Year 902 (CMII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.

Events

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By place

Europe

• Spring Adalbert II, margrave of Tuscany, revolts against Emperor Louis III ("the Blind"). He helps the deposed King Berengar I to recover the Kingdom of Italy. Louis III is forced to abdicate the Lombard throne and flees to Provence, compelled to promise never to return to Italy.

• February – March Abu Abbas Abdallah, conqueror of Reggio Calabria, returns from Sicily and succeeds his father Ibrahim II as Aghlabid emir of Ifriqiya.

• June Ibrahim II lands with an Aghlabid expeditionary force in Trapani, and proceeds to Palermo. He crushes the reinforced Byzantine army at Giardini.

• August 1 Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, is captured by the Aghlabid army. After nearly 75 years, all of Sicily is in Aghlabid hands.

• September Ibrahim II crosses the Strait of Messina into Calabria. He begins his march to conquer the rest of Italy, and lays siege at Cosenza.

• October 23 Ibrahim II dies of dysentery in a chapel near Cosenza. His grandson, Ziyadat Allah, takes over the army, but lifts the siege.

• Winter The Balearic Islands are conquered by the Emirate of Córdoba. The Moors improve agriculture with irrigation on the islands.

Britain And Ireland

• December 13 Battle of the Holme: The Anglo-Saxon army is defeated by the Danish Vikings under Æthelwold (a son of Æthelred I) at Holme. Æthelwold is killed, ending his revolt against King Edward the Elder.

• Winter The Norsemen are expelled from Dublin. After a brief foray into Seisyllwg (Wales), a group, under the Viking lord Ingimundr, settle in the Wirral with the agreement of Lady Æthelflæd of the Mercians.

Arabian Empire

• April 5 Caliph Al-Mu'tadid dies in Baghdad after a 10-year reign. Possibly poisoned in a palace intrigue, he is succeeded by his eldest son Al-Muktafi as ruler of the Abbasid Caliphate.

• The Kutama tribe under Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i revolt against the Aghlabids. He begins a campaign and dispatches an invitation to the Fatimid spiritual leader Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi Billah to support him.

• Moorish Andalusian merchants set up a trade settlement (so-called emporium) in Oran (modern Algeria).

Asia

• Spring Emperor Zhao Zong appoints Yang Xingmi as the overall commander of the Eastern circuits in China. He receives the title of Prince Wuzhong of Wu.

• The Kingdom of Nanzhao in East Asia is overthrown, followed by three dynasties in quick succession, before the establishment of the Kingdom of Dali in 937.

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Births

• November 25 Tai Zong, emperor of the Liao dynasty (d. 947)

• Ælfweard, king of Wessex (approximate date)

• Du, empress of the Song dynasty (approximate date)

• Eadgifu, queen and wife of Charles the Simple

• Han Xizai, Chinese official and calligrapher (d. 970)

• Lady Xu Xinyue, wife of Qian Yuanguan (d. 946)

• Lothar I, Frankish nobleman (d. 929)

• Wang Jun, chancellor of Later Zhou (or 903)

Deaths

• February 16 Mary the Younger, Byzantine saint (b. 875)

• April 5 Al-Mu'tadid, Abbasid caliph

• August 14 Badr al-Mu'tadidi, Abbasid commander-in-chief

• October 23 Ibrahim II, Aghlabid emir (b. 850)

• December 5 Ealhswith, queen and wife of Alfred the Great

• December 16 Wei Yifan, chancellor of the Tang dynasty

• Æthelwold, son of Æthelred of Wessex

• Amr ibn al-Layth, Saffarid emir

• Anscar I, margrave of Ivrea (Italy)

• Li Cunxin, general of the Tang dynasty (b. 862)

• Wang Zongdi, Chinese official and governor

• Yunju Daoying, Chinese Buddhist teacher (b. 830)

References