Login
Login

971

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2011}}

{{About year|971}}

{{more citations needed|date=September 2018}}

{{Year nav|971}}

{{M1 year in topic}}

File:Returns.jpg (middle) returns in triumph in Constantinople with the captured Boris II.]]

Year 971 (CMLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.

Events

= By place =

== Byzantine Empire ==

  • Battle of Dorostolon: A Byzantine expeditionary army (possibly 30–40,000 men) attacks the Bulgarian frontier, personally led by Emperor John I. He lays siege to the fortress city of Dorostolon (located on the Lower Danube), and is reinforced by a fleet of 300 ships equipped with Greek fire.{{A History of the Byzantine State and Society|page= 509}}. The Kievan Rus' and their Bulgarian allies are reduced to extremities by famine. After a 3-month siege, Grand Prince Sviatoslav I agrees to sign a peace treaty with the Byzantines, whereby he renounces his interests towards Bulgarian lands and the city of Chersonesos in Crimea. Sviatoslav is allowed to evacuate his army to Berezan Island, while the Byzantines enter Dorostolon. John renames the city Theodoropolis (named after the reigning Empress Theodora).{{The Early Medieval Balkans|pages=186–187}}.
  • John I returns in triumph to Constantinople. He brings along Boris II, ruler (tsar) of the Bulgarian Empire, and his family, together with the contents of the Bulgarian imperial treasury. Boris is given the Byzantine 'court title' of magistros as compensation. The Bulgarian lands in Thrace and Lower Moesia become part of the Byzantine Empire.

== Europe ==

== Britain ==

== Middle East ==

  • Battle of Alexandretta: The Byzantines defeat a Fatimid force (4,000 men) near Alexandretta (modern Turkey), while the main Fatimid army is besieging the fortress city of Antioch. Coupled with news of an advance against Damascus of the Qarmatians, the Fatimids are forced to lift the siege and withdraw to Egypt.
  • First Qarmatian invasion of Egypt: The Qarmatians under al-Hasan al-A'sam invade Syria, recently conquered by the Fatimid Caliphate, capturing Damascus and Ramla, defeating a major Fatimid army and blockading another in Jaffa. A subsequent invasion of Egypt leads to widespread anti-Fatimid revolts in the Nile Delta, but the delay allows the Fatimid general Jawhar to prepare his defences, leading to the decisive Qarmatian at Ayn Shams on 24 December and the collapse of the invasion.{{cite book | last = Brett | first = Michael | title = The Rise of the Fatimids: The World of the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the Fourth Century of the Hijra, Tenth Century CE | series = The Medieval Mediterranean | volume = 30 | publisher = Brill | location = Leiden, Boston, Köln | year = 2001 | isbn = 90-04-11741-5 | url = {{Google Books|BqCdfhW3nVwC|plainurl=y}} | pages=313–315}}

== Asia ==

== China ==

  • January 23 – A war elephant corps of the Southern Han is defeated at Shao, by crossbow fire from Song dynasty troops. The Southern Han Kingdom is forced to submit to the Song dynasty. Ending Southern Han rule, but also the first regular war elephant corps employed in a Chinese army, that had gained the Southern Han victories throughout the 10th century.

= By topic =

== Religion ==

  • The grave of Swithun, Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester, is moved into an indoor shrine (he was previously buried outside) in the Old Minster. The ceremony is said to have been marred by 40 days of torrential rain.

== Births ==

Deaths

References

{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:971}}