869

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Summer - Emperor Basil I allies with the Frankish emperor Louis II against the Saracens. He sends a Byzantine fleet of 400 ships, under the command of Admiral Niketas Ooryphas, to support Louis, and to clear the Adriatic Sea of Muslim raiders.
• The Hagia Sophia Basilica in Constantinople suffers great damage during an earthquake, which makes the eastern half-dome collapse. Basil I orders it to be repaired.

  Europe

• August 8 - Lothair II, King of Middle Francia, dies at Piacenza, on his way home from meeting Pope Adrian II at Rome, to get assent for a divorce. Lotharingia is subsequently divided between Lothair's uncles, Charles the Bald of France and Louis the German.

  Britain

• The Danes, led by Viking chieftain Ivar the Boneless, 'make peace' with the Mercians. Ivar leaves Nottingham on horseback, and returns to York.
• Autumn -The Great Heathen Army, led by Ivar the Boneless and Ubba, invades East Anglia, and plunders Peterborough. The Vikings take up winter quarters at Thetford.
• November 20 - King Edmund the Martyr and his East Anglian army are destroyed by the Vikings. He is captured, tortured, beaten and used as archery practice.

  Arabian Empire

• The Zanj Rebellion: The Zanj, provoked by mercilessly harsh labor conditions in salt flats, and on the sugar and cotton plantations of southwestern Persia, revolt.
• Summer - Caliph Al-Mu'tazz is murdered by mutinous Muslim troops, after a 3-year reign. He is succeeded by Al-Muhtadi, as ruler of the Abbasid Caliphate.

  Japan

• July 9 - The 869 Sanriku earthquake and associated tsunami devastate a large part of the Sanriku coast on the northeastern side of the island of Honshu.

  Mesoamerica

• The last monument ever erected at Tikal, Stela 11, is dedicated by ruler Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil II.

  By topic

Religion

• The Fourth Council of Constantinople is called by Basil I and Pope Adrian II. The council condemns Photius I, and deposes him as patriarch. His predecessor Ignatios is reinstated.

  Births

• January 2 - Yōzei, emperor of Japan
• Gung Ye, king of Hu Goguryeo
• Muhammad al-Mahdi, Muslim Twelver Shī‘ah Imām

  Deaths

• February 14 - Cyril, Byzantine missionary and bishop
• August 8 - Lothair II, king of Lotharingia
• September 8 - Ahmad ibn Isra'il al-Anbari, Muslim vizier
• September 18 - Wenilo, Frankish archbishop
• October 14 - Pang Xun, Chinese rebel leader
• November 20 - Edmund the Martyr, king of East Anglia
• Al-Darimi, Muslim scholar and imam
• Al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, Muslim jurist
• Al-Jahiz, Afro-Muslim scholar and writer
• Al-Mu'tazz, Muslim caliph
• Dongshan Liangjie, Chinese Buddhist teacher
• Dúnlaing mac Muiredaig, king of Leinster
• Ermentrude of Orléans, queen of the Franks
• Gundachar, count of Carinthia
• Leuthard II, Frankish count
• Rothad of Soissons, Frankish bishop
• Shapur ibn Sahl, Persian physician
• Solomon, Frankish count
• Yu Xuanji, Chinese poet