Year 820 (DCCCXX) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

By place

Abbasid Caliphate

• Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun appointed Isa ibn Yazid al-Juludi as Abbasid governor of Yemen for few months.
• Caliph Al-Ma'mun appointed Hisn ibn al-Minhal as Abbasid governor of Yemen for few months.
• Caliph Al-Ma'mun appointed Ibrahim al-Ifriqi as Abbasid governor of Yemen. He remained in office until 821.
• Caliph al-Ma'mun appointed Abu Nasr ibn al-Sari as Abbasid governor of Egypt.

Byzantine Empire

• December 25 – Emperor Leo V (the Armenian) is assassinated by conspirators in the Hagia Sophia, at Constantinople. Though unarmed, he fights back fiercely but dies of his wounds. He is succeeded by Michael II, the commander of the palace guard (excubitores). Leo's family (including his mother and his wife Theodosia) are exiled to monasteries in Princes' Islands.^[1]

Ireland

• Fedelmid mac Crimthainn assumes the kingship as ruler of Munster (modern Ireland).

China

• Emperor Xian Zong dies from poisoning (due to medicines), after a 14-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Mu Zong, as ruler of the Tang dynasty.

Births

• Adalbert I, Frankish margrave (approximate date)
• Adelaide of Tours, Frankish noblewoman (approximate date)
• Álmos, military leader (gyula) of the Hungarians (approximate date)
• Anandavardhana, Indian philosopher (d. 890)
• Ashot I ("the Great"), king of Armenia (approximate date)
• Buhturi, Syrian poet (d. 897)
• Godfrid Haraldsson, Danish Viking king (approximate date)
• Grimbald, Frankish Benedictine monk (d. 901)
• Hucbert, Frankish nobleman (d. 864)
• Ibn Khordadbeh, Persian geographer (approximate date)
• Qusta ibn Luqa, Syrian Melkite physician (d. 912)
• Ranulf I of Aquitaine, Frankish nobleman (d. 866)
• Rhodri the Great, king of Gwynedd (Wales) (approximate date)

Deaths

• September 14, Li Yong, chancellor of the Tang dynasty
• December 25, Leo V, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (b. 775)
• Adi Shankara, Indian philosopher and theologian (b. 788)
• Causantín mac Fergusa, king of the Picts^[2]
• Huangfu Bo, chancellor of the Tang dynasty
• Lupo III, duke of Gascony (approximate date)
• Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i, Muslim imam (b. 767)
• Olcobhar mac Cummuscach, abbot of Clonfert
• Song Ruoxin, Chinese scholar and poet (b. 768)
• Tnúthgal mac Donngaile, king of Munster
• Tutu Chengcui, eunuch and advisor of the Tang dynasty
• Wang Chengzong, general of the Tang dynasty
• Xian Zong, emperor of the Tang dynasty (b. 778)