968

968 (CMLXVIII) was a leap year beginning on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, in effect on that date.

Events

• Byzantine Emperor Niceforo II Focas paid knyaz of Kiev, Sviatoslav Igorevich, son of Olga of Kiev, to attack Bulgaria in response to the alliance between the Bulgarian Emperor Peter I and the Magyres. Battle of Silistra in the spring, near the Bulgarian city of Silistra, but probably within the modern territory of Romania. Sviatoslav overcomes, destroys the empire of the Jazarites and takes Ithyl, the capital of the Jazarites; Russian settlers already lived there.
• The Pechenegos begin the site of Kiev
• The territory of Atenco was founded

Births

• Kazan Emperor of Japan (m. 1008)
• Etelredo II the Indecised, king of England.
• 15 November - Roman III, Byzantine emperor.
• December 23 - Emperor Zhenzong of China.

Deaths

• March 14 - Matilde de Ringelheim, a German saint.
• August 25 - Edgiva de Kent, English nobleman.