Year 881 (DCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.

• February 12 – King Charles the Fat, the third son of the late Louis the German, is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John VIII at Rome.
• August 3 – Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: The West Frankish kings Louis III, and his brother Carloman II, rout Viking raiders (near Abbeville).

• Battle of the Conwy: King Anarawd of Gwynedd (Wales) initiates a revenge attack on the Mercian armies, and defeats them on the River Conwy.
• Anarawd, and his brothers Cadell and Merfyn, begin extensive military campaigns to quell resistance in Powys and Seisyllwg (approximate date).

• Zanj Rebellion: Abbasid general Al-Muwaffaq lays siege to the Zanj capital of Mukhtara, using his base on the opposite side of the River Tigris.

• Bakong, the first temple mountain of sandstone, is constructed by rulers of the Khmer Empire (modern Cambodia) at Angkor.
• 881 Acre earthquake: It takes place in the vicinity of Acre. Alexandria is reportedly affected by the same earthquake.^[1]

• St. Cecilia's Church (Cäcilienkirche) is founded as a college for women. It is now home of the Schnütgen Museum in Cologne.

• Conrad I, king of the East Frankish Kingdom (approximate date)
• Hugh of Arles, king of Italy and Lower Burgundy (or 880)
• Liu Churang, Chinese general (d. 943)

• December 7 – Anspert, archbishop of Milan
• Bárid mac Ímair, king of Dublin
• Cui Hang, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
• David I, prince of Iberia (Georgia)
• Gabriel, prince of Kakheti (Georgia)
• Guaifer, duke of Benevento
• John I, Frankish abbot (approximate date)
• Liu Ye, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
• Lu Guimeng, Chinese poet
• Odo I, bishop of Beauvais
• Orso I, doge of Venice
• Radi Abdullah, Muslim tenth Imam
• Zhang Zhifang, Chinese general

• Antonopoulos, J. (1980), Data from investigation of seismic Sea waves events in the Eastern Mediterranean from 500 to 1000 A.D., Annals of Geophysics