half brother Aethelred (Ethelred); while drinking some mead or wine in the saddle at the castle gate he is stabbed to death at age 15 by two servants in a conspiracy engineered by Elfthryth, who wants the crown for her son. The boy will reign until his death in 1016 as Ethelred (Aethelred) II, trying vainly to keep his realm from being overrun by Danish invaders.

Aix-la-Chapelle is sacked by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, who is at war with the Frankish king Lothair IV.

Poland's duke Mieszko I abducts Oda von Haldensleben from the monastery of Kalbe and marries her. A daughter of Dietrich (Theoderic) von Haldensleben, she is his second wife.

Córdoba's regent al-Mansur (Mohammad ibn-abi Amir), 39, seizes power from the caliph Hisham II, now 14. Finance minister under Hashim's late father, Hakam II, the handsome al-Mansur takes that name (it means "the Conqueror") after wooing the caliph's favorite concubine (his original name was Abu Amir al-Maasiri); he will wage successful campaigns against the Christian kingdoms to the north, check separatist religious movements, and extend the power of the Umayyad caliphate in the next 24 years.

Baghdad falls to the Mesopotamian Buyid Aud ad-Dawlah, who will rule until his death in 983, working to reunite Mosul with southern Mesopotamia, control the Bedouin, encourage learning, and restore ruined irrigation systems.

979 A.D.: political events

Polish forces defeat and drive out another German invasion force (see 972 A.D.), take some missionary fortresses, and destroy Hamburg.

979 A.D.: commerce

England's new king Ethelred (Aethelred) II begins collecting customs duties on imports to provide a source of income (see London Custom House, 1275 A.D.).

980 A.D.: political events

Kiev falls to Viking warriors called in by Vladimir of Great Novgorod, 24, who makes himself grand duke of Kiev and will reign until 1003, extending his Russian dominions (see 987 A.D.).

English ports that include Chester and Southampton come under attack in a renewal of Danish raids.

The (Earlier) Le dynasty that will rule Vietnam in southeast Asia until 1009 is founded by Le Hoan (see 1428 A.D.).

981 A.D.: political events

Poland's Mieszko I loses some territory to Vladimir I, prince of Kiev.

The Holy Roman Emperor Otto II marches into Apulia to punish the Saracens, who have invaded the Italian mainland.

Korea's Koryo dynasty king Sōngjong comes to power, beginning a 16-year reign in which he will establish a centralized bureaucracy to replace the country's aristocratic tribal system, using civil-service examinations to select the most capable officials and absorbing the provincial landholders into his government to consolidate its control.

981 A.D.: exploration, colonization

Norse Icelanders sail for Greenland in 25 ships that carry nearly 700 people with cattle, horses, and other necessities for starting a colony on the ice-capped island (see 900 A.D.). The expedition is led by Erik the Red, whose father was exiled to Iceland from Joeder more than 20 years ago for killing a man and who has himself been exiled for killing several more. Only 14 of the 25 ships will reach their destination (see 982 A.D.).

981 A.D.: religion

Pope Benedict VII dissolves the Slavic bishopric of Merseburg after conferring with the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, an action that will delay the conversion of central Europe to Christianity. The pope issues an encyclical forbidding the exaction of money for the conferral of any holy order, a practice known as simony.

982 A.D.: political events

Last year's invasion of Apulia by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II provokes the Byzantine emperor Basil II, who sends troops to support the Arabs. Otto sustains a devastating defeat in July and escapes on a Greek vessel to Rossano without revealing his identity.

Viking raiders attack Dorset, Portland, and South Wales.

982 A.D.: exploration, colonization

Erik the Red establishes the first Viking colonies in Greenland (see 981 A.D.). Five-sixths of the world's largest island (840,000 square miles, 2,275,600 square kilometers) is covered with an ice sheet that in some places is 3,140 meters deep, but the climate in the southwestern part is mild enough to support the Viking way of life, based on cattle, hay, grain, and herring (see 1262 A.D.).

983 A.D.: political events

The great Mesopotamian Buyid ruler Aud ad-Dawlah dies after a notable 6-year reign. His lands are divided, and his descendants will lose their dominions to the Ghaznavids, Kurdish Kakwayhids, and Seljuk Turks.

The Holy Roman Emperor Otto II raises German and Italian princes for a new campaign against the Saracens, but he hears of a general rising by the Slavs east of the Elbe River and dies suddenly in his palace at Rome December 7 at age 28. He is succeeded by his 3-year-old son, who is crowned German king Christmas Day at Aix-la-Chapelle by Germans unaware of the emperor's death and will reign until 1002 as Otto III with his mother, the Byzantine Theophano, exercising power until 991, when his grandmother Adelheid and Archbishop Willigis of Mainz will take over until 996.

983 A.D.: religion

Pope Benedict VII dies at his native Rome July 10 after a 9-year reign and is succeeded by the Pavia-born bishop Pietro Canepanova, who is consecrated as John XIV, but the antipope Boniface VII returns to the city from Constantinople after Otto's death in December and gains support from the Crescentii family, whose members help him imprison Pope John in the Castel Sant'Angelo (see 984 A.D.).

984 A.D.: political events

The German boy-king Otto III is seized early in the year by the deposed duke of Bavaria, Heinrich the Quarrelsome (der Zanker), now 33, who has recovered his duchy and claims the regency as a member of the reigning house (see 976 A.D.; 1002 A.D.). But Heinrich is forced to hand over the boy to his mother, Theophano, who arrives with the boy's grandmother Adelaide (Adelheide).

The Japanese emperor Enyu abdicates in favor of his 16-year-old son, who will reign until 986 as Kazan.

984 A.D.: religion

Pope John XIV dies a prisoner in the Castel Sant'Angelo at Rome August 20 after a 1-year reign, having either been murdered or starved to death (see 983 A.D.; 985 A.D.).

985 A.D.: political events

Sweden's Erik VIII Bjornsson defeats a Viking army at Fyrisvallarn near Uppsala and will be remembered as Erik "Seirsal" ("Victorious").

The Danish king Harald II (Bluetooth) dies after a 35-year reign and is succeeded by his son Sweyn (Forkbeard), who will defeat the Norwegians, Swedes, and Wends; conquer England; and reign until 1014.

985 A.D.: religion

The antipope Boniface VII dies suddenly at Rome in July and is succeeded in August by the Crescentii family's candidate for the papal throne; he will reign until 996 as John XV.

986 A.D.: political events

Lothair IV of the Franks dies March 2 at age 44 after a 32-year reign and is succeeded by his 19-year-old son, who will reign briefly as Louis V (le Fainéant), embroiling the Carolingians with Adalberon, archbishop of Reims, and Hugh Capet.

Poland's Mieszko I pledges allegiance to the German boy-king Otto III and promises assistance in Otto's war with the Polabians.

India is invaded by the Afghan leader Sebüktigin, Muslim sultan of Ghazna, who founds the Ghaznavid dynasty that will rule Afghanistan (see 977 A.D.) and much of India.

The Japanese emperor Kazan is tricked into abdicating at age 18 and becomes a Buddhist priest 1 year after the death of his wife in childbirth. His 6-year-old half brother succeeds to power and will reign until 1011 as Ichijo.

986 A.D.: medicine

The al-Tasrif compiled at Córdoba will serve for centuries as a manual of surgery. The surgeon Albucasis (Abul Kasim), who served as court physician to the late caliph Hakam II, illustrates the resumé of Arabian medical knowledge in which he describes the position for lithotomy (cutting a stone out of the urinary bladder), differentiates between goiter and cancer of the thyroid gland, and instructs surgeons in the delivery of infants in abnormal positions, use of iron cautery, amputation of limbs, transverse tracheotomies, removal of goiters, tying of arteries, repair of fistulas, healing of aneurisms and arrow wounds, and other matters.

986 A.D.: agriculture

England's cattle herds die off from a pestilence that has not heretofore been seen.

987 A.D.: political events

France's Louis V dies in May, and it is alleged that his mother, Emma, poisoned him. His death at age 20 ends the Carolingian dynasty founded by Charlemagne in 800, and the Capetian dynasty that will rule until 1328 comes to power in the person of Hugh Capet, now 49. The archbishop of Reims declares that the Frankish monarchy is elective rather than hereditary, denies the claims of the late king's uncle Charles, duke of Lower Lorraine, and engineers the election of his friend Hugh Capet, who is crowned in July and will reign until 996.

Anatolia is overrun by the great feudal barons Bardas Phocas and Bardas Skleros, who rise against the Byzantine emperor Basil II. He applies for military assistance from Kiev's Varangian prince Vladimir I, who agrees to help the emperor provided that he can marry Basil's sister Anna. Now about 31, Vladimir is already possessed of about half a dozen wives, has remained a pagan, and is said to have participated in idolatrous rites involving human sacrifice, but Basil approves the marriage on condition that Vladimir become a Christian.

987 A.D.: religion

Kiev's Varangian prince Vladimir I acts after long consultations with the boyars and sends out envoys to study the religions of Kiev's neighbors. They report that "there is no gladness" among the Muslim Bulgarians on the Volga but "only sorrow and a great stench; their religion is not a good one." They find "no beauty" in the temples of the Germans, but they report back from Constantinople that the ritual of the Orthodox Church is so awesome that "we no longer knew whether we were in heaven or on earth, nor such beauty, and we know not how to tell it." They also return with an offer from the Byzantine emperor Basil II of his sister Anna in marriage (see 988 A.D.).

988 A.D.: political events

Constantinople organizes its defenses to meet a threat from the insurgents Bardas Phocas and Bardas Skleros (see 989 A.D.).

988 A.D.: religion

Kiev's Varangian prince Vladimir I has himself baptized at Cherson in the Crimea, takes the Christian name Basil in honor of the emperor at Constantinople, and has idols at Kiev and Novgorod thrown into the Dneiper River after suppressing local resistance (see 987 A.D.). He marries the emperor's sister Anna, returns in triumph to Kiev, and begins a general conversion of Russians and Ukrainians to Eastern Orthodoxy (see Great Schism, 1054 A.D.).

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dunstan preaches vigorously on Ascension Day but dies May 19 at age 78 (approximate).

989 A.D.: political events

The Byzantine emperor Basil II uses 6,000 Russians to help him defeat Bardas Phocas at Abydos in Anatolia April 13, ending the threat to Constantinople. Bardas Skleros yields to Basil's superior forces.

990 A.D.: political events

Ghana forces take the Berber town of Awdaghost as the West African nation makes further gains. Ghana's fetish-worshiping king has made himself the most powerful ruler in non-Islamic Africa with a realm extending from the Sahara south to the upper reaches of the Niger and Senegal rivers.

991 A.D.: political events

The Battle of Maldon (Maeldun) in Essex August 11 ends in defeat for the English ealdorman (alderman) Brihtnoth (Byrhtnoth), 65, who stands six feet nine inches but is killed by Danes who have occupied Northey Island in the Blackwater River under the command of Olaf Tryggvason and demanded gold and silver in tribute. Neither side has fielded more than 2,500 men, Brihtnoth's personal military entourage deliberately sacrifice themselves to avenge his death, and casualties are heavy on both sides. The Danes refuse to leave Britain unless they are paid, and Ethelred (Aethelred) II yields to their demand in order to assure their departure (see Ashingdon, 1016 A.D.).

992 A.D.: political events

Poland's first recorded ruler dies May 25 at age 56 (approximate) after a reign of more than 30 years; Mieszko I of the house of Piast is succeeded as duke by his 25-year-old son Boleslav, who will become king in 1024 and reign until 1025 as Boleslav I (the Brave [Chrobry]). Having inherited the principality of Great Poland (Wielkopolska), between the Oder and Warthe rivers, Boleslav forms an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III and invades eastern Pomerania to gain access to the Baltic, beginning a 4-year war (see 994 A.D.).

992 A.D.: commerce

Venice acquires extensive trading privileges in the Byzantine Empire.

993 A.D.: religion

Pope John XV (or XVI) issues a decree canonizing the late Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg, the first recorded canonization of a saint.

994 A.D.: political events

The Polish duke Boleslav I completes his conquest of eastern Pomerania and pushes on to take over the rest of Pomerania (see 992 A.D.; Crácow, 997 A.D.).

995 A.D.: political events

Sweden's Erik VIII "Victorious" dies at Uppsala, having reigned since 985 as the first king of all the country. He has established the House of Yngling that will rule until 1130, and although he has allegedly been baptized he has returned to worshipping the ancient Asa gods; his 44-year-old son Olaf (Olof) will assume power in 1000, be baptized a Christian in 1008, and reign until 1022 as Olaf III (Skötkunung, meaning the "tax king").

The Scottish king of Alba Kenneth II tries to restore order in part of his realm, kills the son of a man who controls the region, and so angers the young man's mother that she lays a trap for the king. She builds a room within a tower at Fettercain, lines it with tapestries, and hides loaded crossbows behind them, all pointed toward a statue at the center of the room. The hand of the statue holds a golden apple, the grieving mother invites Kenneth to a banquet, she leads him to the room and offers him the apple as a symbol of friendship, and when the king takes the apple he triggers a mechanism that releases the arrows in the crossbows, killing him instantly. His body is interred on Iona and he is succeeded by Constantine III, who will reign only until 997.

Forces of the Byzantine emperor by Basil II take Aleppo and Homs; Basil incorporates Syria into the empire.

996 A.D.: political events

The late Otto the Great's Saxon grandson turns 16 and is crowned Otto III May 21 at Rome; his grandmother Adelaide (Adelheide) retires to a convent that she has founded at Seltz in Alsace, where she will die in 999. The new emperor grants the Bavarian bishopric of Freising 30 "royal hides" of land (about 800 hectares, or 20,000 acres) in Neuhofen an der Ybbs (see 976 A.D.). The November 1 grant of territory in what will become Niederösterreich (Lower Austria) marks the first use of the name Austria (Osterreich), meaning "Eastern Realm," although the area has evidently been known for some time as Ostarrichi (see 1138 A.D.).

Hungary's first Christian Magyar duke Géza dies and is succeeded by his 20-year-old son, who will rule until his death in 1038 as Stephen (István) I. He was married last year to the daughter of Bavaria's duke Heinrich II, has chosen St. Martin of Tours as his patron saint, and is engaged in putting down a pagan uprising between the Drave River and Lake Balaton.

Byzantine forces under Basil II recover Greece. Basil defeats the Bulgarian czar Samuel on the Sperchelos River, bribing supporters of Samuel to defect as he proceeds to reduce Bulgarian strongholds in a campaign that will continue until 1014, causing him to be known as Basil Bulgaroktonos (Slayer of the Bulgarians).

France's Hugh Capet dies at Paris October 14 at age 58 and is succeeded by his son, 26, who will reign until 1031 as Robert II.

Egypt's Fatimid caliph al-Aziz Billah Nizar abu Mansur dies at Bilbays, Egypt, October 14 at age 41 after a 21-year reign in which he has expanded his Shiite empire at the expense of the Byzantines, using Turkish mercenaries (Mamelukes) who will come to dominate Egyptian government. The fifth ruler of the Fatimid dynasty, he had been preparing to lead a great expedition against the Byzantines and is survived by his Christian wife, who may have influenced his benign treatment of Christians and Jews. The 11-year-old Abyali al-Mansur is appointed caliph and will reign until 1021 as al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ("Ruler by God's Command"), persecuting Christians, Jews, and Sunni Muslims while founding mosques and patronizing scholars and poets. When he comes of age the new caliph will take arbitrary and eccentric actions, ordering that all dogs be killed (their barking will annoy him) and banning various shellfish and vegetables (see destruction of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 1009 A.D.).

996 A.D.: religion

Pope John XV dies at Rome in March after an 11-year reign in which he has carried out the Church's first solemn canonization by papal decree. The Holy Roman Emperor Otto II has invaded the Italian peninsula and replaced the Crescentine pope May 3 with his 18-year-old cousin Bruno of Carinthia (Brun von Kärnten), who is elected Pope Gregory V, but the Roman nobleman Crescentius II foments a revolt that forces Gregory to flee in the fall and summons the Calabrian-born papal legate Giovanni Filagato home from Constantinople with a view to allying Rome with Byzantium against Otto (see 997 A.D.).

997 A.D.: political events

The Scottish king of Alba Constantine III dies at Rathinveramon after a 2-year reign, having almost certainly been killed, possibly by a rival who will reign until his own death in 1005 as Kenneth III.

The Polish duke Boleslav I seizes the city of Crácow from Bohemia as he extends his territorial gains (see 994 A.D.).

The Afghan sultan Sebüktigin dies at Balkh in August at age 55 (approximate), having founded the Ghaznavid dynasty that will continue until 1152 (see 986 A.D.). He has named his younger son Ismail as his successor, but many in his court favor his eldest son Mahmud (Yamin al-Dala Abdul-qasim Mahmud ibn Sebüktigin) (see 998 A.D.).

Korea's Koryo king Songjong dies after a 16-year reign in which he has established a centralized bureaucratic system of administration that has replaced the old aristocratic tribal system. He has absorbed provincial magnates into the central government and used education and civil service examinations to select the most capable officials.

997 A.D.: religion

The exiled pope Gregory V excommunicates the Roman nobleman Crescentius II (see 996 A.D.). The Crescentii family sets up Giovanni Filagato as an antipope under the name John XVI (or XVII) (see 998 A.D.).

Bishop Adalbert (né Voitech) is martyred near Gdansk April 23 at age 40, having come into conflict with some of the nobility and become a missionary on the Baltic coast. The first Czech bishop of Prague, he will be canonized in 999 (see politics, 1000 A.D.).

998 A.D.: political events

The 27-year-old Afghan prince Mahmud defeats his younger brother Ismail in battle, places him in confinement for the rest of his life, and will rule until 1030 as Mahmud of Ghazna, expanding the small realm of his late father, Sebüktigin, to include the Punjab in northwestern India, Kashmir, and much of Persia as well (see 1001 A.D.).

China's second Song (Sung) dynasty emperor Tai-tsung dies after a 22-year reign in which he has virtually completed the unification begun by his late brother (year approximate). He is succeeded by his 30-year-old son Zhao Heng (Chao Heng), who will reign until 1022 as the emperor Zhen Zong (Chen Tsung), consolidating his realm with that of the Khitan (see 1004 A.D.).

The Maya on the Yucatán Peninsula in the Western Hemisphere establish a new kingdom under the former Toltec prince and philosopher Topiltzin, who is known as Kukalkan (the Plumed Serpent). Ruling from his capital at Chichén Itzá, Topiltzin will combine Toltec culture with that of the Maya, building temples, a pyramid, and an astronomical observatory.

998 A.D.: science

Persian-born astronomer-mathematician Abu al-Wafa al Buzajani dies at Baghdad at age 58, having built the first wall quadrant for observing the stars. He has invented the secant and cosecant functions of trigonometry, devised a new way to calculate sine tables, and proved the generality of the sine theorem for spherical triangles. Surviving him are his practical Book on What Is Necessary from Geometric Construction for the Artisan (Kitab fima yahtaj ilayh al-sani min al-amal al Handasiyha) and Book on What Is Necessary from the Science of Arithmetic for Scribes and Businessmen (Kitab fima yahtaj ilayh al-kuttah wa al-ummal min ilm al-hisab).

998 A.D.: religion

The Holy Roman Emperor Otto III returns to Rome and institutes a reign of terror (see 996 A.D.). His men track down the antipope Giovanni Filigato (John XVI Philagathos), whose eyes are gouged out, tongue cut out, lips sliced off, and nose and ears mutilated, whereupon he is paraded sitting backward on a donkey and confined either in a dungeon or monastery, but his life is spared (he has been Otto's godfather and reputedly his mother's lover). The nobleman Crescentius II is beheaded April 29 for having raised a rebellion 2 years ago against Pope Gregory V; his body is thrown into a moat, after which it is hung upside down by the heels. Gregory V is reinstated and will reign until his death early next year.

999 A.D.: political events

León's Bermudo II abdicates in favor of his 5-year-old son, who will reign until 1028 as Alfonso V. Muslim invaders have forced Bermudo to recognize the suzerainty of their leader, the Umayyad vizier Abu Amir al-Mansur of Córdoba (Almanzor) (see 1003 A.D.).

999 A.D.: exploration, colonization

Norse trader Bjarni Herjulfsson is blown far off course to the southwest while trying to sail from Iceland to Greenland on a new course (year approximate). He sights land that will prove to be part of a western hemisphere and returns to tell of what he saw (see Leif Ericsson, 1001 A.D.).

999 A.D.: religion

Pope Gregory V dies at Rome in mid-February at age 21 after a turbulent 3-year pontificate in which he has been forced to flee the city and then been reinstated. He is succeeded April 9 by the scholarly Gerbert of Aurillac, 53. A favorite of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, he is the first French-born pope and will reign until his death in 1003 as Sylvester II. (He has written to Otto, "Things imagined by great minds need great deeds to be realized.")

Europeans and Byzantines throng monasteries and churches in the fall, bringing deeds of land, valuable jewels, manuscripts, and wagonloads of possessions in hopes of being in good grace on Judgment Day as the year 1000 (M in Roman enumeration) approaches. Debts are forgiven, convicts are released from prison, spouses confess their infidelities, church bells ring December 31, lords go down on their knees alongside peasants, and many are astonished that the world does not end.

1000 A.D.: political events

Norway's Olaf I Tryggvesson falls in battle with the kings of Denmark and Sweden after a 5-year reign in which English clergymen have helped him convert Norway, Iceland, and Greenland to Christianity. The Danes take over Norway, and Sweden's Olaf III Skötkonung will soon have his illegitimate daughter Holmfrith married to one of the Danish viceroys in Norway (he will marry his other illegitimate daughter, Astrid, to the Norwegian ruler, and marry his legitimate daughter, Ingigerth, to Jaroslav I (the Wise), grand prince of Kiev.

The Polish duke Boleslav the Brave ransoms the relics of the martyred Adalbert, bishop of Prague, from the Prussians and buries them at Gnesen in March with ceremonies attended by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, who studied under Adalbert and now personally acknowledges Boleslav's sovereignty as ruler of Poland. Boleslav unites Bohemia and Moravia (but see 1002 A.D.).

Hungary's Arpád king Stephen (István) I is anointed king December 25 and receives the crown from Pope Sylvester II to signify the entry of his country into the family of European Christian nations (see 1001 A.D.).

The Byzantine emperor Basil II annexes the Armenian territories of David of Tayq (see 968 A.D.; 1022 A.D.).

Ceylon (Sri Lanka) is invaded by the Chola king Rajaraja the Great.

The Japanese emperor Ichijo, now 20, makes his wife, Sadako (Teishi), 25, empress, but she dies after 10 months, and Akiko, 12, becomes empress.

Pagan tribesmen from the south overrun Ethiopia.

1000 A.D.: exploration, colonization

Kraków has its beginnings in the castle of Wawel built on a bluff overlooking the Vistula River.

Saxons settle at Bristol, England.

1000 A.D.: commerce

The Danegeld imposed by England's Ethelred II is a general tax levied to support the king's forces as he ravages Cumberland and Anglesey. In addition, Ethelred demands that merchants wishing to trade in London pay a tax in peppercorns for the privilege.

1000 A.D.: transportation

The Chinese Bridge of the Ten Thousand Ages is completed at Fu Zhou (Foochow).

1000 A.D.: science

A scribe working at Constantinople produces a handwritten parchment copy of papyrus treatises by the mathematician Archimedes, who was killed in 212 B.C. The copy includes diagrams and calculations (year approximate; see 1200 A.D.).

The Indian mathematician Sridhara recognizes the importance of the zero, or cipher (he calls it sunya, Arabs call it cifr, and Russians will call it tsifra) (see Bhaskara II, 1185 A.D.; Brahmagupta, 628 A.D.). Roman numerals require no zeros (X = 10, L = 50, C = 100, D = 500, M = 1,000), but the zero makes it possible to perform any kind of calculation and write any number using only 10 digits, from zero to 9.

The Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata II dies at age 80 (age and date approximate).

1000 A.D.: religion

Churches go up throughout Europe, especially in France and Germany, to express thanks at the postponement of Judgment Day.

The Polish duke Boleslav the Brave persuades the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III to create the independent archbishopric of Gnesen. Boleslav reorganizes Poland's Church structure, making the national Church independent of German ecclesiastical control and directly under papal jurisdiction.

Hungary's Arpád king Stephen (István) I founds the monastery of Gran.

1000 A.D.: literature

The Pillow-Book of Sei Shonagon will be compiled in the next 15 years by a lady-in-waiting to the late Japanese empress Sadako. Daughter of the wit Mutosuke Kiyowara, Sei Shonagon, now 37, will fill her notes and comments with scathing criticisms and polished indelicacies that will make her diaries popular for centuries.

1000 A.D.: population

Rome's population falls to 50,000, down from more than a million in 118. The Colosseum has been turned into an apartment house.

The population of the world reaches about 310 million, up from roughly 250 million in 7 B.C., with most people living in extreme poverty under tyrannical rulers and exposed to repeated epidemics. The number will grow in the next millennium to more than 6 billion (see 1750 A.D.).

901 A.D.–925 A.D. 926 A.D.–950 A.D. 951 A.D.–975 A.D. 976 A.D.–1000 A.D.

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Franconia|Hatto I, archbishop of Mainz|Lorraine : France and|Aethelflaed, Mercian queen|popes : Anastasius III|Rudolf I of Juran (Upper Burgundy)|Byzantine emperors : Leo VI (the Wise)|Zhu Wen (Chu Wen)|Byzantine emperors : Alexander II|Byzantine emperors : Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus|Symeon I of Bulgaria|Bulgaria : and Byzantines|Byzantine Empire : and Bulgarians|Hatto I, archbishop of Mainz|popes : Anastasius III|popes : Lando|Warwick Castle|Aethelflaed of Mercia|Symeon, Bulgarian czar|Byzantine Empire : and Bulgarians|Bulgaria : and Byzantines|Adrianople|popes : Lando|popes : John X|Berengar|Holy Roman Emperors : Berengar|famine : in Iberian Peninsula|Symeon I of Bulgaria|Thrace : Bulgarians in|Byzantine Empire : and Bulgarians|Bulgaria : and Byzantines|Serbia : and Bulgaria|Bulgaria : and Serbia|Holy Roman Emperors : *Conrad I of Franconia|Holy Roman Emperors : Berengar|Holy Roman Emperors : *Heinrich the Fowler|Aelfwyn of Mercia|Aethelflaed of Mercia|Wang Kon|Korea|Raegnald|Aelfwyn of Mercia|famine : in Iberian Peninsula|Amayyad caliphate|León|Castile|Navarre|Raegnald|Ludmilla of Bohemia|Sa'adia ben Joseph|Judaism : Karaites|Karaites|Charles III of France|Berengar of Friuli|Soissons : Battle of|Robert I of France|Charles III of France|Rudolf II of France|Rudolf II of Burgundy|Berengar of Friuli|Berengar of Friuli|Edward the Elder|Wessex|Mercia|Athelstan of Mercia|Symeon I of Bulgaria|Holy Roman Emperors : *Heinrich the Fowler|Lorraine|popes : John X|Symeon I of Bulgaria|Croats|Symeon I of Bulgaria|Byzantine Empire : and Bulgarians|Bulgaria : and Byzantines|Byzantine Empire : famine in|famine : in Byzantine Empire|Byzantine emperors : Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus|Wales|Louis III of France|popes : Stephen VII (or VIII)|Sa'adia ben Joseph|David ben Zakkai|Judaism|Wenceslas of Bohemia|Bohemia|Boleslav of Bohemia|Fatimid dynasty|Tunisia : Fatimids in|Meissen|Iceland|Japan|Rudolf II of Burgundy|Harald I of Norway|Eric Bloodaxe|Rollo the Viking|Orléans : duc d'|popes : Stephen VII (or VIII)|popes : John XI|popes : Sergius III|printing|David ben Zakkai|Sa'adia ben Joseph|Judaism|Holy Roman Emperors : *Heinrich the Fowler|Magyars|Korea : Koryo dynasty in|Wang Kon|popes : John XI|popes : Leo VII|Sa'adia ben Joseph|caliphs : Al-Radi|Judaism|Burgundy, Rudolf of|France|Hugh the Great|Louis IV of France|Holy Roman Emperors : *Heinrich the Fowler|Beijing (Peking)|Tatars|Brunenburh, Battle of|Athelstan of Mercia|Sa'adia ben Joseph|David ben Zakkai|Hugh the Great, count of Paris : the Great, count of Paris,|Louis IV of France|William I Longsword|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto I|Vietnam|Vietnam : and China|China : and Vietnam|Japan : Taira family in|Japan : Minamoto (Genji) clan in|Taira, Masakado|popes : Leo VII|popes : Stephen VIII (or IX)|Athelstan|Athelstan of Mercia|Edmund I of Mercia|York|Tairo, Masakado|Arabic language|Igor, Prince of Kiev|Byzantine Empire : and Russians|Greek fire|William I Longsword|Arnulf I, count of Flanders|Sa'adia ben Joseph|popes : Stephen VIII (or IX)|Alaric II of Spoleto|popes : Marinus II|Scotland : and England|ergotism : in France|Scotland|Malcolm I of Scotland|England, Kingdom of : and Scotland|France : ergotism in|Malcolm I of Scotland|Vietnam|China : and Vietnam|Vietnam : and China|Wales|Kiev|Igor, Prince of Kiev|Sviatoslav I of Kiev|Baghdad : Shiites in|Shiites|Abbasid caliphate|Edmund I of Mercia|Edred of Mercia|Abbasid caliphate|caliphs : Al-Mustaqfi|Japan|popes : Marinus II|Alaric II of Spoleto|popes : Agapetus II|Berengar II|Hugh of Provence|Bavaria|Fujiwara, Tadahira|Wales|Berengar II|Adelaide (Adelheide)|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto I|Aryabhata II|astronomy : Aryabhata II and|Córdova|Berengar II of Ivrea|Oberto I|Genoa|Fatimid caliphate|Mansur, al-|Muizz, al-|Malcolm I of Scotland|Edred of Mercia|Eric I Bloodaxe|Louis IV of France|Hugh the Great|Alaric II of Spoleto|Lechfeld, Battle of|Magyars|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto I|Edwig of Mercia|Dunstan|Edred of Mercia|popes : Agapetus II|popes : John XII|Hugh the Great|Capet, Hugh|Fatimid caliphate|Muizz, al-|Fez|Edgar of England|Bath : coronation at|Byzantine emperors : Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus|Byzantine emperors : Romanus II|Canterbury : archbishop of|Poland|Christianity : in Poland|Oberto I|Berengar II of Ivrea|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto I|China : Song dynasty in|Taizu (Tai-tsu)|Byzantine emperors : Nicephorus II Phocas|Crete : Byzantines and|pirates, privateers : Mediterranean|Crete : Saracen pirates and|Ashot III of Armenia|Kars|Ani|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto I|popes : John XII|Oberto I|Kiev|Sviatoslav I of Kiev|Luxembourg|Byzantine emperors : Romanus II|Byzantine emperors : Basil II|Byzantine emperors : Nicephorus II Phocas|China : Song (Sung) dynasty in|Zhao Kuangyin (Chao Kuang-yin)|Taizu (Tai-tsu)|popes : Leo VIII|popes : John XII|popes : Benedict V|Arnulf I, count of Flanders|Arnulf II, count of Flanders|popes : Leo VIII|Mutanabbi, al-|Dawlah, Aud ad-|Tōfu Ono|Sviatoslov I of Kiev|Dawlah, Nasir ad-|Japan|Byzantine emperors : Basil II|Armenia : and Byzantine Empire|Byzantine Empire : and Armenia|Sviatoslav I of Kiev|Bulgaria|Fatamid caliphate|Muizz, al-|Egypt : Fatimid caliphate in|Arabs : and Syria|Antioch : Byzantines and|Byzantine emperors : Nicephorus Phocas|Byzantine emperors : Nicephorus II Phocas|Byzantine emperors : John I Tzimisces|Japan|Egypt : Fatimid dynasty in|Fatimid dynasty|Armenia|Baghdad : hospitals in|Bulgaria|Sviatoslav I of Kiev|Kiev|Sviatoslav I of Kiev|Vladimir I of Kiev|Cedynia, Battle of|Pomerania : and Poland|popes : John XIII|popes : Benedict VI|Kyoto : Daigo pagoda in|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto I|Adelaide (Adelheide), wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto II|ginger|pepper|Radanites|eunuchs|slavery : white|cloves|popes : Benedict VI|popes : *Boniface VII|popes : Benedict VII|Edgar of England|England, Kingdom of|Scotland : England and|Oberto I|Fatimid caliphate|Egypt : Fatimid caliphate in|Muizz, al-|al-Aziz abu Mansur|Arabic numerals|Arabs : and arithmetic|famine : in England|Byzantine emperors : John I Tzimisces|Byzantine emperors : Basil II|Bulgaria|Byzantine emperors : Basil II|Austria|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto II|Bavaria|Córdova : University of|Cordova|China : Song (Sung) dynasty in|Taizu (Tai-tsu)|Venice : doge's palace in|famine : in England|Armenia|Ashot III of Armenia|Sebüktigin|Afghanistan|England, Kingdom of|Ethelred II|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto II|Aix-la-Chapelle : sacks of|Mieszko I of Poland|al-Mansur, Ummayad vizier of Cordova|Umayyad caliphate|Aud ad-Dawlah|Ethelred II|Kiev : Novgorod and|Novgorod : and Kiev|Vietnam : Le dynasty in|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto II|Korea : Koryo dynasty in|Korea|civil-service exams|Greenland|Erik the Red|Iceland : Vikings and|popes : Benedict VII|simony|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto II|Byzantine emperors : Basil II|Arabs : and Byzantines|Erik the Red|Greenland|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto II|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto III|popes : Benedict VII|popes : John XIV|popes : *Boniface VII|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto III|Japan|popes : John XIV|Erik VIII of Sweden|Denmark|Harald II of Denmark|Sweyn Forkbeard, Viking king|Denmark : and England|popes : *Boniface VII|popes : John XV|Lothair IV|Louis V of France|Carolingian dynasty|Capet, Hugh|Mieszko I of Poland|Sebüktigin|Afghanistan : Ghaznevid dynasty in|India : Ghaznevid dynasty in|Japan|Cordova : medicine in|Arabs : and medicine|goiter|Louis V of France|Carolingian dynasty|France : Capetian dynasty in|Capet, Hugh|Byzantine emperors : Basil II|Vladimir I of Kiev|Anatolia|Vladimir I of Kiev|Byzantine emperors : Basil II|Kiev : religion in|Vladimir I of Kiev|Christianity : in Russia|Kiev : religion in|Dunstan|Byzantine emperors : Basil II|Ghana : kingdom of|Berbers|Maldon, Battle of|Ethelred II|Poland|Mieszko I of Poland|Boleslav I of Poland|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto III|Poland : and Pomerania|Venice : and Byzantines|Byzantine Empire : and Venice|Sweden|popes : John XV (or XVI)|Poland : and Pomerania|Boleslav I (the Brave) of Poland : & |Boleslav I of Poland|Pomerania|Sweden|Erik VIII "Victorious" of Sweden : & |Kenneth II of Scotland|Syria : Byzantines in|Byzantine Empire : Syria and|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto III|Adelaide (Adelheide)|Hungary : Arpád dynasty in|Magyars|Stephen I of Hungary|Byzantine emperors : Basil II|Byzantine Empire : Greece and|Bulgaria|Capet, Hugh|Robert II, French king|Egypt : Fatimid caliphate in|al-Aziz abu Mansur|Mamelukes|popes : John XV|popes : Gregory V|Constantine III of Scotland|Kenneth III of Scotland|Sebüktigin|Afghanistan : Ghaznavid dynasty in|Korea : Koryo dynasty in|Songjong of Korea|popes : *John XVI|Adalbert, Saint|Afghanistan|Sebüktigin|China : Song (Sung) dynasty in|Zhen Zong (Chen Tsung)|Maya|Yucatán|Abu al-Wafa|trigonometry : Abu al-Wafa and|mathematics : Abu al-Wafa and|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto III|popes : *John XVI|León|Umayyad caliphate|Bjarni Herjulfsson|popes : Gregory V|popes : Sylvester II|Norway|Norway : Denmark and|Norway : and Sweden|Christianity : in Norway|Christianity : in Iceland|Christianity : in Greenland|Norway : Christianity in|Boleslav I of Poland|Boleslav I (the Brave) of Poland : & |Bohemia : Moravia and|Poland : and Bohemia|Moravia : and Bohemia|Moravia : Poland and|Poland : and Moravia|Bohemia : Poland and|Hungary : Arpád dynasty in|Stephen I of Hungary|popes : Sylvester II|Byzantine emperors : Basil II|Armenia : and Byzantine Empire|Byzantine Empire : and Armenia|India : Chola kings in|Ceylon|Japan|Ethiopia|Krakow|Bristol|Danegeld|England : and Danes|Ethelred II|pepper|Archimedes|zero|mathematics : zero in|Aryabhata II|Boleslav I of Poland|Holy Roman Emperors : Otto III|Poland : religion in|Hungary : Arpád dynasty in|Stephen I of Hungary|Shonagon, Sei|Rome : population of, (1000)|Colosseum|world, population of (1000)