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Byzantine Empire
December 25, Emperor Leo V ("the Armenian") is assassinated by conspirators in the Hagia Sophia, at Constantinople. Though unarmed, he fights back fiercely but dies of his wounds. He is succeeded by Michael II, commander of the palace guard (excubitores). Leo's family (including his mother and his wife Theodosia) is exiled to monasteries in Princes' Islands.
Ireland
Fedelmid mac Crimthainn assumes the kingship as ruler of Munster (modern Ireland).
China
Emperor Xian Zong dies from poisoning (due to medicines), after a 14-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Mu Zong, as ruler of the Tang Dynasty of China.
Byzantine Empire
Thomas the Slav, Byzantine general (tourmarchos), leads a revolt and secures control over most of the Byzantine themes (provinces) in Anatolia. He gets recognition from the Abbasid Caliphate, and concludes a peace treaty with Caliph Al-Ma'mun. Emperor Michael II is blockaded in Constantinople; Thomas assembles troops, gathers supplies, and builds siege machines, but his first attack on the capital fails. He crosses with his fleet from Abydos to Thrace.
Europe
February – Duke Borna of Croatia dies after an 11-year reign, as vassal of the Frankish Empire. He is succeeded by his nephew, Vladislav. Emperor Louis I recognizes him as prince of Dalmatia and Liburnia, at the Council of Aachen.
October – Lothair I, co-emperor and eldest son of Louis I, marries Ermengarde in Thionville (north-eastern France). She is the daughter of Count Hugh of Tours.
Britain
King Coenwulf of Mercia dies in Basingwerk near Holywell (Wales), while preparing for another assault on Powys, and is buried in Winchcombe Abbey. He is briefly succeeded by his son Cynehelm, but he is killed, probably fighting the Welsh, though supposedly through the treachery of his sister Cwenthryth. The Mercian throne passes to Coenwulf's brother, Ceolwulf I.
Abbasid Caliphate
Tahir ibn Husayn, an Iranian general, is appointed to govern Khurasan, as a reward for supporting the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun in the Fourth Fitna. This begins the rule of the Tahirid dynasty over Khurasan, which will last until 873.
Byzantine Empire
Thomas the Slav, Byzantine general (tourmarchos) and usurper, continues his revolt against Emperor Michael II. He unsuccessfully besieges Constantinople, while his fleet is destroyed by Michael's Byzantine navy, using Greek fire. Khan Omurtag of Bulgaria sends a relief army, and defeats the rebels at the Battle of Kedoutos (near Heraclea).
Europe
Emperor Louis I performs public penance for causing Bernard's death, at his palace of Attigny (Ardennes), before Pope Paschal I, and the Frankish nobles (this to restore harmony and re-establish his authority).
Britain
King Ceolwulf I of Mercia invades Powys (Wales), but is beaten back by King Cyngen. He destroyes the fortress of Deganwy, and takes the kingdom later under his control (approximate date).
Al-Andalus
Al-Hakam I, Umayyad emir of Córdoba, dies after a 26-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Abd al-Rahman II, who begins a military campaign against King Alfonso II of Asturias in Al-Andalus (modern Spain).
Asia
Kim Heon-chang launches a short-lived rebellion in Silla, which gains control over much of the southern and western Korean Peninsula.
Americas
February 6 – Ukit Took becomes the last ruler (ajaw) of the Mayan city-state Copán (modern Guatemala).
Religion
Rabanus Maurus, a Frankish Benedictine monk, becomes abbot of Fulda, after the death of Eigil.
Byzantine Empire
Emperor Michael II defeats the rebel forces under Thomas the Slav in Thrace. He and his supporters are forced to seek refuge in Arkadiopolis (modern Turkey). After five months of blockade, Thomas surrenders and is delivered to Michael, seated on a donkey and bound in chains. He pleades for clemency and prostrates before Michael, but is executed.
Europe
April 5 – Lothair I, eldest son of Emperor Louis I, is crowned co-emperor again by Pope Paschal I at Rome (initiating the papal practice of handing the imperial sword over, as a symbol of temporal power in the Holy Roman Empire).
Britain
King Ceolwulf I of Mercia is deposed by Beornwulf, who takes the throne of Mercia. During his rule he rebuilds the Abbey of St. Peter, and presides over two synods at Clofesho.
Japan
May 30 – Emperor Saga abdicates the throne, after a 10-year reign. He is succeeded by his brother Junna, as the 53rd emperor of Japan.
Europe
Battle of Roncevaux Pass: The Basques and Banu Qasi defeat a Frankish expedition, led by Counts Aznar and Ebles, in the Pyrenees.
Iñigo Arista revolts against the Frankish Empire, and establishes the Kingdom of Pamplona, with the support of the Caliphate of Córdoba.
November 11 – The Constitutio Romana establishes the authority of the Holy Roman Emperors over the papacy of Rome.
Britain
Vikings raid Bangor (modern Wales) for the second time, and plunder the bishopric (approximate date).
Japan
Zenpuku-ji, one of the oldest Tokyo temples, is founded by the Japanese Buddhist monk Kūkai.
Religion
February 11 – Pope Paschal I dies after a 7-year reign, and is succeeded by Eugene II, as the 99th pope of the Catholic Church.
Europe
Emperor Louis the Pious begins a military campaign against the Wends and Sorbs. Duke Tunglo surrenders his son as hostage, and submits to Frankish rule (approximate date).
Grímur Kamban becomes the first man to set foot in the Faroe Islands, and settles down in Funningur, on the northwest coast of Eysturoy (beginning the Norwegian Viking era on the islands).
Britain
Battle of Ellandun: King Egbert of Wessex defeats Beornwulf of Mercia near Swindon. The battle marks the end of the Mercian domination of southern England. The kingdoms of Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Essex submit to Wessex, and East Anglia acknowledges Egbert as overlord (bretwalda).
King Hywel ap Rhodri of Gwynedd dies after an 11-year reign. The kingdom is seized by his grand-nephew, Merfyn Frych of Man.
Battle of Gafulford: The men of Cornish Dumnonia clash with the West Saxons at modern-day Camelford (approximate date).
Religion
Borobudur, a Mahayana Buddhist Temple, is completed in Central Java (modern Indonesia).
Britain
King Beornwulf of Mercia invades East Anglia, but is killed in battle. He is succeeded by Ludeca, as ruler of Mercia.
Prince Aethelwulf, a son of King Egbert of Wessex, invades Kent, and drives out its pro-Mercian king Baldred.
Byzantine Empire
May – Euphemius, Byzantine admiral, organises an uprising in Sicily against Emperor Michael II. He proclaims himself king (with the title of basileus) in Syracuse, independent from Constantinople. In turn, Euphemius is defeated by Byzantine troops (reinforcements from the East), and is driven out to North Africa.
Europe
King Harald Klak of Denmark receives the Frisian county of Rüstringen, as a gift from Emperor Louis the Pious.
Religion
Harald Klak accepts Christianity, and is baptized with his wife and son Godfrid at Mainz.
Byzantine Empire
June 14 – Euphemius, exiled Byzantine admiral, asks for the help of North African Arabs, to retake Sicily and Malta from the Byzantines. Emir Ziyadat Allah I of Ifriqiya promises to return the islands to Euphemius, in exchange for a yearly tribute, and sends an Arab Muslim expeditionary force of 10,000 men under the 70-year-old Asad ibn al-Furat, which lands at Mazara del Vallo in Sicily.
Fall – Siege of Syracuse: Muslim forces under Asad ibn al-Furat, in support of the rebel Byzantine army, besiege Syracuse, Sicily.
Europe
Summer – Omurtag, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, launches an attack to the West, and penetrates into Pannonia. He expels the local chiefs, and installs Bulgar governors over the Slavic tribes to control them. Omurtag conquers the cities of Beograd, Braničevo, Sirmium, and most of eastern Slavonia.
Giustiniano Participazio deposes his younger brother Giovanni I, and is appointed doge of Venice. Giovanni, who is part of a pro-Frankish faction, is exiled to Zara (modern Croatia).
Britain
Æthelstan establishes himself as king of East Anglia, after killing King Ludeca of Mercia in battle. Ludeca is succeeded by Wiglaf, father-in-law (and probably distant cousin) of the late king Ceolwulf I's daughter.
China
Emperor Jing Zong is assassinated by a group of conspirators. He is succeeded by his brother Wen Zong, as ruler of the Tang Dynasty.
Religion
August 27 – Pope Eugene II dies after a 3-year reign, and is succeeded by Valentine as the 100th pope of the Catholic Church.
October 10 – Pope Valentine dies just after a two-month reign, and is succeeded by Gregory IV as the 101st pope of Rome.
Science
Chalid Ben Abdulmelik and Ali Ben Isa travel to the Plain of Sinjar (modern Iraq), under orders of Caliph Al-Ma'mun, to measure the size of the Earth.
Agriculture
The Saracens, who found spinach originally in Persia (modern Iran), introduce the plant to Sicily.
Byzantine Empire
Siege of Syracuse: The Muslims under Asad ibn al-Furat defeat a Byzantine relief army sent from Palermo, and backed by a Venetian fleet led by Giustiniano Participazio. Al-Furat decides to break off the siege at Syracuse, as his forces suffer greatly from lack of food. Later he dies during an outbreak of an epidemic.
Summer – Euphemius, Byzantine admiral, is murdered by emissaries from the Byzantine garrison at Castrogiovanni, which is besieged by the Muslims. Threatened by Byzantine reinforcements arriving from Constantinople, the survivors burn their ships and retreat overland westward to Mazara del Vallo.
Europe
Al-Andalus: The city of Merida (modern Spain) rises twice in one year against the Umayyad Emirate.
Kydonia, on the northwest coast of Crete, is destroyed by Saracen pirates (approximate date).
Alcamo in Sicily is founded by the Muslim commander al-Kamuk (approximate date).
China
In the capital of Chang'an, a powerful court eunuch orders 50 wrestlers to arrest 300 commoners over a land property dispute in Northwest Chang'an, whereupon a riot breaks out in the streets.
Religion
Relics of Mark the Evangelist are stolen from Alexandria (controlled by the Abbasid Caliphate) by two Venetian merchants, and brought to Venice.
At the instigation of Adalram, archbishop of Salzburg, the first Christian church in Central and Eastern Europe is built in Nitra, Pannonia.
A Coptic revolt breaks out in Egypt (approximate date).
Byzantine Empire
October 2 – Emperor Michael II dies after a 8-year reign in Constantinople, and is succeeded by his 16-year-old son Theophilos, as sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire. He continues his father's ideology of iconoclasm.
October – Battle of Thasos: Saracens from the newly found Emirate of Crete almost annihilate the Byzantine fleet at Thasos, close to the coast of Thrace. The Cyclades and other islands in the Aegean Sea are pillaged.
Europe
Emperor Louis the Pious appoints his 6-year-old son Charles (by his second wife Judith) as ruler of the Frankish subkingdom Alamannia, enraging his eldest son and co-emperor Lothair I, who begins an insurrection.
Viking chieftain Halfdan the Black becomes king of Agder (modern Norway). He expands his realm through military conquest and political negotiations, dividing the kingdom of Vestfold with his half-brother Olaf.
Giustiniano Participazio, doge of Venice, dies after a 2-year reign, and is succeeded by his younger brother Giovanni Participazio. He continues the work of Giustiniano, in construction of St. Mark's Basilica.
Britain
King Egbert of Wessex invades Mercia, ousts his rival Wiglaf, and attempts to rule directly from Wessex. He is recognized as overlord (bretwalda) of other English kingdoms.
Winter – Battle of the River Dore: Egbert of Wessex leads his army against the Northumbrians as far as Dore, were he clashes with King Eanred of Northumbria.
Egypt
The Nile River freezes over.
China
The Bai kingdom of Nanzhao captures the city of Chengdu, in Sichuan Province.
Religion
Ansgar, Frankish abbot of Corvey (modern Westphalia), is appointed missionary to Sweden by Louis the Pious, at the request of the Swedish king Björn at Haugi.
The city of Wiesbaden (Germany) is first mentioned by Einhard, biographer of former emperor Charlemagne (approximate date).
Louis the Pious
Egbert of Wessex
Michael II
Thomas the Slav
Omurtag of Bulgaria
Al-Ma'mun
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