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The 950s

259 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.

950 CE36 entries

  • November 22 – King Lothair II dies at Turin (possibly poisoned by Berengar of Ivrea). Berengar is crowned king of Italy and imprisons Lothair's now 19-year-old widow, Adelaide for four months at Como.
  • Page with Joshua Leading the Israelites, from the Joshua Roll, is made in Constantinople. It is now kept at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana in Rome (approximate date).
  • The Mount Edziza volcanic complex in British Columbia, Canada, produces an explosive eruption that deposits the Sheep Track Member.

951 CE31 entries

  • February 9 – The Northern Han Kingdom is founded by Liu Chong (called Shizu) in modern-day Shanxi who restores the diplomatic relations with the Khitans. Northern Han becomes a protectorate of the Liao dynasty.
  • February 13 – Guo Wei, a court official, leads a military coup and declares himself emperor of the new Later Zhou. The 19-year-old Emperor Liu Chengyou is killed after a 3-year reign, ending the short-lived Later Han.
  • November 16 – Emperor Li Jing sends a Southern Tang expeditionary force (10,000 men) under Bian Hao to conquer Chu. Li Jing removes the ruling family to his own capital in Nanjing, ending the Chu Kingdom.

952 CE17 entries

  • Summer – At the Reichstag in Augsburg (assembled by King Otto I), joined by German nobles and bishops, Berengar of Ivrea pays homage. He becomes a vassal of the East Frankish Kingdom. Otto leaves a strong garrison at Pavia in the hands of his son-in-law Conrad the Red, duke of Lotharingia.
  • King Constantine II dies at the monastery of St. Andrews (where he has been retired since 943). His cousin and ruling monarch, Malcolm I, fights a battle against the Northmen or the Norse–Gaels.
  • Summer – Kalbid forces under Al-Hasan ibn Ali al-Kalbi (an aristocratic member of the ruling Fatimid Caliphate) sail from Sicily and invade Byzantine Calabria. He attacks several towns, including Gerace and Cassono.

953 CE26 entries

  • March 19 – Caliph al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah dies after a severe illness. He is succeeded by his 21-year-old son al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah as ruler of the Fatimid Caliphate. His authority is recognized over most of what later will be Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.
  • Battle of Marash: Emir Sayf al-Dawla marches north into the Byzantine Empire and ravages the countryside of Malatya (modern Turkey). On his way back, he crosses the Euphrates and intercepts a Byzantine army led by Bardas Phokas (the Elder), near Marash. The Byzantines are defeated; Bardas himself barely escapes through the intervention of his attendants. His son Constantine Phokas, governor of Seleucia, is captured and held prisoner in Aleppo, until his death from an illness some time later.
  • The town of Póvoa de Varzim is first mentioned during the rule of Mumadona Dias, countess of Portugal, under the name Villa Euracini.

954 CE28 entries

  • September 10 – King Louis IV (d'Outremer) dies after a hunting accident (near his palace in Corbeny). He is succeeded by his 13-year-old son Lothair III under the guardianship of Hugh the Great, count of Paris.
  • November 12 – Lothair III is crowned by Artald, archbishop of Reims, at the Abbey of Saint-Remi as king of the West Frankish Kingdom. His mother, Queen Gerberga of Saxony, appoints Hugh the Great as regent.
  • Spring – A Hungarian army led by Bulcsú crosses the Rhine. He camps at Worms in the capital of his ally Conrad the Red, duke of Lorraine. Bulcsú heads west, attacking the domains of King Otto I, by crossing the rivers Moselle and Maas.

955 CE31 entries

  • August 10 – Battle of Lechfeld: King Otto I ("the Great") defeats the Hungarians (also known as Magyars) near Augsburg (Germany). Otto's army (7,000 men), mainly composed of heavy cavalry, overwhelms the Hungarians along the Lech River. The German losses are heavy, among them Conrad ("the Red") and many other nobles. The commanders of the Hungarian army, Bulcsú, Lehel and Súr, are captured and executed. This victory puts an end to the Hungarian campaigns into western Europe.
  • November 8 – Pope Agapetus II dies after a 9-year reign. He is succeeded by John XII, aged around 19 and the son of Alberic II (the late ruler of Rome), as the 130th pope of the Catholic Church.
  • November 23 – King Eadred (or Edred) dies childless after a 9-year reign at Frome (Somerset). He is succeeded by his 15-year-old nephew, Eadwig, as King of England.

956 CE23 entries

  • June 16 – Hugh the Great, count of Paris, dies at Dourdan. He is succeeded by his eldest son Hugh Capet, who is recognized as Duke of the Franks by his cousin Lothair III, king of the West Frankish Kingdom.
  • September - October – A Byzantine fleet under Basil Hexamilites deals a crushing defeat to the Hamdanid fleet at Tarsus in Cilicia (modern Turkey).
  • King Ordoño III dies at Zamora after a 5-year reign. He is succeeded by his half-brother Sancho I as ruler of León (modern Spain).

957 CE21 entries

  • September 6 – Liudolf, the eldest son of King Otto I, dies of a violent fever near Pombia (it is rumored from a latent poison administered somehow by Berengar II's agents). The German armies return home, leaving Berengar of Ivrea in control of Italy. Liudolf is succeeded by his 3-year-old son Otto, who will be adopted and raised by his grandfather Otto, as the later duke of Swabia and Bavaria.
  • Olga of Kiev, ruler and regent of Kievan Rus', converts to the Eastern Orthodox Church, from paganism (approximate date).
  • 957 Caspian Sea earthquake. It took place in the Caspian Sea and its vicinity. The earthquake is mentioned by several Arab and Syriac chronicle writers, who claimed that it mainly affected the region of Persian Iraq. The initial shocks lasted 40 days, but ceased for a while. The main earthquake then occurred, damaging the cities of Ray, Talikan, and Hulwan. A reported number of 150 villages were supposedly destroyed by the earthquake.

958 CE25 entries

  • October / November – Battle of Raban: The Byzantines under John Tzimiskes defeat the Hamdanid forces in northern Syria. Emir Sayf al-Dawla is forced to retreat – many of his court companions and ghilman fall in pursuit, while over 1,700 of his Turk cavalry are captured and paraded in the streets of Constantinople.
  • King Ksemagupta dies of a fever after a hunting party. He is succeeded by his youngest son Abhimanyu II. Queen Didda, the widow of Ksemagupta, becomes regent and the de facto ruler of Kashmir (modern India).
  • Emperor Chai Rong of the Later Zhou invades the Northern Han and the Khitan Empire in the Sixteen Prefectures (northern China), but is defeated.

959 CE21 entries

  • April - May – The Byzantines refuse to pay the yearly tribute. A Hungarian army, led by Apor, invades Macedonia and Thrace. He plunders its territories until reaching Constantinople. On his way back, Apor is defeated during a night attack by Byzantine forces.
  • October 1 – King Eadwig dies after a 4-year reign. He is succeeded by his 16-year-old brother Edgar I (the Peaceful), who effectively completes the unification of England, when Northumbria submits to his rule.
  • November 9 – Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos ("born in the purple") dies at Constantinople after a 46-year reign. He is succeeded by his 21-year-old son Romanos II as ruler of the Byzantine Empire.