930s

Events

Contents: 930 931 932 933 934 935 936 937 938 939

930

By place

Asia

• Mardavij Ibn Ziyar was sent by Asfar together with the latter's brother Shirzad to conquer the fortress of Shamiran in Tarum from the Sallarid Muhammad Ibn Musafir. During the siege he was persuaded to revolt against Asfar by letters from Makan and the Sallarid who both promised him aid. With the help of the sons of the Sallarid he took Shirzad by surprise and killed him together with twenty-nine chiefs of the Varudavand, the tribe of Asfar. As he approached Asfar in Qazvin, the army of the latter went over to him. Asfar fled, and Mardavij inherited his territories, Ray, Qazvin, Zanjan, Abhar, Qum and Karaj.
• Emperor Suzaku ascends to the throne of Japan.
• The independent Korean island state of Usanguk becomes a protectorate of Goryeo.
• Battle of Gochang: Goryeo armies defeat Hubaekje.
• Prince Bei, elder brother of the Khitan Emperor, leaves for China.

Europe

• With the establishment of the Althing, now one of the world's oldest parliaments, the Icelandic Commonwealth is founded.

931

By place

Asia

• Mardavij captures and kills Asfar and in rapid succession conquers Hamadan, Dinavar and Isfahan from the governors of the caliph. Then he turns against Makan with whom he had at first concluded a treaty after having received his support against Asfar.

Europe

• Ramiro II of León becomes king of Kingdom of León.
• Eric Bloodaxe becomes the second king of Norway.
• A Hungarian army burns the city of Piacenza in Italy.

By topic

Literature

• Nómina Leonesa publishes an account of the kings of Asturias and Leon.

= Religion =

• March – Pope John XI succeeds Pope Stephen VII as the 125th pope.

932

By place

Asia

• After an initial defeat, Mardavij took Tabaristan and Gurgan. Makan, whose attempts to recover his territories failed, entered the service of the Samanid Empire

Europe

• St. Ursenstift is founded by Queen Bertha of Burgundy in Solothurn.
• Wildeck Castle is built by King Henry I in Zschopau, Germany.

933

By place

Africa

• Failed attempt by the Fatimid dynasty to seize the Maghreb al-Aqsa (nowadays Morocco) from the local rulers allied to the Spain-based Umayyad Caliphate.^[1]

Asia

• Shiragi Arabs from Persia settle on the Comoros.

Europe

• 15 March – Henry the Fowler defeats the Magyars in the Battle of Riade.
• Cotentin and Jersey are seized by William Longsword, Duke of Normandy.
• The Kingdom of Lower Burgundy is given to King Rudolph II of Upper Burgundy.

934

By place

Asia

• The Ziyarid army occupies Ahvaz.
• The Goryeo army defeats Hubaekje forces in present-day Hongseong County.
• March 16 – Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang.

Europe

• The German king Henry I, the Fowler and his Christian forces defeat a heathen army under King Gnupa and conquer Hedeby.
• A Hungarian army allied with Pechenegs, defeats the Byzantine army, allied probably with the Bulgarians at an unknown place, maybe today's Belgrade. After the battle the Hungarians pillage the outskirts of Constantinople, forcing the emperor to pay them tribute.
• The Eldgjá volcanic eruption is the largest basalt flood in history.
• Einsiedeln Abbey is founded.

935

By place

Africa

• Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid is appointed governor of Egypt by the Abbasid caliph al-Radi. He invades the country, ousting the incumbent Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh and entering Fustat on 26 August.
• Ziri ibn Manad initiates the construction of the fortress of Ashir, near Médéa. It symbolizes the rise of the Zirid dynasty in the Western Mediterranean region.^[2]

Asia

• Mardavij was murdered in Isfahan by his Turkish troops.
• Gyeon Hwon, the King of Hubaekje, is overthrown by his eldest son, Singeom.
• King Gyeongsun, the last King of Unified Silla, formally surrenders to Wang Geon, bringing to an end the Silla Kingdom. The Goryeo dynasty starts.
• The Later Shu Kingdom is founded by Meng Zhixiang in Chengdu.
• Ki no Tsurayuki returns to Kyoto from Tosa Province, a journey that becomes the basis of the earliest surviving Japanese poetic diary, the Tosa nikki.

Europe

• Estimation: Córdoba, capital of Al-Andalus, becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Baghdad, capital of Abbasid caliph Ar-Radi.^[3]
• Václav (Saint Wenceslas), Duke of the Bohemians, is murdered by his brother, Boleslav, who succeeds him.
• Haakon the Good, son of Harald Fairhair, once again reunites the Norwegian lands.
• Genoa sacked by Saracens under Yakub ibn Ishaq.

936

By place

Africa

• Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid defeats the Fatimids near Alexandria, leading to the failure of the third Fatimid attempt to conquer Egypt.

Asia

• King Taejo of Goryeo (Wanggeon) defeats Hubaekje.
• The Later Tang falls to the Later Jin, founded by Shi Jingtang (posthumously known as Gaozu of Later Jin) in China.
• The Sixteen Prefectures, which includes the area around modern-day Beijing, are absorbed by the Khitan Empire.
• Prince Bei, elder brother of the Liao dynasty emperor, is murdered by the Later Tang.
• Ibn Muqla, Islamic calligrapher, is disgraced and imprisoned in Baghdad.
• November 28 – Shi Jingtang is enthroned as the first emperor of the Later Jin by Emperor Taizong of Liao, following a revolt against Emperor Fei of Later Tang.

Europe

• Otto I is the first German king to be crowned in Aachen.
• Æthelstan sets the border between the Kingdom of England and Cornwall as the east bank of the River Tamar.^[4]
• Gorm the Old becomes the first historically recognized king of Denmark. (936)^[5]
• A Hungarian army attacks Germany, occupying Fulda, then they are forced to go westwards by the army of Otto I, the new German king.

By topic

Religion

• January 3 – Pope Leo VII succeeds Pope John XI as the 126th pope.

937

By place

Asia

• The Wu State is taken from within by Li Bian, who then founds the Southern Tang Kingdom.

Europe

• Battle of Brunanburh: King Athelstan of England defeats the Viking king of Dublin, the Scots, and Strathclyde.
• The Hungarian army battles with a French army led by Ebbo of Chateauroux, who dies after the battle. After that the Hungarians reach the Atlantic ocean and turn towards Burgundy, where they burn the city of Tournus, than go to southern Italy, pillaging the environs of Naples, Benevento, Sarno, Monte Cassino. When they return home, they are attacked in the Abruzzo mountains, losing their plunders.
• September 21 – Magdeburg is now the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, after a Diet held by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.

938

By place

Asia

• The Liao Dynasty takes over Peking; they name Nanjing as their South Palace.
• Battle of Bach Dang: Vietnam wins its independence from China.

Europe

• July - August – The Hungarian army is defeated at Wolfenbüttel and Belxa from the Saxons.

939

By place

Asia

• Vietnam, under the name Dai Co Viet, gains independence from China.

Europe

• Edmund I succeeds to the throne of England.
• The Arabs lose Madrid to the Kingdom of Leon.
• The Battle of Andernach: Otto I crushes the rebellion against his rule by a coalition of Eberhard of Franconia and other princes opposed to his rule.

By topic

Religion

• July 8 – The Major Occultation, or Ghaybat el-Kubra of Muhammad al-Mahdi
• July 14 – Pope Stephen VIII succeeds Pope Leo VII as the 127th pope.

References