Hugh's attempt to strengthen his power further…

Co-emperor Romanus I Lekapenos had in 917 been admiral of the imperial fleet on the Danube when, hearing of the defeat of the army at Achelous, he resolved to sail for Constantinople.

Soon after the marriage of his daughter Helena to Emperor Constantine VII, he was crowned colleague of his son-in-law and, from 920, has exercised all real power.

In 927, after a series of eco-disasters, including a plague, he calls for another forced conversion of Jews, and in 932 commands that the Jews in the realm be forcibly baptized.

Though it results in a mass emigration of Jews, many of whom find welcome in Khazaria, his decree is never fully realized.

The courtiers at Bagdhad, who fear that  al-Muqtadir's son might revenge his father's death upon them, choose instead the late Caliph's brother al-Qahir; but he is an even worse lord than al-Muqtadir.

With an outward affectation of godliness, he goes to every excess of cruelty and extortion, even torturing the mother of al-Muqtadir and his sons and favorites, to squeeze from them the wealth built up throughout the former caliph’s reign.

Many flee from his grasp.

The succession crisis that had struck León after Ordoño II's death in 924 had caused hostilities to cease until Ramiro II obtains the throne in 932; a first attempt by him to assist the besieged rebels in Toledo is repelled in 932, despite the Christian king having captured Madrid and scoring a victory at Osma.

The Struggle for Aquitaine: Ebalus, King Rudolph, and the Power Shift in the South (927–932)

After the death of Duke Acfred of Aquitaine in 927, his chosen heir, Ebalus (or Ebles Manzer), an illegitimate son of Ranulf II of Aquitaine, assumes control over the Duchy of Aquitaine, the Counties of Berry, Auvergne, and Velay. However, his hold on power is soon challenged by King Rudolph of West Francia, who seeks to curb Ebalus’ influence in the south.

Ebalus Becomes Duke of Aquitaine (928)

• Acfred of Aquitaine dies in 927, leaving his titles to Ebalus, whom William the Pious had protected.
• In 928, Ebalus formally assumes power, taking control of:
  • Duchy of Aquitaine
  • County of Auvergne
  • County of Berry
  • County of Velay

King Rudolph’s Efforts to Diminish Ebalus’ Power (929–932)

1. Loss of Berry (929)

• In 929, King Rudolph of Burgundy, seeing Ebalus as too powerful, begins to limit his authority by removing Berry from his control.
• This move signals the king’s intent to weaken the Ramnulfid dynasty (the ruling family of Poitou and Aquitaine) and assert royal influence in the south.

2. Transfer of Aquitaine and Auvergne to Raymond Pons of Toulouse (932)

• In 932, Rudolph strips Ebalus of his ducal title and grants it instead to Raymond Pons, Count of Toulouse.
• Raymond Pons travels north, accompanied by:
  • His brother Ermengol of Rouergue.
  • Sancho IV, Duke of Gascony.
• They perform homage to King Rudolph, solidifying their royal allegiance and shifting the balance of power against Ebalus.

3. La Marche Becomes an Independent County

• To further weaken Ebalus, Rudolph creates the County of La Marche, removing it from Ebalus' vassal, the Lord of Charroux, and making it an independent entity.

Unexpected Outcome: Strengthening the Ramnulfid Dynasty

• Despite these land transfers, Rudolph’s strategy does not yield the expected results.
• Rather than eliminating Ebalus, Rudolph soon finds himself cooperating with him in fighting against Viking incursions.
• This military alliance reinforces the Ramnulfid position, ensuring that Ebalus remains a significant force in Aquitaine.
• The struggle for supremacy between the Ramnulfids and the House of Rouergue (Raymond Pons’ family) continues for decades, reflecting the fragmented political landscape of southern France.

Conclusion: The Fragile Balance of Power in Aquitaine

The events of 929–932 demonstrate the continued decline of royal authority in West Francia, as King Rudolph fails to impose lasting control over the south. Though he transfers titles away from Ebalus, the reality of feudal power ensures that the Ramnulfid dynasty remains a dominant force, highlighting the limits of royal influence in an increasingly decentralized kingdom.

The Magyars (Hungarians), Eurasian nomads who had originally served as mercenaries under Emperor Arnulf, after his death in 899 had begun to campaign in the Kingdom of Italy and East Francia.

In 906, they had broken up Great Moravia and one year later destroyed a Bavarian army under Margrave Luitpold at the Battle of Pressburg.

A Magyar army invading the German duchy of Saxony in 924 had defeated King Henry I in the field, but an Árpád prince—possibly Zoltán—captured near Pfalz Werla had allowed Henry to negotiate for terms.

A truce of nine years, during which annual tribute was required of the Germans, had been declared in 926.

During the truce, Henry has reorganized the defenses of his Saxonian duchy and subdued the Polabian Slavs in the east.

At an 926 assembly, Henry had secured the construction of new castles and the authorization of a new form of garrison duty: the soldiery are organized into groups of nine agrarii milites (farmer-soldiers), one of which is doing guard duty at any given time while the other eight work the fields.

In time of invasion, all nine can man the castles.

Once he believed the necessary reforms had been made, Henry had secured the support of the church in reneging on tribute payments in 932.

Allegedly he had a dead dog thrown down in front of the Magyar negotiators, which amounts to a declaration of war.

In preparation for the campaign, Henry has levied mounted contingents from every region and stem duchy of the German kingdom, though only French chronicler Flodoard of Reims records the Bavarian presence.

The Magyars had besieged an unknown town but attempted to withdraw in the night because Henry and his army have camped in the neighborhood at Riade.

Henry sends forward a small contingent of foot soldiers with a few cavalrymen as a screen for his main army.

The king had learned what to expect from the preceding struggles, where the rapidity of the Magyar light cavalry and archers had brought them success.

He confronts their onset with lightly armored combatants at first, followed by a massed heavy cavalry attack.

According to Widukind of Corvey, the Magyar forces readily fled at the coming of Henry's horsemen and the victorious German troops declared Henry emperor on the battlefield.

The exact location of the battle is unknown and several municipalities in Central Germany claim to be the site of the combat, among them Kalbsrieth, at the confluence of Unstrut and Helme, and the Hunnenfeld near Riethgen.

However the place of Riade rendered by Widukind denotes the army camp of King Henry, probably not identical with the battlefield.

The Magyars, who will not dare to make a further raid on East Francia in Henry's lifetime, will again invade Germany in 954 during a rebellion instigated by Duke Liudolf of Swabia; they will be finally defeated the following year by Henry's son and successor King Otto I at the Battle of Lechfeld.

Some of the earliest accounts concerning the island of Comoros are derived from the works of Al-Masudi, which mention the importance of the Comoro Islands, like other coastal areas in the region, along early Islamic trade routes and how the islands are frequently visited by Muslims including Persian and Arab merchants and sailors from Basra in search of coral, ylang-ylang, ivory, beads, spices, gold.

They also bring Islam to the people of the Zanj, including Comoros.

Al-Masudi in the year 933 mentions Muslim sailors who call the Comoros islands: "the Perfume Islands" and sing of waves that break rhythmically along broad, pearl-sand beaches, the light breezes scented with vanilla and ylang-ylang, a component in many perfumes.

Meinrad’s kinsmen, Abbots Hatto and Erlebald, had run the abbey school on Reichenau Island, in Lake Constance, where Meinrad had been educated, became a monk and been ordained a priest.

After some years at Reichenau, and at a dependent priory on Lake Zurich, he had embraced an eremitical life and established his hermitage on the slopes of Etzel Mountain.

Meinrad died on January 21, 861, at the hands of two robbers who thought that the hermit had some precious treasures, but during the past eighty years the place has never been without one or more hermits emulating his example.

One of them, named Eberhard, previously Provost of Strassburg, erects in 934 a monastery and church here, of which he becomes first abbot.

Hugh makes peace in 933 with Rudolph of Upper Burgundy by giving him the Kingdom of Lower Burgundy, and the two the Transjurane and Cisjurane sections of Burgundy are combined into a single Kingdom of Burgundy (later called Arles).

Rudolph, in turn, relinquishes all his rights to Italy.

Hugh's power in Italy is damaged but not destroyed by the events in Rome and Provence.

To strengthen his hand in the affairs of Milan, he tonsures his younger illegitimate son, Tebald, to groom him for the position of Archbishop of Milan; unfortunately the ancient cleric, Arderic, whom he has installed pro tem will live another twenty-two years.

He continues to organize the fight against the Magyars and the Andalusian pirates based at Fraxinet in Provence.

Active, if sometimes dubious, diplomacy pays off.

He concludes a treaty with Rudolph in 933 by which Rudolf abandons his claims to Italy in return for being handed Provence over the heads of the heirs of Louis the Blind and the marriage of Rudolph's daughter Adelaide to Hugh's son Lothair.

Verona has long been the ordinary residence of the kings of Italy.

The government of the city has become hereditary in the family of Count Milo, progenitor of the counts of San Bonifacio.

Ratherius was born about 887 into a noble family which lived in the territory of Liège.

While still a boy, he had been sent as an oblate to the Benedictine Abbey of Lobbes in Hainaut, where he was a diligent student, acquired much learning, and became a monk of the abbey.

At an early age he displayed a restless nature, a disposition difficult to get along with, great ambition and harsh zeal.

Consequently, notwithstanding his strict orthodoxy, wide learning and sobriety of conduct, he has met with great difficulties in every position he assumed, and has nowhere attained permanent success.

When Abbot Hilduin of Lobbes went in 926 to Italy, where his cousin, Hugh of Provence, is king, he had taken Ratherius with him as companion.

After many difficulties, Ratherius had received from the king the Diocese of Verona in 931.

Upset about the good relations between the city and its Jewish inhabitants, he had badgered the town elders until they agreed to temporarily expel the Jewish community, present in Verona since Roman times.

Yet he only rules his see for two years, soon falling into a quarrel with both the members of his diocese and with the king, so that the latter sends him to prison and has him brought to Como.