Directory

795 CE

Leo III is elected to serve as Pope on the day his predecessor Adrian I is buried, and is consecrated the following day. In the earliest recorded Viking raid on Ireland, they attack the monasteries at Iona (Inner Hebrides), Inishbofin and Inishmurray (approximate date). Charlemagne creates the Hispanic Marches, a buffer zone beyond the former province of Septimania. A group of Iberian lordships form a defensive barrier between the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus (modern Spain) and the Frankish Kingdom.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • Quarrels between the kings Cynan Dindaethwy and Hywel leave the way open for Caradog ap Meirion (the House of Rhos) to usurp the throne of Gwynedd (modern Wales).source

Conflict & Security

  • Saxon War: The Slav Obodrites, under their ruler Witzan, attack the northern Saxons in Liuni. He is killed in an ambush and succeeded by his son Drożko (Thrasco), who becomes a Carolingian dux. King Charlemagne leads a Frankish expeditionary force north from Mainz, and marches to the Elbe, where eastern Saxon rebels again surrender.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • Charlemagne creates the Hispanic Marches, a buffer zone beyond the former province of Septimania. A group of Iberian lordships form a defensive barrier between the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus (modern Spain) and the Frankish Kingdom.source

Religion & Belief

  • December 26 – Leo III is elected to serve as Pope on the day his predecessor Adrian I is buried, and is consecrated the following day.source
  • In the earliest recorded Viking raid on Ireland, they attack the monasteries at Iona (Inner Hebrides), Inishbofin and Inishmurray (approximate date).source
  • King Offa of Mercia receives diplomatic gifts from Charlemagne. He re-founds St. Albans Abbey, supposedly in thanks for overrunning East Anglia (approximate date).source
  • Paul the Deacon, a Benedictine monk at Monte Cassino, completes the History of the Lombards (approximate date).source

Births

  • Æthelwulf, king of Wessex (approximate date)source
  • Babak Khorramdin, Persian military leader (or 798)source
  • Judith of Bavaria, Frankish queen (or 797/805)source
  • Gregory IV, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 844)source
  • Lothair I, king and emperor of the Franks (d. 855)source
  • Renaud d'Herbauges, Frankish nobleman (d. 843)source
  • Nithard, Frankish historian (d. 844)source
  • Mu Zong, emperor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 824)source
  • Landulf I, gastald (or count) of Capua (approximate date)source
  • Bernard of Septimania, Frankish duke (d. 844)source

Deaths

  • December 25 – Adrian I, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 700)source
  • December 25 – Pope Adrian I, age 95, dies after a 23-year reign, and is succeeded by Leo III as the 96th pope of Rome.source
  • Malik ibn Anas, founder of the Maliki School (b. 711)source
  • Bran Ardchenn, king of Leinster (Ireland)source
  • Ælfthryth of Crowland, Anglo-Saxon princesssource