866

[edit] Events

[edit] By Place

[edit] Asia

• Fujiwara no Yoshifusa becomes regent of Japan, starting the Fujiwara regentship.

[edit] Europe

• Alfonso III succeeds as king of Asturias.
• Louis II beats the Saracen invaders in Italy.
• Ivar the Boneless crosses over to England and beats and captures king Aella of Northumbria, thus revenging his father Ragnar Lodbrok.
• Ethelred succeeds as king of Wessex (or 865).
• A "great Viking army" captures York.
• Harold Fairhair (850–933) wins a decisive battle in his quest to become king of all of Norway.

[edit] By Topic

[edit] Religion

• Pope Nicholas I forbids the use of torture in prosecutions for witchcraft.

[edit] Births

• September 19 — Leo, Byzantine Emperor (d. 912)

[edit] Deaths

• April — Bardas, co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire (murdered)
• May 27 — King Ordono I of Asturias
• al-Kindi, Muslim philosopher
• Linji, Chinese monk of the Tang Dynasty who founded the Rinzai school of Buddhism