Harald Bluetooth succeeds his father, Gorm the…

Nikephoros had taken and razed the fortress of Hadath in 957, and in the next spring, Tzimiskes invades the Jazira.

Here, he captures the fortress of Dara, and scores a crushing victory near Amida over an army led by one of Sayf al-Dawla's favorite lieutenants, the Circassian Nadja.

Of Nadja's ten thousand troops, Tzimiskes reportedly killed half and captured more than half of the survivors.

Reinforced with more troops under the parakoimomenos Basil Lekapenos, in June, Tzimiskes now storms Samosata and the fortress of Raban south of Hadath.

It is there that Sayf al-Dawla himself comes to confront him.

The ensuing battle (taking place between October 18 and November 15, 958) is hard fought—Sayf al-Dawla's cousin and court poet Abu Firas is said to have broken two lances in his first charge—but in the end, the Christian forces prevail and the Muslim army breaks and flees.

Many of Sayf al-Dawla's court companions and ghilman fall in the pursuit, while over seventeen hundred of his cavalry are captured; they will later be paraded in the streets of Constantinople.

Hasdai secures a great diplomatic triumph during the difficulties that arise between the kingdoms of Leon and Navarre, when the ambitious Queen Toda of Navarre seeks the aid of 'Abd al-Rahman in reinstating her deposed grandson Sancho.

Hasdai had been sent to the court of Navarre; and he succeeded after a long struggle in persuading the queen to go to Córdoba with her son and grandson, in order to prostrate herself before the caliph, her old enemy, and implore the aid of his arms.

The proud Navarrese had allowed herself to be vanquished by Hasdai – as a Jewish poet of the time expressed himself, "by the charm of his words, the strength of his wisdom, the force of his cunning, and his thousand tricks."

Sancho, the exiled king of Leon, Garcia Sanchez, King of Navarre, and Queen Toda all pay homage to Abd-ar Rahman in Cordoba in 958.

Caliph Abd ar-Rahman has ultimately been able to create a sort of protectorate on the northern and central Maghreb, supporting the Idrisid dynasty; the caliphal influence in the area disappears after a Fatimid offensive in 958, after which Abd ar-Rahman keeps only the strongholds of Ceuta and …

…Tangier.

The family of the Fatimid general Jawhar al-Siqilli originated from the Emirate of Sicily (hence his epithet the Sicilian).

He had come as a slave to North Africa and, because of his intelligence and cunning, had been sent to the Caliph Ismail al-Mansur.

Under his son al-Muizz, he had gained his freedom and become his personal secretary.

Soon he was Vizir and the highest-ranking military commander of the Fatimids.

In this role, he has resumed the expansion of the Fatimids.

He takes Ifgan, the capital of the rebellious Kharijite Banu Ya'la tribesmen.

Oda had crowned King Eadwig in 956, but in late 957 the archbishop joins Edgar, who had been proclaimed king of the Mercians in 957, while Eadwig continues to rule Wessex.

The exact cause of the rupture between the two brothers that led to the division of the previously united kingdom is unknown, but may have resulted from Eadwig's efforts to promote close kinsmen and his wife.

The division is peaceful, and Eadwig continues to call himself "King of the English" in contrast to Edgar's title of "King of the Mercians".

Æthelweard the Chronicler describes himself as the "grandson's grandson" of King Æthelred I. Eadwig is the son of King Edmund the Magnificent, grandson of King Edward the Elder, great-grandson of King Alfred the Great, and therefore great-great-nephew of King Æthelred I. Eadwig and Ælfgifu are therefore third cousins once removed.

Oda in early 958 annuls the marriage of Eadwig and his wife Ælfgifu, who are too closely related.

This act is likely a political move connected to the division between Eadwig and Edgar, as it is unlikely that the close kinship between Eadwig and Ælfgifu had not been known before their marriage.

The annulment of the marriage of Eadwig and Ælfgifu is unusual in that it is against their will, clearly politically motivated by the supporters of Dunstan.

The Church at the time regards any union within seven degrees of consanguinity as incestuous. (This will be reduced to four in 1215.)

At this time, "degree" is reached by counting up to the common ancestor and back: a second cousin would be related within the sixth degree.

Oda is a supporter of Dunstan's monastic reforms and has been a reforming agent in the church along with Cenwald the Bishop of Worcester and Ælfheah the Bishop of Winchester.

He has also built extensively, and re-roofed Canterbury Cathedral after raising the walls higher.

Oda in 948, had taken Saint Wilfrid's relics from Ripon.

Frithegod's verse Life of Wilfrid has a preface that was written by Oda, in which the archbishop claimed that he rescued the relics from Ripon, which he described as "decayed" and "thorn-covered".

He had also acquired the relics of St Ouen, and Frithegod also wrote, at Oda's behest, a verse life of that saint, which has been lost.

He has also been active in reorganizing the diocesan structure of his province, as the sees of Elmham and Lindsey have been reformed during his archbishopric.

The archbishop dies on June 2, 958, and is regarded as a saint, with a feast day of July 4.

Other dates, including June 2 or May 29, are also commemorated.

After his death, legendary tales will ascribe miracles to him, including one where the Eucharist dripped with blood.

Another is the miraculous repair of a sword.

There is no contemporary evidence for veneration being made to Oda, with the first indication of cult coming in the hagiography written by Byrhtferth about Oswald, but no hagiography specifically about Oda will be written until Eadmer sometime between 1093 and 1125 writes the Vita sancti Odonis.

Oda was known by contemporaries as "The Good" and also became known as Severus "The Severe".

Constantine VII, renowned for his abilities as a writer and scholar, has written, or had commissioned, the works De Ceremoniis ("On Ceremonies"), describing the kinds of court ceremonies (also described later in a more negative light by Liutprand of Cremona); De Administrando Imperio ("On the Administration of the Empire"), giving advice on running the Empire internally and on fighting external enemies; and a history of the Empire covering events following the death of the chronographer Theophanes the Confessor in 817.

Among his historical works is a history eulogizing the reign and achievements of his grandfather, Basil I (Vita Basilii).

These books are insightful and of interest to the historian, sociologist, and anthropologist as a source of information about nations neighboring the Empire.

They also offer a fine insight into the Emperor himself.

Constantine has had active diplomatic relationships with foreign courts, including those of the caliph of Córdoba, Abd ar-Rahman III and of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Constantine had been visited by Olga of Kiev, regent of the Kievan Rus' in the autumn of 957.

The reasons for this voyage have never been clarified; but she had been baptized a Christian with the name Helena, and sought Christian missionaries to encourage her people to adopt Christianity.

Constantine VII dies at Constantinople in November 959.

It is rumored that Constantine had been poisoned by his daughter-in-law Theophano or his so, who now ascends the imperial throne as Romanos II.

A politically incapable ruler, he will leave affairs of state to the eunuch Joseph Bringas and military affairs to Nikephoros Phokas.

Al-Mu'izz has sent his general Jawhar westward in the years 958 and 959 to reduce Fés and other places where the authority of the Fatimid caliph had been repudiated; after a successful expedition, Jawhar advances to the Atlantic.

The authority of al-Mu'izz, the most powerful of the Fatimid caliphs, is acknowledged over the greater part of the region now comprising Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, as well as the island of Sicily.

Jawhar al-Siqilli has conquered most of the north of modern Morocco and Algeria over the past two years.

In particular, he has conquered the cities of Tanger, …