Year 873 (DCCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.

Events

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By place

Europe

• Carloman, son of King Charles the Bald, is hauled before a secular court and condemned to death – for plotting against his father. He is blinded, but avoids imprisonment by escaping to the East Frankish Kingdom, where his uncle, Louis the German, gives him protection.

• Al-Andalus: The city of Toledo (modern Spain) rises up for a second time against Umayyad rule, due to ethnic tensions over two years.

Britain

• The Danish Great Heathen Army, led by the Viking leaders Halfdan and Guthrum, attack Mercia and capture the royal centre at Repton (Derbyshire). The Vikings establish an encampment with a U-shape ditch, on the south bank of the River Trent and spend the winter there.

Abbasid Caliphate

• Azugitin, Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tamid appointed Azugitin as governor of Mosul with deputies.

• Muhammad ibn Ali al-Armani, was killed at the Caliphate - Byzantine border in 873.

• Muhammad ibn Tahir, Muslim governor of Khorasan, is overthrown by the Saffarids, led by Ya'qub ibn al-Layth, who conquer the capital, Nishapur. Khorasan is annexed to their own empire in eastern Persia. The Tahirid Dynasty falls.

China

• August 15 Emperor Yi Zong (Li Cuī) dies after a 13-year reign. He is succeeded by his 11-year-old son Xi Zong, as ruler of the Tang Dynasty. During his reign, a widespread failure of the agricultural harvest leads to famine (which causes people to resort to cannibalism) and agrarian rebellions.

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Births

• Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, was the founder of the Isma'ili Fatimid Empire, the only major Shi'a caliphate in the 10th century history, and the eleventh Imam of the Isma'ili faith (d. 934)

• Abu Yazid, Kharijite Berber leader (d. 947)

• Ahmad al-Muhajir, Muslim imam (d. 956)

• Al-Tabarani, Muslim hadith scholar (d. 970)

• Fujiwara no Sadakata, Japanese poet (d. 932)

• Ordoño II, king of Galicia and León (d. 924)

Deaths

• July 8 Gunther, archbishop of Cologne

• August 1 Thachulf, duke of Thuringia

• August 15 Yi Zong, emperor of the Tang Dynasty (b. 833)

• Al-Kindi, Muslim philosopher and polymath

• Du Cong, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty (b. 794)

• Ecgberht I, king of Northumbria

• Hunayn ibn Ishaq, Muslim scholar and physician (b. 809)

• Ivar the Boneless, Viking leader (approximate date)

• John III, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch

• Kang Chengxun, general of the Tang Dynasty

• Lethlobar mac Loingsig, king of Ulaid (Ireland)

• Malik ibn Tawk, Muslim governor

• Muhammad ibn Ali al-Armani, Muslim general

• Rodrigo, Asturian nobleman

• Rodulf Haraldsson, Viking leader

• Shinshō, Japanese Buddhist monk (b. 797)

• Vímara Peres, Asturian nobleman

• Wei Baoheng, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty

References