961

Year **961** (**CMLXI**) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

#### Byzantine Empire

* March 6 – Siege of Chandax: Byzantine forces under Nikephoros Phokas capture and pillage Chandax after an 8-month siege. Nikephoros massacres the population without mercy and carries them off into slavery. He returns to Constantinople with Emir Abd al-Aziz ibn Shu'ayb and his family as prisoners. The island of Crete is converted into a Byzantine theme and the remaining Muslims are converted to Christianity.

#### Europe

* May 26 – Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor elects his 6-year-old son Otto II as heir apparent and co-ruler at the Imperial Diet in Worms. He is crowned at Aachen, and placed under the tutelage of his grandmother Matilda and his half-brother William of Mainz. Otto's own brother Bruno I is charged with the provisional government of Lorraine again.
* Summer – Otto I leads an expeditionary force into northern Italy through the Brenner Pass at Trento, to assist the beleaguered young Pope John XII. He proceeds towards Pavia – King Berengar II sends his son and co-ruler Adalbert II from Rome at the head of a large army to seize control of the Upper Adige and contest Otto's entry.
* October 15 – Caliph Abd-al-Rahman III dies after a 32-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Al-Hakam II as ruler of the Caliphate of Córdoba in Al-Andalus (modern Spain).
* Battle of Fitjar – A Viking force under the sons of Eric Bloodaxe lands on Hordaland. King Haakon the Good defeats the rebelling force, but is killed. Harald Greycloak becomes ruler of the western part of Norway.
* The Lombard

 army under Adalbert II refuses to fight Otto I unless Berengar II
abdicates in favor of Adalbert. Berengar refuses, and the armies retreat
 to their strongholds. Berengar and his family take whatever loyal
soldiers remain and disperse themselves – Berengar retreats to the
fortress at Montefeltro (in the Pentapolis).

#### Armenia

* King Ashot III of Armenia (the Merciful) moves his capital from Kars eastward to Ani (modern Turkey). Located on a major east-west caravan route, Ani will become larger than any European city, with a population of about 100,000 that will rival Baghdad, Cairo, and Constantinople. Ani also becomes the site of the royal mausoleum of the Bagratuni kings.

### By topic

#### Art

* The "Shroud of Saint Josse", a rich silk Samite camel cloth from Khurasan, is made. It is preserved in the Abbey of Saint-Josse-sur-Mer, near Caen (Normandy) (approximate date).

#### Religion

* The Tiger Hill Pagoda (or Huqui Tower) is built in the city of Suzhou, located in Jiangsu Provence (Eastern China).
* Tavistock Abbey is founded by Ordgar, Ealdorman of Devon, in England.

At the border of the south of France (or in fact as it was at the time, still the Frankish kingdoms), in the city of Aigue Morte, an agent of a liberating Baron is captured and imprisoned by a cruel local lord in his Castle Ivory, guarded by savage North African Berbers and various Outer God connected monsters.

In numerology, **961** combines the attributes of 9, 6 and 1. It is a message from the angels for us to act in a way that is honest and open. **961** suggests that new opportunities are on the horizon but that with them we should expect other cycles to end.