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9th Century

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811

Military 9th Century Europe

Bulgarian Forces Destroy Byzantine Army at Pliska

Emperor Nikephoros I invaded Bulgaria in 811 and captured the capital at Pliska after rejecting peace proposals from Khan Krum. As the Byzantine army withdrew through the Balkan mountain passes, Bulgarian forces blocked its route with wooden defenses and gathered fighters from across the region. Before dawn on July 26, Krum's army attacked the trapped imperial camp. Nikephoros and many senior officers were killed, while much of the Byzantine force was destroyed trying to escape. His son Staurakios survived with a severe wound but could not establish a durable succession after returning to Constantinople.

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814

Politics 9th Century Europe

Charlemagne Dies at Aachen

Charlemagne had ruled the Franks since 768, conquered the Lombard kingdom, campaigned across central Europe, and received an imperial coronation in Rome in 800. His government relied on itinerant royal authority, regional counts, written capitularies, and inspectors who linked the court to a large and diverse realm. After falling ill at Aachen, Charlemagne died on January 28, 814, and was buried in the palace chapel there. His only surviving legitimate son, Louis the Pious, succeeded him as emperor. The transition preserved the empire in the short term, although later disputes among Louis's heirs fractured Carolingian political unity.

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843

Culture 9th Century Europe

Byzantine Empire Restores Veneration of Icons

Byzantine rulers and church leaders had contested the religious use of images through two major periods of iconoclasm beginning in the eighth century. After Emperor Theophilos died, Empress Theodora governed as regent for their young son Michael III and supported a settlement favoring sacred images. Patriarch Methodios replaced the iconoclast patriarch John, and a council affirmed the restoration of icon veneration. On March 11, 843, the first Sunday of Lent, clergy, rulers, and worshippers carried icons in a ceremonial procession to Hagia Sophia. The commemoration became known as the Triumph or Sunday of Orthodoxy.

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868

Culture 9th Century East Asia

Earliest Dated Printed Book Created in China

During the Tang Dynasty, woodblock printing technology had advanced sufficiently to produce multiple copies of texts efficiently. A Buddhist devotee named Wang Jie commissioned the printing of the Diamond Sutra, a key Mahayana text, to honor his parents through widespread free distribution. On May 11, 868 CE, the completed scroll was finished, bearing a precise colophon with the date in the Chinese calendar. The seven-sheet document included a frontispiece illustration and measured about 17 feet long when unrolled. This artifact, later discovered in the Dunhuang caves, survives today in the British Library as tangible evidence of early printing mastery.

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869

Culture 9th Century Europe

Missionary and Scholar Cyril Dies in Rome

The Byzantine brothers Constantine and Methodius undertook missions among the Khazars and, beginning in 863, among the Slavs of Great Moravia. Constantine devised the Glagolitic alphabet and worked with Methodius to translate Christian texts into a Slavic literary language, challenging the assumption that worship should be confined to Greek, Latin, or Hebrew. The brothers traveled to Rome to defend their mission and seek approval for Slavic liturgy and clergy. Constantine entered monastic life there under the name Cyril. He died from illness in Rome on February 14, 869, leaving Methodius to continue their work in central Europe.

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