The Burning of Antwerp: Viking Incursions Along…

Presian, who succeeds Malamir in 836 as Khan of Bulgaria, may have been young and inexperienced at the time of his accession, and state affairs may have been dominated by the minister (Kavkhan) Isbul, as under Presian's uncle Malamir.

Caliph al-Mu'tasim, in response to the problems caused by the Abbasids’ Khorasanian troops and their commanders in their treatment of the populace, transfers the capital in 836 from Baghdad to …

…Samarra, situated on the left bank of the Tigris River about sixty-eight miles (one hundred and ten kilometers) to the northwest.

Here, al-Mu'tasim builds extensive palace complexes surrounded by garrison settlements for his guards, mostly drawn from Central Asia and Iran (most famously the Turks, as well as the Khurasani Ishtakhaniyya, Faraghina and Ushrusaniyya regiments) or North Africa (like the Maghariba).

Although quite often called Mamluk slave soldiers, their status is quite elevated; some of their commanders bear Sogdian titles of nobility.

Pratihara monarch Ramabhadra III, who had inherited the Gurjaran throne from his father in 833, dies three years later, having in that time lost much of the empire his father had forged.

His son Bhoja succeeds him as king.

Duke Mislav, who in 835 had succeeded Vladislav as the Duke of Littoral Croatia, rules from Klis Fortress in central Dalmatia.

A pious ruler, he builds the Church of Saint George in Putalj (on the slopes of the hill Kozjak).

He is chiefly known for signing a treaty in 839 with Pietro Tradonico, doge of the Venetian Republic, that leads to the growth of Croatian sea power, as Mislav models Croatian ships after those built by the Neretvians and Venetians.

Unlike his predecessor, Mislav maintains good relations with the neighboring coastal cities of Dalmatia.

Bodo, a Carolingian nobleman and Christian deacon, converts to Judaism, marries a Jewish woman and moves to Saragossa, where he tries to influence his family to convert also.

This strengthens the arguments of Archbishop Agobard and others who are trying to persuade Emperor Louis to return to former anti-Jewish policies.

The election of Pietro Tradonico as Doge of Venice in 836 breaks the power of the Participazio.

An illiterate, he is forced to sign all state documents with the signum manus.

A warrior, not an administrator, he fights the Saracens of Bari and Taranto, who had earlier defeated Venice in the Battle of Sansego, on an island south of Pola.

Pietro Tradonicio has to deal not only with Saracen pirates, but with Slavs as well.

He leads a large fleet against the Narentines in 839 to punish them for raiding and slaughtering several Venetian traders returning from Benevento in 834–835.

He makes peace with Duke Mislav of the Croats of Dalmatia and a Narentine prince by the name of Družak (Drosaico, Marianorum judice).

Kairouan is at its apogee under the rule of Aghlabid sovereigns, and the city’s Great Mosque, built by the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi from 670, profits from this period of stability and prosperity.

Ziadet-Allah I reconstructs the mosque once more in 836: this is when the building acquires the appearance we see today.

Viking Raids on Noirmoutier and Antwerp (836): Intensification of Norse Attacks

By 836, Danish Viking raids on the Carolingian Empire escalate, targeting key coastal and riverine settlements. That year, they burn and pillage Noirmoutier and Antwerp, demonstrating their ability to strike deep into Frankish territories.

Noirmoutier: A Target for Repeated Viking Raids

• Noirmoutier, an island monastery off the Atlantic coast of France, had already suffered Viking attacks since 799.
• The monastery of Saint Philibert becomes one of the first continental European monastic sites repeatedly targeted due to its wealth and exposed location.
• In 836, Vikings burn the monastery, forcing the monks to relocate their relics and treasures inland—a pattern that will repeat in later years.