Year 949 (CMXLIX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. It was the 949th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 949th year of the 1st millennium, the 49th year of the 10th century, and the 10th and last year of the 940s decade.

Events

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By place

Byzantine Empire

• Arab-Byzantine War: Hamdanid forces under Sayf al-Dawla raid into the theme of Lykandos, but are defeated. The Byzantines counter-attack and seize Germanikeia, defeating an army from Tarsus, and raiding as far south as Antioch. General (strategos) Theophilos Kourkouas captures Theodosiopolis (modern-day Erzurum) after a 7-month siege.

Europe

• A Byzantine expeditionary force under Constantine Gongyles attempts to re-conquer the Emirate of Crete from the Saracens. The expedition ends in a disastrous failure; the Byzantine camp is destroyed in a surprise attack. Gongyles himself barely escapes on his flagship.

• Abd al-Rahman III the Caliph of Córdoba declares Jihad, preparing a large army & conquers the city of Lugo in the extreme North of Iberia. This raid shows to be one of the furthest raids Muslims in Spain ever conducted, done as a show of strength of the Muslim State in Al-Andalus.

• King Miroslav (or Miroslaus) is killed by Ban Pribina during a civil war started by his younger brother Michael Krešimir II, who succeeds him as ruler of Croatia.

• Summer The Hungarians defeat a Bavariann army at Laa (modern Austria).

Japan

• September 14 Fujiwara no Tadahira, a politician and chancellor (kampaku), dies at his native Kyoto. Having governed Japan as regent under Emperor Suzaku since 930. The Fujiwara clan will continue to hold the regency until 1180, controlling the imperial government.

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Births

• Fujiwara no Nagatō, Japanese bureaucrat and poet (d. 1009)

• Gebhard of Constance, German bishop (d. 995)

• Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, High King of Ireland (d. 1022)

• Mathilde, German abbess and granddaughter of Otto I (d. 1011)

• Ranna, Kannada poet (India) (approximate date)

• Symeon (the New Theologian), Byzantine monk and poet (d. 1022)

• Uma no Naishi, Japanese nobleman and waka poet (d. 1011)

Deaths

• June 1 Godfrey, Frankish nobleman (approximate date)

• August 17 Li Shouzhen, Chinese general and governor

• September 14 Fujiwara no Tadahira, Japanese statesman and regent (b. 880)

• September/October Abdallah ibn al-Mustakfi, Abbasid caliph (b. 905)

• December Imad al-Dawla, founder of the Buyid dynasty (Iran)

• December 2 Odo of Wetterau, German nobleman

• December 10 Herman I, duke of Swabia

date unknown

• An, Chinese imperial consort (Five Dynasties)

• Eadric, ealdorman of Wessex (approximate date)

• Jeongjong, king of Goryeo (Korea) (b. 923)

• Miroslav (or Miroslaus), king of Croatia

• Xiao Han, general of the Khitan Liao dynasty

• Yunmen Wenyan, Chinese Zen Buddhist monk

• Zhao Tingyin, general of Later Shu (b. 883)

References