870 CAIRO (Egypt)
Jewish and Christian cemeteries were flattened by Ibn Tulun in order to build the new Katai quarter. According to the Moslem cleric Mutaakkil (847), the tombs of infidels were distinguished from those of Moslems.
872 - 890 MAR ZEMACH I BEN PALTOI (Babylon)
Served as head of the academy at Pumbedita. He arranged the first talmudic dictionary of difficult words, entitled the Aruch.
875 ABBASID DYNASTY (Persia)
Began to lose its power. A descendent of Ali, backed by the pro-Shiite Saffraids sect, set up an emirate in Tabaristan on the Caspian Sea.
875 KING CHARLES THE BALD (Spain)
Complimented the Jews of Barcelona on their loyalty to him. The Jewish community was considered one of the most influential in Spain. Despite the fact that in general the Spanish kings tolerated the Jews, attacks occurred every now and then that were instigated by the Church and local burghers.
877 EMPEROR BASIL I (Byzantine Empire)
Called on Sheftaiya ben Amitai to cure his daughter of insanity. After she recovered, ben Amitai requested that the law prohibiting Jewish worship be repealed. Although the Emperor refused, he did agree to revoke the ban in Shefatiya's city of Orua.
879 - 929 CHARLES THE SIMPLE (France)
Confiscated Jewish owned vineyards, salt mines, and houses in Narbonne and donated them to the Church. This signaled the end of the period when the Carolingian kings dealt favorably with the Jews. It also marked the slow dissolution of the Carolingian dynasty, making way for the Capetian dynasty (987).
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