856

By place

Byzantine Empire

• March 15 - Emperor Michael III overthrows the regency of his mother Theodora and the logothete Theoktistos. He appoints his uncle Bardas as the de facto regent and co-ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

  Europe

• King Charles the Bald cedes the county of Maine to Erispoe, ruler of Brittany—this in return for an alliance against the Vikings.
• King Ordoño I of Asturias is said to have begun the repopulation of the town of León in the northwest of Spain.

  Britain

• October 1 - King Æthelwulf of Wessex marries the 12- or 13-year-old Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, at Verberie. She is crowned queen and anointed by Hincmar, archbishop of Reims. The marriage is a diplomatic alliance between Wessex and the West Frankish Kingdom.
• Winter - Æthelwulf returns to Wessex to face a revolt by his eldest son Æthelbald, who usurps the throne. Æthelwulf agrees to give up the western part of his kingdom, in order to avoid a civil war. He keeps control over Sussex, Surrey, Essex and Kent, over which Prince Æthelberht has presided.

  By topic

Geology

• November - An earthquake in Corinth in Greece kills an estimated 45,000 people.
• December 3 - Another earthquake strikes the Abbasid Caliphate, also killing an estimated 45,000 people.
• December 22 - Another earthquake strikes Damghan, killing an estimated 200,000 people.

  Births

• October 24 - Li Keyong, Shatuo governor
• Li Maozhen, Chinese warlord and king

  Deaths

• January 7 - Aldric, bishop of Le Mans
• February 4 - Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mainz
• August 6 - Fujiwara no Nagara, Japanese statesman
• August 16 - Theutbald I, bishop of Langres
• Florinus of Remüs, Frankish priest and martyr
• Godfrid Haraldsson, Viking chieftain
• Guerin, Frankish nobleman
• Ilyas ibn Asad, Muslim emir
• Muhammad I Abu 'l-Abbas, Muslim emir