Tenth Century Chronology

Unedited excerpts from a Yahoo chronology for the tenth century:

901 The Magyars raided Carinthia (~the western part of modern Austria).

901 In around this year, the patriarch of Constantinople published a list of bishoprics. The list, known as the Taxis, showed 505 bishoprics, 405 of them in Asia. Fifty-four of the bishoprics were also metropolitanates, and 50 were autocephalous archbishoprics. The highest ranking metropolitanates were Caesarea-Mazacha, Ephesus, Heraclea in Thrace, and Ancyra. European metropolitanates were lower in rank, the highest, Thrace, being sixteenth.

902 The Saracens conquered Taormina, the last stronghold on the island controlled by the Roman (Byzantine) Empire. Most of the island had fallen to the Saracens by 859.

905 The Saracens destroyed the library of the monastery of Novalesa. More than six thousand, five hundred volumes were lost.

909 William of Aquitaine founded a monastery at Cluny which was to play an important role in the reform of the church in the West and the revival of the monastic life.

911 First Norse settlement in what later became known as Normandy. The West Frankish King Charles the Simple (898-922) settled a group of Vikings under a certain Rollo in the vicinity of Rouen.

913 The Magyars raided Saxony, Thuringia, and Swabia.

914 Theodora, the ruler of Rome, had John, bishop of Ravenna, transferred to become John X (914-28), bishop of Rome. He had been her lover, and, under her patronage, had progressed in rank from simple cleric to bishop. Theodora’s daughter Marozia reportedly bore a son, John, by Pope Sergius III (904-11). Marozia was presumably sired by Theodora’s husband Theophylact, an ally of Sergius. Marozia’s son John became bishop of Rome in 931 (John XI).

918 Rollo, lord of the Vikings near Rouen, invited the monks of St. Audoen to return to their monastery. See 876 above.

924 The Magyars attacked Pavia in northern Italy (south of Milan), sacking 44 churches. (See 899.) Magyars also defeated German forces near the Lech River (a tributary of the Danube).

924 When Berengar was assassinated, Pope John X (914-28) made an alliance with King Hugh of Italy. This action enraged Marozia, who was a Roman senator. She later had John imprisoned.

931 In late February or early March, Marozia, leader of the Cresentii family, had her son John consecrated pope (John XI, 931-935). John may have been the son of Sergius III, who was reportedly Marozia’s lover.

935 Marozia’s son Alberic II deposed and imprisoned her. He confined his half-brother Pope John XI to the Lateran, where the latter died this year. Alberic II’s father was Alberic I, duke of Spoleto.

950 By the tenth or eleventh century, the horse collar was in use in northern Europe. This allowed oxen to be replaced by horses in the fields, increasing food production. The horse collar may have originated in Bactria in the 6th century as a camel harness.

955 The Magyars raided as far west as Burgundy. The German Emperor Otto I defeated them at the Battle of Lechfeld (near Augsburg), and the Magyars subsequently settled in Pannonia, modern Hungary. The Magyar leader Bultsu, who had converted to Christianity (see 940+), was hanged at Regensburg for apostasy.

955 Octavian, an eighteen-year-old, became bishop of Rome, John XII (955-963). He was the son of Alberic II, Duke of Spoleto, who ruled Rome. Alberic in turn was the second son of Marozia (see 914). Like his grandmother, John was a man of great sexual appetite, often rewarding his lovers with tracts of papal land. Alberic had ruled Rome well for twenty years since overthrowing his mother and, during his reign, the bishop of Rome had a purely spiritual office. But he insured that his son Octavian would be both temporal ruler and pope. The papal practice of having dual names began with John/Octavian.

Of the 25 popes who came to power between 955 and 1057, 13 were selected by the local Roman nobility and 12 by German emperors.

969 Beginning of the Fatimid rule over Egypt. Shi’ites, the Fatimids were relatively tolerant of Jews and Christians, and many were employed in government administrative offices. The Fatimid Caliph Al-Mu’izz (969-975) permitted the construction of new churches and the renovation of older ones. He also allowed Muslims who had originally been Copts to return to their former faith. Fatimid rule continued until 1171.

970 The Bulgarian priest Cosmas wrote an account of the doctrine of the Bogomils: “They say that everything exists by the will of the Devil: the sky, the sun, the stars, the air, man, churches, crosses; all that comes from God they ascribe to the Devil; in brief, they consider all that moves on earth, animate and inanimate, to be of the Devil.

“In appearance the heretics are lamb-like, gentle, modest and silent, and pale from hypocritical fasting. They do not talk idly, nor laugh loudly, nor give themselves airs. They keep away from the sight of men, and outwardly they do everything so as not to be distinguished from Orthodox Christians. … The people, on seeing their great humility, think that they are Orthodox and able to show them the path of salvation: they approach and ask them how to save their souls. Like a wolf that wants to seize a lamb, they first cast their eyes downwards, sigh and answer with humility. … Wherever they meet any simple or uneducated man, they sow the tares of their teaching, blaspheming the traditions and rules of holy Church.

“They teach their own people not to obey their lords, they revile the wealthy, hate the tsar, ridicule the elders, condemn the boyars, regard as vile in the sight of God those who serve the tsar, and forbid every servant to work for his master.”

976 Esato (Judith), a Jewish queen of Aksum (Axum), oppressed the Christian population of that kingdom. Aksum was located in what is now northern Ethiopia. Its kings had converted to Christianity in the fourth century. In the sixth century (532), Aksum's influence spread temporarily to southern Arabia, Himyar (~Yemen) becoming a vassal state.

982 Eric the Red discovered Greenland.

998 Odilo of Cluny instituted the observance of All Saints’ Day on November 2 (see 835 above). Given Cluny’s influence, this practice spread, though it was never officially sanctioned by the church in Rome.

999 Gerbert of Aurillac, an intellectual, elected Pope Sylvester II (999-1003). Gerbert had once been archbishop of Rheims. He had replaced a man who had been deposed without papal consent. As archbishop of Rheims, Gerbert had fought against papal interference in local church affairs. As Pope Sylvester II, Gerbert tried to strengthen papal influence.

Sylvester I had been pope during Constantine’s reign. Gerbert chose the name to symbolize the ideal of Christian Roman empire, with the German emperor Otto III at its head. Gerbert, a Frenchman, is said to have entertained Manichean doctrines (see 991).

1000 By this time, the horse shoe was in use in northern Europe. It allowed horses to be used in all weather and on rougher terrain, further increasing productivity. With the introduction of the three-field crop rotation system, the center of wealth in Europe began to move northward, and the population began to rise.