820
Year 820 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Abbasid Caliphate
- Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun appoints Isa ibn Yazid al-Juludi as Abbasid governor of Yemen, for a few months.
- Caliph Al-Ma'mun appoints Hisn ibn al-Minhal as Abbasid governor of Yemen, for a few months.
- Caliph Al-Ma'mun appoints Ibrahim al-Ifriqi as Abbasid governor of Yemen. He remains in office until 821.
- Caliph al-Ma'mun appoints Abu Nasr ibn al-Sari as Abbasid governor of Egypt.
Byzantine Empire
- December 25 - Emperor Leo V is assassinated by conspirators in the Hagia Sophia, at Constantinople. Though unarmed, he fights back fiercely but dies of his wounds. He is succeeded by Michael II, the commander of the palace guard. Leo's family are exiled to monasteries in Princes' Islands.
Ireland
- Fedelmid mac Crimthainn assumes the kingship as ruler of Munster.
China
- Emperor Xian Zong dies from poisoning, after a 14-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Mu Zong, as ruler of the Tang dynasty.
Births
- Adalbert I, Frankish margrave
- Adelaide of Tours, Frankish noblewoman
- Álmos, military leader of the Hungarians
- Anandavardhana, Indian philosopher
- Ashot I, king of Armenia
- Buhturi, Syrian poet
- Godfrid Haraldsson, Danish Viking king
- Grimbald, Frankish Benedictine monk
- Hucbert, Frankish nobleman
- Ibn Khordadbeh, Persian geographer
- Qusta ibn Luqa, Syrian Melkite physician
- Ranulf I of Aquitaine, Frankish nobleman
- Rhodri the Great, king of Gwynedd
Deaths
- September 14, Li Yong, chancellor of the Tang dynasty
- December 25, Leo V, emperor of the Byzantine Empire
- Adi Shankara, Indian philosopher and theologian
- Causantín mac Fergusa, king of the Picts
- Huangfu Bo, chancellor of the Tang dynasty
- Lupo III, duke of Gascony
- Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i, Muslim imam
- Olcobhar mac Cummuscach, abbot of Clonfert
- Song Ruoxin, Chinese scholar and poet
- Tnúthgal mac Donngaile, king of Munster
- Tutu Chengcui, eunuch and advisor of the Tang dynasty
- Wang Chengzong, general of the Tang dynasty
- Xian Zong, emperor of the Tang dynasty