869 CE
The 869 Sanriku earthquake and associated tsunami devastate a large part of the Sanriku coast on the northeastern side of the island of Honshu. The Fourth Council of Constantinople, called by Basil I and Pope Adrian II, opens. The council will condemn Photius I and depose him as patriarch, reinstating his predecessor Ignatios. The Hagia Sophia Basilica (church) in Constantinople suffers great damage during an earthquake, which makes the eastern half-dome collapse. Basil I orders it to be repaired.
Conflict & Security
- November 20 – Vikings conquer East Anglia, killing King Edmund the Martyr.source
- The Danes, led by Viking chieftain Ivar the Boneless, 'make peace' with the Mercians (by accepting Danegeld). Ivar leaves Nottingham on horseback, and returns to York.source
- Summer – Caliph Al-Mu'tazz is murdered by mutinous Muslim troops, after a 3-year reign. He is succeeded by Al-Muhtadi (a grandson of the late Al-Mu'tasim), as ruler of the Abbasid Caliphate.source
- The Zanj Rebellion: The Zanj (black slaves from East Africa), provoked by mercilessly harsh labor conditions in salt flats, and on the sugar and cotton plantations of southwestern Persia, revolt.source
- Summer – Emperor Basil I allies with the Frankish emperor Louis II against the Saracens. He sends a Byzantine fleet of 400 ships (according to the Annales Bertiniani), under the command of Admiral Niketas Ooryphas, to support Louis (who is besieging the city port of Bari) and to clear the south of the Adriatic Sea of Muslim raiders.source
- Autumn –The Great Heathen Army, led by Ivar the Boneless and Ubba, invades the Kingdom of East Anglia and plunders Peterborough. The Vikings take up winter quarters at Thetford.source
Religion & Belief
- October 5 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople, called by Basil I and Pope Adrian II, opens. The council will condemn Photius I and depose him as patriarch, reinstating his predecessor Ignatios.source
- The last monument ever erected at Tikal, Stela 11, is dedicated by ruler (ajaw) Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil II.source
Health & Medicine
- The first Gion Festival is held in order to combat an epidemic thought to be caused by an angry deity.source
Climate & Environment
- 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.source
- The Hagia Sophia Basilica (church) in Constantinople suffers great damage during an earthquake, which makes the eastern half-dome collapse. Basil I orders it to be repaired.source
Births
Deaths
- February 14 – Cyril, Byzantine missionary and bishopsource
- August 8 – Lothair II, king of Lotharingia (b. 835)source
- August 8 – Lothair II, King of Middle Francia (Lotharingia), 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.source
- September 8 – Ahmad ibn Isra'il al-Anbari, Muslim viziersource
- September 18 – Wenilo, Frankish archbishopsource
- October 14 – Pang Xun, Chinese rebel leadersource
- November 20 (or 870) – Edmund the Martyr, king of East Angliasource
- Gundachar, count (or margrave) of Carinthiasource
- Al-Mu'tazz, Muslim caliph (b. 847)source
- Yu Xuanji, Chinese poet (or 868)source
- Al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, Muslim jurist (approximate date)source
- Al-Jahiz, Afro-Muslim scholar and writer (or 868)source
- Ermentrude of Orléans, queen of the Franks (b. 823)source
- Dongshan Liangjie, Chinese Buddhist teacher (b. 807)source