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