796
| Millennium: | 1st millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 7th century – 8th century – 9th century |
| Decades: | 760s 770s 780s – 790s – 800s 810s 820s |
| Years: | 793 794 795 – 796 – 797 798 799 |
| 796 by topic | |
| Politics | |
| State leaders – Sovereign states | |
| Birth and death categories | |
| Births – Deaths | |
| Establishment and disestablishment categories | |
| Establishments – Disestablishments | |
| Gregorian calendar | 796 DCCXCVI |
| Ab urbe condita | 1549 |
| Armenian calendar | 245 ԹՎ ՄԽԵ |
| Assyrian calendar | 5546 |
| Bengali calendar | 203 |
| Berber calendar | 1746 |
| Buddhist calendar | 1340 |
| Burmese calendar | 158 |
| Byzantine calendar | 6304–6305 |
| Chinese calendar | 乙亥年 (Wood Pig) 3492 or 3432 — to — 丙子年 (Fire Rat) 3493 or 3433 |
| Coptic calendar | 512–513 |
| Discordian calendar | 1962 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 788–789 |
| Hebrew calendar | 4556–4557 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 852–853 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 718–719 |
| - Kali Yuga | 3897–3898 |
| Holocene calendar | 10796 |
| Iranian calendar | 174–175 |
| Islamic calendar | 179–180 |
| Japanese calendar | Enryaku 15 (延暦１５年) |
| Julian calendar | 796 DCCXCVI |
| Korean calendar | 3129 |
| Minguo calendar | 1116 before ROC 民前1116年 |
| Seleucid era | 1107/1108 AG |
| Thai solar calendar | 1338–1339 |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to 796. |
A coin depicting Offa of Mercia (757–796)
Year 796 (DCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 796 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Events
By place
Europe
- King Charlemagne and his son Pepin of Italy launch a successful two-pronged invasion of the Avar Khaganate (modern Hungary). They seize the Avar "ring" (the nomadic tent capital), destroying Avar power before returning with so much booty in gold and jewels that 15 wagons, each drawn by four oxen, are needed to bring it back to Frankish territory.[1] Charlemagne wins a major victory (in which the Pannonian Croatian duke Vojnomir aids him) and the Franks make themselves overlords over the Croatians of northern Dalmatia, Slavonia, and Pannonia. Frankish missionaries are send to the area to convert the pagan population to Christianity.[2]
Britain
- April 18 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered, probably at Corbridge, by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. Another rival, Torhtmund slays Ealdred in revenge. Northumbria is plunged into confusion. The patrician Osbald is placed on the throne, but is deserted by his supporters after only 27 days. He flees from Lindisfarne to Pictland. Another faction, brings back Æthelred I's old back-from-the-dead rival, Eardwulf, as new king. He dismisses his wife and publicly take a concubine. Eardwulf is alienated from archbishop Eanbald of York.
- King Offa of Mercia and Charlemagne seal a trading agreement and a marriage alliance is proposed. However, Offa dies after a 39-year reign that has incorporated Kent, Essex, Sussex, and East Anglia into Mercian realm. He has build a 150-mile dyke (Offa's Dyke) to mark his border with Wales, reforms Mercia's coinage, and 4 years ago allied himself with Northumbria by giving his daughter Ælfflæd in marriage to Æthelred I. Offa is buried at Bedford and succeeded for a short time by his son Ecgfrith, and then a distant cousin, Coenwulf.
- Prince Eadberht Præn leaves the Church, returns to Kent and claims his throne. One Eadwald proclaims himself king of East Anglia, but is later ousted by Coenwulf. Direct rule from Mercia is re-established.
By topic
Religion
- Alcuin, Anglo-Saxon monk and scholar, is appointed as abbot by Charlemagne and puts him in care of leading Marmoutier Abbey in Tours.
- Tō-ji, a Buddhist temple of the Shingon sect, is established in Kyoto, Japan.
Births
- Al-Mu'tasim, Muslim caliph (d. 842)
- Dhul-Nun al-Misri, Egyptian scholar and Sufi (d. 859)
- Lü Dongbin, Chinese scholar and poet
Deaths
- April 18 – Æthelred I, king of Northumbria
- August 10 – Eanbald, archbishop of York
- Ecgfrith, king of Mercia
- Fujiwara no Tsuginawa, Japanese statesman (b. 727)
- June 12 – Hisham I, Muslim emir (b. 757)
- July 29 – Offa, king of Mercia (b. 730)
- Sibawayh, Persian linguist and grammarian (b. 760)
- Tassilo III, duke of Bavaria (approximate date)