983

By place

Europe

• Summer - Diet of Verona: Emperor Otto II declares war against the Byzantine Empire and the Emirate of Sicily. He assembles a large expeditionary force for a renewal of a invasion in Calabria. Otto gifts the Rheingau to the Archbishopric of Mainz during the 'Veronese donation'.
• Great Slav Rising: The Polabian Slavs, mainly Lutici and Obotrite tribes living east of the Elbe River revolt against Christianity and their subjugation to the German realm of the Holy Roman Empire. They invade northern Germany, sacking the cities of Havelberg, Brandenburg and Hamburg.
• King Harald Bluetooth rebels against the overlordship of Otto II. A Danish Viking army under his son Sweyn Forkbeard invades the March of Schleswig – along the northern border of modern Denmark. The Sorb Slavs in northern Germany overrun and conquer the March of Zeitz from Saxon control.
• December 7 - Otto II dies from a fever in his palace at Rome after a 10-year reign. He is succeeded by his 3-year-old son Otto III, who is crowned as King of Germany and Lombardia in Aachen. The Holy Roman Empire comes under the regency of his mother, Empress consort Theophanu.

  Arabian Empire

• March 26 - 'Adud al-Dawla, ruler of the Buyid Dynasty, dies after a 34-year reign. He is succeeded by his 20-year-old son Samsam al-Dawla, who is recognised by the Abbasid Caliphate. During al-Dawla's rule his dominions are divided through civil war and revolts.
• Fall - Fatimid troops under the defecting Hamdanid governor of Homs, Bakjur, attack Aleppo, but are repulsed through the intervention of the Byzantine army. Bardas Phokas sacks the city, while Bakjur flees to Fatimid territory in Egypt.

  China

• Emperor Sheng Zong of the Khitan-led Liao Dynasty leads an expeditionary force against the Zubu after they killed their own khan and begin to act in defiance of the Khitan.
• One of the Four Great Books of Song, the encyclopedia Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era is completed in 1,000 volumes, of 4.7 million written Chinese characters.

  By topic

Religion

• July 10 - Pope Benedict VII dies after a 9-year reign. Otto II secures the election of the imperial chancellor and appoints John XIV as the 136th pope of the Catholic Church.