896

By place

Europe

• February - King Arnulf of Carinthia invades Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Italy] at the head of an East Frankish expeditionary army. He storms Rome, and has himself crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Formosus at St. Peter's. Arnulf sets out to establish his authority in Spoleto, but suffers a stroke; he is forced to call off the campaign, and returns to Bavaria.
• March - King Lambert II proceeds to re-conquer Italy. Heading north, he captures western Lombardy, and decapitates count Maginulf of Milan. In the meantime, the deposed king Berengar I recovers Verona from Arnulf's candidate, count Walfred of Verona, who dies in office with "great fidelity to the emperor".
• Battle of Southern Buh: Bulgarian forces under Simeon I defeat the Magyars, near the banks of the Southern Buh river. The Magyars withdraw from Bulgaria, and are forced to migrate to new pastures. Led by Árpád, they settle in the Carpathian Basin.
• Summer - Battle of Boulgarophygon: Simeon I invades the Theme of Thrace. The Byzantines transfer a new army to Europe, to deal with the Bulgarian threat. The armies clash at Boulgarophygon ; the Byzantines are completely destroyed in battle.
• November - Lambert II and Berengar I agree to sign a treaty at Pavia. Berengar receives the realm between the Adda and the Po, while the rest stays under the control of Lambert. They share Bergamo, and Lambert pledges to marry Gisela, Berengar's daughter.
• Prince Klonimir, pretender to the throne of the Serbian Principality, is defeated by his ruling cousin, Petar. He is recognized as sole ruler of Serbia by Simeon I, resulting in a 20-year peace and alliance.

Britain

• Summer - King Alfred the Great orders the building of English warships on the Itchen at Southampton, against the Danish Viking raiders in Wessex.
• A Viking pirate army under Hastein ravages the Welsh kingdoms of Brycheiniog and Gwent.

Arabian Empire

• Kharijite Rebellion: The Kharijite uprising against the Abbasid Caliphate in Jazira is ended. Caliph Al-Mu'tadid reunifies the entire province under central government, and installs his son and heir, Al-Muktafi, as governor.

China

• Emperor Zhao Zong appoints Li Keyong, a Shatuo military governor, as Prince of Jin. He becomes the first ruler of Jin following the collapse of the Tang dynasty.

By topic

Religion

• April 4 - Pope Formosus dies at Rome, after a four-year reign. He is succeeded by Boniface VI, as the 112th pope of the Catholic Church.
• April - Boniface VI dies, after a pontificate of 15 days. He is succeeded by Stephen VI, as the 113th pope of Rome.