883

Updated on Sep 20, 2024

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Year 883 (DCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Europe

Spring – Viking raiders ravage Flanders, and sack the abbey at Saint-Quentin. King Carloman II blocks their passage at Laviers, on the banks of the Somme. Meanwhile, Vikings enter the Rhine, but are turned back by Henry of Franconia (margrave of Saxony). They over-winter at Duisburg.

King Charles the Fat travels to Nonantola (Northern Italy), where he meets Pope Martinus II. He receives complaints of Guy II of Spoleto, official "protector" of Rome, who has invaded the Papal States. Charles orders Guy to appear before a tribunal.

Guy II of Spoleto begins a revolt, and assembles an army supported with Arab auxiliaries. Charles the Fat sends Berengar of Friuli with a expeditionary force, to deprive him of Spoleto. Berengar's army is hit by an epidemic, and forced to retire.

Svatopluk I, ruler (knyaz) of Great Moravia, conquers Lower Pannonia (modern Hungary), during the succession strife in the East Frankish Kingdom (approximate date).

The first historic document (written by Regino of Prüm) mentions Duisburg.

Arabian Empire

The Zanj Rebellion: Abbasid general Al-Muwaffaq brings in Egyptian forces, to help him in his 2-year siege of the Zanj capital Mukhtara. He captures the city, and crushes the revolt that has devastated Chaldea (modern Iraq) since 869.

September 11 – Yazaman al-Khadim, Abbasid governor of Tarsus, routs a Byzantine army under general Kesta Styppiotes, in a night attack. According to Arab chroniclers, 70,000 out of 100,000 Byzantine troops are killed.