902

View of Taormina with the Saracen castle.

Year 902 (CMII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.

Events

By place

Europe

• Spring – Adalbert II, margrave of Tuscany, revolts against Emperor Louis III ("the Blind"). He helps the deposed King Berengar I to recover the Kingdom of Italy. Louis III is forced to abdicate the Lombard throne and flees to Provence, compelled to promise never to return to Italy.
• February – March – Abu Abbas Abdallah, conqueror of Reggio Calabria, returns from Sicily and succeeds his father Ibrahim II as Aghlabid emir of Ifriqiya.
• June – Ibrahim II lands with an Aghlabid expeditionary force in Trapani, and proceeds to Palermo. He crushes the reinforced Byzantine army at Giardini.
• August 1 – Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, is captured by the Aghlabid army. After nearly 75 years, all of Sicily is in Aghlabid hands.
• September – Ibrahim II crosses the Strait of Messina into Calabria. He begins his march to conquer the rest of Italy, and lays siege at Cosenza.
• October 23 – Ibrahim II dies of dysentery in a chapel near Cosenza. His grandson, Ziyadat Allah, takes over the army, but lifts the siege.
• Winter – The Balearic Islands are conquered by the Emirate of Córdoba. The Moors improve agriculture with irrigation on the islands.

Britain And Ireland

• December 13 – Battle of the Holme: The Anglo-Saxon army is defeated by the Danish Vikings under Æthelwold (a son of Æthelred I) at Holme. Æthelwold is killed, ending his revolt against King Edward the Elder.
• Winter – The Norsemen are expelled from Dublin. After a brief foray into Seisyllwg (Wales), a group, under the Viking lord Ingimundr, settle in the Wirral with the agreement of Lady Æthelflæd of the Mercians.

Arabian Empire

• April 5 – Caliph Al-Mu'tadid dies in Baghdad after a 10-year reign. Possibly poisoned in a palace intrigue, he is succeeded by his eldest son Al-Muktafi as ruler of the Abbasid Caliphate.
• The Kutama tribe under Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i revolt against the Aghlabids. He begins a campaign and dispatches an invitation to the Fatimid spiritual leader Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi Billah to support him.
• Moorish Andalusian merchants set up a trade settlement (so-called emporium) in Oran (modern Algeria).

Asia

• Spring – Emperor Zhao Zong appoints Yang Xingmi as the overall commander of the Eastern circuits in China. He receives the title of Prince Wuzhong of Wu.
• The Kingdom of Nanzhao in East Asia is overthrown, followed by three dynasties in quick succession, before the establishment of the Kingdom of Dali in 937.

Births

• November 25 – Tai Zong, emperor of the Liao dynasty (d. 947)
• Ælfweard, king of Wessex (approximate date)
• Du, empress of the Song dynasty (approximate date)
• Eadgifu, queen and wife of Charles the Simple
• Han Xizai, Chinese official and calligrapher (d. 970)
• Lady Xu Xinyue, wife of Qian Yuanguan (d. 946)
• Lothar I, Frankish nobleman (d. 929)
• Wang Jun, chancellor of Later Zhou (or 903)

Deaths

• February 16 – Mary the Younger, Byzantine saint (b. 875)
• April 5 – Al-Mu'tadid, Abbasid caliph
• August 14 – Badr al-Mu'tadidi, Abbasid commander-in-chief
• October 23 – Ibrahim II, Aghlabid emir (b. 850)
• December 5 – Ealhswith, queen and wife of Alfred the Great
• December 16 – Wei Yifan, chancellor of the Tang dynasty
• Æthelwold, son of Æthelred of Wessex
• Amr ibn al-Layth, Saffarid emir
• Anscar I, margrave of Ivrea (Italy)
• Li Cunxin, general of the Tang dynasty (b. 862)
• Wang Zongdi, Chinese official and governor
• Yunju Daoying, Chinese Buddhist teacher (b. 830)