July 29 –
Sack of Thessalonica: A Muslim fleet, led by the Greek renegade
Leo of Tripoli, appears outside
Thessalonica and begins its attack after a short and silent inspection of the fortification of the city. After attacks from the sea for two days, the
Saracens are able to storm the city walls, overcome the Thessalonians' resistance and capture the city. The sacking continues for a full week, before the raiders depart for their base in the
Levant. Having freed 4,000 Muslim prisoners and captured 60 ships, gaining a large loot, they carry off 22,000 men and women as slaves.[1]
In
Portugal, for the third time in less than 30 years, the Christians take control of
Coimbra, this time for almost a century.[2]
Beginning of the Saeculum obscurum ('Dark Age'), a period of 60 years in which the papacy was heavily influenced by the powerful
Theophylacti family, the counts of Tusculum.
September 22 – The warlord
Zhu Quanzhong kills Emperor
Zhao Zong, along with his family and many ministers, after seizing control of the imperial government. Zhu places Zhao Zong's 13-year-old son
Ai (Li Zhou) on the imperial throne as a
puppet ruler of the
Tang dynasty.
Zhu Quanzhong has
Chang'an, the capital of the Tang dynasty and the largest city in the ancient world, destroyed, and moves the materials to
Luoyang, which becomes the new capital.
By topic
Religion
January 29 – Pope
Sergius III succeeds
Leo V and the deposed Antipope
Christopher (both of whom are murdered or
exiled) as the 119th
pope of the
Catholic Church. The ascension of Sergius marks the beginning of the
Pornocracy ('rule of the whores'), which will last for 150 years. During this time, the
clergy will be sidelined and rule over
Rome is dominated by the Roman
nobility.
Sergius III allies himself with
Theophylact I, count of
Tusculum, who becomes ruler of Rome and the papal administration. Sergius rewards him (for his support and rise of power) with the position of sacri palatii vestararius and essentially becomes his puppet.
^Faith and Sword: A short history of Christian-Muslim conflict by Alan G. Jamieson, p. 32.
^Picard, Christophe (2000). Le Portugal musulman (VIIIe-XIIIe siècle). L'Occident d'al-Andalus sous domination islamique. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose. p. 109.
ISBN2-7068-1398-9.