Year 848 (DCCCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe Summer – Bordeaux, capital of Aquitaine, falls into the hands of Viking raiders. King Charles the Bald sends a Frankish fleet to lift the siege. Despite destroying some Viking longships on the Dordogne River, they fail to save the city. The Abbey of Saint-Pierre in Brantôme is sacked. Emperor Lothair I, and his (half) brothers Louis the German and Charles the Bald, meet in Koblenz to continue the system of "con-fraternal government". Frankish forces under Count (comté) William of Septimania assume authority over the counties of Barcelona and Empúries (modern Spain). The Saracens conquer Ragusa (Sicily), after its Byzantine garrison is forced by severe famine to surrender. The city and its castle are razed to the ground. Britain The armies of Brycheiniog and Gwent clash in the battle of Ffinnant (Wales). King Ithel of Gwent is killed in the fighting (approximate date). Máel Sechnaill mac Maíl Ruanaid, High King of Mide, defeats a Norse Viking army at Sciath Nechtain in Ireland (approximate date). Asia The Medieval Cholas in Southern India start to rule (approximate date). By topic Religion Pope Leo IV builds (on the opposite of the Tiber River) the Leonine City, a fortified three-kilometre wall that encircles the Vatican Hill and Borgo, to defend Rome. The Roman Catholic church of Santa María del Naranco, on the slope of Monte Naranco (Northern Spain), is completed. Births Alfonso III, king of Asturias (approximate date) Carloman, Frankish abbot (d. 877) Charles the Child, king of Aquitaine (or 847) Lothair the Lame, Frankish abbot (d. 865) Onneca Fortúnez, Basque princess (or 850) Deaths Cui Yuanshi, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty Drest X, king of the Picts Guo, empress dowager of the Tang Dynasty Ithel, king of Gwent (approximate date) Li Gongzuo, Chinese writer Malik ibn Kaydar, Muslim governor Rechtabhra, bishop of Clonfert Shi Xiong, Chinese general Sunifred, Frankish nobleman Sunyer I, Frankish nobleman William I, duke of Gascony Yahya al-Laithi, Muslim scholar References