Timeline 825-850 (Interference)

826-830
Summary: a time of general consolidation.

826

Middle East:

Upon the final quashing of Nasr’s rebellion in northern Syria, Omayyad and Abbasid forces clash just outside Damascus: the latter prevail, but Omayyad Egypt gains control over coastal Lebanon, with the Christian Marada states to act as a buffer with Abbasid Syria

North Africa:

The Idrisids conquer Pantelleria

Central-Eastern Europe:

The pathetic remains of the Avar Khaganate cease to exist and are divided between Bulgaria and Greater Moravia

827

Byzantine Empire:

Thomas the Slav, a most ineffective ruler who humiliated Byzantium with his subservience to Bulgaria, is slain in a coup by that same drungarios (chief admiral) who took him in power, Eustace, now crowned in St.Sophia as the new basileus. Eustace is an Iconophile, but doesn’t press abolition of Iconoclasm to keep the army’s loyalty

Southern Europe:

King Leo of Sicily dies without issue fighting the Idrisid invasion at the Belice river battle: a war of succession at once erupts in the areas not under Arab rule. At the Synod of Mantua a major issue is authority over the bishoprics of Histria: it is thus decided to divide the peninsula between the Patrariarchates of Aquileia (eastern part) and Grado (west), which division will remain in the centuries between Venice and the HRCEW

827-848

Middle East:

In this years a cultural renaissance blooms in Baghdad, with the translation of ancient Classical philosophy and science into Arab. The Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun creates the Mihna (sort of Islamic Inquisition) to enforce his own religious views, based on Mutazilism (a rationalistic variant of Sunni Islam, with Hellenistic philosophical influences)

828-853

India:

Maharaja Rawal Khuman II of Mewar (northwestern India) fights 24 battles against the Abbasid armies, gaining the title of “Guardian of Hinduism”

828

Southern Europe:

King Liutpert of (northern Lombardy) dies after 52 years of reign and loyal allegiance to the HRCEW; emperor Louis the Pious installs on the throne of Pavia Liutpert’s nephew Adaloald II over the deceased king’s grandson, Babila. Louis the Pious also installs Hunroch II and his young son Eberhard as rulers in the march of Friul. The Venetian traders Rustico from Torcello and Bono from Methamaucs/Malamocco steal the corpse of St. Mark the Apostle from Alexandria and bring it to Rialto/Venezia, where a church will be built for him; actually the corpse stolen is not St. Mark, but Alexander the Great! (This will be discovered many, many centuries later). In Sicily the Idrisid invaders besiege and capture Palermo and sink the once powerful Syracusan fleet in the battle of Mazara

Central-Eastern Europe:

The Bulgarians conquer lower Pannonia and stage raids up to Histria; Pannonia east of the Danube becomes known as Honoguria, from the Onogur Bulgar tribe dwelling there

828-830

British Isles:

Mercia experiences a brief takeover by Wessex, then king Wiglaf frees the country

829

Western Europe:

In the Diet of Worms HRCEW Louis the Pious entrusts Swabia and parts of Burgundy to his last son, Charles (later known as the Bald), born from his second marriage; his half-brothers don’t enjoy the news

Southern Europe:

The Idrisids rout and kill in Castrogiovanni/Enna Leontius Tyndarenus, the stronger pretender to the Syracusan throne

830

Central-Eastern Europe:

With Byzantine help the Khazars build the fortress of Sarkel to control the mouths of the Don river. Aydar, Khan of the Volga Bulgarians, establishes the Khanate of the Black Bulgarians in the Ukraine. Greater Moravia conquers Bohemia and enforces its supremacy over Slovakia and Galicia/Ruthenia: a new powerful Slavic empire is thus born

ca. 830

India:

King Amoghavarsha I Rashtrakuta, the paramount ruler of western and southern India, converts to Mazdaism.

Central Asia:

The Kirghizes gain supremacy over the lands between southern Siberia and Dzungaria.

Caucasus:

Rise of the christian kingdom of Sheka in northwestern Azerbaijan

831-835
830-831

Southern Europe:

Suitgerus, son of duke Adalgerius of Salerno, lands in Sicily but is beaten back and barricades himself in Syracuse, which falls after a terrible siege: the Idrisids now control all of Sicily

830-855

Caucasus:

Long anti-Arab revolts drag on in Bagratid Armenia; Abbasid control over the region is severely weakened

831-832

Western Europe:

In the HRCEW Lothar dethrones his father Louis the Pious, discontent at the emperor’s decision to give an appanage taken from his heritage to young Charles; then, abandoned by his brothers Pepin II of Aquitaine and Louis II the German, Lothar is forced to reinstall his father and wait his time, but imperial authority, especially in Italy, is jeopardized

831-836

Middle East:

A semi-independent emirate forms in Melitene (*OTL Malatya) on the upper Euphrates. Omayyads and Abbasids vie for control of Hijaz and its Holy Cities (Mecca, Medina), with the former keeping it

832

SE Asia:

Nanzhao (Yunnan) swallows his western neighbour, the Burmese kingdom of Pyu.

Western Europe:

Foundation of the Visigothic county of Portugal around Oporto (known in Latin as Portus Cale, whence the name)

833

Southern Europe:

The Frankish duke of Salerno, Ademarus, vassalizes Gaeta.

Central-Eastern Europe:

Mojmir, ruler of Greater Moravia, conquers the principality of Nitra (western Slovakia); its prince, Pribina, takes refuge in Slavic Pannonia.

Western Europe:

The Frisian Gerulf founds on the west side of the Zuiderzee the county of Western Frisia or Kennemerland, known in later times as Holland. The Basque kingdom of Sobrarbre is peacefully absorbed by Vasconia/Navarra upon the death of its last ruler, Sancho Garcés

833-863

Western Europe:

Incessant Viking/Norse raiding and a shift of the lower Rhine’s course bring about the abandonment of the rich trade port of Dorestad (Holland); consequently, Frisian trade supremacy in the North Sea declines

ca. 835

SE Asia:

The Srivijayan ruler, Patapan Sailendra of Sanjaya, reestablishes Hindu hegemony over Buddhism in Java.

Middle East:

Daylam (south of the Caspian Sea) anew breaks free from the Abbasid Caliphate

836-840
835-838

Byzantine Empire:

In response to Abbasid raiding in Anatolia, basileus Eustace leads successful campaigns up to northern Syria and the Euphrates

836

British Isles:

The Norwegian Vikings, led by the mixed-blood Irish-Viking Godred MacFergus, conquer the Isle of Man, abandoned by king Mervyn the Freckled, who had gained the crown of Gwynedd in Wales.

India:

Mihir Bhoja conquers Kanauj (central northern India, along the Ganges) for the Gurjara-Pratiharas and moves his capital there

837

Southern Europe:

An Idrisid fleet sacks Naples.

Central-Eastern Europe:

The Magyars again cross the Dnieper to western Ukraine

838

Western Europe:

The Venetians from Rialto sack and destroy the rival town of Comacchio, gaining permanent supremacy in the Venetic Exarchate (whose ruler keeps, though, the title of Doge, Duke). On the death of his son Pepin I, Louis the Pious bestows Aquitaine on Charles the Bald, which fact reopens never healed wounds in the Carolingian dynasty.

Byzantine Empire:

The Abbasid army counterinvades Anatolia and inflicts a grave defeat upon the Byzantines at Guziliurta, then takes and razes Caesarea Esusebia in Cappadocia

British Isles:

Wessex invades Cornwall, but the latter gets reinforcements from Brittany and repels the invaders

838-842

Far East:

The power of Tibet is severely curtailed by the fierce civil war that puts Buddhists and followers of the traditional Bon religion one against the other

838-846

British Isles:

A massive Viking invasion of Ireland, led by Thorgest, shatters for some years the succession of the Irish High Kings

839

British Isles:

The Norwegian Vikings of the Orkneys, in alliance with the Scottish prince Kenneth MacAlpin, kill king Eoganan of the united house of Fergus, ruling both Dalriada and Alba; Kenneth’s father, Alpin, is enthroned in Dalriada, while Ferach mac Bargoch, a relative of Eoganan, manages to secure the Pictish throne of Alba. In England, Sussex is de facto annexed by Wessex.

Western Europe:

At Worms Louis the Pious, having recently died Pepin of Aquitaine, revises the future division of the HRCEW Empire between his sons: Charles the Bald will gain the whole territory west of the Rhône and Somme rivers, Lothar will receive the imperial crown of as Holy Roman Catholic Emperor of the West plus the central territories of Provence, Burgundy, Rhineland, Flanders (soon collectively known as Lotharingia, whence Lorraine) and suzerainty over Italy; the German territories east of the Rhnine will be Louis II’s domain. Ranulf I becomes count of Poitou, founding the dynasty of the same name

Southern Europe:

Idrisid pirates from Sicily leak into the Adriatic Sea, defeat the Venetians and sack Ancona. The Bulgarians expand in Macedonia and Serbia under khan Malomir (their first ruler to bear a Slavic name).

839-840

Central-Eastern Europe:

The dethroned prince of Nitra (Slovakia), Pribina, ascends the throne of the Slavic Duchy of Pannonia, by now known as Balaton, a vassal of the HRCEW

839-841

Central Asia:

The prince of Usrushana, Afshin Khaydar ibn Kawush, a general in the Abbasid army, rises in rebellion but is betrayed and deported to Samarra (Iraq), where he is starved to death in jail

840

Western Europe:

HRCEW Louis I the Pious is finally deposed by his sons and dies in a monastery a broken man. Aquitaine, who should go to Charles the Bald according to Louis I’s will, rebels under Pepin II, son of Pepin I, hailed as king by local feudatories

Southern Europe:

An Idrisid fleet takes Taranto, whose duke Roland had headed north to uphold his favoured candidate, Lothar, for the imperial succession; the Idrisids establish there a Muslim emirate. Idrisid fleets also sack the coastal cities of Dalmatia and extort tribute from the Sardinian judicates. Meantime Naples rebels against duke Fulmar of Salerno and chooses as its new duke Sergius from Cuma

Byzantine Empire:

General Melissinos gains a brilliant victory against the Arabs at Daranaseia and temporarily conquers Melitene (*OTL Malatya). Idrisid pirates from Cyrenaica first choose as their base the island of Chalki near Rhodes, then, expelled by the Byzantines, assault and conquer Heraklion in Crete making it a harbor for Muslim piracy with the name of al-Khandaq.

Far East:

The second Uygur Khanate in Mongolia is overthrown by Khakassians, Khirghizes and Qarluqs, who destroy the Uygur capital, Kara Balghasun.

Central-Eastern Europe:

The Khazars vassalize Kiev and install there the Magyars under voivoda (prince) Olom. The latter will call western Ukraine Lebedia, from their chieftain, Lebedias

ca. 840

Central Asia:

The Turks begin the process of Islamization. In western Kazakhstan dwell the Oghuz, while the Qarluqs are splitting into Kimaks (in southern Siberia) and Kipchaks (in the northern Central Asian steppes).

North Africa:

St. Cyprian of Constantina finally Christianizes the northern Zenete Berbers of the desert.

Middle East:

The Abbasid Caliph of Baghad al-Mu’tasim creates an army of Turkic slaves (the Ghulams, later known as Mamluks) to counterbalance the rival factions, and particularly the dubious loyalty of the powerful Daylamite mercenaries.

Central-Eastern Europe:

Piast the Wheelmaker, from the Slavic tirbe of the Polanians, founds the kingdom of Poland, centered in the Posen-Gniezno area.

841-845
Summary: Idrisid ascendancy in the Mediterranean, the Carolingians carve the empire after a civil war, the Lombards are finally tamed

840-847

Central Asia, Far East:

Pushed ahead by the victorious Khirghizes, the Uygurs migrate en masse in the Tarim basin area of eastern Turkestan, permanently destroting Tibetan supremacy in the area. In time many of them will convert to Buddhism, already followed by the local Indo-European Tocharians, who are finally absorbed and disappear as a distinct culture. The Chinese T’ang emperor Wuzong, an ardent Taoist, persecutes all other religions: Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Manichaeans and Nestorian Christians

841

Western Europe:

Fighting soon breaks out between Lothar and Pepin II of Aquitain on one side and Charles II the Bald and Louis II the German on the other: it’s the Carolingian war of succession. Lothar and Pepin’s forces are defeated at Fontenay (near Auxerre).

Southern Europe:

Lombardy falls in chaos when Babila kills king Grimoald III and rejects Frankish overlordship: some Frankish dukes support his bid for independence, others, notably duke Unroch II of Friul, do not and resist harshly.

Byzantine Empire:

The Council of Thessalonica finally condemns Iconoclasm and reimposes Nicene Catholicism at Byzantium

Southern Europe:

The Idrisid invaders of Puglia take Bari, where they set up another emirate

British Isles:

The Norwegian Vikings found Dublin, pillage and subdue a sizable chunk of eastern Ireland

841-843

Western Europe:

Taking adavantage of the Carolingian war of succession the Vikings mount a vast pirate attack against the Frankish kingdoms: they plunder Rouen and Nantes and forever destroy Quentovic (on the Channel’s coast just opposite Kent)

842

Western Europe:

The Oath of Strasbourg seals the alliance between Charles the Bald and Louis the German against Lothar and attests the birth of the French and German languages. The Visigoths of Spain, taking advantage of the Carolingian war of succession, reject Frankish overlorship and try to subdue Vasconia/Navarra but are heavily routed by marquis Siguin II

Southern Europe:

In Lombardy the independentist faction led by the usurper Babila overcomes the loyalist dukes at the battle of Corteolona, near Pavia

North Africa:

Constantina resists a long Idrisid siege; it preserves independence and Christianity, though at the price of vassalage to Tunis

843

Western Europe:

The Treaty of Verdun divides the HRCEW in three parts and, by an irony, confirms Louis the Pious’ will at the last Diet of Worms. Charles III the Bald gains Carolingia or West Francia (France proper) with Pepin II as sub-king in Aquitaine, Louis/Ludwig II gets East Francia/Germany, Lothar the imperial crown plus Lotharingia (Burgundy, the Netherlands, Provence, Rhineland), overlorship over Romancia and a pledge by his brothers to help him in the reconquest of Italy, to be made another Frankish kingdom for Lothar’s son Louis

844

Southern Europe:

The Frankish army, united for the last time, storms into Lombardy through allied Romancia (*OTL eastern Switzerland and Valtellina) and annihilates Babila’s army at the battle of Castelseprio, thus forever ending Lombard power in northern and central Italy; even duke Berengarius of formerly independent Spoleto, having supported Babila is forcibly deposed and replaced with the Frank Guido I. Lothar’s son, Louis, is crowned in Rome by Pope Sergius II as Louis I of Italy (and later Louis II as emperor). The Idrisids, now masters of the central Mediterranean, take the sea-trading towns of Gaeta and Amalfi, where they establish two local emirates; duke Fulmar of Salerno moves against them but is defeated and captured and will end his days as a slave

Western Europe:

Duke Bernard of Septimania is executed on orders of the king of West Francia Charles III the Bald (five years later his son William will meet the same fate); the Judeo-Christian Duchy thus reverts to the Eastern Frankish crown, but the region will remain a hotbed of unorthodox feeling and a world center of Jewry for centuries.

Byzantine Empire:

The Byzantine fleet briefly retakes Heraklion /al-Khandaq on Crete, but the Arabs rapidly oust the imperial forces

845

North Africa:

The Berghawata general Simon of Arzaya repels the last Visigothic attempt to conquer Mauretania by king Theodoric V, defeated and killed in the failed siege of Ulili, the Maurian capital.

Western Europe:

Duke Nominoë’s Bretons heavily defeat the Western Franks at Redon and regain full independence; meantime a Danish Viking fleet led by king Ragnar Lodbrok plunders northern France, conquers Paris itself and extorts rich tributes from Charles the Bald.

British Isles:

The Vikings conquer Limerick in Ireland and establish a local kingdom there.

Central-Eastern Europe:

Borivoi I becomes duke of Bohemia under Greater Moravian suzerainty, thus establishing the Premyslid dynasty.

846-850
846

Southern Europe:

The Idrisids conquer Naples, then fiercely sack Rome itself. St.Peter’s is set ablaze and Pope Sergius II is martyred on the spot, then Guido I of Spoleto with a crack force chases away the Arabs. All of southern Italy is now in Muslim hands

847

Southern Europe:

The new Pope Leo IV the Great and Louis, Lothar’s son and king of Italy, fortify Rome against further Muslim aggression, Louis turns them on the Idrisids retaking from them vast swathes of southern Italy, but is unable to retake the coastal cities, lacking a fleet on par with the Muslim one

British Isles:

Kenneth mac Alpin, king of Dalriada, tries to eliminate the Pictish royal family but is killed by Drust IX MacFergach of the MacFergus dynasty of Alba, which now comes to rule also the Scots; from now on Dalriada/Scotland and Alba will remain two distinct kingdoms in personal union under a single king.

Western Europe:

The Vikings sack Bordeaux, which gives herself from Aquitaine to Charles III the Bald’s Western Francia for protection

848

Middle East:

The Abbasid Caliph al-Mutawakkil quits the Mihna (a sort of Islamic inquisition) and leaves the intepretation of the Q’uran to the Sunni Council of the Ulema, who proceed to elect a Wali, or supreme guardian of the faith; in time this figure will gain the prestige of a Sunni Islamic Pope. Meantime the Shiites are still persecuted and non-Muslims suffer strong discrimination.

British Isles:

The Irish defeat the Vikings at Cork, freeing the town.

Central Asia:

Balkh (northern Afghanistan) gains independence under the Bani Juris

850

Southern Europe:

A second Idrisid assault against Rome is routed at the battle of Ostia by Louis II, who is afterwards anointed as coemperor of his father Lothar by Pope Leo IV.

Central Asia:

Kol Bilge Kara Khan founds the Qarluq-Uygur Karakhanid clan in Transoxiana (Central Asia). Pan Tegin/Mangri establishes the Uygur kingdom of Turfan in eastern Turkestan.

Western Europe:

Rurik, son of the duke of the Abodrites (Slavs of northeastern Germany) Godoslav and maternal nephew of duke Gostomysl of Novgorod, but raised among the Danes in Frisia, conquers Dorestad, the capital of Frisia.

Northern Europe:

The Norwegians of Vestfold are ousted from Vendeyssel (the northern “tip” of Jutland)

British Isles:

Cornwall counter-invades Wessex with Viking help, but the Saxons win at Hingston Down

ca. 850

India:

The Gurjara-Pratiharas unify most of northern India under Mihir Bhoja, blocking the expansion of the Abbasid Caliphate and his successor states. Buddhism disappears frm northern India, surviving only east of Bihar and in southern Deccan.

Central-Eastern Europe:

the great župan (prince) Vlastimir of Raška/Kosovo rejects Bulgarian overlordship accepting, instead, that of Byzantium; this starts the Orthodox Christianization of the Sklaviniai (*OTL Balkans). The Slavic Duchy of Triballia emerges between Zahumlje (future Hercegovina) and Raška/Kosovo

SE Asia:

King Pyinbya founds Pagan as capital of his kingdom in central Burma. Buddhism begins to replace Hinduism in the kingdom of Champa (*OTL southern Vietnam).

Byzantine Empire:

The Paulicians, helped by the Arab emitrate of Melitene (*OTL Malatya), break free between Anatolia and Cappadocia under the leadership of Carbeas, rejecting Byzantine authority and building an own State centered at Tephrike (*OTL Divrigi)

Western Europe:

The Danes invade Zeeland, making it a base for their pirate raids

Northern Europe:

The Norwegian kingdom of Vestfold, in its way to national unification, conquers the petty kingdom of Svithjod, a former vassal to Sogn

British Isles:

The Norwegian Vikings conquer the Hebrides

Black Africa:

The kingdom of Bornu is founded north of Lake Chad

Central Hesperia (*OTL America):

The strong Mayan kingdom of Uxmal arises in northern Yucatàn.