Timeline 900-925 (Interference)

== 900-905 ==
Ca. 900-902
India, Central Asia:
Kashmiri forces take Kbul, but are rapidly beaten back by the local Hindu Shahi rulers.
901 
Southern Europe:
HRCEW (*Holy Roman Catholic emperor/Empire of the West) Louis IV of Provence gets a solemn coronation at the hands of Pope Benedict IV after marrying Theodora, niece of basileus Bardas II the Great. New Magyar incursion into northern Italy/Lombardy.
Western Europe:
Upon king Rainulf IIIs death, Aquitaine passes to the Dukes of Auvergne with William I the Pious: the royal title is discarded and Aquitaine is reduced again to a Duchy, acknowledging at least formal French suzerainty
Central-Eastern Europe:
The Magyars conquer the Slavic Balaton principality and subdue the local Slavs.
901-918 
Far East:
In the turmoil going along with the slow crumbling of Silla, in central Korea the ephemeral State of Majin/Taebong quickly rises and falls
902 
British Isles:
The Irish take Dublin from the Vikings; the Isle of Man is taken over by their comrades in York/Jorvik. Most of the Welsh principalities acknowledge Anglo-Saxon overlordship.
North Africa:
The Byzantines crush the Ifriqid army at Tafrura (*OTL Sfax) consolidating Constantinoples hold over coastal Ifrigia (*later Punia, OTL Tunisia)
902-911
Byzantine Empire:
The renegade Leo of Tripoli, in the service of the Ifriqids, leads devastating pirate raids in the Aegean sea from his base in Crete.
902-922
Northern Europe:
Due to the weakness of the power held by Regnier and his son Wigerich, royal authority over Germany declines, and the so-called Stem Duchies (Saxony, Bavaria, Franconia, Thuringia, Swabia) take strength
903
Byzantine Empire:
Bardas II, one of the greatest Byzantine rulers ever, dies in Constantinople. He is succeeded by his son Eustace II
Middle East:
The rebel Qarmatians invade Syria and besiege Damascus; the Abbasids take advantage to wrench most of Syria and Lebanon from Omayyad/Zanjid Egypt.
Central Asia, Middle East:
The Saffarids fail in the attempt to subdue Daylam and Tabaristan (regions of northern Persia/Iran)
904 
Byzantine Empire:
The renegade Leo of Tripoli settle a new pirate base in Thasos, destroys Demetrias (Thessaly) and sacks Thessalonica, the second city of the empire.
Middle East:
Abbasid forces retake Jerusalem and enforce overlordship over Mecca and Medina (Hijaz), frightened by Qarmatian raids.
Far East:
Zhu Wen eliminates the Chinese emperor Zhaozong and installs on the throne his own puppet, Zhaoxuan, another Tang scion.
Southern Europe:
In Rome the pro-Byzantine faction prevails, led by the Tuscolo family: Sergius III ascends the throne of Peter after strangling with his own hands his predecessor Christopher (who in turn had eliminated Leo V...) marking the nadir of the Papacy, the years of the pornocracy, with the Holy See in the greedy hands of Theodora, wife of count Teofilatto of Tuscolo, and their perverse daughter, Marozia. Meantime the Magyars again ravage Lombardy exacting tribute from HRCEW Louis IV of Provence
905
Northern Europe:
Wigerich succeeds his despised father Regnier as king of Germany
Central-Eastern Europe:
Upon the death of his ceremonial co-king (knd) Kurszan, Gyula Arpad remains the sole ruler of the Magyar people
North Africa:
The Abbasid army, fanaticized by the Sunni Wali (the Muslim Pope) Abdallah I ibn Fuad, the real power behind the throne of Baghdad, invades and conquers Egypt crushing Zanjid rule of the country and killing the Omayyad Caliph Abdullah. The young heir to the Egyptian throne of Fustat/Cairo, Abd ar-Rahman III, takes refuge in Cyrenaica under the protection of friendly Kharijite tribesmen
Far East:
Yel Abaoji founds the Khitan empire in Manchuria.
== 906-910 ==
906
Central-Eastern Europe:
The Magyars annihilate Greater Moravia; the local Slavs, fragmented by German and Magyar encroachment on their homeland, divide themselvs into the Moravians and Slovakians (in the northeast) and the Slovenians (in the southwest); the southern Slavs are thus isolated. The interior of the Taurida (*OTL Crimea) passes under Pecheneg domination
906-907
Byzantine Empire:
The abortive revolt staged by Andronikos Dukas in Anatolia points out the growing strength of landholding and military aristocracy in the Byzantinosphere
907
Byzantine Empire:
A new Varangian-Russian fleet vainly assaults the mighty walls of Constantinople; basileus Eustace II, worried also by the growing hostility of Simeon of Bulgaria, pays tribute to the Varangians of Kiev to keep them quiet. Cyprus is occupied by Leo of Tripoli's Muslim pirates
Western Europe:
Foundation of the county of Namur (Belgium)
Central-Eastern Europe:
The Magyars crush also Ostmark/Austria overrunning in battle the local Bavarians.
Far East:
Zhu Wen ascends the imperial throne of China ending the glorious T’ang dynasty and founding the Later Liang dynasty in Kaifeng; this marks the nbeginning of the so-called Five Dynasties era.
908
Byzantine Empire:
Czar Simeon of Bulgaria retakes arms against Byzantium and ravages both Thrace and Macedonia.
Western Europe:
Hainault (the land between Liege and Valenciennes) is made a county.
Caucasus:
The Armenian principality of Vaspurakan (around Lake Van) becomes an independent kingdom under Gagik I Artzruni.
Central Asia:
The Bani Farighun succeed the Bani Juri in ruling Balkh (northern Afghanistan)
909
Arabia:
The Syrian Ismaili Shi'ite Said ibn Husayn Ubaydallah proclaims himself Caliph at Mascat (Oman) with the support of several southern Arab tribes, founding the Fatimid dynasty, a major rival for the powerful Qarmatians; Qarmatian rejection of the Fatimid Caliphs will soon provoke a schism between Qarmatism and Ismailism.
Western Europe:
The duke of Aquitaine and Auvergne, William the Pious, founds the Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy. A movement for the renewal of the Catholic Roman Church will spring up from there, furtherly distancing it from the Eastern rites
910
Caucasus:
Byzantium sends missionaries to Alania (still partly heathen, partly Arian or Jewish)
ca. 910
India:
The Rashtrakutas defeat the Pratiharas and gain supremacy over the Paramara Rajput kingdom of Malwa.
== 911-915 ==
911
Byzantine Empire:
Drungarios (admiral) Imerius and general Romanus reconquer Crete: the renegade pirate chief Leo of Tripoli is brought in chains in Constantinople and there blinded, mutilated and burnt alive in the Hippodrome. Also Cyprus is brought under Constantinople’s sway. In Thrace the Byzantines try a counterattack against Bulgaria but are heavily routed at Philippopolis.
North Africa:
the Christian Primates of Africa, long exiled in Sicily and then in Rome, under Byzantine protection re-establish their see in Tunis, rechristened as Bardapolis.
Western Europe:
The Viking Hrolf/Rollon is entrusted the Duchy of Normandy with his warriors by the increasingly weak king of France Baldwin II, provided they put an end to Norse raids in the country. Iñigo Raynaldez gains the independence of Navarra from the decaying Visigothic kingdom of Spain.
Southern Europe:
Pope Sergius III dies and is succeeded by his illegitimate son (!) Anastasius III
British Isles:
Upon the death of Earl Ethelred II, “the Scourge of the Welshmen”, the Old Mercian royal dynasty is extinct; Mercia finally reverts to Wessex through the widow countess Ethelfleda, a daughter of the deceased Alfred the Great
912
North Africa:
With Byzantine support the Kharijite Arab tribes of Cyrenaica invade and free Egypt from the oppressive Abbasid rule: Abd ar-Rahman III is hailed as the legitimate Omayyad Caliph. The Byzantine strategos of Ifrigia (later Punia, *OTL Tunisia), Gregory Rantzas, reimposes direct imperial rule over the Numidian and Zenete clans settling the interior of the country, then moves against the principality of Constantina but, despite help from Lesvallia, is defeated and killed at the battle of Ippona/Bona
Byzantine Empire:
The Bulgarians invade Thrace, razing Adrianople after a terrible siege, then vainly besiege Constantinople itself. Basileus Eustace II, impressed with the strength of Bulgaria, agrees not only to rebew and increase tribute, but also to the official engagement between his 5 years old daughter Zoe and Michael, the adulescent first son of Czar Simeon of Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Czar will now adopt the style “basileus” and mints coins in which he appears as co-emperor with Eustace II
912-923
Caucasus:
Iberia/Georgia is occupied by the kingdom of Abasgia/Abkhasia
913
Western Europe:
The Vikings, having their way now blocked in France, invade and sack Brittany.
Central-Eastern Europe:
The Khazars, helped by Byzantium, destroy a Russo-Varangian fleet in the Azov Sea.
Byzantine Empire:
Abortive revolt by Constantine Dukas in Constantinople: the plot is crushed, the would-be usurper blinded and confined into a monastery. But Eustace II’s rule is now deeply resented by the Church and the populace for his weakness towards Bulgaria
913-914
Southern Europe:
Pope Lando reigns in Rome, the last pope to bear his own name and the only one with a Germanic name
914
North Africa:
The Abbasids try a last invasion of Egypt but are repulsed in the Delta by yhe Omayyad Caliph, Abd ar-Rahman III.
Central Asia:
Nasr II ibn Ahmad, the Samanid ruler of Bokhara, converts to Zoroastrism taking the name of Khusraw I.
915 
Southern Europe:
Ifriqid pirates from Djirva (*OTL Djerba) sack and set on fire Syracuse, marking its decline as a major center in the Mediterranean. The king of Italy, Alberic of Camerino, marries the beatiful and nefarious Marozia: soon afterwards he rejects Byzantine suzerainty, attacking the Byzantines in the south and inflicting them a solemn defeat at the battle of the Garigliano; he afterwards cedes Gaeta and Capua to the Papacy and annexes most of the inner south of Italy into his own kingdom.
Northern Europe:
The Magyars raid Germany.
Central-Eastern Europe:
The Varangian lord of Kiev, Ingvar/Igor, a late son of Rurik and founder of the Rurikid clan, acknowledges Pecheneg domination over the Pontic steppes of southern Ukraine.
Central Asia:
The Samanid army invades Persia/Iran, where Abbasid and Saffarid forces resist; a major series of local conflicts ensues, the Persian Wars or Wars of Apostasy.
SE Asia:
Foundation of the Hinduist kingdom of Bali.
== 916-920 ==
915-918 
India:
The Rashtrakutas attack and sack Kanauj, the Pratihara capital
916
Byzantine Empire:
Byzantium finally subdues the Slavs of Macedonia, Thessaly and Epirus, thus completing the reconquest of mainland Greece.
Far East:
The Khitans enforce their domination over a siizable chunk of northern China: Yelü Abaoji proclaims himself emperor, founding the Liao dynasty
East Africa:
Mara Takla Haymanot establishes the Christian Zagwe dynasty in northern Ethiopia
916-919
Southern Europe:
A chaotic civil war rages in northern Italy/Lombardy, with repeated Magyar raids to add havoc and terror: HRCEW Louis IV of Provence and king Alberic I of Italy vie for the crown of Lombardy, until the latter, supported by Rudolf II of Upper Burgundy, prevails and has himself crowned as king of Lombardy and rival emperor of the HRCEW in Pavia. Both Baldwin II of France and Wigerich of Germany watch the struggle with supreme indifference: the Holy Roman Catholic Empire of the West is now little more than a mere name. The Byzantines are forced to inactivity in Italy, having to face the Bulgarian threat at home.
917
British Isles:
The Vikings retake Dublin from the Irish and re-establish their kingdom there.
Central-Eastern Europe, Southern Europe:
The Pechenegs conquer Wallachia from the Bulgarians; many local inhabitants take refuge in the Sklavinian (Balkan) regions, where they establish a strong presence of the semi-nomadic Vlach nation amidst and aside the southern Slavs.
Arabia:
The Fatimids wrest the al-Hasa region along the Persian Gulf from the Qarmatians
918
Central Asia, Middle East:
The Samanid army defeats the Abbasids in the great battle of Qom, expelling Caliphal forces from central Persia/Iran, where Muslim domination is overthrown. Khusraw I Samani moves his capital from Bokhara to Nishapur, in Khorasan.
Far East:
Wang Kon (later known as king T’aejo I) ends the era of turmoil plaguing Korea and founds the kingdom of Koryo (from the name of the ancient Korean State of Koguryo).
Western Europe:
King Baldwin II of France dies, leaving the throne to his son Arnulf I; in Flanders duke Robert (brother of Eudes) secedes and founds the kingdom of Lower Lotharingia (from Lorraine to Hainault, Picardy and the Rhine)
British Isles:
Prince Athelstan of Wessex conquers East Anglia from the Vikings.
Southern Europe:
Simeon of Bulgaria defeats and subdues the Serbs of Raška/Kosovo.
North Africa:
The Banu Khattab Arabo-Berber Kharijite tribe of Fezzan (southern Libya) secedes from the Ifriqid Shi’a Caliphate of Tripoli
919 
British Isles:
Mercia officially reverts to Wessex: this marks, de facto, the birth of the kingdom of England. A renewed Irish attempt to oust the Vikings fails: the High King of Ireland, Niall Glùndubh macAedo Findliath O’Neill, dies in battle
North Africa:
A Byzantine fleet led by drungarios (admiral) Romanus Lecapenus takes the Ifriqid stronghold of Djirva (*OTL Djerba), crushing Muslim piracy in the central Mediterranean.
919-923 
Western Europe:
Vain French attempts to subdue Lower Lotharingia bring to nothing; instead Robert of Flanders comes close to taking the French crown for himself, but in the end he is killed in the battle of Soissons and France and Lower Lotharingia go on as separate kingdoms
920 
North Africa:
The queen of Lesvallia Tarkhane the Great conquers Constantina and Tiaret/Tahert, thus reunifying the whole of Numidia under the Tarkhanid dynasty, a close friend of Byzantium.
British Isles:
Prince Athelstan of Wessex/England invades Cornwall, who acknowledges English overlordship. Upon the death of his older brother Clydog II king Hywel Dda (the Good) of Gwynedd inherits Cardigan/Seisyllwg and attaches it to Dyfed to form the new kingdom of Deheubarth (“the southern part”), comprising most of southern Wales.
Southern Europe:
At Verona Alberic I massacres by treason the rebellious feudatories of Lombardy, incited by Louis IV of Provence.
Central-Eastern Europe:
The Varangian prince of Kiev, Ingvar/Igor, subdues the Drevlian tribe of western Ukraine. Lél, Bulchu and Shur found in Slovakia an independent northern Magyar kingdom.
Middle East:
The Qarmatians conquer all of Syria and Lebanon
Central Asia:
The Samanids vassalize the Justanids of Daylam
ca. 920 
India:
The Pratihara ruler Mahipala I avenges earlier defeats by wresting Malwa from the Rashtrakutas, but his kingdom is weakened by the long conflict.
== 921-925 ==
920-930
Far East:
The Uygurs found the kingdoms of Su-chou and Kan-chou in the Gansu (NW China)
921
Edward the Elder, king of Wessex/England, gains tribute and a pact of alliance by the Picto-Scots of the double kingdom of Alba/Scotland.
Southern Europe:
Emperor Louis IV invades Lombardy, but the allied forces of Alberic I and Rudolf II of Upper Burgundy prevail in the battle of Cigliano (Piedmont). Frederick I, Patriarch of Aquileia and true ruler of Friul, defeats the Magyars at Lupoglava.
921-941
British Isles:
The Viking thrones of Waterford and Dublin (Ireland) are unified, then split again
922 
Southern Europe:
Rudolf II of Upper Burgundy murders Alberic I in Verona and marries his widow Marozia, who helped him in plotting the crime; the couple then has their imperial coronation in Monza, so the Holy Roman Catholic Empire of the West (or the mere name it represents) continues to have two rival emperors. The legitimate ruler, Louis IV, declares Rudolf’s royal title over Upper Burgundy null and void and tries to occupy the country, but local feudatories openly resist
Northern Europe:
King Wigerich of Germany dies, leaving several infant sons. The German dukes put aside the heirs and elect one of them, duke Henry I the Fowler of Saxony, as the new king of Germany, marking the traditional elective character of the German monarchy. Wigerich’s young sons are put under the protection of the Archbishop of Cologne Hermann I, and will later carve between themselves the family possessions in the Ardennes
Central-Eastern Europe:
The Volga Bulgarians confirm their conversion to the Sunni Waliist branch of Islam, allying with Baghdad and the Muslim Caucasian states to counterbalance the Jewish Khazars
923 
Western Europe:
Duke Giselbert Iof Upper Lotharingia/Lorraine secedes from Lower Lotharingia and proclaims himself king, adding further chaos to an already chaotic picture.
Middle East:
Basra is pillaged and set on fire by the Qarmatians.
Far East:
The Later T’ang succeed the Later Liang on the Chinese throne at Kaifeng.
Southern Europe:
Rudolf II of Upper Burgundy again defeats an attempt by HRCEW Louis IV of Provence to recover Lombardy in the battle of Tortona; Pope John IX (*OTL John X), a former lover of Marozia’s mother Theodora, declares Rudolf the legitimate emperor and excommunicates Louis IV
924
Byzantine Empire:
In Constantinople a coup staged by the anti-Bulgarian party with the full support of Patriarch Nicholas the Mystic deposes basileus Eustace II and forces him and his relatives to a monastery. Drungarios (admiral) Romanus I Lecapenus is crowned as the new basileus in St. Sophia
Southern Europe:
Zoltan’s Magyars, called by Louis IV, again ravage Lombardy; they besiege and destroy Pavia capturing Rudolf II and Marozia, then head south and pillage Italy up to the Byzantine themes in the south; then, coming back, they also try to take Rome but have to renounce. Rudolf and Marozia will remain in their hands as useful pawns. William I founds the county of Monferrato (Piedmont). Czar Simeon of Bulgaria proclams himself “basileus of the Greeks and Czar of the Bulgarians” and creates an autonomous Bulgarian Patriarchate under Leontius of Preslav, turning to Rome for recognition. Tomislav I is crowned king of Croatia with Papal approval; the Croats will be Roman Catholic
British Isles:
Athelstan ascends the throne as the first true king of England
924-926
Byzantine Empire:
The Bulgarians besiege Constantinople, in vain, having no navy
925
Byzantine Empire:
The Bulgarians take and destroy Thessalonica, the second city of the empire.
Western Europe:
By the Treaty of Metz HRCEW Louis IV of Provence and Giselbert I of Upper Lotharingia/Lorraine carve Upper Burgundy between themselves; Giselbert acknowledges Louis’ overlordship in exchange for the recognition of his royal title.
Southern Europe:
Louis IV of Provence retakes Lombardy, then marches on Spoleto (fell into anarchy after Alberic I’s death) and Rome, where he stages the deposition, trial and murder of Pope John IX (*OTL John X) and installs in his place Leo VI, who crowns him both king of Italy and Holy Roman emperor; thus Louis controls the crowns of Lower Burgundy, Lombardy, Italy, and the Papacy. Alberic II, the young son of Marozia’s first marriage with Alberic I, is brought to safety in Byzantine Sicily.
Western Europe:
The Magyars, unopposed after the death of the strong Patriarch of Aquileia Frederick I, pass through ravaged Lombardy and put to sack Provence. Then they head north and free Rudolf II in his former domains of Upper Burgundy in exchange for a huge ransom, keeping in Hungary as a hostage his pregnant wife Marozia, who gives birth to a male baby, Conrad. Eventually the horde retreats devastating Swabia, Romancia (where they destroy the Abbey of St.Gall) and Bavaria on its way, and Rudolf is quickly killed by king Giselbert I of Lorraine.
ca. 925
Northern Europe:
King Gorm the Old completes the final unification of Denmark.
British Isles:
Theodore III of Brycheiniog dies, his kingdom is absorbed by Dyfed (southern Wales).
Central Hesperia (*OTL America):
The Toltecs conquer Guatemala and import into Mexico many features of the crumbled Mayan culture.