Editing 944

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2011}}
{{About year|944|the car|Porsche 944|the magazine|944 Magazine}}
{{Year nav|944}}
{{M1 year in topic}}
[[File:MandylionJW.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|The "Holy ''[[Image of Edessa|Mandylion]]''" with the face of [[Jesus]]]]
Year '''944''' ('''[[Roman numerals|CMXLIV]]''') was a [[leap year starting on Monday]] of the [[Julian calendar]].

== Events ==
<onlyinclude>

=== By place ===

==== Byzantine Empire ====
* [[Arab–Byzantine wars|Arab–Byzantine War]]: Byzantine forces are defeated by [[Sayf al-Dawla]]. He captures the city of [[Aleppo]], and extends his control over the [[Upper Mesopotamia|Al-Jazira–Upper Mesopotamia]] region. Al-Dawla's rule is recognized by the [[Ikhshidid dynasty|Ikhshidids]].<ref name="Treadgold44">{{citation|last=Treadgold|first=Warren T.|title=A History of the Byzantine State and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYbnr5XVbzUC|page=486|year=1997|location=Stanford, CA|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-2630-6}}.</ref> With the recovery of [[Edessa]], the Greeks also obtain the fabled [[Image of Edessa]].
* [[August 15]] &ndash; The "Holy ''[[Image of Edessa|Mandylion]]''" (a cloth with the face of [[Jesus]]) is conveyed to [[Constantinople]], where it arrives on the feast of the [[Dormition of the Mother of God|Dormition of the Theotokos]]. A triumphal entry is staged for the [[relic]] in the capital.
* [[December 16]] &ndash; Emperor [[Romanos I Lekapenos|Romanos I]] is arrested and deposed after a 14-year reign by his own sons, the co-emperors [[Stephen Lekapenos|Stephen]] and [[Constantine Lekapenos|Constantine]]. He is carried off to the [[Prince Islands]] and forced to become a [[monk]].

==== Europe ====
* King [[Hugh of Italy|Hugh of Provence]] dispatches an embassy to King [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto I]] of the [[East Francia|East Frankish Kingdom]], offering a large sum of cash if he promises not to provide assistance to [[Berengar II of Italy|Berengar of Ivrea]]. Otto refuses this offer.
* [[Raymond Pons, Count of Toulouse|Raymond III]] (or Pons I), count of [[County of Toulouse|Toulouse]], travels to [[Nevers]] (southeast of [[Paris]]) to declare his [[fidelity]] to king [[Louis IV of France|Louis IV]] ("d'Outremer"). He is granted the title 'prince of the Aquitanians' by the king.<ref>Timothy Reuter (1999). ''The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume III'', p. 429. {{ISBN|978-0-521-36447-8}}.</ref>
* The largest recorded epidemic of [[ergotism]], also known as "Saint Anthony's Fire, kills 40,000 people in France.<ref>''Lewis' Dictionary of Toxicology'', p. 286 {{ISBN| 9781566702232}}</ref>

==== England ====
* King [[Edmund I]] regains (with the help of [[Denmark|Danish]] settlers) the territory he ceded to [[Olaf Guthfrithson]]. He conquers [[Kingdom of Northumbria|Northumbria]] and cedes [[Cumberland]] to [[Malcolm I of Scotland|Malcolm I]], king of the 'Picts and Scots'.
* A great [[storm]] sweeps across [[Wessex]] and many houses are destroyed, 1,500 in [[London]] alone (a significant proportion of the town).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Agricultural Records|last=Stratton|first=J.M.|publisher=John Baker|year=1969|isbn=0-212-97022-4}}</ref>

==== Africa ====
* [[Abu Yazid]], a [[Khawarij|Kharijite]] [[Berber people|Berber]] leader, launches a rebellion in the [[Aurès Mountains]] (modern [[Algeria]]) against the [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatamids]], seeking aid from the [[Caliphate of Córdoba]] in [[Al-Andalus]].
* The cities of [[Algiers]] and [[Miliana]] are re-founded by the [[Zirid dynasty|Zirid]] ruler (''[[emir]]'') [[Buluggin ibn Ziri]].

=== By topic ===

==== Religion ====
* The [[Al-Askari Shrine|Al-Askari Mosque]] is built in [[Samarra]] (modern [[Iraq]]).
</onlyinclude>

== Births ==
* [[Abd al-Malik I (Samanid emir)|Abd al-Malik I]], Samanid [[emir]] (d. [[961]])
* [[Al-Mu'ayyad Ahmad]], Muslim [[imam]] (d. [[1020]])
* [[Fujiwara no Akimitsu]], Japanese bureaucrat (d. [[1021]])
* [[Fujiwara no Sukemasa]], Japanese statesman (d. [[998]])
* [[Ibn Juljul]], Muslim [[Medicine in the medieval Islamic world|physician]] (approximate date)
* [[John VIII bar Abdoun]], patriarch of [[Church of Antioch|Antioch]] (d. [[1033]])
* [[Otto, Duke of Burgundy|Otto]] (or '''Odo'''), duke of [[Burgundy]] (d. [[965]])

== Deaths ==
* [[February 25]] &ndash; [[Lin Ding]], Chinese official and chancellor
* [[April 8]] &ndash; [[Wang Yanxi]], emperor of [[Min (Ten Kingdoms)|Min]] ([[Ten Kingdoms]])
* [[April 23]] &ndash; [[Wichmann the Elder]], Frankish nobleman
* [[Abu Mansur al-Maturidi]], Muslim theologian (b. [[853]])
* [[Abu Tahir al-Jannabi]], Qarmatian ruler (b. [[906]])
* [[Ch'oe Ŏn-wi]], Korean minister and [[Calligraphy|calligrapher]] (b. [[868]])
* [[Donnchad Donn]], [[High King of Ireland]]
* [[Duan Siping]], ruler of [[Dali Kingdom|Dali]] (approximate date)
* [[Fang Gao]], Chinese official and chief of staff
* [[Flaithbertach mac Inmainén]], Irish [[abbot]] 
* [[Harshavarman II]], Angkorian king
* [[Empress Li (Wang Yanxi)|Li]], empress of [[Min (Ten Kingdoms)|Min]] (Ten Kingdoms)
* [[Liu Hongchang]], Chinese chancellor
* [[Mahipala I]], Gurjara-Pratihara king
* [[Ngo Quyen]], Vietnamese king
* [[Wang Yacheng]], Chinese prince

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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