The Bulgarians, in addition to the Franks…

Fujiwara Mototsune had continued the trend begun by Yoshifusa of monopolizing the position of regent to the Japanese emperor.

He was third son of Fujiwara no Nagayoshi, brother of Yoshifusa, and Fujiwara no Otoharu, daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugutada.

He was adopted by Yoshifusa who had no sons, and Mototsune followed in Yoshifusa's footsteps.

After the emperor had reached his maturity, however, Mototsune invents the position of kampaku regent for himself.

This innovation allowed the Fujiwara clan to tighten its grip on power right throughout an emperor's reign.

Mototsune thus becomes, in 884, Japan’s first official civil dictator.

Emperor Yozei of Japan is deposed, and succeeded by his paternal great-uncle Emperor Kōkō.

Emperor Basil I, in his legal manual Epanagoge of 884, re-enforces the law prohibiting Jews from holding any civil or military office.

Muhammad ibn Zayd is the younger brother of Hasan ibn Zayd, an Alid who had founded Zaydid rule over Tabaristan in 864.

Nothing is known of his early life.

Muhammad is mentioned during Hasan's rule as being captured by Ya'qub al-Saffar during the latter's 874 invasion, but released at Gurgan when Ya'qub withdrew in 876.

After a brief visit to Tabaristan to see his mother, he had returned to Gurgan as an assistant to Hasan's brother-in-law, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim.

The Zaydids had ben expelled from Gurgan by the Tahirid general Ishaq al-Sari in spring 877, but soon recovered it.

In 880, Muhammad also suppressed the rebellion of Rustam ibn Qarin, a member of the native Bavandid dynasty that rules the mountains of eastern Tabaristan and opposes the Zaydids.

He then suppressed a rebellion in Gurgan headed by another Alid, Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Aqiqi, and probably continued to govern the province in his brother's name until the latter's death on January 6, 884.

Power in Tabaristan is usurped upon Hasan's death by his brother-in-law, Abu'l-Husayn Ahmad ibn Muhammad, who proclaims himself as the legitimate emir due to Muhammad's absence in Gurgan.

Muhammad is prevented from returning to Tabaristan straight away by a mutiny by his Daylamite troops, and is able to regain control of Gurgan itself only through the aid of the former Tahirid general and now ruler of Khurasan, Rafi' ibn Harthama.

Muhammad is able to finally return in October 884 to Tabaristan, seize the capital Amol, and behead the usurper.

Muhammad assumes the same regnal name as his brother, al-Da‘ī ila‘l-Haqq ("He who summons to the Truth"), and is known as al-Da‘ī al-Saghīr ("the Younger Missionary") in contrast to Hasan (al-Da‘ī al-kabīr, "the Elder Missionary").

He is also found in some sources as al-Qa’im bi al-Haqq ("Upholder of the Truth").

Muhammad now attacks Rustam, who had supported the usurper Ahmad, and drives him from his domains to seek refuge at the Saffarid court.

 Saffarid mediation enables Rustam to return.

Ahmad, having fallen ill on his return to Egypt after leading the siege of Tarsus under Yazaman al-Khadim in 883, dies on May 10, 884.

He is succeeded by his twenty-year old son, Khumarraweh, who lacks much of the charisma and cunning that had kept his father in power.

The Tulunid dynasty is to be short-lived, and Abbasid forces will reoccupy Egypt in the winter of 904–05.

A flourishing period of Montecassino had followed its reestablishment in 718 by Abbot Petronax, when among the monks were Carloman, son of Charles Martel; Ratchis, predecessor of the great Lombard Duke and King Aistulf; and Paul the Deacon, the historian of the Lombards.

A donation of Gisulf II of Benevento in 774 had created the Terra Sancti Benedicti, the secular lands of the abbacy, which were subject to the abbot and nobody else save the Pope.

Thus, the monastery became the capital of a state comprising a compact and strategic region between the Lombard principality of Benevento and the imperial city-states of the coast (Naples, Gaeta, and Amalfi).

Saracens sack Montecassino in 884, then burn it down; Abbot Bertharius is killed during the attack.

Al-Mundhir is able to expel the rebel emir Ibn Marwan from Badajoz in 884.

Pope Marinus I, born the son of a priest, had been ordained as a deacon by Pope Nicholas I.

Before his election as Pope in December 882, he had served as Bishop of Caere, which made his election controversial, because, at this stage of history, a bishop is expected never to leave office to move to another see.

On three separate occasions he had been employed by the three popes who preceded him as legate to Constantinople, his mission in each case having reference to the controversy started by Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople.

Among his first acts as pope had been the restitution of Formosus as Cardinal Bishop of Portus and the anathematizing of Patriarch Photios.

Due to his respect for Alfred the Great, he frees the Anglo-Saxons of Rome from tribute and taxation.

He dies in May or June 884, his successor being Adrian III.

The Founding of Burgos and the Origins of Castile (9th Century CE)

By the mid-9th century, King Alfonso III of Asturias successfully reconquers what is now the province of Burgos, securing the region from Muslim incursions. To fortify the frontier, he constructs several defensive castles, leading to the area being called Castile (Latin Castella), meaning "Land of Castles".

The Founding of Burgos (884 CE)

In 884 CE, the city of Burgos is founded as a Christian outpost by Diego Rodríguez "Porcelos", the successor of Rodrigo as Count of Castile. Under orders to increase the Christian population, he gathers inhabitants from surrounding rural areas into a fortified village, transforming it into a strategic military and administrative center.

Over time, Burgos gains prominence and earns the title Caput Castellae (Cabeza de Castilla or "Head of Castile"), marking its central role in the expansion of the Christian frontier and the emergence of Castile as a distinct political entity.

Baldwin II of Flanders: Defending Flanders Against the Vikings (879–884)

Baldwin II, son of Baldwin I of Flanders and Judith of West Francia (daughter of Charles the Bald), inherits a land devastated by Viking raids. As a descendant of Charlemagne, Baldwin II’s reign is shaped by his struggle to defend and consolidate Flanders, which becomes a lasting stronghold of medieval power.

Viking Devastation and Baldwin’s Strategic Retreat

• The early years of Baldwin II’s rule are marked by relentless Viking incursions, with much of Flanders north of the Somme ravaged.
• By 883, Baldwin is forced to retreat northward to the flat marshes of the pagus Flandrensis (the Flemish region).
• From this point forward, Flanders becomes the primary power base of the Counts of Flanders.

The Fortification of Flanders

• To resist further Viking attacks, Baldwin II begins constructing a network of wooden fortifications at:
  • Saint-Omer

• Bruges