863

• Muslim forces of Abbasid Caliphate, under the command Umar al-Aqta, emir of Malatya, raid deep into the Byzantine Empire reaching all the way to the Black Sea. However as Umar returns to his home territory, he is encircled, surrounded, and destroyed by a Byzantine army under Petronas (the uncle of Byzantine Emperor Michael III) at the Battle of Lalakaon near the Lalakaon River in what is now northern Turkey.
  • Taking advantage of their victory, the Byzantines counter-raid into Armenia, killing the Armenian Muslim general Ali ibn Yahya al-Armani.
  • News of the deaths of these two important Muslim generals sends shockwaves across the Caliphate, leading to rioting and looting in the capital at Baghdad as citizens protest what seems to be the regime's incompetence.
  • The Byzantine victory at Lalakaon fundamentally alters the strategic balance of power in Anatolia, and for the next 100 years, it will be the Byzantines rather than the Arabs who are on the offensive.
• Byzantine emperor Michael III dispatches the brothers, Saints Cyril and Methodius, to proselytize Christianity among the Slavic tribes to the north. The brothers devise new writing systems to transcribe Slavic languages, and Cyril will ultimately become the namesake of the Russian "Cyrillic" alphabet.
• Pope Nicholas I attempts to assert his authority over the Eastern Orthodox Church by calling a synod in Rome and excommunicating Photios I, the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople. Photios responds by calling his own synod and excommunicating Nicholas for heresy a few years later.
• A massive earthquake rocks the city of Dvin in Armenia, killing thousands and destroying many buildings. Aftershocks continue for three months, causing additional damage.
• Viking raiders strike fear and wreak havoc across Europe:
  • Viking raiders attack southwestern France, killing local nobleman Turpio, Count of Angoulême.
  • Viking raiders raid Leinster in Ireland, killing King Muirecán mac Diarmata.
  • Viking raiders sack the town of Dorestad in the modern-day Netherlands and then loot their way down the Rhine River.
• A tuberculosis plague wracks Kyoto, Japan, and is blamed on evil ghosts called goryō. Special public rituals are held to try to appease these ghosts, but the mass gatherings only spread the disease further.
• The Byzantine Christian monk Efthymios the Younger establishes the Eastern Orthodox monastic community at Mount Athos in Greece. These Athonite monasteries still exist and have been listed as a World heritage site since 1988.
• Eikandō Zenrinji, a Buddhist temple of the Shingon sect, is founded in the hills east of Kyoto, Japan. In 1225, it will convert to being a temple of the Jōdo sect, and nowadays is the head temple of the Seizan branch of Jōdo Buddhism.

These people were born in the year 863:

• Future king of West Francia Louis III.
• Future king of East Francia Arnulf of Carinthia.
• Frankish shepherdess Saint Solange of Bourges.
• Future chancellor of the Chinese state of Wuyue Shen Song.
• Chinese general of the state of Wu Li Decheng.
• Chinese general of the state of Later Liang Wang Yanzhang.
• Chinese Buddhist monk and poet Qiji, author of more than 852 poems, and remembered as one of the "Big Three" of Tang dynasty poet-monks (詩僧).
• Frankish noblewoman Bertha, the second illegitimate daughter of Lothair II, king of Lotharingia, by his concubine Waldrada. As an adult, Bertha would correspond with the Abbasid Caliph Al-Muktafi.

These people died in the year 863:

• Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester Saint Swithun, later renowned as a posthumous miracle-worker with over 40 churches dedicated to his name.
• Arab general of the Abbasid Caliphate Umar al-Aqta, killed by the Byzantines at the Battle of Lalakaon.
• Armenian muslim general of the Abbasid Caliphate Ali ibn Yahya al-Armani, killed in battle with the Byzantines along with 400 of his men.
• Turkic vizier of the Abbasid Caliphate Abu Musa Utamish, assassinated by angry soldiers after only one year in office.
• King of Provence Charles of Provence, after which his kingdom is divided between his brothers Lothair II, king of Lotharingia, and Louis II, king of Italy.
• The sixth Aghlabid emir of Ifriqiya, Abu Ibrahim Ahmad ibn Muhammad.
• Irish king of Leinster Muirecán mac Diarmata, killed by Vikings while attempting to fend off a Viking raid into his territory.
• Frankish nobleman Turpio, Count of Angoulême, killed by Vikings while attempting to fend off a Viking raid into his territory.
• Chinese poet and writer Duan Chengshi, best remembered as the author of a Chinese fairy tale, Ye Xian, very similar to the story of Cinderella.

862 - 863 - 864

9th century

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