Work begins in Rheims on the Utrecht Psalter, an outstanding example of the Carolingian illuminated manuscript

The Venetians move their administration from the island of Torcello to the Rialto

The discovery of the supposed remains of the apostle St James makes Santiago de Compostela a new centre of European pilgrimage

Viking tribes known as the Rus are established as traders in the region of Novgorod

The Arabs get a foothold in Sicily and begin a slow process, not complete till AD 965, of squeezing the Byzantines out of the island

The Venetians, acquiring from Alexandria some bones believed to be those of St Mark, build St Mark's to house the valuable relic

Vikings from Norway capture Dublin and establish a Norse kingdom in Ireland

Kenneth king of the Scots is accepted also as king of the Picts, providing the traditional founding event of the kingdom of Scotland

The central Frankish kingdom, Francia Media, becomes one of the great fault lines of European history

Vikings are by now securely established in the Orkneys, Shetlands and Hebrides, and in much of the Scottish mainlaid down to Loch Ness

As a gesture of unity, Kenneth MacAlpin brings to Scone (a Pictish royal site) a sacred coronation stone associated with the Scots

Communal gatherings, the thing and the larger althing, are the distant origins of Scandivian parliaments

The three-field system, introduced by the Franks, increases agricultural yield by 33%.

The missionary brothers Cyril and Methodius arrive in Moravia, where they introduce the Greek Orthodox faith in a special Slavonic liturgy

The Bulgarian king Boris I is baptized in the Greek Orthodox faith, bringing his people within the Byzantine fold

A great army of Danes captures York - the first step in the establishment of Danelaw in eastern England

Cyril and Methodius translate the Gospels and parts of the Old Testament into Slavonic for the Moravians.

The young Alfred leads the English in their first significant victory over the Danes, at Ashdown

Vikings arrive in Iceland and form a settlement on the site of modern Rejkjavik

Oleg, leader of the Rus, seizes the town of Kiev and makes his headquarters there

The Magyars, under the leadership of Arpad, establish themselves in Hungary

Monastic reform, begun at Cluny, is so successful that more than 1000 Benedictine houses eventually follow the Cluniac example

The Vikings settle in France, as Normans, when Rollo the Ganger is granted feudal rights over the region round Rouen

Henry I is elected king of the east Frankish kingdom, consisting of four great feudal duchies - Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony and Franconia

After years of raiding up the Shannon, the Vikings capture Limerick