944

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Arab–Byzantine War: Byzantine forces are defeated by Sayf al-Dawla. He captures the city of Aleppo and extends his control over the Al-Jazira–Upper Mesopotamia region. Al-Dawla's rule is recognized by the Ikhshidids. With recovering of Edessa, the Greeks also obtain the fabled Image of Edessa.
• August 15 - The "Holy Mandylion" is conveyed to Constantinople, where it arrives on the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. A triumphal entry is staged for the relic in the capital.
• December 16 - Emperor Romanos I is arrested and deposed after a 14-year reign by his own sons, the co-emperors Stephen and Constantine. He is carried off to the Prince Islands and forced to become a monk.

  Europe

• King Hugh of Provence dispatches an embassy to King Otto I of the East Frankish Kingdom, offering a large sum of cash if he promises not to provide assistance to Berengar of Ivrea. Otto refuses this offer.
• Raymond III, count of Toulouse, travels to Nevers to declare his fidelity to king Louis IV. He is granted the title 'prince of the Aquitanians' by the king.
• The largest recorded epidemic of ergotism, also known as "Saint Anthony's Fire, kills 40,000 people in France.

  England

• King Edmund I regains the territory he ceded to Olaf Guthfrithson. He conquers Northumbria and cedes Cumberland to Malcolm I, king of the 'Picts and Scots'.
• A great storm sweeps across Wessex and many houses are destroyed, 1,500 in London alone.

  Africa

• Abu Yazid, a Kharijite Berber leader, launches a rebellion in the Aurès Mountains against the Fatamids, seeking aid from the Caliphate of Córdoba in Al-Andalus.
• The cities of Algiers and Miliana are re-founded by the Zirid ruler Buluggin ibn Ziri.

  By topic

Religion

• The Al-Askari Mosque is built in Samarra.