Middle Ages
Battle of Hafrsfjord (c. 872): Harald Fairhair Unites Norway
Harald Fairhair defeated a coalition of western Norwegian rulers, a victory later seen as the founding moment of a united Norwegian kingdom.
Era · c. 500 – 1500
Middle Ages
Kingdoms, crusades and plagues: the medieval world from the end of the Western Roman Empire to the fall of Constantinople.
Middle Ages
Viking Winter Camp at Repton (873): The Great Army in Mercia
The Great Army expelled King Burgred and installed Ceolwulf II, ending Mercia's independence; excavations later revealed the camp and a large mass grave.
Middle Ages
Settlement of Iceland (874): Norse Settlers and Ingólfr Arnarson
Within about 60 years Iceland was fully claimed by settlers, who founded the Althing in 930 and created a lasting Norse-speaking society.
Middle Ages
Huang Chao Rebellion (875-884): The Revolt That Doomed the Tang
The rebellion was crushed in 884, but it devastated the Tang heartland and left power in the hands of regional warlords, leading to the dynasty's end in 907.
Middle Ages
Mosque of Ibn Tulun: Cairo's Oldest Intact Mosque (876-879)
A great congregational mosque in Samarra style was completed in 879; it survived the destruction of al-Qata'i in 905 and was restored by the Mamluks in 1296.
Middle Ages
Battle of Edington (878): Alfred the Great Defeats the Danes
West Saxon victory; Guthrum's army surrendered after a siege, Guthrum accepted baptism and his army later withdrew to settle East Anglia.
Middle Ages
Oleg of Novgorod (882): Taking Kiev and Founding Kievan Rus
Oleg made Kiev the centre of a Rus state uniting the northern and southern river routes, traditionally seen as the start of Kievan Rus.
Middle Ages
Siege of Paris (885-886): Count Odo Holds the Seine
Paris was never taken, but Charles the Fat bought off the Vikings with 700 pounds of silver and let them raid Burgundy, which damaged his standing and raised Odo to the throne in 888.
Middle Ages
Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum and the Danelaw (c. 886)
A boundary and legal settlement between Alfred's English kingdom and Guthrum's Danish kingdom of East Anglia; the regions under Scandinavian rule later became known as the Danelaw.
Middle Ages
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (c. 890): England's Year-by-Year History
A set of related annals in Old English, surviving in seven main manuscripts, that became the most important narrative source for English history from the 9th to the 11th century.
Middle Ages
Simeon I the Great: The Golden Age of the First Bulgarian Empire
Simeon made Bulgaria the leading power of the Balkans and a centre of Slavonic culture, and claimed the title of emperor.
Middle Ages
Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin (c. 895): Árpád
The Magyar tribal confederation settled the Carpathian Basin, which became the core of the later Kingdom of Hungary.