Year 848 (DCCCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
- Summer – Bordeaux, capital of Aquitaine, falls into the hands of Viking raiders. King Charles the Bald sends a Frankish fleet to lift the siege. Despite destroying some Viking longships on the Dordogne River, they fail to save the city. The Abbey of Saint-Pierre in Brantôme is sacked.
- Emperor Lothair I, and his (half) brothers Louis the German and Charles the Bald, meet in Koblenz to continue the system of "con-fraternal government".
- Frankish forces under Count (comté) William of Septimania assume authority over the counties of Barcelona and Empúries (modern Spain).
- The Saracens conquer Ragusa (Sicily), after its Byzantine garrison is forced by severe famine to surrender. The city and its castle are razed to the ground.
Britain
- The armies of Brycheiniog and Gwent clash in the battle of Ffinnant (Wales). King Ithel of Gwent is killed in the fighting (approximate date).
- Máel Sechnaill mac Maíl Ruanaid, High King of Mide, defeats a Norse Viking army at Sciath Nechtain in Ireland (approximate date).
Asia
- The Medieval Cholas in Southern India start to rule (approximate date).
By topic
Religion
- Pope Leo IV builds (on the opposite of the Tiber River) the Leonine City, a fortified three-kilometre wall that encircles the Vatican Hill and Borgo, to defend Rome.
- The Roman Catholic church of Santa María del Naranco, on the slope of Monte Naranco (Northern Spain), is completed.
Births
- Alfonso III, king of Asturias (approximate date)
- Carloman, Frankish abbot (d. 877)
- Charles the Child, king of Aquitaine (or 847)
- Lothair the Lame, Frankish abbot (d. 865)
- Onneca Fortúnez, Basque princess (or 850)
Deaths
- Cui Yuanshi, chancellor of the Tang dynasty
- Drest X, king of the Picts
- Guo, empress dowager of the Tang dynasty
- Ithel, king of Gwent (approximate date)
- Li Gongzuo, Chinese writer
- Malik ibn Kaydar, Muslim governor
- Rechtabhra, bishop of Clonfert
- Shi Xiong, Chinese general
- Sunifred, Frankish nobleman
- Sunyer I, Frankish nobleman
- William I, duke of Gascony
- Yahya al-Laithi, Muslim scholar
References
