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The 800s

208 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 9th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

800 CE35 entries

  • June 28 – Ochk'in Kaloomte' Aj Ho' Baak becomes the new ruler of the Mayan city state of Machaquila in Guatemala and reigns until his death in 815.
  • December 25 – Charlemagne, king of the Franks, is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III as Charles I, with the title "Emperor of the Romans". The coronation takes place during Mass at the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome, on Christmas Day. The Frankish Empire is formed in Western Europe, which is not recognized by Empress Irene at Constantinople. This triggers a series of disputes with the Byzantines around who is officially ruling the former Western Roman Empire.
  • The Abbasid Caliphate is forced to cede Ifriqiya (present-day north-eastern Algeria, Tunisia and western Libya) to the Aghlabid Dynasty.

801 CE11 entries

  • April 3 – King Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, captures Barcelona after a siege of several months. Bera is appointed first count of Barcelona.
  • April 29 – Earthquake in Rome and Spoleto.
  • Rabanus Maurus, Frankish Benedictine monk, takes his vows in the monastery of Fulda and receives ordination as a deacon.

802 CE25 entries

  • May 1 – Lachan Kʼawiil Ajaw Bot (born June 25, 760) becomes the ruler of the Mayan city state near Itzan in Guatemala.
  • October 31 – Empress Irene is deposed after a 5-year reign, and banished to Lesbos. High-ranking patricians place Nikephoros, the minister of finance (logothetes tou genikou), on the throne. He is crowned in the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople, by Patriarch Tarasios, as emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
  • Pagan Danes invade Obodrite-ruled Schleswig, to take over territory almost emptied by the forcible deportations of the Saxons by emperor Charlemagne.

803 CE16 entries

  • May – Krum, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, begins his territorial expansion and raids the Byzantine northern frontier. He leads his warriors — mostly Bulgars, Slavs, Thracians and Macedonians — across the Carpathian Mountains, over the Danube River, and throughout Transylvania, Thrace, and Macedonia.
  • October 12 – The Synod of Clofesho (possibly Brixworth) is held, at which the Archbishopric of Lichfield is demoted to an ordinary bishopric, with papal permission obtained by King Coenwulf of Mercia.
  • November - December: Caliph Harun al-Rashid marries Umm Muhammad, the daughter of Abbasid prince Salih al-Miskin and Umm Abdullah, the daughter of Isa ibn Ali, in Al-raqqah. She had formerly been married to Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, who had repudiated her.

804 CE18 entries

  • Kūkai, Japanese Buddhist monk, travels in a government-sponsored expedition to China, in order to learn more about the Mahavairocana Sutra. He brings back texts of Shingon (Esoteric Buddhism).
  • The Gymnasium Carolinum in Osnabrück is founded by Charlemagne (the oldest school in Germany).
  • Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid marries Abbasa, the daughter of Abbasid prince and official Sulayman.

805 CE21 entries

  • February 25 – Emperor Dezong of Tang dies after a 25-year reign, in which the fanzhen is controlled by military governors or jiedushi, who often ignore imperial decrees. He is succeeded by his son Shunzong, who becomes ruler of the Tang Dynasty.
  • August 31 – Shunzong issues an edict to yield the throne to his son Xianzong (Li Chun), because of an illness, taking for himself the title of "Retired Emperor" (Taishang Huang). Xian is confronted with political disputes in Zi Prefecture (Shaanxi).
  • Krum, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, conquers and destroys the Eastern part of the Avar Khaganate (approximate date).

806 CE25 entries

  • February 5 – Emperor Kanmu dies after a 25-year reign, that has seen Korean culture and technology introduced to Japan. He is succeeded by his son Heizei, as the 51st emperor of Japan.
  • April 12 – Nikephoros I is elected patriarch of Constantinople, succeeding Tarasios.
  • November – Al-Hakam I, Umayyad emir of Córdoba, reasserts his control over the city of Toledo, autonomous since 797. To this effect Al-Hakam has over 72 nobles (accounts talk of 5,000) massacred at a banquet, crucified and displayed along the banks of the Guadalquivir River (modern Spain), in what comes to be known as the "Day of the Trench".

807 CE17 entries

  • Li Jifu is appointed chancellor, during the reign of Emperor Xian Zong in China.
  • Dappula II becomes king of Sri Lanka, and makes Anuradhapura the capital city.
  • Emperor Nikephoros I is forced to sue for peace, on condition of paying 50,000 nomismata to Caliph Harun al-Rashid, and agrees to a yearly tribute. Nikephoros promises not to rebuild the dismantled forts. Rashid recalls his forces from various sieges, and evacuates Byzantine territory.

808 CE20 entries

  • Jewish merchants in Lombardy open the first bank (or money repository) in Italy (approximate date).
  • King Godfred of the Danes forms an alliance with the Wiltzi and other Wendic tribes, against the pagan but pro-Frankish Abodrites. Godfred builds earthworks (Danevirke) across the isthmus of Schleswig-Holstein, separating Jutland from the northern extent of the Frankish Empire.
  • Viking Age: First Viking raid, by Danes against the Baltic coast. Godfred destroys the Slav settlement of Reric (near present-day Wismar), used as a strategic trade route. The population is displaced or abducted, to Hedeby (Denmark).

809 CE20 entries

  • March 24 – Caliph Harun al-Rashid dies at Tus, on an expedition to put down an uprising in Khorasan (modern Iran). He is succeeded by his son Muhammad ibn Harun al-Amin.
  • A Byzantine fleet lands in the Venetian Lagoon, and attacks a Frankish flotilla at Comacchio, but is defeated. Doge Obelerio degli Antenori marries a Frankish bride, Carola; she becomes the first dogaressa of Venice.
  • Council of Aachen (809): Frankish bishops adopt the filioque addition in the Creed. Pope Leo III intervenes, and refuses to recognize it as valid.