967

By place

Europe

• Spring - Emperor Otto I calls for a council at Rome to present the new government under Pope John XIII. He asserts his rights in the city and insists on the occasional presence of an imperial judge alongside the papal court. The era of Roman independence is over. Grado becomes the patriarchal and metropolitan church of the whole of the Veneto.
• Otto I goes on a tour of the Lombard duchies of southern Italy. In Capua he grants Pandulf I the vacant Duchy of Spoleto and Camerino and charges him with prosecuting the war against the Byzantine Empire. In Benevento, Otto receives the homage of Pandulf's brother and co-ruler Landulf III. In Salerno he receives also the support of Gisulf I.
• Otto I dispatches an imperial delegation to Constantinople with assurances of his friendship and a request for Princess Theophano for his 12-year-old son Otto II. As dowry Otto demands the Byzantine holdings in southern Italy.
• Summer - Sviatoslav I, Grand Prince of Kiev, defeats Bulgar forces in the Balkans at the behest of Emperor Nikephoros II.
• The imperial delegation arrives in Macedonia, but goes nowhere with Nikephoros II. Far from offering Byzantine Italy as dowry for Theophano, Nikephoros refuses to accept the claims of Otto I.
• Otto I renews the imperial treaty with Pietro IV Candiano, doge of Venice. He grants him commercial privileges, and protection for Venetian citizens.
• Winter - Otto I returns to Rome. On Christmas day, John XIII crowns Otto II as co-emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Although Otto II is nominated as co-ruler, he exercises no real authority.
• Olaf Tryggvason flees Norway with his mother, only to be attacked by Estonian Vikings.

  Arabian Empire

• Emir Nasir al-Dawla is deposed and imprisoned at Mosul after a 32-year reign by his son Abu Taghlib, the de facto governor, and supporters. He becomes the new ruler of the Emirate of Mosul.
• The Fatimid general Jawhar al-Siqilli launches a military campaign in the west of the Maghreb. He resumes his expansion, together with the Zirids, and conquers Fez.

  Japan

• July 5 - Emperor Murakami dies after a 21-year reign. He is succeeded by his 17-year-old son Reizei, who is insane and becomes the 63rd emperor of Japan.

  By topic

Religion

• Otto I completes and dedicates a new cathedral at Magdeburg in Saxony. Like other imperial churches of the period, it includes a westwork – a structure attached to the entrance wall and outfitted with galleries. Otto makes Magdeburg a base for missionary efforts to convert the Slavs to the east. The patron saint of the city is Mauritius, who, as a military leader fighting for Christianity against pagan armies, shares affinities with Otto himself.
• Re-foundation of Romsey Abbey in Hampshire by King Edgar I. He appoints Merewenna, an English noblewoman, as abbess who becomes a foster mother to Princess Ælfflæd.
• April 22 - The Cambodian temple Banteay Srei is consecrated and dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.