Jean Paul Laurens Le Pape Formose et Etienne VI 1870

__NOTOC__ Year 897 ( DCCCXCVII) was a

common year starting on Saturday A common year starting on Saturday is any non-leap year (i.e. a year with 365 days) that begins on Saturday, 1 January, and ends on Saturday, 31 December. Its dominical letter hence is B. The current year, 2022, is a common year starting on Saturd ...

(link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

By place

Europe

* Spring – King Lambert II travels to Rome with his mother, Queen Ageltrude and brother Guy IV, Lombard duke of Spoleto, to meet Pope

Stephen VI Pope Stephen VI ( la, Stephanus VI; died August 897) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 22 May 896 to his death. He is best known for instigating the Cadaver Synod, which ultimately led to his downfall and death. Family ...

to receive reconfirmation of his imperial title. Guy is murdered on the Tiber by agents of

Alberic I Alberic I (died c. 925) was the Lombard Duke of Spoleto from between 896 and 900 until 920, 922, or thereabouts. He was also Margrave of Camerino, and the son-in-law of Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum, the most powerful man in Rome. Life He firs ...

, a Frankish nobleman with political interests. He seizes Spoleto (possibly at the instigation of King

Berengar I Berengar I ( la, Berengarius, Perngarius; it, Berengario; – 7 April 924) was the king of Italy from 887. He was Holy Roman Emperor between 915 and his death in 924. He is usually known as Berengar of Friuli, since he ruled the March of Friu ...

) and sets himself up as duke.

Britain

* English warships (nine vessels from Alfred's new fleet) intercept six Viking longships in the mouth of an unknown estuary on the south coast (possibly at Poole Harbour) in Dorset. The

Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard t ...

are blockaded, and three ships attempt to break through the English lines. Lashing the Viking boats to their own, the English crew board the enemy's vessels and kill everyone on board. Some ships manage to escape, two of the other three boats are driven against the

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

coast. The

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

ed sailors are brought before King

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

and hanged. Just one Viking ship returns to

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

Arabian Empire

* Caliph al-Mu'tadid recovers control of the

Cilicia Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coas ...

n Thughur (southeastern Anatolia) and of northern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, during the turmoil in the Tulunid government (approximate date). *

15 March Events Pre-1600 * 474 BC – Roman consul Aulus Manlius Vulso celebrates an ovation for concluding the war against Veii and securing a forty years' truce. *44 BC – The assassination of Julius Caesar takes place. * 493 – Odoa ...

– Al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya enters Sa'dah and founds the Zaydi Imamate of Yemen.

Japan

* Emperor Uda abdicates the throne after a ten year reign. He is succeeded by his 12-year-old son Daigo, as the 60th emperor of Japan.

By topic

Religion

* January – The Cadaver Synod: Lambert II orders Stephen VI to exhume the nine-month-old cadaver of former pope

Formosus Pope Formosus (896) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 891 until his death on 4 April 896. His reign as pope was troubled, marked by interventions in power struggles over the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the K ...

, to redress him in papal robes, and have him put on trial while seated in a chair at St. Peter's. Formosus is 'convicted' of several crimes, his fingers of

consecration Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

are cut off, and the body is stripped of his vestments. * August – Stephen VI is removed from office, imprisoned and

strangled Strangling is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and is one of two main ways that hanging ...

in his cell. He is succeeded by Romanus as the 114th pope of the Catholic Church. * December – Romanus is deposed and succeeded by Theodore II as the 115th pope of Rome, but dies twenty days later.

Births

* Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Arab historian (d.

967 Year 967 ( CMLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Emperor Otto I (the Great) calls for a council at Rome, to present the ne ...

) * Balderic, bishop of Utrecht (d. 975) * Yang Longyan, king of Wu (d. 920)

Deaths

* November 16 – Gu Yanhui, Chinese warlord * Ali ibn Ahmad al-Madhara'i, Muslim vizier *

Buhturi Al-Walīd ibn Ubaidillah Al-Buḥturī ( ar, أبو الوليد بن عبيدالله البحتري التنوخي, al-Walīd ibn `Ubayd Allāh al-Buhturī) (821–97 AD; 206–84 AH) was an Arab poet born at Manbij in Islamic Syria, between Al ...

, Muslim poet (b. 820) * Ermengard of Italy, queen and regent of Provence * Fujiwara no Sukeyo, Japanese

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...

(b. 847) * Guy IV, duke of Spoleto * Heahstan, bishop of London * Jinseong, queen of Silla ( Korea) *

Li Zi Li Zi (李滋) (died 897), formally the Prince of Tong (通王), was an imperial prince of the Chinese Tang Dynasty. He was the favorite son of Emperor Xuānzong, but was unable to take the throne after Emperor Xuānzong's death, as his older brot ...

('Prince of Tong'), prince of the Tang Dynasty *

Mashdotz I Catholicos Mashdotz I was the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church between 897 and 898. He was a monk of Sevanavank monastery and regarded as a very holy man. While a monk, he was asked by sparapet Abas to assist in overthrowing the current ...

, Armenian monk and

catholicos Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes from ancient ...

(or 898) * Minamoto no Yoshiari, Japanese official (b.

845 __NOTOC__ Year 845 ( DCCCXLV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Byzantine–Arab War: A prisoner exchange occurs between the Byzant ...

) *

, pope of the Catholic Church * Theodore II, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 840) * Wilfred the Hairy, Frankish nobleman * Ya'qubi, Muslim geographer (or 898) * Zhaozhou, Chinese Zen Buddhist master (b.

778 __NOTOC__ Year 778 ( DCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 778 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent metho ...

) * Zhu Xuan, Chinese warlord and governor ('' jiedushi'')

References

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