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The 920s

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

920 CE33 entries

  • July 26 — At the Battle of Valdejunquera, the Muslim forces of the Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III of Córdoba, defeat the Christian armies of King Ordoño II of León and King Sancho I of Pamplona. The decisive battle at the Val de Junquera takes place following the Emir's pre-emptive strike and his invasion of the upper Douro valley and the capture of Osma. The Arab army proceeds on to the upper Ebro, restoring and replenishing Umayyad garrisons in the region.
  • December 17 – Romanos I has himself crowned co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. He shares the throne with the 15-year-old Constantine VII (his son-in-law), and constructs an alternative palace at Constantinople with an adjoining monastery near the Great Palace. Though Constantine retains his formal position as first on the protocol list, Romanos becomes sole ruler.
  • Henry I conquers Utrecht (modern-day Netherlands), which has been in possession of the Vikings for 70 years. Balderic, bishop of Utrecht, moves his seat back from Deventer to Utrecht (approximate date).

921 CE28 entries

  • March – Battle of Pegae: Bulgarian forces under kavhan (first minister) Theodore Sigritsa defeat the Byzantine army at the outskirts of Constantinople. After the battle, the Bulgarians burn the palaces in Pegae ("the Spring"), and devastate the area north of the Golden Horn.
  • June 21 – A diplomatic delegation is sent from Baghdad to establish trade routes between the Abbasid Caliphate towards Bukhara (modern Uzbekistan). Ahmad ibn Fadlan, an Arab diplomat and traveller, makes contact with Almış, the İltäbär (vassal-king under the Khazars) of Volga Bulgaria, on behalf of Caliph al-Muqtadir.
  • November 7 – Treaty of Bonn: King Charles III (the Simple) and Henry I sign a peace treaty or 'pact of friendship' (amicitia) at a ceremony aboard a ship in the middle of the Rhine, recognising the border between their two Frankish kingdoms.

922 CE23 entries

  • March 26 – Mansur al-Hallaj, a Persian mystic writer, is sentenced to death for heresy after a long trial at Baghdad. Having supported reform in the Abbasid Caliphate, he has been seen as a rabble-rouser, and is flogged, mutilated and executed (by beheading).
  • Summer – Battle of Constantinople: Emperor Romanos I sends Byzantine troops to repel another Bulgarian raid at the outskirts of Constantinople. The Byzantines storm the Bulgarian camp, but are defeated when they are confronted by the main Bulgarian forces. Having won the battle, the Bulgarians lack the maritime power to conduct a successful siege of Constantinople.
  • Adalbert I, margrave of Ivrea, leads a rebellion with the support of the Italian nobles against King Berengar I. He crosses the Alps into Burgundy and invites Rudolph II of Upper Burgundy to invade Italy. Berengar flees again to Verona and Rudolph is crowned King of Italy at Pavia.

923 CE25 entries

  • May 13 – The Later Liang, one of the Five Dynasties in China, falls to Later Tang (founded by Li Cunxu). Li proclaims himself emperor and moves his residence back to the old Tang capital of Luoyang.
  • June 15 – Battle of Soissons: King Robert I is killed; the Frankish army, led by Charles the Simple, is defeated and routed near Soissons. Charles is captured and imprisoned at Péronne. The nobles elect Robert's son-in-law Rudolph, duke of Burgundy, as king of the West Frankish Kingdom (until 936).
  • August 11 – The Qarmatians of Bahrayn capture and pillage the city of Basra.

924 CE37 entries

  • July 17 – Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons, is killed in battle at Farndon-Upon-Dee while leading an army against a revolt by some of the Cambrians and Mercians. During his 25-year reign, he gained direct control over Mercia, including some of the Danelaw, the Danish-occupied areas. Edward's oldest son, Æthelstan, is proclaimed the new King of England, while some supporters among the West Saxons support Ælfweard, to be Edward's successor as King of Wessex.
  • August – In what is now South Korea, at Seorabeo (now Gyeongju in South Korea), Gyeongae becomes the new monarch of the Kingdom of Silla upon the death of his older brother, King Gyeongmyeong.
  • September 7 – Byzantine–Bulgarian War: Tsar Simeon I, ruler (knyaz) of the Bulgarian Empire, leads the burning of the Church of St. Mary of the Spring in Constantinople.

925 CE42 entries

  • January – Hashim ibn Muhammad becomes the new ruler of the Banu Tujib, an Arab state in Spain, upon the death of his father, Muhammad al-Anqar al-Tujibi.
  • July 4 — At the age of 12, Shabbethai Donnolo, who will become one of the most prominent physicians in Italy and the doctor to the Byzantine court, is kidnapped by Arab slavers as a Fatimid expeditionary force, led by Jafar ibn Obeid, lands in Abruzzo in southern Italy and overruns Apulia and the city of Otranto. After defeating the Byzantine garrisons, the Arabs lay siege to the castle of Oria and destroy it, killing the defenders and taking the women and children as slaves back to North Africa. Donnolo's family pays a ransom and the Fatimid Amir Abu Ahmad Ja'far ibn 'Ubaid sets him free.
  • September 4 — The coronation of Æthelstan as King of the Anglo-Saxons (comprising the united kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia) takes place on the island of Britain at Kingston upon Thames.

926 CE26 entries

  • May 15 – Emperor Zhuang Zong is killed during an officer's rebellion led by Guo Congqian at the old Tang capital of Luoyang. He is succeeded by his adoptive brother Li Siyuan (Ming Zong) as ruler of Later Tang. Li sends Yao Kun, as an emissary, to create a friendly relationship with the Khitan Empire.
  • September 6 – Emperor Taizu dies after a 10-year reign. He is succeeded by his second son Tai Zong (Yaogu) as ruler of the Chinese Liao Dynasty. Taizu's eldest son Yelü Bei (designated heir apparent) becomes ruler of the Dongdan Kingdom (former Balhae), a puppet state of the Khitan Empire.
  • The Hungarians besiege Augsburg in Bavaria, then conquer the monastery of St. Gallen (modern Switzerland). After an unsuccessful battle with the locals, they burn the suburbs of Konstanz, then they cross westwards and defeat a Frankish army led by Duke Liutfred of Alsace.

927 CE27 entries

  • May 27 – Simeon I, emperor (tsar) of the Bulgarian Empire, dies of heart failure in his palace at Preslav after a 34-year reign. He is survived by four sons and succeeded by his second son Peter I, who signs a peace treaty with the Byzantine Empire. The peace is confirmed by Peter's marrying Maria Lekapene (the daughter of Christopher Lekapenos, son and co-emperor of Romanos I). The treaty restores the borders to those established by several treaties (thus recognizing Bulgaria's possession of Macedonia).
  • October/November - Treaty of Constantinople. The Bulgarian Empire solidifies its status as a great power.
  • 7 December – The Sajid emir of Adharbayjan, Yusuf ibn Abi'l-Saj is defeated and captured by the Qarmatians near Kufa.

928 CE25 entries

  • June 5 – Louis III (the Blind), former king of Provence (Lower Burgundy), dies at Arles after a 27-year reign (of which 23 are sightless). He is succeeded by his brother-in-law Hugh I who is King of Italy. With the approval of his kinsman Rudolph I, Hugh strips Louis's son and heir, Charles Constantine, of his inheritance and proclaims himself as ruler of Provence.
  • July 18 – Tryphon succeeds Stephen II as patriarch of Constantinople (until 931).
  • King Hywel Dda (the Good) of Deheubarth makes a pilgrimage to Rome, he becomes the first Welsh ruler to undertake such a trip. Hywel begins the codification of medieval Welsh law and mints his own coinage.

929 CE26 entries

  • January 16 – Emir Abd al-Rahman III of Córdoba, Spain, proclaims himself caliph and creates the Caliphate of Córdoba. He breaks his allegiance to, and ties with, the Fatimid and Abbasid caliphs.
  • September 4 – Battle of Lenzen: Slavic forces (the Redarii and the Obotrites) are defeated by a Saxon army near the fortified stronghold of Lenzen (modern Germany).
  • Summer – The Slavic-Arab leader Sabir defeats a small Byzantine fleet and seizes Termoli (in Molise, on the Adriatic coast). He returns to Africa laden with booty and slaves.