873
Year 873 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
- Carloman, son of King Charles the Bald, is hauled before a secular court and condemned to death – for plotting against his father. He is blinded, but avoids imprisonment by escaping to the East Frankish Kingdom, where his uncle, Louis the German, gives him protection.
- Al-Andalus: The city of Toledo rises up for a second time against Umayyad rule, due to ethnic tensions over two years.
Britain
- The Danish Great Heathen Army, led by the Viking leaders Halfdan and Guthrum, attack Mercia and capture the royal centre at Repton. The Vikings establish an encampment with a U-shape ditch, on the south bank of the River Trent and spend the winter there.
Abbasid Caliphate
- Azugitin, Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tamid appointed Azugitin as governor of Mosul with deputies.
- Muhammad ibn Ali al-Armani, was killed at the Caliphate - Byzantine border in 873.
- Muhammad ibn Tahir, Muslim governor of Khorasan, is overthrown by the Saffarids, led by Ya'qub ibn al-Layth, who conquer the capital, Nishapur. Khorasan is annexed to their own empire in eastern Persia. The Tahirid Dynasty falls.
China
- August 15 - Emperor Yi Zong dies after a 13-year reign. He is succeeded by his 11-year-old son Xi Zong, as ruler of the Tang Dynasty. During his reign, a widespread failure of the agricultural harvest leads to famine and agrarian rebellions.
Births
- Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, was the founder of the Isma'ili Fatimid Empire, the only major Shi'a caliphate in the 10th century history, and the eleventh Imam of the Isma'ili faith
- Abu Yazid, Kharijite Berber leader
- Ahmad al-Muhajir, Muslim imam
- Al-Tabarani, Muslim hadith scholar
- Fujiwara no Sadakata, Japanese poet
- Ordoño II, king of Galicia and León
Deaths
- July 8 - Gunther, archbishop of Cologne
- August 1 - Thachulf, duke of Thuringia
- August 15 - Yi Zong, emperor of the Tang Dynasty
- Al-Kindi, Muslim philosopher and polymath
- Du Cong, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
- Ecgberht I, king of Northumbria
- Hunayn ibn Ishaq, Muslim scholar and physician
- Ivar the Boneless, Viking leader
- John III, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch
- Kang Chengxun, general of the Tang Dynasty
- Lethlobar mac Loingsig, king of Ulaid
- Malik ibn Tawk, Muslim governor
- Muhammad ibn Ali al-Armani, Muslim general
- Rodrigo, Asturian nobleman
- Rodulf Haraldsson, Viking leader
- Shinshō, Japanese Buddhist monk
- Vímara Peres, Asturian nobleman
- Wei Baoheng, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty