956

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Summer - Emperor Constantine VII appoints Nikephoros Phokas to commander of the Byzantine field army in the East. He gives him order to prepare a campaign against the Hamdanid emir Sayf al-Dawla. Constantine makes treaties with neighbouring rulers, to seek for military aid.
• September/October – A Byzantine fleet under Basil Hexamilites deals a crushing defeat to the Hamdanid fleet at Tarsus in Cilicia.

  Europe

• Liudolf, the eldest son of King Otto I, reconciles with his father and asks again for installation as duke of Swabia. Otto refuses, but at the instigation of his uncle Bruno I allows Liudolf to lead an expedition to Italy to bring the vassal Berengar of Ivrea to heel.
• Berengar of Ivrea dispatches a Lombard army under his son Adalbert II to counter Liudolf, while he guards Pavia himself. In two battles Liudolf defeats the Lombard forces and enters Pavia, there to receive the homage of the Italian nobles and clergy on behalf of Otto I.
• June 16 - Hugh the Great, count of Paris, dies at Dourdan. He is succeeded by his eldest son Hugh Capet, who is recognized as Duke of the Franks by his cousin Lothair III, king of the West Frankish Kingdom.
• King Ordoño III dies at Zamora after a 5-year reign. He is succeeded by his half-brother Sancho I as ruler of León.

  Egypt

• An earthquake badly damages the Lighthouse of Alexandria: one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

  By topic

Religion

• Dunstan, an abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, is sent into exile by King Eadwig. He takes refuge in Flanders, where Count Arnulf I gives him shelter in the Abbey of Mont Blandin, near Ghent.