09th Century

†865 The music of Kassia

Hymn of Kassia  Kassia, Cassia or Kassiani was a Byzantine-Greek composer, hymnographer and poet. She holds a unique place in Byzantine music as the only known woman whose music appears in the Byzantine liturgy.  Approximately fifty of her hymns are extant, most of which are stichera, though at least 26 have uncertain attribution.The authenticity issues are due to many hymns being anonymous, and others ascribed to different authors in different manuscripts. She was an abbess of a convent in the west of Constantinople. Additionally, many epigrams and gnomic verses are attributed to her, at least 261. Kassia is notable as one of at least two women in the middle Byzantine period known to have written in their own names, the other being Anna Comnena. Like […]

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Events 880s – Siege of Paris by Vikings

885 Siege of Paris by Vikings Events 885: Arrival of the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Clement of Ohrid and Naum of Preslav in Bulgaria. Development of the Cyrillic Alphabet. 885: Abbo Cernuus becomes witness to the Siege of Paris by Vikings. 888: The Carolingian Empire declines and falls after the death of Charles the Fat. 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. The Vikings begin the Siege of Paris by attacking the northeast tower with ballistae, mangonels and catapults. All Viking attacks are […]

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Events 870s – Reign of Alfred the Great

871 Reign of Alfred the Great, king English  Events 870: Christianization of the Serbs. 870: Prague Castle founded. 871–899: Reign of Alfred the Great, the first king of the English. 872: Iceland settled by Ingolfur Arnarson from Norway. 875–884: Huang Chao leads an unsuccessful rebellion against the Tang dynasty in China. 878: Battle of Ethandun results in the victory of Alfred the Great over the Danish warlord Guthrum. King Alfred the Great raises a large force, and marches on the Viking camp at the city of Exeter. His army besieges the Great Summer Army, led by Guthrum, and forces the Vikings to surrender. They flee north to Gloucester, and settle in the Five Boroughs  King Alfred the Great establishes a series of fortified villages (or burhs) to protect Wessex against Viking raids. He creates a standing […]

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Events 800s – Charlamagne’s Frankish Empire is formed

Charlamagne’s Frankish Empire is formed  Events 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 first settlers of the Hawaiian Islands arrive The first known mention of Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt), founded by Charlemagne, is made Vikings massacre Columba‘s monks, and all the inhabitants on the island of Iona (Scotland). Other monks flee to safety in the monastery of Kells (Ireland). They take […]

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Events 810s – Charlemagne dies

Charlemagne dies in the city of Aachen.  Events King Godfred of the Danes leads 200 Viking ships to plunder the Frisian coast, and forces the merchants to pay 100 pounds of silver. He claims Northern Frisia as Danish territory. Charlemagne dies of pleurisy in Aachen, after an almost 14-year reign (since 800) as the first Roman Emperor of Frankish origin (the precursor of the Holy Roman Emperor). He is embalmed and buried in Aachen Cathedral. Charlemagne is succeeded by his son Louis the Pious, as king of the Frankish Empire. 815: A 30-year peace agreement is signed between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire. The Chinese government takes over the issuing of paper bank drafts, the ancestor of paper money. Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson sets out from the Faroe Islands and discovers Iceland  Emperor Saga of Japan is the first sovereign to drink tea (according to legend), imported […]

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Events 820s – Spinach comes to Europe

Spinach is introduced to Europe Events 820: Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī writes his treatise on Algebra The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing. 825: Battle of Ellandun: King Egbert of Wessex defeats Mercia and establishes the kingdom of Wessex as the supreme Kingdom in England. 827–902: Aghlabids established emirate (province) in Sicily and subsequently raids Southern Italy. The Saracens, who found spinach originally in Persia (modern Iran), introduce the plant to Sicily

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Events 830s – More Viking raids Dorestad

More Viking raids Dorestad  Events 830: The Ghana (Wagadu) Empire is established. 830: The House of Wisdom, a library and translation institute established in Baghdad by al-Ma’mun, Abbasid caliph, to transfer the knowledge of Greeks, Persians, Indians, etc. to the Muslim world. The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, a book of algebra, is also written there by Al-Khwarizmi. Muslim Arabs reinvade Sicily, and lay siege to Palermo. Symeon, Byzantine commander of the imperial bodyguard (spatharios), surrenders the city in exchange for a safe departure. Danish Vikings raid the trading settlement of Dorestad (present-day Wijk bij Duurstede), located in the southeast of the province of Utrecht (modern Netherlands). Ragnar Lodbrok, a Norse Viking ruler, rises to power. He becomes the scourge of France and England […]

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Events 840s – Dublin is founded

841 Dublin is founded by Vikings Events 840: Death of Louis the Pious. Vikings from Norway capture Dublin, and establish a Norse kingdom in Ireland. 841: Dublin is founded on the east coast of Ireland by the Vikings.  Vikings sail up the River Seine and devastate the city of Rouen in Normandy. 843: The Carolingian Empire is at its height in territory and area.The three sons of Louis the Pious reach an agreement known as the Treaty of Verdun and split the Carolingian empire into three divisions; East Francia was given to Louis the German, West Francia to Charles the Bald and Middle Francia to Lothair I. 844: The first Viking raid in Iberia Viking raiders ascend the River Garonne as far as the city of Toulouse, and pillage the lands of Septimania. Part of the […]

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Events 850s – First settlements on Iceland

First Norse settlement on Iceland  Events 850–875: The first Norse settlers arrive on Iceland. Coffee is discovered (according to legend) by the Ethiopian goatherder Kaldi in East Africa, who notices that his goats become energetic after chewing the red berries from certain wild bushes  Danish Viking raiders enter the Thames Estuary, and plunder Canterbury and London. The Viking chieftains Hastein and Björn Ironside (a son of Ragnar Lodbrok) begin an expedition, and sail from the Loire River with a fleet of 62 ships, to raid cities and monasteries in the Mediterranean Sea

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