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The 880s

253 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.

880 CE34 entries

  • February 2 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King Louis III is defeated by the Norse Great Heathen Army at Lüneburg Heath. The Saxons are routed in a snowstorm; many drown in the river or are captured during the retreat.
  • May 1 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, by Patriarch Photius I, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches.
  • December – Treaty of Ribemont: Louis the Younger and the kings of the West Frankish Kingdom sign a treaty. The young Frankish monarch, Louis III, is reduced to merely Neustria.

881 CE20 entries

  • August 3 – Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: The West Frankish kings Louis III, and his brother Carloman II, rout Viking raiders (near Abbeville).
  • Bakong, the first temple mountain of sandstone, is constructed by rulers of the Khmer Empire (modern Cambodia) at Angkor.
  • Battle of the Conwy: King Anarawd of Gwynedd (Wales) initiates a revenge attack on the Mercian armies, and defeats them on the River Conwy.

882 CE27 entries

  • April 11 – Battle of Remich: A Frankish army under Bishop Wala of Metz is defeated by Vikings, who are on a raid, near Remich (modern Luxembourg). During the fighting Wala is killed.
  • December 16 – Pope John VIII is assassinated at Rome after a 10-year reign, probably the victim of a political conspiracy. He is succeeded by Marinus I, as the 108th pope of the Catholic Church.
  • December – Ishaq ibn Kundaj, a Turkic military leader, arrests the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tamid, when the latter (and his followers) try to flee into Tulunid territory.

883 CE20 entries

  • September 11 – Yazaman al-Khadim, Abbasid governor of Tarsus, routs a Byzantine army under general Kesta Styppiotes, in a night attack. According to Arab chroniclers, 70,000 out of 100,000 Byzantine troops are killed.
  • The Zanj Rebellion: Abbasid general Al-Muwaffaq brings in Egyptian forces, to help him in his two-year siege of the Zanj capital Mukhtara. He captures the city, and crushes the revolt that has devastated Chaldea (modern Iraq) since 869.
  • Svatopluk I, ruler (knyaz) of Great Moravia, conquers Lower Pannonia (today's Southwestern Hungary and Northern Croatia), during the succession strife in the East Frankish Kingdom (approximate date).

884 CE23 entries

  • January 6 – Hasan ibn Zayd, founder of the Zaydid Dynasty, dies after a 20-year reign at Amul. He is succeeded by his brother Muhammad, as emir of Tabaristan.
  • March 4 – Emperor Yōzei is forced to abdicate the throne by Fujiwara no Mototsune, chancellor (kampaku) of the Japanese royal court. He is succeeded by his great-uncle Kōkō.
  • May 10 – Ahmad ibn Tulun, founder of the Tulunid Dynasty, dies after a 15-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Khumarawayh, as ruler of Egypt and Syria.

885 CE33 entries

  • July 8 – Pope Adrian III dies after a 1½ reign near Modena (Lombardy), while en route to an Imperial Diet, summoned by Charles the Fat at Worms. He is succeeded by Stephen V, as the 110th pope of the Catholic Church.
  • November 25 – Siege of Paris: Viking forces, under the Norse chieftains Sigfred and Sinric, sail up the River Seine for eastern France, with a fleet of 300 longships (10,000 men). They appear before Paris, and offer to spare the city if they are allowed free passage, by paying them tribute (Danegeld). Their request is denied.
  • November 27 – The Vikings begin the Siege of Paris by attacking the northeast tower with ballistae, mangonels and catapults. All Viking attacks are repulsed by Count Odo, who defends the city with a small garrison (about 200 men). Sigfred decides to withdraw, and builds a camp on the right bank of the river. Meanwhile he mines the city, and scours the countryside for provisions.

886 CE23 entries

  • August 29 – Emperor Basil I the Macedonian dies from a fever, contracted after a hunting accident. He is succeeded by the 19-year-old Leo VI, officially Basil's son, but reputedly a son of former emperor Michael III, as sole ruler (basileus) of the Byzantine Empire. After his coronation Leo reburies the remains of his reputed father Michael, with great ceremony in the imperial mausoleum, within the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.
  • October – Siege of Paris: Count Odo slips through Viking-controlled territory, to ask the king of West Francia Charles the Fat for support. He returns with a relief force, and reaches safety within the walls. Charles arrives later with a large army, and establishes a camp at Montmartre. After negotiations he promises the Vikings tribute (Danegeld) worth 700 Livres (equivalent to 257kg of silver), and allows them to sail up the River Seine, to over-winter in Burgundy.
  • The Glagolitic alphabet, devised by Cyril and Methodius, missionaries from Constantinople, is adopted in the Bulgarian Empire.

887 CE21 entries

  • February 5 – Theodosius Romanus ascends as Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch.
  • August 26 – Emperor Kōkō abdicates the throne and soon dies, after a 3-year reign. He is succeeded by his 20-year-old son Uda, as the 59th emperor of Japan.
  • December 26 – In an assembly at Pavia (Northern Italy), the lords of Lombardia elect Berengar I, a grandson of former emperor Louis the Pious (through his daughter Gisela), as king of Italy. He is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. After the deposition of Charles the Fat, the nobility chooses Ranulf II as duke (or 'king') of Aquitaine.

888 CE25 entries

  • January 13 – Emperor Charles III (the Fat) dies at Neidingen, after having suffered repeat bouts of an illness that may have been epilepsy. The Frankish Empire is split again, and falls apart into separate kingdoms. Count Odo, the hero of the Siege of Paris, is elected king of the West Frankish Kingdom, and crowned at Compiègne by Walter, archbishop of Sens. Other Frankish noblemen support the 8-year-old Charles the Simple (the posthumous son of the late king Louis the Stammerer).
  • April 20 – Emperor Xi Zong (Li Xuan) dies of illness at Chang'an, after a 14-year reign. He is succeeded by his 21-year-old brother Zhao Zong, as ruler of the Tang Dynasty.
  • October – Battle of Milazzo: The Aghlabids score a crushing victory over a Byzantine fleet off Sicily.

889 CE27 entries

  • April – The Japanese era Ninna ends and Kanpyō begins, lasting until 898.
  • Kings Eochaid and Giric of Alba and Strathclyde (modern Scotland) are deposed by Viking invaders. They are succeeded by Donald II, the son of the late Constantine I, who becomes king of Scotland.
  • The Unified Silla kingdom (modern Korea) under King Jinseong seeks to collect taxes by force from peasants, setting off massive peasant rebellions (approximate date).