Charlemagne's three grandsons divide the empire into three kingdoms, laying the groundwork for the later France and Germany.
Date given in the Julian calendar.
According to the Primary Chronicle, the Varangian chieftain Rurik was invited to rule Novgorod in 862, traditionally the start of the Rurik dynasty.
Alfred the Great of Wessex defeats the Viking Great Army under Guthrum, securing the survival of Anglo-Saxon England.
Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne Emperor of the Romans in Rome on Christmas Day.
Vikings plunder the monastery on Lindisfarne in England, an event often taken as the start of the Viking Age.
Cluny Abbey is founded in Burgundy and becomes the centre of a monastic reform movement influential across Europe.
Frankish forces under Charles Martel defeat an Umayyad army between Tours and Poitiers, checking the Muslim advance into Gaul.