| Country | Leader | From | To | |
| Eastern Roman Empire | Tiberius III Apsimar (-706) | 698 | Aug. 21, 705 |  |
| Papacy | St. Sergius I (-701) | 687 | 701 |  |
700 In this cent. there is a pop. explosion in China, which begins the first large urban developments and becomes aware of the opium poppy via the Middle East and India; Changan (Ch'ang-an), capital city of China is the largest city on Earth; Constantinople is #2; Teotihuacan in Mexico is at its zenith with a pop. of 200K. In Feb. a cattle plague is recorded in Mag Trego, Tethbe in Ireland. King (689-726) Ine (Ina) (Ini) of Wessex (670-727) begins replacing subkings with ealdormen; meanwhile Hamwic becomes a major Wessex trading center. In this cent. a 6.5 earthquake rocks modern-day Meers, Okla. in SW Okla. In this cent. the Srivijaya Empire of S Sumatra begins to control Indonesia. Thuringia becomes part of the Frankish Empire. Iraqi Arab tribal leader Ibn al-Ash'ath ('Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath revolts from the Umayyads (ends 701). About this time the Kanem Empire (ends 1376) is founded in Chad, with capital at N'jimi ("south"), expanding into S Libya (Fezzan), E Niger, NE Nigeria, and N Cameroon, getting converted to Islam by Arab and Berber traders. In this cent. the 700 Dead (Forgotten) Cities in NW Syria between Aleppo and Idlib begin to be abandoned after Arab conquest changes the trade routes (ends 1000 C.E.), leaving well-preserved Byzantine and pagan bldgs. incl. the 5th cent. C.E. Church of St. Simeon Stylites 19 mi. NW of Aleppo. About this time the early Iron Age Zhizo people on the E side of the Kalahari Desert in W Zimbabwe and the Limpopo Valley begin practicing Bantu cattle culture. About this time St. Rupert founds the bishopric of Salzburg (Ger. "salt castle") (modern-day pop. 153K) on the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Juvavum, known for its salt (salz) mines (which he began?), building the Church of St. Peter at the foot of the Monchberg Mt. at the stop where St. Maximus allegedly was martyred in 476, along with a Benedictine monastery. In this decade the town of Ribe in SW Jutland, Denmark (modern-day pop. 8.1K) is founded, becoming the first Viking city and the oldest town in Denmark to survive to modern times; it is first mentioned in 854. In this cent. English-born Lindisfarne monk Baldred (Baltherus) (-756) is sent to convert the heathen Lothians in Scotland, and sets up shop on Bass Rock, an island in the Firth of Forth. In this cent. Old French (OF) AKA langue d'oil evolves in N France from Latin, Gaelic, and German, transitioning to Middle French in the mid-14th cent.; meanwhile the Occitan language (langue d'oc) develops in S France in the 8th cent. In this cent. in Europe large landed properties with tributary peasants subject to socage (rent) begin to thrive. In this cent. Cracow (Krakow) ("Krak's Town") ("Sacred Oak Town") in SE Poland is founded by Prince Krak (Krakus) (Grakch) as a fortress on a site inhabited since the last cent. by the Wislanie tribe. In this cent. Rheims (Fr. spelling Reims) in France becomes the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishopric. About this time the Kanem Empire (ends 1376) is founded by Zaghawa (Duguwa) Berbers from NE Africa migrating to Lake Chad, with capital at N'jimi ("south"), expanding into S Libya (Fezzan), E Niger, NE Nigeria, and N Cameroon, getting converted to Islam by Arab and Berber traders. In this cent. the Byzantine duchy of Naples becomes the independent Duchy of Neapolis (until 1139). In this cent. Alexandria, Egypt sinks beneath the Mediterranean Sea in Aboukir Bay; rediscovered in 1933. In this cent. a glass factory is built on Torcello Island next to Murano Island near Venice. In this cent. Greek replaces Latin as the official language of the Eastern Roman Empire. The Psalms are trans. into Anglo-Saxon in this cent. Easter Eggs come into use among Christians about this time, along with the custom of commemorating Palm Sunday (Sun. before Easter) by blessing and carrying palms in procession. In this cent. the Culdees (Gael. "servant of God") recluse monks appear in Ireland, eventually establishing communities in Ireland and Scotland to take care of the sick and poor while enjoying religious music; meanwhile in this cent. and next there is a great exodus of Irish scholars and monks to Europe to flee the *!?*! Vikings. By this time soapmaking becomes a craft in Italy. In this cent. Korean art becomes distinct from Chinese and Japanese. Muslim nursing begins in Muhammad's day with Rufaidah bint Sa'ad of the Bani Aslam tribe in Medina. Architecture: In this cent. England begins erecting stone rather than wooden church bldgs. Worcester bishop St. Ecgwine (-717) founds Evesham Abbey in England; meanwhile Queen Cuthburh of Northumbria enters the new St. Mary's Nunnery in Wareham. English monk St. Suitbert (-713) founds a Benedictine abbey in Werth, which later becomes the town of Kaiserswerth (near modern-day Dusseldorf). The Arabs build Mshatta Castle in the desert of Transjordan; the sultan of Turkey presents Kaiser Wilhelm I with its facade in the late 1800s. The pagoda of Tsu-en Temple in Sian, China is built. Inventions: In this cent. Gunpowder is invented in Tang Dynasty China, with the formula 15-3-2 parts saltpeter-charcoal-sulfur; it is first used for insect fumigants and skin disease treatments, then fireworks, after which it takes 1-2 cents. to use it in warfare? - the first manmade cis boom bah? Inventions: In this cent. the Still is invented in Europe. In this cent. the Norse invent the Longship (Longboat), useful for cargo and war, christened with blood, with cool dragon heads; weighing half as much as a galley, they are powered by rowers and a square sail. In this cent. Porcelain is invented in Tang Dynasty China. In this cent. the primitive open hearth Catalan Forge for producing steel is invented in desperate shrinking Christian Spain in reaction to the pesky Muslim Moors, becoming the first important metallurgical advance in iron smelting since ancient times. In this cent. the 7-string Mohan Vina instrument is invented in India. Water wheels drive mills all over Europe by this time. Tapestry weaving is well established in Peru by this time. Aboutt this time the earliest known chess piece is made in Jordan; found in 1991. Nonfiction: In this cent. the pro-Islamic Gospel of Barnabas is written, claiming that Jesus was just a man and that it was Judas who was crucified. In this cent. the Epistle of Titus is written in crude Latin, purporting to be by the Titus mentioned in Paul's 3rd Pastoral Epistle, and preaching in favor of asceticism and spiritual marriage. About this time The Life of St. Cuthbert is written by anon. in England. About this time The Life of St. Gregory the Great is written at Whitby Abbey in England, along with Life of St. Hilda of Whitby (lost), Life of Aethelthryth (lost), and Hymn of the Life of St. Patrick. About this time the Ravenna Cosmography, a catalog of all known counties, towns, and rivers from India to Ireland is written by anon. Art: In this cent. the iconic encaustic (hot wax) painting Christ Pantocrator (Almighty) is produced in Constantinople for St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai, showing Christ holding the Gospels with his left hand and making the sign of the orator (and/or a blessing) with his right; it is overpainted in the 13th cent. and rediscovered in 1962. Poetry: In this half-cent. Beowulf, the oldest English (Anglo-Saxon) poem (3,182 lines) is written by an anon. Christian poet; the real Beowulf is a Swedish warrior who lived in the early 6th cent.? Indian Sanskir poet Kokkoka (Kukkoka) writes the Koka Shastra (Ratirahasya) (Secrets of Love), a sequel to the ever-popular Kama Sutra. Plays: About this time Sanskrit dramatist Bhavabhuti flourishes in SC India, writing Malati Madhava (a romantic play in 10 acts), Mahavira Charita, and Uttara Ramacharita. Novels: Indian writer Dandin writes the humorous novel The Adventures of the Ten Princes (Dasakumaracarita). Births: Arab Muslim theologian (founder of the Mu'tazilite school of Kalam) Wasil ibn Ata (d. 748). Spanish Visigothic Celtic Christian monk (St.) Pirmin (Pirminius) (d. 753) bear Narbonne; of Visigothic descent? Chinese painter Wu Tao-tzu (Wu Daozu) (d. 760) near Luoyang, Henan; known for his large B&W paintings on Buddhist and Taoist temples in Chang'an (Xi'an), which are destroyed. English missionary and travel writer (St.) Willibald (d. 787) on Oct. 21 in Devonshire, Wessex; son of King St. Robert of Wessex (-722); brother of St. Walpurga (710-779) and St. Winebald (-761); canonized in 938.
701 A plague that broke out in Constantinople in 698 reaches Spain, causing co-kings Ergica and Wittiza to move out of their capital Toledo, with Wittiza sends to Tui capital of the province of Gallaecia (modern-day Galicia, Asturias, Leon, and N Portugal) in NW Spain, building the Palas de Rei. On Sept. 9 Pope (since 687) Sergius I dies, and on Oct. 30 Pope (#85) John VI (-705) (a Greek) is elected. On Oct. 8 16-y.o. Chinese princess Yung-T'ai (granddaughter of Emperor Gao Zong), who married the Tang cmdr. of the 2nd rank of imperial carriages, has a son, and seemingly has it made, until she and her husband and brother are overheard by an informer of mean jealous Empress Wu laughing at something, causing the latter to accuse them of a conspiracy and order their death commit suicide. The Byzantines under their German-born emperor (since 698) Tiberius III Apsimar raid Syria and win some minor Vs. Raginpert (-702), son of Godepert usurps the Lombard throne of Italy from his grandnephew Liutpert (until 702). Asparukh (b. 640) dies, and his Dulo clan son Tervel (Terval) (Tarval) (Terbelis) (675-721) becomes khan #2 of the First Bulgarian Empire (until 718) (721?). Ibn al-Ash'ath is defeated by Al-Hajjaj, gov. of Iraq. The Taiho Ritsu-Ryo Japanese legal code (Yoro Code) is written, and the Mikado becomes the sole proprietor of all land (until 1192). Architecture: The Umayyad Palace in the Amman Citadel (Jabal al-Qai'a) in Jordan is built, with its Qibla facing Petra (the original Mecca?); in 740 the upper bldgs. are built, with their Qibla facing Mecca, indicating a Muslim worship direction change that was later covered-up after Petra was abandoned in 713 after an earthquake and the Qaaba was moved out of there to Mecca? Births: Japanese Yamato emperor #45 (724-49) Shomu (d. 756) on Sept. 22; son of Monmu and Fujiwara no Miyako; father of Koken/Shotoku (718-70) along with five other imperial sons and daughters. Chinese Golden Age "The Three Wonders" poet Li Po (Li Bo) (Li Bai) (d. 762) in Suiye; friend of Du Fu (712-70). Deaths: Bulgarian khan #1 (681-701) Asparaukh (b. 640) on the Dnieper River.
702 Lombard king Raginpert and his Neustrians (from Piedmont) defeat Liutpert's regent (since 701) Ansprand (657-712), duke of Asti at the Battle of Novara, but Raginpert dies shortly afterward, and his son Aripert (Aribert) II (-712) succeeds as Lombard king of Italy (until 712), defeating Ansprand at Pavia and capturing little Liutpert, then strangling him in his bath, and forcing Ansprand over the Alps into Bavaria by next year, going on to court Pope John VI by donating large tracts in the Cottian Alps to the papacy and fight numerous rebellions and Slovene raids into Venetia. Late in the year mean king Egica (b. 610) dies in his sleep, and his son (by Cixilo, daughter of King Erwig) Wittiza (Witiza) (Witiges) (686-710) (co-ruler since 694, and anointed when he reached 14 on Nov. 15/24, 700) becomes king of crumbling Visigoth Spain (until 710), starting out good by reversing some of daddy's exile and confiscation of nobles, causing the people to love him, then go bad and "indulge in a plurality of wives and concubines, encouraging his subjects to do the same", while recalling from exile and surrounding himself with Jewish advisers, who (obviously in league with fellow Jews of N Africa, to make the coming invasion a cakewalk?) successfully counsel him to break down the defenses of cities, demolish castlem, and turn spears into harrows in order to stop potential traitors, causing the clergy to hate him; he executes Duke Favila of Cantabria (son of Chinasuinth and father of Don Pelayo) and blinds and imprisons Duke Theodofred the Visigoth of Cordoba (b. 645), but Duke Favila's son Don Pelayo and Duke Theodofred's son Duke Roderic of Baetica escape to Italy to plan revenge. King Irgalach ua Conaing of Brega is KIA by British raiders at the Battle of Ireland's Eye (Mac Nesain). In this cent. a vellum ms. of the Quran is created in Egypt on vellum that originally contained a Coptic version of the Old Testament. Births: Arab Shiite imam #6 Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq (d. 765) on Apr. 20 in Medina; son of Muhammad al-Baqir (676-733); father of Musa al-Kadhim (745-99); claims that imams possess special knowledge from Ali and are spiritually infallible; names his eldest son Isma'il (d. 760), but after his death his followers split into the Ismaili (Isma'ili) (Sevener) Shiites claiming Isma'il as the 7th and last imam and founding the family line of Aga Khan, and the Twelvers (Imami Shiites) (90% of the pop. of modern Iran and 50+% of the pop. of modern Iraq) who claim his 3rd son Musa al-Kadhim as lucky imam #7 of a coming 12. Deaths: Spanish Visigoth king (687-702) Egica (b. 610). Korean Buddhist monk Uisang (b. 625). Japanese Yamato emperor #41 (686-97) Jito (b. 645) on Dec. 22.
703 Duke Faroald of Spoleto wars with the Byzantine exarchate of Ravenna, but king Aripert II refuses to aid him for political reasons, pissing him off. The Umayyads raid Cilicia (until 704). British raiders are defeated by the Ulaid tribe of NE Ireland (who gave their name to Ulster) at Ars peninsula in Ireland. The Eighteenth (18th) Council of Toledo in Spain, convened by king Wittiza forces the clergy (at Wittiza's orders) to marry, pissing off the Church, which later gets all of its acts suppressed and destroyed under Asturias king (757-68) Fruela (Froila) I (the Cruel); meanwhile, whatever the laws, fornication is king in crumbling Christian Spain? Venerable Bede (673-735), De Temporibus Liber (The Book of Times); a history of the world.
704 The Umayyads are repelled from Cilicia; meanwhile slit-nosed Justinian II escapes from exile in Cherson to the territory of the by the pagan polytheist polygamous Turkic Khazars (Hazaras turks) (descendants of the Huns?) in the N Caucasus, and marries Theodora of Khazaria, sister of Khagan Busir Glavan, then escapes again and hooks up with Tervel of Bulgaria and gathers a large army for a comeback; meanwhile Busir sends Theodora to Constantinople in a peace gesture. Aethelred (d. 716) abdicates and enters the monastery of Bardney, and chooses Cenred (Coenred) (d. 716) to succeed him as king of Mercia (until 716). Eugenius VI dies, and Amberkelethus (d. 706) becomes king of the Dalriada Scots. Births: Arab Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar (Ibn Ishaq) (d. 767) in Medina. Korean Buddhist monk Hyecho (Hyech'o) (Hui Chao) (d. 787) in Silla. Deaths: Irish abbot of Iona Abbey (679-704) St. Adomnan (b. 624) in Iona, Scotland.
705 On Jan. 11 Pope (since 701) John VI dies, and on Mar. 1 Pope (#86) John VII (-707) (another Greek) is elected, going on to prevail upon the Anglo-Saxon clergy to renounce their secular style of dress. On Aug. 21 after escaping from exile in Cherson and recruiting an army of Khazars last year, former emperor (685-95) Justinian II Rhinotmetos ("cut nose") (-706) returns to Constantinople and sieges it for three days until finding and using an abandoned water conduit to enter the city beneath the walls, reclaiming his position as Byzantine emperor (until Dec. 11, 711), wearing a gold prosthetic nose; meanwhile Tiberius III flees to Bithynia, but is captured several mo. later, and is denosed and paraded along with fellow slit-nose ex-emperor Leontius through Constantinople and beheaded in the Hippodrome after Justinian II places his feet on their necks, after which Tiberius' brother Heraclius and many other military cmdrs. are hanged; Justinian II deposes traitor patriarch (since 693) Callinicus I, and replaces him with Cyrus (Kyrus) I, who becomes ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople (until 712); in gratitude for his help, Justinian II rewards Bulgarian Khan Tervel with the Zagore area between Stara Zagora, Silven, and the Black Sea, along with an enormous quantity of gold, silver, and silk - no more nose jobs, it's a full head job now? On Dec. 16 after former emperor #4 (684) Tang Zhong Zong (656-710) returns from exile, regains power from his mean old mother Empress (since 690) Wu Zetian (b. 625), forces her to abdicate, changing the dynasty back to Tang, she dies, and the emperor, sorrowful over the 701 murder of his daughter Yung-T'ai, his son, and son-in-law orders their reburial in a magnificent tomb in the Tang cemetery near Sian, which is rediscovered in 1960, filled with priceless Tang pottery, along with an inscription lying that the princess died in childbirth. King Ealdferth of Northumbria dies, and is succeeded by his son Osred. Bishop Lambert of Tongeren is martyred in Liege, contributing to its growth and prestige. Powys in Wales successfully campaigns aginst the English (ends 707). Malik I dies, and Muhammad al-Walid I (d. 715) becomes Muslim Umayyad caliph (until 715). The Arab city of Ramla (Ramlah) is founded by Umayyad caliph Suleiman ibn Abed al-Malik on the Via Maris connecting Fustat (Cairo) with Damascus, at the intersection of the road between Jaffa and Jerusalem. The first psychiatric (mental) hospital is built by Muslims in Baghdad, followed by Cairo in 800, and Damascus in 1270. Architecture: Start of the Great Mosque of Damascus on the site of the nearly-destroyed Church of St. John (finished 715) by al-Walid; mosques feature minarets (Arab. "manarat" = lighthouse), based on the Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt. Wells Cathedral (named after some local wells) begins construction by order of King Ina of Wessex. Circular Marienberg Church near Wurzburg, Bavaria is built by Duke Hetan II. Deaths: Chinese Tang emperor #6 (690-705) Wu Zetian (b. 625) on Dec. 16; 2nd wife of Tang Gao Zong (628-83); mother of Tang Rui Zong (662-716). Arab Muslim Umayyad caliph #5 (685-705) Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (b. 646) on Oct. 8.
706 Bridei Mac Derile dies, and his brother Nechtan Mac Derile (Der-Ilei) (Dargarto) (685-732) becomes king of the Picts (until 724, then 728-9). Amberkelethus dies, and Eugenius VII (-723) becomes king of the the Dalriada Scots. The Bimaristan Hospital in Damascus is founded; by 978 it has a staff of 24 physicians. Inventions: Wall paintings in the Tomb of Prince Zhang Huai in China show the earliest documented proof of Bonsai. Births: French mayor of Austrasia (741-54) Carloman (d. 754); eldest son of Charles Martel and Chrotrud; brother of Pepin III the Short (714-68). Deaths: Roman Byzantine emperor #116 (695-8) Leontius (b. 660) on Feb. 15 in Constantinople.
708 On Jan. 15 Pope (#87) Sisinius (Sisinnius) (a Syrian) is elected, but he dies 20 days later on Feb. 4 while trying to rebuild the crumbling walls of Rome, and on Mar. 25 Pope (#88) Constantine (Constantinus) (-715) (another Syrian) is elected. After Justinian II changes his mind about giving the Bulgarians under Khan Tervel all that land, and arrives in front of Anchialus Fortress in what he thinks is a surprise attack, only to be suprised instead, the Byzantines are defeated and almost wiped out at the First Battle of Anchialus (Anchialos) near Pomorie on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, (763, 917); Justinian II barely escapes back to Constantinople, and the Bulgarians keep their territoy for cents. Deaths: Syriac writer Jacob of Edessa (b. 640) on June 5.
709 A plague is recorded in Ireland. Architecture: Construction of the Al-Aqsa (Arab. "farthest") Mosque in Jerusalem on the site of the Jewish Temple of Solomon begins (finished 715), where Muhammad allegedly made his Night Flight (Lailat al-Mira) to Heaven on the back of the winged ass Baraq (Buraq); Christians believe Christ preached a sermon there, and Jews believe that Abraham almost sacrificed his son Isaac there - a nice place to start Armageddon? The Monastery of Mont-St.-Michel in Normandy is founded on Mont-Saint-Michel, the cool granite cone island on the Bay of Saint-Michel (Cancale) in the Gulf of Saint-Malo, 6 mi. SW of Avranches by St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches. Births: Japanese Yamato emperor #49 (770-81) Konin (Shirakabe) (d. 782) on Nov. 18; son of Prince Shiki; grandson of Tenji (626-72). Deaths: French abbot St. Bertin (b. 615). English abbot St. Wilfrid (Wilfrith) (b. 634). English bishop Aldhelm (b. 640); buried in the church of St. Michael in Malmesbury.
710 On July 3 Tang Zhong Zong (b. 656) is poisoned by Empress Wei, who puts her youngest son Tang Shang Di (Li Chongmao) (695-714) on the throne as Tang emperor #5, but Zhong Zong's sister Princess Taiping (-713) and nephew Prince Li Longji of Linzi stage a coup, killing Empress Wei, and forcing Shang to abdicate on July 25 in favor of former emperor #5 (683-90) (Li Longji's father) Tang Rui Zong (Ruizong) (Jui Tsung) (Li Dan) (Li Xulun) (Li Lun) (Wu Lun) (Wu Dan) (662-716) (until 712); formal marriage takes place between Tibet and China. In Oct. at his request Pope Constantine visits Justinian II in Constantinople (until Oct. 711) to resolve the differences arising from the 692 Quinisext Council; Justinian II confirms the privileges of the Roman See, and becomes the first Byzantine emperor to kiss the Roman pope's foot, becoming the first claim to universal jurisdiction of the papacy?; the negotiations are conducted by future Pope Gregory II; Pope Constantine becomes the last pope to visit the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople - pardon me but I smell a coverup here? After "tumultuously invading the kingdom with the encouragement of the Senate" with an army from Italy, exiled Roderic (Ruderic) (Roderick) (Roderik) (Ruderigus) (-711) defeats and captures Wittiza "the Wicked", then blinds and imprisons him in Cordoba, and is crowned the last king of Visigoth Spain by next year after usurping the throne from Wittiza's two sons Evan and Siseburto (who escape to Tangier); he then splits the kingdom with (Wittiza's 3rd son?) Achila (Aquila) (Agila) (Akhila) II (-714), with the SW (Lusitania and W Carthaginiensis incl. Toledo and Egitania, AKA Idanha-a-Velha) going to Roderic, and the NE (Tarraconensis and Narbonensis) to Achila II (nobody gets Gallaecia and Baetica?), which gives the Muslims their big opening; meanwhile Wittiza's family flees to Ceuta on the N shore of the Maghreb, allying with Jews and Arian Christians who hate the Roman Catholic bishops of the Visigoth monarchy. Refused a subsidy by Emperor Justinian II, the pissed-off Bulgarians advance toward Constantinople. The Arabs introduce sugar cane to Egypt; the Egyptians go on to develop clarification, crystallization, and refining methods, after which sugar cane cultivation spreads to S Spain by 755 and to Sicily in 950. King Ine of Wessex wars with the Britons of Cornwall. After a long struggle, King Nechtan (Naitan) of the Picts finally chucks the Arian stuff, and sends a delegation to English Benedictine monk Venerable Bede (673-735) at Jarrow in N England to ask for help with calculating the date of the Roman Easter, the building of stone churches, and tonsuring, and orders all the clergy of his kingdom to receive the circular tonsure and to submit to St. Peter, "most blessed prince of the apostles"; "It was the mark that Popes stamped not on the forehead, but on the crown. A royal proclamation, and a few clips of the scissors, placed the Scotch, like a flock of sheep, beneath the crook of the shepherd of the Tiber." (Merle D'Aubigne) Irish missionary (St.) Fergus settles in Glamis in Scotland, living in a cave near his church and baptizing converts with water from the church well; about 748 he speculates about the possibility of "another world and other men under the Earth". Nara replaces Fujiwara as the capital of Japan (until 794); Chinese Confucian principles of govt. are adopted, and Buddhist monasteries become centers of civilization - the tradition of an island nation that lives by copying and combining other cultures carries on? The Early Nara Period in Japanese art begins (ends 794). Nonfiction: In this decade Eddius Stephanus writes Life of St. Wilfred. Births: English Anglo-Saxon nun-missionary (abbess of Heidenheim, Swabia, Germany) (St.) Walpurga (Walpurgis) (Valpurga) (Vaubourg) (Gaudurge) (Valderburg) (Guiibor) (Bugga) (d. 779) in Devon; daughter of King St. Richard of Essex (-722); sister of St. Willibald (700-87) and St. Winebald (-761); student of St. Tatta at Wimborne Monastery in Dorset; feast day: May 1; she gains dubious fame for the night before, Apr. 30 (May Day Eve), known as Walpurgis Night, when witches allegedly gather on Brocken Mountain in the Harz Mts. for demonic orgies and the Witches' Sabbath, as portrayed in Goethe's Faust - Walton's Mountain? Deaths: Greek Christian hermit St. Giles (b. 650) in S France. Chinese Tang emperor #4 (684, 705-10) Zhong Zong (b. 656) on July 3. Chinese PM Shangguan Wan'er (b. 664); her tomb is discovered in 2013 near the airport in Xiangyang.
711 On Apr. 29 after Visigoth Count Julian (Ilyan) betrays his post at Ceuta into the hands of the Muslims and flops to their side to get even with Visigoth king Roderic for dishonoring (knocking up?) his daughter Lady Florinda, and sends four boats for them, a recon army of 1.7K Muslim Moors (mainly Berbers and slaves, plus a few Arabs) under lame Berber Muslim Umayyad Gen. Tariq (Tarik) ibn Ziyad (Zeyad) ibn Abdillah (-720) (AKA Tariq the One-Eyed) (of the Berber Nefzaoua tribe?) (a native of Hamdan, Persia?) (who was a slave of North African gov. Musa ibn Nusayr before being freed) (known for a prominent forehead and a black hairy mole on his left shoulder?) cross the Strait of Gibraltar (Jabal al-Tariq) (Gabel al-Tariq) (mountain of Tariq) from Mauretania on a Sat. in the Muslim month of Shaban and Muslim year 92 (24th of Rejeb, June 19?), and invade Spain (al-Andalus), sending the boats back and forth several times until their entire army of 7K is over, then burning them so it's do or die; he obtains help from the Jewish community of Elvira (Ilbira) ("white", "trustworthy", "alert") in a suburb of Granada; after Visigoth king Roderic spots them and swears an oath to throw them back into the sea and begins approaching, Tariq gives his Famous Do-or-Die Speech, featuring the immortal soundbyte: "Remember that if you suffer a few moments in patience, you will afterward enjoy supreme delight", after which the pumped-up Allah Akbars charge the Spanish army, causing them to flee?; they then march to Cartagena and Cordoba before being driven back and regrouping and receiving reinforcements; on July 19 (Sun.) (two days before the end of Ramadan) King Roderic, who has holed-up in his castle in Cordoba and sent men to gather an army of 100K blonde Goths (mostly serfs?) attacks the puny 10K-to-18K man Muslim army (incl. Arabs and Syrians, but mostly kinky-haired blacks?) at the Battle of Guadalete (Rio Barbute) on the Jerez (Xeres) de la Frontera in SW Spain NE of Cadiz (later home of the fortified wine sherry), and is defeated after eight days after Wittiza's sons Evan and Siseburto make a deal and flop over to the Muslim side in exchange for keeping their "royal portion" of 3K farms, and Tariq personally kills Roderic, who is mounted on a litter between two mules with a jewel-encrusted silk awning (either that or he drowns in the river, as his body is never found, just his white horse), after which his relatives Sisbert and Osbert flee, causing the confused Visigoth army to flee in all directions, most N to Ecija near Seville; "Never was there in the West a more bloody battle than this, for the Muslims did not withdraw their scimitars from [the Christians] for three days", after which the Muslims fight northward, "not passing a place without reducing it, and getting possession of its wealth, for Allah Almighty had struck with terror the hearts of the infidels" (Al-Hakam); Cadiz remains in Muslim hands until 1264; the Muslims then take Toledo, and execute the nobles of the city for assisting in the flight of Egica's son Oppa (Oppas), who had been declared king, and flees to Seville, where he becomes bishop?; on the Jerez (Xeres) de la Frontera in SW Spain NE of Cadiz (later home of the fortified wine sherry), and is defeated after eight days after Wittiza's sons Evan and Siseburto make a deal and flop over to the Muslim side in exchange for keeping their "royal portion" of 3K farms, and Tariq personally kills Roderic, who is mounted on a litter between two mules with a jewel-encrusted silk awning (either that or he drowns in the river, as his body is never found, just his white horse), after which his relatives Sisbert and Osbert flee, causing the confused Visigoth army to flee in all directions, most N to Ecija near Seville; Cadiz remains in Muslim hands until 1264; the Muslims then take Toledo, and execute the nobles of the city for assisting in the flight of Egica's son Oppa (Oppas), who had been declared king, and flees to Seville, where he becomes bishop?; after the dead rich Goth princes are stripped of their bling, which is distributed among the 9K remaining Muslims, the news causes Muslims in N Africa to flock on over for the fun and games, after which they begin to outnumber the quaking Goths; meanwhile Achila succeeds as the positively last king of the Spanish Visigoths (until 714) (although he probably was already a rival co-king to Roderic), holding on in Zaragoza, Tarragona, and Gerona, plus the province of Narbonne (Narbonensis) (Septimania) in SE France, the last safe base on the far side of the Truth Booth (Pyrenees), which (too bad?) has a large Jewish pop. On Dec. 11 after being put up to it by Khazar khagan Busir, Armenian-born Monophysite Phillipikos (Philippicus) Vardan (Bardanes) (-713) leads a mutiny of his officers against despotic emperor Justinian II (b. 668) and executes him, becoming Roman Byzantine emperor #118 (until June 3, 713); the Heracliad Dynasty (founded 610) ends; despite being begged for help, Bulgarian Khan Tervel sends only 3K soldiers, who are allowed to return with safe conduct; meanwhile in Oct. after rejecting Bardanes' demand to support the Monothelite (one will) doctrine, Pope Constantine returns to Rome, and Bardanes deposes Patriarch Cyrus (Kyros) I in favor of fellow Monothelite John VI (712-15), summoning a council of Eastern bishops, which abolish the canon of the Sixth Ecumenical Council of 680-1, pissing-off the Roman Catholic Church, which refuses to recognize the emperor of his patriarch. Childebert III dies, and his son Dagobert III (699-715) becomes Merovingian king of all the Franks (Neustria, Austrasia, Burgundy) (until 715); as usual, the real power remains with mayor of the palace Pepin II of Herstal (until 714). The Northumbrians crush the Pict army, causing them to again submit to Northumbrian overlordship. Arab Umayyad Muslims under Khorasan gov. Qutaiba ibn Muslim begin the conquest of Transoxiania and the Sind, crossing the Oxus River, subduing Khwarezm, and capturing Bukhara (140 mi. W of Samarkand). 17-y.-o. Arab Syrian gen. Muhammad ibn Kasim (Qasim) al-Thaqafi (695-715) invades Sindh (in modern-day Pakistan) on the lower Indus River delta, defeating Hindu ruler Raja Dahir Sen (661-712), setting up a kingdom that rules until 1026, causing the Sindh province to be called Bab-e-Islam (Gateway to Islam), alhough the Muslims didn't extend their dominion for three centuries. The Nestorian patriarchate of Saliba-Zalkha is created (712-28), plus a metropolitanate of China? The Muslims invading Spain bring rice, saffron and sugar cane cultivation with them. As the Muslims take over Christian Spain, the Mozarabs, Iberian Christians who speak Arabic and adopt Arab culture are born; like Jews, Christians are "tolerated" (dhimmi), can keep their heads if they pay the heavy yearly jizyah tax (usually accepted with a slap and spit in the face?), and accept a second-rate position in society, never being allowed to be in a position in control of Muslims, and constantly pressured to convert; eventually they are not allowed to ring church bells or construct new churches, and are cut-off from the Christian world; as they are systematically legislated down to the level of slaves, some violate the don't-ask-don't-tell policy by publicly proclaiming their beliefs or even worse, blaspheming Big M in order to be martyred, such as Eulogius in 859, Pelagius in 925 (a boy ordered to submit to Islam and spread for the horny caliph?), and Argentea in 931. The first Muslim mosque is built in still-multireligious Bukhara in Uzbekistan, which goes on to become the 2nd holiest city in Islam after Mecca. Births: Chinese Tang emperor #7 (756-62) Tang Su Zong (Li Heng) (Li Sisheng) (Li Jun) (Li Yu) (d. 762) on Feb. 21; son of Tang Xuan Zong (685-762); father of Tang Dai Zong (726-79). Births: Arab Sunni Muslim jurist ("the Sheikh of Islam") ("Imam of the Abode of Emigration") ("Proof of the Commmunity") Malik ibn Anas (711-95) in Medina; of al-Asbahi Yemeni descent; founder of the Maliki School of Islamic Law in N Africa, Egypt, and Spain. Deaths: Byzantine Emperor (685-95, 705-11) Justinian II Rhinotmetus (Cut Nose) (b. 668) on Dec. 11 in Damatrys, Opsikion; killed by his own army.
712 - The Sumo Wrestling Year?
712 In Mar. Italian king Aripert II's old enemy Anspand (657-712) returns with a large army from Duke Theodo II of Bavaria (father of his wife Guntrud), headed by his son Theodebert, after which Venetia and Pavia turn against him and he flees, later drowning in the Ticino River as he tries to cross into Gaul by night with too many treasures; Ansprand becomes the last Bavarian king of Lombard Italy, then dies in June, leaving the throne to his sole surviving son Liutprand (-744) (whose older brother Sigipert was blinded, and his mother and sister by Aripert II, who spared him at the time because he appeared to be a harmless youth, the classic Godfather mistake?), who becomes king of the Lombard kingdom in Italy (until 744), which under his rule reaches its height, extending its rule over Emilia, Romagna, and the duchies of Benevento and Spoleto. After the Bulgarians under Terval plunder up to the gates of Constantinople, Emperor Philippicus changes his mind and pays them a tribute, then transfers an army from Opsikion to police the Balkans, allowing the Umayyads under Al-Walid I to make inroads in Asia Minor. Gen. Tariq's master Musa bin Nusayr lands in Spain, and the Moors go on to conquer Cordoba, Malaga, Granada, and the Visigoth capital of Toledo, being greeted as liberators by the oppressed masses, esp. the Jews, and executing many of the hated nobles; the Church of St. Acisclus successfully shelters the remaining Christian refugees, who are allowed to live with the usual restrictions; they also mop up Medina Sidonia, Seville, Merida and Saragossa, renaming the area Andalusia (Andaluz) (Arab. "land of the Vandals") (Vandalusia?); the S tip of Portugal is called Al-Gharb (Algarve) (Arab. "the west"), which is not reconquered until 1251; they also conquer Ebora (Evora) (Évora) (Gael. "of the yew trees") in C Portugal (until 1166); by 718 all of Spain (except Asturias in the Cantabrian Mts. in NW Spain) is conquered, and becomes a Muslim state with Tariq as gov., who builds a fortified castle along the NW slope of Gibraltar, which the Muslims hold until 1309; under the command of his master Musa ben Nusayr (a Berber recognized by Jews as of the tribe of Simeon) the Jews are freed, and a period of prosperity for them begins in Spain, along with Christians, who are treated generously and protected from excesses by the new govt., making it one happy haven in a dark Christian Europe?; too bad, just as they are getting ready to cross the Pyrenees and take the rest of Europe, the jealous caliph summons Musa and Tariq to Damascus, where Tariq dies? - the whole invasion was a Jewish conspiracy to wrest control of Europe from the papacy, but if so, too bad the caliph messed it up for them? The Arabs under Qutaiba ibn Moslim conquer Samarkand, and turn it into the cultural center of Islam, learning the art of making paper - beats pussy willows? The Arabs under Qutaib ibn Muslim cross the Jaxartes River. After consulting astrologers, Tang Rui Zong abdicates in favor of his son Li Longji, who becomes Tang Xuan Zong (685-762), Tang emperor #6 of China (until 756), going on to bring Buddhist China to its pinnacle. The Muslims in Spain begin creating the Duero Desert on the Christian (N) side of the Duero River, which becomes a permanent rabat (Muslim frontier fort); "To keep the [northern] Christians in their place it did not suffice to surround them with a zone of famine and destruction. It was necessary also to go and sow terror and massacre among them... If one bears in mind that this brigandage was almost continual, and that this fury of destruction and extermination was regarded as a work of piety—it was a holy war [jihad] against infidels - it is not surprising that whole regions of Spain should have been made irremediably sterile. This was one of the capital causes of the deforestation from which the Peninsula still suffers. With what savage satisfaction and in what pious accents do the Arab annalists tell us of those at least bi-annual raids [across the ribat]. A typical phrase for praising the devotion of a Caliph is this: 'He penetrated into Christian territory, where he wrought devastation, devoted himself to pillage, and took prisoners." ... At the same time as they were devastated, whole regions were depopulated... The prolonged presence of the Musulmans, therefore, was a calamity for this unhappy country of Spain. By their system of continual raids they kept her for centuries in a condition of brigandage and devastation." (Louis Bertrand) Nonfiction: Anon., Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters); the first written records of the Japanese religion of Shinto, and the first history of Japan is written by anon., becoming the first written mention of Sumo Wrestling, the kinky push-of-war based on the Shinto religion, done under a mini-Shinto temple; the topknot (oichomage) is modeled after the sacred gingko biloba blossom - well slap my mawashi? Births: Chinese poet Du (Tu) Fu (d. 779) in Siangyangfu in modern-day Hupeh province, or in Tuling in Shensi province; friend of poet Li Po. Deaths: Arab Shiite imam #4 'Ali ibn Husayn (b. 659) on Oct. 20 in Medina (poisoned by Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik); buried in Jannatul, Medina.
713 On Apr. 5 after holding out for two years before being defeated, Visigoth count Theudimer (Theodemir) (-743) of SE Spain signs a treaty with Muslim emir Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa, submitting to Muslim rule ("the patronage of Allah"), with the right to keep worshiping at their Catholic churches, while having to pay a per capita tribute of one dinar in cash, four jugs of wheat, barley, grape juice, and vinegar, two jugs of honey and oil, and half this for slaves; all enemies of the Muslim conquerors are to be handed over and not sheltered; the Muslims begin calling the region Tudmir; meanwhile the Moors begin the conquest of the Ebro River Valley, and take Zaragoza (ancient Caesaraugusta). On June 3 after the Opsikion troops revolt in Thrace in May, Byzantine emperor (since 711) Philippicus Bardanes (d. 713) is deposed and blinded (rather than de-nosed) during a drunken stupor in the Hippodrome, and replaced by his secy. Anastasius (Anastasios) II Artemius (d. 719), who becomes Roman Byzantine emperor #119 (until 715); he has Scholasticus, his new exarch of Ravenna (until 726) deliver a letter to the pope affirming his support for the Sixth Ecumenical Council of 680-1, which Bardanes had rejected. Nechtan Mac Derile of the Picts kills his brother Cinead in a power struggle, and imprisons his kingsman Talorgen Mac Drostan, ruler of Atholl N of Fortriu. The Arabs under Qutaiba ibn Muslim siege Kashgar in W China NE of Tibet (until 715). The Arabs under Muhammad ibn Kasim reach the port of Daybul on the Indus River. The Kingdom of Parhae (Bohai) is founded in C Manchuria from former Koguryo lands in modern-day Heilongjiang Province of China, bordering the Tang Chinese to the W and the Silla Koreans to the S, becoming the last Korean state in Manchuria (ends 926). Kaiyuan Za (Chao) Bao (Bulletin of the Court) begin pub. for Chinese imperial officals, becoming the world's first newspaper/mag., consisting of news hand-printed on silk; it ceases pub. in 734. Births: Chinese court painter (Emperor Ming Huang) Chang Hsuan (d. 742). Iraqi female mystic Sufi celibate-ascetic saint Rabia (Rabi'a) al-Adawiyya (d. 801) in Rabia; founder of the Sufi doctrine of Mahabba (divine love); credited with many miracles. Deaths: Chinese Buddhist monk Yijing (b. 635) in Chang'an. English monk St. Suitbert (b. ?) on Mar. 1 in Kaiserswerth (near Dusseldorf), Germnay.
714 "Night was as bright as day" in Ireland this year, according to the Annales Cambriae. On Dec. 16 Pepin II of Herstal (b. 635) dies at the wrong time after his legitimate 2nd son (by 1st wife Plectrude) Grimoald (Grimaud) II the Younger (mayor of the palace of Neustria since 695) is assassinated by orders of king (since 680) Radbod of Frisia (father of Grimoald's wife) while en route to visit the tomb of St. Lambert in Liege, and he names his illegitimate son (by Theodelinda or Theudesinda of Frisia) Theudoald (Theodald) (706-41) as his heir, with the kid's plucky grandmother Plectrude (Plectrudis) (652-718) (1st wife of Pepin II of Herstal) as regent, but doesn't have time to install him in power; seeing their chance, Grimoald's illegitimate (we try harder?) brother (by concubine Alphaida) Charles Martel "the Hammer" (686-741) seizes his lands and offices, while Dagobert III ignores Theudoald's claims and appoints Ragenfrid (Ragenfried) (ON "beautiful advice") (-731) as mayor of the palace of Neustria and Burgundy, after which he is proclaimed by the nobles (until 718). The Chinese under Tai-tsong (T'ai-tsong) defeat the Turks at the Battle of Lake Issiq-kul. The Moors capture the Spanish (earlier Roman) town of Arriaca (Caraca) in C Spain on the Henares River 35 mi. ENE of Madrid (until 1081), changing its name to Guadalajara (Arab. Wad-al-hajarah = "valley of the stones"); meanwhile Visigoth king Achila II dies in battle, and Ardo (Ardonus) (Ardabastus) (-720) becomes the definitely last Visigoth king of he-said-she-said Christian Spain (until 720), which has shrunk to the NE corner plus Narbonensis province on the far side of the Pyrenees, and soon, only Narbonensis. Visigoth nobleman Count Cassius (Casius) converts to Islam under the name Banu Qasi, and after swearing personal allegiance to caliph Al-Walid I in Damascus he is allowed to keep his county in the Upper Ebro River Valley (Logorno and Southern Navarra) as an autonomous hereditary principality due S of Pamplona and the Bay of Biscay. Architecture: The Benedictine Abbey of Reichenau on Lake Constance in Switzerland on a major N-S route between Germany and Italy is founded by Spanish Celtic Christian monk St. Pirmin (Pirminius) (700-53) after he flees Visigothic Spain ahead of the Moorish invaders, gaining patrons incl. Charles Martel and becoming known for its ideal climate and vegetable-herb gardens; in this cent. the write the Reichenau Glosses to familiarize Romance language-speaking monks with classical Latin. Births: Frankish mayor of Neustria (741-68) and king (747-68) (3.5' dwarf) Pepin III the Short (Le Bref) (the Younger) (d. 768) in Jupille (near Liege), Belgium; son of Charles Martel (686-741); brother of Carloman (706-54); father of Charlemagne (742-814). Abbasid caliph #2 (754-75) Abu Jafar Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Mansur (Almanzor) (d. 775); great-grandson of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, youngest uncle of Muhammad; black mother. Deaths: French mayor of the palace of Austrasia (680-714) Pepin II of Herstal (b. 635) on Dec. 16.
715 On Feb. 23 after expanding the caliphate into Spain, Transoxiana, Sind, and Byzantine lands, Umayyad caliph (since 705) Al-Walid I (b. 668) dies, and his younger brother Suleiman (Suleyman) (Arab. "peace") I bin Abd al-Malik (674-717) (son of Abd al-Malik) becomes Umayyad caliph (until 717); after getting confused as to whether the Hajj is supposed to be to Mecca's Qaabah or Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock, he goes to Mecca first, doesn't like it, then decides on Jerusalem, like his father?; seeing his chance, Byzantine emperor (since 713) Anastasius II sends an army led by Leo the Isaurian to invade Syria, ordering his fleet to anchor at Rhodes to destroy Muslim naval stores and block enemy approach; too bad, in May the Opsician troops mutiny, slay Adm. John, and proclaim low-born (really son of Tiberius III?) tax collector Theodosius (Theodosios) III (-754) (who tries to hide in the forest near Adramyttium until he is found and dragged out) as emperor; in Nov. they take Constantinople after a 6-mo. siege, causing Anastasius III to flee to Nicaea, submitting to the new emperor next year and becoming a monk in Thessalonica; Theodosius III becomes Byzantine emperor #120 (until Mar. 25, 717); on Aug. 11 iconophile (St.) Germanus I (634-740) becomes ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople (until 730), helping negotiate Anastasius III's surrender terms, then organizing a new council promoting Dyothelitism, the claim that Christ had two natures and two wills (2N2W). On Apr. 9 Pope (since 708) Constantine is killed in Rome by mutinous troops, and on May 19 Pope (#89) (St.) Gregory II (the Younger) (Dialogus) (-731) is elected, becoming the largest landowner in Italy; Duke Theodo II of Bavaria travels to Rome to confer with him, a first for a Bavarian duke. On Oct. 3 Japanese Yamato emperor (since 707) Gemmei (b. 661) abdicates in favor of her spinster daughter Gensho (683-748), who becomes the 6th woman to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne as Japanese Yamato emperor #44 (until Mar. 3, 724), ruling for her 14-y.-o. nephew crown prince Obito (future emperor Shomu), son of her deceased younger brother Mommu. Odo (Eudes) (Otto) the Great (-735) becomes duke of Aquitaine, which incl. all of SW Gaul from the Loire River S to the Pyrenees Mts. Dagobert III imprisons Charles Martel, but he breaks out and is proclaimed mayor of the palace of Austrasia by the nobles after they decide an old woman and teenie king ain't worth the trouble; meanwhile Dagobert III saves them the trouble and dies, and Chilperic II (672-721), son of Childeric II (d. 675) (birth name Daniel, which he now changes) is proclaimed king by the people of Neustria without the support of the rest of the Frankish people, and starts a civil war to get his daddy's title back. About this time Cathal mac Finguine (-742) of the Eoganacht Glendamnacht becomes king of Munster based in Cashel (until 742), becoming high king of Ireland, the most powerful Irish king of the first half of the 8th cent., and strongest from Munster before Brian Boru. After Chinese emperor Tang Xuan Zong refuses to help, Kashgar is sacked by the Arabs, becoming their first Chinese V; an alliance is formed between Tibet and the Arab world. Art: The earliest Islamic paintings to survive to modern times are made about this time. Architecture: The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem (begun 709) is finished. The Great Mosque of Damascus (begun in 705) is finished.
716 Cenred dies, and his exiled cousin Aethelbald (Ethelbald) (-757) returns and becomes king of Mercia for the next 41 years (until 757), making Mercia the #1 Anglo-Saxon kingdom like it was in the 7th cent. under Penda and Wulfhere. King Osred of Northumbria is slain in battle, and his son Cenred (Coenred) (d. 718) succeeds. Chilperic II and Ragenfrid lead an army in Austrasia to take his title of king of all the Franks 'n' Beans, fighting deep into the Arnulfing heartland of the Maas and Ardennes and allying with Dagobert's old enemy Duke Radbod of Frisia, then defeating Charles Martel's outnumbered army near Cologne, where he was sieging Plectrude and Theudoald, becoming the only D of his heroic life, causing him to retreat to the Eifel Mts. to gather and train a better army; Plectrude then surrenders Theudoald to Chilperic II, along with his claims and most of the Austrasian treasury, and acknowledges him as king; too bad, while returning, Chilperic II is ambushed and defeated by Charles Martel at the Battle of Ambleve (Amblčve) near Amel (Malmedy), where he breaks all the rules, attacking in midday with a smaller force, becoming the first use of the Eastern-style fake retreat in W Europe; Theudoald is captured and imprisoned by his uncle Charles Martel until the latter's death, while Plectrude stays holed-up in Cologne - the first challenge starts now? Theodo II (b. 625) dies, and his Agilolfing sons split Bavaria up, with Tassilo II as duke of Passau (716-9), Theudbert (Theodbert) (685-719) as duke of Salzburg (702-19), Theobald of Bavaria (-719) as duke of other parts of Bavaria (711-9), and Grimoald (Grimwald) (-725) as duke of Freising (716-25), uniting Bavaria under his rule in 719 (until 725); Lombard king Liutprand sees his chance to forget how he got his throne and begins taking Bavarian castles on the Adige River. Iona accepts the Roman Easter with the encouragement of English king Eghbert. The Muslims conquer Lisbon (built on seven hills like Rome) (until 1147) and Porto (Oporto) in NW Portugal (until 997), giving them control of the entire Spanish Peninsula, leaving Narbonensis beyond the Pyrenees as the last Gothic province. Duke Lantfrid issues the Lex Alemannorum, which requires serfs to pay half of their labor or products to their proprietor, with ecclesiastical serfs given a privileged position, only one-quarter; it also decrees that all bonded peasants must pay tribute to their lords in beer - I want to live in this century? Venerable Bede (673-735), Verse Life of St. Cuthbert. Deaths: Bavarian duke (680-716) Theodo II (b. 625) on Dec. 11. Muslim gen. (gov. of North Africa) Musa ibn Nusayr (b. 640). Chinese painter Li Ssu-Hsun (b. 651). Chinese Tang emperor #5 (684-90, 710-12) Rui Zong (b. 662) on July 13.
717 On Mar. 25 emperor (since 715) Theodosius III is removed from the Byzantine throne by Commagene-born Leo III the Isaurian (Isaurican) (Syrian) (Konon) (685-741), who becomes Roman Byzantine emperor #121 (until June 18, 741), founding the iconoclastic Isaurian (Isurian) (Isaurican) (Syrian) Dynasty (ends 867), regenerating the empire; just in time too, because the Second Arab Muslim Siege of Constantinople begins in Aug. (until Aug. 15, 718). In Mar. Charles Martel defeats Chilperic II and Ragenfrid, allied with Duke Odo the Great of Aquitaine in Vincy (near Cambrai), and chases them back to Paris, then returns to Cologne to kill pesky Plectrude, and proclaims his own puppet Chlotaire (Clothar) IV (-719) as king of Austrasia. On Oct. 3 Suleyman I (b. 674) dies, and Omar (Umar) II (d. 720) becomes Umayyad caliph, ending military expansion and granting tax exemption to all believers in the Islamic faith, incl. the non-Arab mawali, although future rulers revoke it; meanwhile he imposes humiliating restrictions on non-Muslims, causing mass conversions and homogenizing the Umayyad pop. into Muslim and Arabic-speaking. At the instigation of the Northumbrian Trinitarian clergy, King Nechtan Mac Derile expels the Irish Arian clergy (linked to Iona) from Pictland. Paoluccio Anafesto dies, and Marcello Tegalliano (-726) becomes doge #2 of Venice (until 726). The court of Powys in Wales is moved to Mathrafal Castle in the Vyrnwy River Valley. Architecture: Taicho Daishi builds Hoshi Ryokan, an inn near a hot water spring in the village of Awazu, Komatsu, Japan, becoming the oldest hotel in the world - oh yeah, oh yeaaah? Births: Frankish Merovingian king (last) (743-51) Childeric III (d. 754). Deaths: English bishop (of Worcester) St. Ecgwine (b. ?).
718 On Aug. 15 the 13-mo. Arab siege of Constantinople ends when their fleet is destroyed by the Byzantines under Emperor Leo III, ending serious Arab attacks for the next two cents.; too bad, the secret formula for Greek Fire (invented in 673) is lost? King (since 716) Cenred dies, and his brother Osric (-729) becomes king of Northumbria (until May 9, 729), going on to adopt Cenred's brother Ceolwulf as his heir. Charles Martel kicks Chilperic II's butt again at Soissons, causing raggedy-ass Ragenfrid and Odo the Great to flee to Angers. English Benedictine monk Winfrith (Wynfrith) (Winfrid) (Wynfryd), later known as St. Boniface (673-755) who started as a missionary in the Netherlands, and became abbot of the monastery in Nursling, Hampshire in 717 is authorized by Pope Gregory III to preach Christianity to all the tribes of Germany (until 739), causing him to begin missionary work on the E frontiers of the Frankish kingdom among the Germans, followed by Thuringia, Bavaria, Friesland, Hesse, and Saxony, becoming the Apostle of Germany and laboring with the support of the pope (and later Charles Martel) to set up a centralized episcopal church under Carolingian supervision; too bad, he drains the English church of personnel in the Mission: Impossible of winning "the hearts of the heathen Saxons to the Catholic Faith", with the sales pitch "We are of one blood and one bone with you"; Rome-born Gregory II, who speaks a descendant of Vulgar Latin can barely understand Boniface's classical Latin based on Cicero that he learned in an English monastery founded by Irish monks; the Abbey of St. Boniface is founded at the confluence of the Hamel and Weser Rivers in Lower Saxony, Germany, growing into the town of Hamelin (Hameln) (of Piped Piper fame); in 1602 the Rattenfangerhaus (Ger. "rat-catcher's house") is constructed there, complete with murals of you know what; in 1835 Ludwig I of Bavaria founds another Abbey of St. Boniface in Munich, and the original abbey in Hameln is restored in 1870-5. The Roman Catholic kingdom of Asturias (Asturia) in NW Spain S of the Bay of Biscay with capital at Cangas de Onis is founded in the inaccessible Pyrenees by Visigoths fleeing the Moors, led by former royal bodyguard (of Roderic) Pelayo (Pelagius) (681-737) (son of Count Favila of Cantabria), throwing the Moors back when they reach it next year; "A vital spark was still alive. Some invincible fugitives preferred a life of poverty and freedom in the Asturian valleys; the hardy mountaineers repulsed the slaves of the caliph." - Edward Gibbon. The Moors capture Toulouse. Tervel dies, and nobody knows who rules Bulgaria until 724? The original boy named Sue? Leo III's son Constantine V shits while being baptised, earning him the name Copronymus (name of shit) - may the best man win? Architecture: Monte Cassino Abbey (sacked in 584) is rebuilt by Abbot St. Petronax (Petronace) (670-747) of Brescia under commission of Pope Gregory II; its monks incl. Charles Martel's son Carloman and Paul the Deacon, historian of the Lombards. Births: Roman Byzantine emperor #122 (741-75) Constantine V Copronymus (Gr. "name of shit" (d. 775) in July in Constantinople; son of Leo III the Isaurian and Maria. Japanese Yamato emperor #46 (749-58) and #48 (764-70) Koken/Shotoku (Abe) (d. 770); daughter of Shomu (701-56); 2nd cousin of Junnin (733-65). Arab scholar-poet Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (d. 786) in Oman. Deaths: Frankish Roman Catholic bishop Rupert of Salzburg (b. 660) on Mar. 27 (Easter Sun.) in Salzburg, Austria.
719 On June 1 former Byzantine emperor (713-15) Anastasius II is beheaded. Mu (-737) becomes king #2 of Parhae, expanding the kingdom into NE Manchuria, with capital at Sanggyong, which is patterned after Chang'an, sending students to Tang China to take civil service exams. After Charles Martel takes Paris and the Loire Valley, Duke Odo the Great of Aquitaine gives up Chilperic II, who lucks out when Clotaire IV dies and he finally achieves his dreams of being raised on the royal shield, becoming Merovingian king of all the Franks (until 721), but under condition of surrendering control to Martel; meanwhile Muslims begin occupying S France, and it's time to get real.
720 In Oct. a tidal wave hits Ireland. Theoderic (Theuderic) (Thierry) IV (-783), son of Dagobert III kicks Chilperic II's butt, and Ragenfrid gives himself up, after which he is deprived of his office of mayor of Neustria and left only with his lands in Anjou - I know a good barber and personal trainer? On Feb. 4 Omar II dies, and Yezid (Yazid) II (-724) becomes caliph of the Muslim Umayyad Empire (until Jan. 26, 724). Yazid ibn al-Muhallab (b. 672) revolts in Iraq, and is KIA; about this time Christian Syrian Serene (Sherini) (Sheria) (Serenius) (Saura) (Severus) (Zonoria) (-723) begins preaching in Mardin, claiming to be the Messiah, causing Jews from Babylonia and Spain to join his campaign to recapture Palestine from the Muslims; too bad, he is taken POW, exposed as a charlatan by Caliph Yezid II, and executed. The Muslims settle in Sardinia. The Moors cross the Pyrenees in SE Spain and capture Septimania (Narbonensis), which becomes an autonomous principality with capital at Narbonne (until 759), owing allegiance only to the emir of Cordoba; Ardo, last Visigoth king of Spain goes down fighting; from that base the Muzzies begin striking N as far as Lyon. Idwal Iwrch (b. 650) dies, and his son (by Angharad of Brittany) Rhodri Molwynog (Bald and Gray) ap Idwal (690-754) becomes king of Gwynedd in Wales (until 754). St. Andreas becomes archbishop of Crete. In this decade Selbach mac Ferchair (-730) of the Loairn becomes a king of the fractured Dalriada Scots, while the Picts take advantage of the anarchy to horn in. Sports: The first lit. reference to chess in Arabic. Architecture: King Ina rebuilds Glastonbury Abbey. Plays: In this decade Buddhist civilization in China reaches its summit; the Tchhouen-Khi Period of Heroic Chinese Drama begins. Nonfiction: Venerable Bede (673-735), Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow. Prince Toneri (676-735) and O no Yasumaro (-723), Nihon Shoki (Nihongi); 2nd chronology of Japanese history after the less elaborate "Kojiki". Births: Italian Lombard Benedictine monk and first important medieval historian Paul the Deacon (Paulus Diaconus) (Warnefred) (Cassinensis) (d. 799) in Friuli; of the noble Leupichis Lombard family. Deaths: French Roman Catholic St. Odile of Alsace (b. 662) in Mount St. Odile.
721 By this year the domains of Umayyad caliph Walid I extend from the Pyrenees to China. On June 9 the Muslim invasion of France is checked at the First Battle of Toulouse by a mixed force of Aquitanians under Duke Odo the Great and Franks under Neustrian king Chilperic II; too bad, Charles Martel sees the dark light and copies the Allah Akbar Muslims by introducing religious intolerance and beginning to cruelly oppress pagans who won't convert? (no more mister nice guy missionary b.s., either submit to the God of Love and take your bath or we'll stuff your frank in your mouth and light it?); he goes on to form the first prof. army in Europe since the Roman Empire, paying for it by confiscating the incomes of religious orders; meanwhile Chilperic II, king of Neustria dies, and his son Childeric III can't succeed him because he's still in diapies, allowing Theodoric IV to gain his daddy's title of Merovingian king of all the Franks (until 737), becoming another Charles Martel puppet. In Oct. after a hot summer in Britain, an earthquake hits Ireland. English Benedictine monk (St.) Willibald (700-87), his father King Richard (of Wessex?) (-722), and his sister (St.) Winebald (700-87) start on a pilgrimage to Rome; too bad, daddy dies in Lucca, Italy of malaria, the rest getting it too but proving young enough to throw it off. Nonfiction: Venerable Bede (673-735), Prose Life of St. Cuthbert. Births: Arab Muslim Abbasid founder Abu al-Abbas (Abul Abbas) al-Saffah (Blood-Shedder) (Slaughterer) (d. 754); son of Muhammad bin Ali, great-grandson of Abbas (566-652), paternal uncle of Muhammad, tracing back to Muhammad's great-grandfather Hashim, founder of the Banu Hashim; brother of Ibrahim (-748). Arab Muslim (al)chemist-physician ("Father of Arab Chemistry") Abu Musa Jabir (Geber) (Gebir) ibn Hayyan (d. 815) in Tus; son of a druggist. Deaths: Japanese Yamato emperor #43 (707-15) Gemmei (b. 661) on Dec. 29 in Nara. Bulgarian khan #2 (700-21) Tervel (b. 675).
722 In the summer the Battle of Kowabunga, er, Battle of Covadonga sees 300 Christian soldiers of Asturias under Pelayo score their first V in Spain against the Moors since the 711 invasion after the Muslims who got their butts kicked last year in France under Anbasa ibn Suhaym al-Kalbi make the mistake of trying to save their reps by assisting N Iberian gov. (since 720) Munuza and fellow Berber Al-Kama in taking on the pesky rebel Christian stronghold of Asturias called Covadonga (protected by a narrow valley), and use traitor Bishop Oppas of Seville (son of Egica) to try and talk them into surrendering, which just pisses them off, after which the Muslims try a frontal attack and are ambushed by some of Pelayo's men hidden in a cave, after which they try to leave Asturias and are greeted by the pissed-off Christian pop., who emerge from their villages with hidden weapons and kill hundreds of Muslims; Munuza (who kidnapped and married Pelayo's sister Ormesinda, who poisoned herself on her wedding day, pissing Pelayo off more) flees, and is killed personally by Pelayo in Proaza, Trubia or La Felguera, after which the stragglers report back that Pelayo only has "thirty infidels left, what can they do", but never try attacking them again?; this is V later taken to mark the start of the Christian Reconquista (Christian reconquest of Spain), according to 12th cent. Christian propagandists; one of the first reconquered cities is the seaport of Gijon (Gijón) (ancient Roman town of Gigia or Gijia) on the Bay of Biscay (20 mi. NE of Oviedo). Kashgar sends 4K troops to help the Chinese expel the Tibetans out of Little Bolu (Gilgit) in N Pakistan. The Second Arab-Khazar War begins (ends 737), characterized by fanatical skirmishes where each side fights to the death, with the Muslims uttering the soundbyte "To the Garden, Muslims, not the Fire." Powys successfully campaigns against the English again. Pope Gregory II makes St. Boniface a bishop. Leo III orders forced baptism of all Jews and Montanists in his empire. Births: Spanish king of Austrias #4 (757-68) Fruela (Froila) I (the Cruel) (d. 768); eldest son of Alfonso I (693-757); maternal grandson of Pelayo.
723 Eugenius VI dies, and Murdachus (-748) becomes king of the Dalriada Scots (until 748). St. Boniface is called to Rome and made a bishop, then furnished by the pope with letters to Charles Martel and all princes and bishops, requesting their aid in his missionary work. Under the initiative of Prince Nagaya, Jpanes empress Jito issues the Act of Possession in Three Generations, limiting inheritance of a field to guess how many generations, after which it passes to the govt. (repealed in 743?). St. Boniface fells the pagan Job Oak Tree near Geismar. To quell rumors that he is a closet Jew, Leo III the Isaurian issues a decree giving Jews a choice between Christian conversion and banishment, causing some to burn themselves to death in their synagogues. The city of Katmandu (Kathmandu) ("Wooden Temple") in C Nepal is founded in a valley in the Himalayas (alt. 4.3K ft.) (modern pop. 200K).
724 On Mar. 3 Shomu (701-56) becomes Japanese Yamato emperor #45 (until Aug. 19, 749), becoming the first emperor to take a consort not born in the imperial household, a Fujiwara woman. Yezid II dies, and his brother Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (691-743) becomes Umayyad caliph #@10 (until Feb. 6, 743). Nimes, France surrenders to the Muslim gov. of Spain Anbasa bin Suhaym al-Kalbi (until 752). Clann Cholmain takes overlordship of the Ui Neill in Ireland. King Nechtan Mac Derile of the Picts is forced to abdicate and enter a monastery by Drest, head of a rival clan. Ragenfrid stages a revolt in Neustria, but is easily defeated, and is forced to give his sons as hostages to keep him nice until he croaks in 731. St. Boniface returns to Hesse and preaches. Christian physicians allegedly visit Japan (until 748) and convert the empress. Architecture: Katholikos Yovhan builds Odzun Church in Armenia. Future caliph al-Walid II builds the Qusayr Amra desert retreat (finished in 743); it is filled with frescoes of naked women along with ones of rulers of Persia, Byzantium, Spain, Ethiopia, China, and C Asia paying obesisance to his family.
725 On Apr. 23 king (since 692) Wihtred (b. 670) dies, and leaves the kingdom of Kent to his sons Aethelberht II (-762), Eadberht I (-748), and Aelfric. On Nov. 11 English Benedictine monk Willibald of Eichstatt in Bavaria reaches Jerusalem, becoming the first Englishman in the Holy Land, then later is arrested in Emessa as a Christian spy by the Muslims, and imprisoned in Constantinople; he visits a church in Bethsaida, which he claims "was built over the house of Peter and Andrew"; in 2017 archeologist Steven Notley discovers a real church buried there. Charles Martel conquers the region of Bavaria while the Arabs ravage S France; Grimoald is killed, and his brother Theudberg's son Hugbert (-737) becomes duke of Bavaria (until 737). Sevar (-740) becomes khan of the First Bulgarian Empire (until 740) (758?), which enjoys peace with the busy Byzantines. St. Boniface defaces and fells the Donar Oak Tree near Fritzlar, Hesse to symbolize the destruction of moldy old German heathen beliefs - wait for rock and roll to bring them back? The island city of Mont-St.-Michel breaks off from mainland France during an earthquake. Architecture: The irrigation system and fort of Casa Grande in Ariz. are built. Inventions: About this time I'Hsing and Liang Ling-tsan of China invent the first mechanical clock. Nonfiction: Venerable Bede (673-735), De Temporum Ratione (The Reckoning of Time); describes the Julian and Anglo-Saxon calendars, attempting to reconcile astronomy with the Bible, using the A.D./B.C. dating method of Dionysius Exiguus (525). Music: Anon., Chinese Emperor Ming Huang's Court Orchestra; features flutes, guitars, bells, gongs, and drums, no harmony or polyphony, and a 5-note scale without semitones. Deaths: English (Kent) king Wihtred of Kent (b. 670).
726 after icons become widespread in Byzantine Christianity, Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian and his son Constantine V issue an edict forbidding veneration of sacred images (icons) (based on Exodus 20:3-5), followed by another ordering their destruction, pissing off the pop. and starting the Iconoclasm (Gr. "image breaking") War (ends 787); pressure from the Muslim pop. makes them do it?; meanwhile Leo III attempts to crack down on Italy and make it obey him rather than the pope as secular prince, levying heavy taxes on the great landowners, which really gets to Pope Gregory II, biggest landowner of all; meanwhile Liutprand of the Lombards attempts rapprochement with the papacy, with brief success. King Ina of Wessex resigns his crown, goes to Rome, founds a school, and dies; meanwhile his brother-in-law Aethelheard (Ethelheard) (-740) succeeds him as king #12 of Wessex. Marcello Tegalliano dies, and Orso Ipato (-737) becomes doge #3 of Venice (until 737). King Ina of Wessex begins Peter's Pence, a tax to support a school in Rome; in modern times the Vatican has a Peter's Pence link on the Vatican Web Site. Nechtan Mac Derile attempts to regain the throne from clan rival Deran, and is defeated and captured, then Alpin, a third rival defeats and deposes Deran - Deran Deran? Deaths: English saint (St.) Richard the Pilgrim (of Wessex) (of Swabia) (the Saxon) (b. ?) in Lucca, Italy (malaria); buried in the Church of San Frediano; feast day: Feb. 7.
727 Gaelic-speaking (of Dalriada background) Angus Angus (Oengus) (Unuist) (Gael. "only choice" Mac Fergus (Fergusa) (Uurguist) (-761), king of Fortriu (in Strathearn near Perth) defeats Drest in three battles. Births: Chinese Tang emperor #8 (762-79) Tang Dai Zong (Li Chu) (Li Yu) (d. 779); son of Tang Su Zong (711-62); father of Tang De Zong (-805). Deaths: French Christian bishop (St.) Hubert of Liege (b. 638) (patron saint of hunters) on May 30. English princess-abbess St. Frithuswith (b. 650) on Oct. 19 in Binsey, Oxford; declared patron saint of Oxford U. in 1440 by the archbishop of Canterbury.
728 An Arab attempt to forcibly convert Transoxiana to Islam causes a gen. revolt. Angus Mac Fergus defeats Alpin, causing Nechtan Mac Derile to attack and defeat Alpin too and resume kingship of the Picts. Italian Lombard king Liutprand signs the Donation of Sutri with Pope Gregory II, giving the fortified city plus some hill towns (Vetralla, etc.) in Latium "as a gift to the blessed apostles Peter and Paul", becoming the first extension of papal territory behind the confines of the original duchy of Rome, and the beginning of the Papal States (ends 1870). Carcassonne (Carcaso) in S France on the Aude River (57 mi. SE of Toulouse), surrounded by walls built by the Visigoths is taken by the Saracens. Births: Arab Muslim religious scholar Abu Obaida (Ubaida) (Ubayda) (d. 825) in Basra; of Jewish descent; student of Abu Amr ibn al-Ala al-Basri (-770). Deaths: Arab Sufi preader Hasan al-Basri (b. 642) on Oct. 15 in Basra. Arab Muslim religious scholar Wasil ibn Ata (b. ?); founder of the Mu'tazila middle-of-the-road school of theology.
729 Two comets are recorded in Ireland. On May 9 Osric is slain, and his adopted son (Cenred's brother) (St.) Ceowulf (Ceolwulf) (-766) becomes king of Northumbria (until 737); too bad, he's too bookish and pious, and comets are seet at Osric's death, causing his subjects to seize him and put him in a monastery next year, but he escapes and returns to power. The seaport of Nice (a member of the Genoese League) repels a Saracen invasion. Angus Mac Fergus defeats Nechtan Mac Derile and drives him back to the monastery permanently (until 732), then defeats and slays Drest, becoming sole king of the Picts and beginning the Golden Age of the Picts, first crushing all rivals then attempting to extend the Pictish borders toward Dalriada. The Arabs claim that the ruler of the Khazars is a woman named Parsbit (Prisbit) (Barsbek).
730 In this decade hops are first cultivated in Germany in the Hallertau region. On Feb. 8 (Wed.) an earthquake is recorded in Ireland. The Alemanni dukedom of Germany is absorbed by the Frankish Empire. After iconophile patriarch of Constantinople (since 715) (St.) Germanus (634-740) writes a letter appealing to him, Pope Gregory II convokes a synod which condemns iconoclasm as heretical and excommunicates all iconoclasts incl. Byzantine emperor Leo III; too bad, the messengers carrying the papal letter are arrested in Sicily, and the letter never makes it to Constantinople; Leo III keeps the heat on, sending troops on search-and-destroy missions for sacred images hidden in lofts and wells and under beds, and removing the Roman province of Illyria (which later became Bulgaria) and S Italy (Sicily and Calabria) from papal jurisdiction, which the pope doesn't much object to, later proving to be a mistake when Bulgaria goes Greek Orthodox; Leo III deposes Germanus, and appoints fellow iconoclast Anastasios as ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople (until 754). Bihar becomes khagan of the Khazars, and in Dec. a Khazar force under gen. Tar'mach and prince Barjik (-731) invades the Umayyad provinces of Armenia and Ajerbaijan and defeats the Arabs at the Battle of Marj Ardebil; too bad, they make the mistake of desecrating the head of Arab cmdr. Al-Djarrah al-Hakami by mounting it on is throne, causing them to fanatically stiffen their resistance around Mosul. After a period of anarchy, Yashovarman (Yasovarman) becomes king of Kannauj (Kanyakubja), going on to invade Gauda (Bengal) and kill the king; he is succeeded until the 820s by weak Ayudha kings Vijrayudha, Indrayudha, and Chakrayudha, sparking the Tripartite Struggle in N India between the Pala Empire in the NE, the Gurjara-Pratihara Empire in the NW, and the Rashtrakuta Empire in the SW (ends 805). Nagabhata I (-756) of Mandor conquers Malwa as far as Gallor and the port of Bharuch in Gujarat, founding the Gurjara-Pratihara Dynasty in India (ends 1036), with capital in Avanti (Malava) in Malwa in modern-day Madhya Pradesh, later Uljain, going on the fight off the Arabs of Sind, defeating them in battle in 738 before being defeated by Rashtrakuta king Dantidurga; the dynasty goes on to become the main obstacle to Muslim takeover of India E of the Indus River, which takes until 1192. Tibet and China agree to a peace treaty. The Frankish city of Arles is plundered by the Saracens. Damascus-born Christian theologian St. John of Damascus (John Damascene) (676-754), who wrote in defense of icons in 727 retires as a financial officer of the Muslim caliph of Damascus to the monastery of St. Sabas near Jerusalem, where he is ordained a priest and writes theological tomes, preaching throughout Syria late in life against iconoclasts, and gaining the name Chrysorrhoas ("stream of gold") for his oratories - is that like holy diarrhea? Nonfiction: In this decade Felix writes Life of St. Gutlac (Vita Sancti Gutlaci Auctore Felice). Births: Italian patriarch of Aquileia (787-802) (St.) Paulinus II (d. 802); born to a Roman family; feast day: Jan. 11. Deaths: Arab Muslim poet Al-Farazdaq (b. 641); leaves Nakdaid of Jarir and al-Farazdaq (his feud with rival Jarir of the Bani Kulaib tribe), Panegyrics.
731 On Feb. 11 Pope (since 715) Gregory II dies, and on Mar. 18 Pope (#90) (St.) Gregory III (-741) is elected, excommunicating all iconoclasts, confirming the split with the Byzantine Church, and opening the doors to the papal pipe dream of a revivified Western Empire with pope slash emperors at the helm. The Arabs stop the Khazars at the Battle of Mosul, causing them to abandon their invasion and withdraw N to the Caucasus. An Arab army invades the territory of the Chalukyas in W-C India, and is repulsed. Nonfiction: Venerable Bede completes his Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum), dedicated to "the most glorious King Ceowulph", focusing on the conflict between Roman and Celtic Christianity, continuing to use the A.D./B.C. dating method, which starts gaining acceptance in W Europe - proper etiquette says A.D. 1 and 1 B.C., not 1 A.D. or B.C. 1? Births: Arab Umayyad emir of Cordoba #1 (755-88) Abd ar-Rahman (Abdur Rahman) I (the Immigrant) (the Falcon of Andalus) (d. 788). Deaths: French mayor of Neustria (715-8) Ragenfrid (b. ?); Charles Martel's last rival bites the dust.
732 After invading France in the spring, advancing rapidly down the Garonne River Valley, and sieging and burning Bordeaux, then defeating Duke Odo the Great of Aquitaine and destroying the basilica of St. Hilary at Poitiers, then spreading out through Orleans, Auxerre, and Sens until their chief recalls them to concentrate on the rich abbey of St. Martin of Tours, tall, agile, 46-y.-o. French hero (mayor of the palace) Charles Martel "the Hammer" (686-741) (who had not intervened because the kingdom of Aquitaine was not his problemo?) stops 90K lightly clad (no winter clothing) Umayyad troops, which Martel makes use of by delaying battle for a week, and whose cavalry have the technological breakthrough of the stirrup, led by Yemenite emir (gov.-gen. of al-Andalus) Abdul Rahman (Abd al-Rahman) (ar-Rahman) ibn Abdullah al-Ghafiqi (-732) on Oct. 10 at the Battle of Poitiers (Tours) (Battle of the Palace of the Martyrs) between Poitiers and Tours, and kills Rahman and captures their plunder, killing vast numbers of Saracens while losing only 1.5K Franks, breaking their spirit and causing them to retreat permanently behind the Pyrenees by 759, becoming the start of the Spanish March (Marca Hispanica), the military buffer beyond the province of Septimania (founded in 795 by Charlemagne) that acts as a defensive barrier between the Frankish Carolinian Empire (Carolingian Septimania, Duchy of Gascony, Duchy of Aquitaine) and the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus; the Muslim cavalry have the ' technological breakthrough of the stirrup, while the Franks are mainly on foot, except for the Merovingian knights; on the Christian side this is one of the greatest battles short of Armageddon itself, but in Islamic accounts it is described only as a skirmish, and the troops are described as having lapsed from the faith and become greedy, falling into looting and rioting, giving Martel the chance to reform and counterattack, while Odo the Great gets them in a squeeze from the rear?; the Berber revolt in N Africa keeps them from sending another force?; Martel gains the nickname "the Hammer" for his big V - TiVo, TiVo, TiVo? The Umayyads threaten to invade the territory of the Khazars, causing Khagan Bihar to strike an alliance with the Byzantines, and Bihar's daughter princess Tzitzak (718-50) is baptized as Irene, and marries Leo III's son Constantine V, her Tzitzakion Wedding Gown starting a fashion craze for men; they go on to have son Leo IV the Khazar 18 years later. Pope Gregory III appoints St. Boniface as metropolitan of all Germany beyond the Rhine, with power to establish bishoprics as he sees fit. Angus Mac Fergus sends his son Talorgen to fight the Dalriada Scots, and he is badly defeated. Retired king Nechtan Mac Derile of the Picts dies peacefully in bed in a monastery; the bones of St. Andrew are brought to Pictland (Caledonia) and deposited at the town of St. Andrew's, which becomes the capital of the Picts. Northumbrian king Ceowulf appoints his cousin (brother of future king Eadbert) Egbert (-766), to succeed Wilfrid II as bishop of Northumbria, and in 735 he becomes archbishop #2 of York, the first since Paulinus a cent. earlier, presiding over ecclesiastical affairs with bishops Wilfrid, Ethelwald, Acca and Pecthelm.
733 A solar and lunar eclipse are recorded in Britain. Mercia conquers Wessex, establishing supremacy over all England S of the Humber River for the rest of the cent. - mercy, that's offal? Eochaid III dies, and his son Eochaid IV (the Venomous) (d. 737) becomes king of the Dalriada Scots. The Muslims' butts kicked in France, Charles Martel continues his daddy's conquest of the pesky pagan Frisians in modern-day Holland, along with five wars against the pesky pagan Saxons, and also works to absorb Burgundy and Alemannia - I got a full workload for my hammer? Silla and the Tang Chinese ally against Parhae, which responds by seeking ties with Japan and Tujue (N of Parhae). Tang Xuan Zong divides China into 15 sections. Births: Japanese Yamato emperor #47 (764-70) Junnin (Oi) (d. 765); 7th son of Prince Toneri (676-735), son of Temmu (631-86). Chinese writer Lu Yu (Hongjian) (d. 804) in Tianmen, Hubei; student of Zou Fuzi and Cui Goufu. Deaths: Arab Shiite imam #5 Muhammad al-Baqir (b. 676) in Medina; buried in Jannatul Baqi, Medina.
734 The relics of Peter, Paul and Patrick are taken on a circuit of Ireland to establish Armagh's primacy. "The Moon was as if it were suffused with blood", according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Architecture: Sugimoto-dera Temple in Kamakura, Japan is founded. Art: The Hachibushu dry lacquer statues in Nara, Japan are constructed.
735 Charles Martel of the Franks conquers the region of Burgundy (Burgoyne), and introduces living chess. Egbert is appointed archbishop of the new Archbishopric of York, which has jurisdiction N of the Humber River, and begins a rivalry with the Archbishopric of Canterbury. Nonfiction: Venerable Bede (673-735), Death Song. Births: English educator-scholar-theologian (adviser in Charlemagne's court) Alcuin (Ealhwine) (Alhwin) (Alchoin) (Flaccus Albinus) (d. 804) in Yorkshire; educated at the cathedral school of York; carries Bede's Northumbrian learning to the court of Charlemagne. Deaths: Chinese painter Li Chao-tao (b. 670). English Benedictine monk-scholar Venerable Bede (b. 673) on May 26 in Jarrow, Northumbria; made doctor of the Church in 1899 by Pope Leo XIII (only native of Great Britain); leaves 45 vols. of writings, incl. 25 Commentaries on Scripture, and English Trans. of the Gospel of John (finished on his deathbed); "The Irish, that harmless nation which has always been so friendly to the English"; "If a modern historian were to show his works to the Venerable Bede, the man might well say, well and good, but I want to know how it was that God ordained the conversion of the British Isles." (Charles W. Cole)
736 Angus Mac Fergus takes advantage of internal dissension in Dalriada to invade, capturing and sacking the citadel of Dunadd, capturing two of King Selbach's sons and razing the land. Hugbert dies, and Odilo (Oatilo) (Uatilo) (-748), son of Gotfried of Allemania becomes duke of Bavaria (until 748), going on to have Abbot Eberswind edit the Lex Baiuvariorum, the first ancient Germanic law collection of the Bavarians (pub. in 741-3), supplementing it himself in 748; Title III stipulates that the Agilofings are the noble family from which the rulers of Bavaria are to be chosen, not the Anniona, Fagana, Hahilinga, Huso, or Trozza (Drozza). The Benedictine Abbey of Hersfeld in Hesse is founded by St. Sturm (Sturmi) (Sturmius) (705-79), an Austrian-born disciple of St. Boniface. Abot Colman mac Murchon of Moville dies, leaving a Latin Hymn to St. Michael.
737 After rebelling from Constantinople and rejecting iconoclasm, Orso Ipato is captured and executed, and the office of doge of Venice is replaced by a magister militium controlled by the Byzantine exarch (until 742). Theuderic IV dies, and Charles Martel keeps the Merovingian Frankish throne vacant for seven years (until 743). The Arabs led by Armenian gov. (since 731) Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik (son of caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwin) and Marwan ibn Muhammad (future Caliph Marwan II) invade the Caucasus and defeat the 40K-man Khazar army led by Hazer Tarkhan (-737), and kill him, then occupy the Khazar capital of Atil on the lower Volga River, and force the khagan to convert to Islam after surprise-attacking, causing the Arabs to return satisfied to Transcaucasia, allowing the khagan to renege. King (since 718) Pelagius of Asturias (b. 681) dies, and is succeeded by Pelagius' only son Favila (Fafila) (Favilac) (-739) becomes king #2 of Asturias (until 739), founding the Church of Santa Cruz in the capital of Cangas de Onis, housing the Cruz de la Victoria, an oak cross allegedly carried by Pelagius at the Battle of Covadonga, becoming the first Christian church built in spain after the Muslim invasion of 711. All Ireland recognizes the primacy of Armagh. Births: Japanese Yamato emperor #50 (781-806) Kammu (Yamabe) (d. 806); eldest son of Konin (709-82) and Yamato no Niigasa, a descendant of Korean Paekje king Muryeong; father of Heizei (774-824), Saga (786-842), and Junna (786-840). Deaths: King Mu of Parhae.
738 St. Boniface returns to Rome, and is appointed papal legate for Germany. After building a church in Warkworth (Norham) and giving it to St. Cuthbert, King Ceowulf (d. 764) receives the clerical tonsure and retires in Lindisfarne Island, allowing the monks to drink wine and beer instead of only milk and water, and his cousin Edbert (Eadbert) (Eadberht) (-768) (brother of archbishop Egbert of York) becomes king of Northumbria (until 757), bringing it their golden age as Egbert is now in a position to carry out church reforms and found a school and library in York, which produces scholars Alcuin et al. After relentlessly driving the Moors back towards the Pyrenees, Charles Martel sieges their remaining holdout stronghold of Narbonne, but gives up after it is defended by Moors and Jews, causing him to devastate the surrounding countryside.
739 Pope Gregory III asks Charles Martel for help against the Lombards, Greeks, and Arabs, offering the title of consul in return, but Martel ignores him since he's an ally of the Lombard king - no Most Christian for you? Angus Mac Fergus drowns rival Talorgen Mac Drostan of Atholl. King (since 737) Favila is killed by a bear while hunting, and is succeeded by his brother-in-law (husband of his sister Ermesinda) Alfonso (OG "ready for battle") I (the Catholic) (693-757) as king #3 of Asturias (until 757), who assigns generous shares of lands conquered from the Muslims to the Church, and uses the clergy as a counterweight to the aristocracy. St. Boniface founds the dioceses of Regensburg, Freising, Passau, and Salzburg in Bavaria; Duke Odilo of Bavaria establishes the new bishoprics. Deaths: Christian missionary (to the Frisians) St. Willibrord (b. 658) in Echternach.
740 On Apr. 12 there is an earthquake on Islay Isle in Britain. Ethelhard dies, and his kinsman Aethelheard dies, and his brother Cuthred (-7546 becomes king #13 of Wessex (until 756). Sevar dies, becoming the last khan of the Dulo tribe, and Kormisosh (-756) of the Ukil (Vokil) tribe becomes khan of the First Bulgarian Empire (until 756), keeping the peace with the Byzantines. The Berbers in North Africa revolt from unjust treatment and Khariji propaganda, forcing the retreat of Arab Umayyad forces and severing their link with Spain (ends 742). The Zaydi (Zaidi) Revolt in Iraq sees Medina-born Shiite imam Zayd ibn Ali (b. 695) (brother of Muhammad al-Baqr, 5th imam of the Twelvers) die in Kufa after an unsuccessful revolt againt the Umayyads in which he claims the caliphate as the grandson of Ali's son Husayn; his followers carry on as the Fivers (Zaydi Shiites), the 5th School of Sunni Islamic Law (fiqh), incl. the Hanafis, Hanbalis, Malikis, and Shafi'is; the Fivers are actually a semi-Sunni sect of Shiites who reject taqiyya (religious dissimulation) and refuse to condemn the three caliphs preceding Ali, but reserve the right to military support against unjust rule of any descendant of Ali and Fatima, setting up states in Tabaristan in N Persia in 864, followed by Yemen in 893, becoming 40%-45% of the pop. of Yemen (mainly in the mountainous north) in modern times, with another 1M in W Arabia. In response to forcing them to convert to Islam, and the evacuation of their territory by the Muslims to quell rebellions in Syria et al., the Khazars (Hazaras Turks) convert to Judaism (at least their leaders, the rest following by 840), and withdraw beyond the Caucasus, going on to expand from the Caspian Sea to the Dnieper River, and as far S as the Black Sea, causing the Slavic tribes to turn to the Scandinavian Varangians (Vikings) (Rus) (proto-Russians) to the N for trade; because of them many modern Jews have hooked noses and speak Yiddish?; the Jewish conversion of the Khazars is a Willibald is sent by Pope Gregory III to help St. Boniface evangelize Germany, and Boniface begins working with Pepin III the Short and Carloman to reform the Frankish church and clergy, getting a synod of Frankish churchmen to declare loyalty to the pope, while working to create the medieval parish system of secular clergy to spread the faith at the village level. The capital of Japan is moved to Kuni-Kyo (until 744). There is an earthquake in Asia Minor. Architecture: St. Leodegar Monastery in Switzerland is founded. Nonfiction: The Irish legal text Senchus Mar is written. The Iona Chronicle ends this year. Art: The oldest Western Crucifixion is placed in the St. Quirico Chapel of St. Maria Antiqua Church in Rome. Births: Arab Muslim scholar Abd al-Malik ibn al-Quraib al-Asmai (d. 828); the first Muslim biologist? Deaths: Greek patriarch of Constantinople (715-30) St. Germanus I (b. 634). Syrian-born Christian archbishop of Crete (720-41) St. Andreas (b. 669) on July 4 at sea en route to Crete; buried in the Church of Agia Anastasia in Chios. Arab Shiite imam #5 Zayd ibn Ali (b. 695) in Kufa.
741 On June 18 Byzantine emperor (since 717) Leo III the Isaurian (b. 685) dies, and his son Constantine V Copronymus (Gr. "name of shit") (718-75) succeeds him as Roman Byzantine emperor #122 (until Sept. 14, 775), continuing his iconoclast policies - throw them images into the what? In June after Constantine V's accession, Armenian descent Byzantine gen. Artabasdos (Artavasdos) (-743) seizes the throne in Constantinople, causing Constantine V to flee to Amorion, abandoning the iconoclasm policy and restoring orthodox with the support of Pope Zacharias, crowning his wife Anna as Augusta and his son Nikephoros as co-emperor, and putting his son Niketas in charge of the theme of Armenia, securing the support of the themes of Thrace, Opsikion, and Anatolia. On July 22 Willibald is ordained by St. Boniface, and consecrated as a missionary and bishop, going on with St. Sebaldus to found the Diocese of Eichstate in Bavaria in 745, causing a revolt of the Bavarian nobles that forces Duke Odilo to temporarily flee to the court of Charles Martel. The first Ahnuld-DeVito Twins? On Oct. 22 Charles Martel (b. 686) dies in Quiercy on the Oise River, and his sons Carloman (706-754) and Pepin III the Short (714-68) succeed him, with Austrasia and the German duchies going to Carloman, and Neustria and Burgundy going to Pepin; they begin by ruling together (until 747). On Nov. 28 Pope (since 731) Gregory III dies after being defeated and humilated by his enemies the Byzantine iconoclasts, weakening the papacy and opening the way for the final Lombard advance on Italy, and on Dec. 3 Pope (#91) (St.) Zachary (Zacharias) (Zacharius) (690-752), a Greek born in S Italy and known for his trans. into Greek of "The Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great" is elected. Pictish king Angus I Mac Fergus conquers and overthrows the fractured kingdom of Dalriada (Dalriata) (the Scots), kills King Indrechtach, and turns it into a vassal, dividing it in two, initiating an era of relative peace until the Norse invasion at the end of the cent. St. Boniface founds the Diocese of Wurzburg, with Burchard I (-754) as bishop #1, who is confirmed by Pope Zachary in 743. Japanese Yamato emperor Shomu calls for nat. establishment of provincial Buddhist temples. Deaths: Roman Byzantine emperor #121 (717-41) Leo III the Isaurian (b. 685) on June 18. French Christian hero Charles Martel (b. 686) on Oct. 22 in Quiercy.
742 A smallpox (bolgach) epidemic begins in Ireland (ends 743). On Apr. 21 the first German Synod is held under the authority of St. Boniface and the power of Carloman; it decrees that the clergy cannot take part in wars, carry arms, or hunt - take part in whores, marry moms, or what? The dogato (office of doge) is restored in Venice, with Malamocco on the Lido of Venice barrier island as the capital. Refinforcements from Damascus help the Umayyads quell the Berber revolt in North Africa, although their link to Spain remains severed. Pepin III the Short comes through and gives the Jews their own Jewish Principality (Kingdom) of Septimania in S France (incl. Rennes-le-Chateau) (recognized as a kingdom in 759-68 by the Carolingian kings), run by Aymery AKA Thierry (Theodoric), who marries Pepin's sister Alda (aunt of Charlemagne), and has son (crypto-Jewish?) (St.) Guillaume (William) (Guillem) (the Hook-Nosed) de Gellone (of Aquitaine) (755-814), duke of Narbonne and Toulouse (790-811) and count of Razes (790-811), a Peer of Charlemagne who turns the town of Gellone into the site of a Jewish academy and library, which after his death is converted into the Benedictine Saint-Gilhelm-le-Desert Monastery at the confluence of the Gellone and Herault Rivers in S France on the St. James Way pilgrimage route to Santiago de Campostella, known for the cult of Mary Magdalene; too bad, Christian intolerance causes the principality to be obliterated and a coverup attempted; these Jewish princes claim to be of the House of David and to have royal Merovingian blood, hence to be Jewish kings?; descendants incl. First Crusade leader Godfroi (Godfrey) de Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine. St. Boniface founds a bishopric in Erfurt in Prussian Saxony (Thuringia, C Germany) on the Gera River (62 mi. SW of Leipzig and 186 mi. SW of Berlin). Chinese poet Du (Tu) Fu (712-79), who flunked his lit. exams and had to become a prof. poet instead of a govt. official begins producing Three Descriptive Poems (742-55) which gain him a position at court. Art Caomh (Gael. "kind, gentle") (-762) becomes king of Munster in Ireland (until 762); his descendants become the O'Keeffe family, moving W into Pobal O'Keeffe after the Norman invasion of the 1160s. The First Council of Clovesho in Mercia, presided over by King Aethelbald of Mercia and Archbishop Cuthbert of Canterbury "diligently enquired into the needs of religion, the Creed as delivered by the ancient teaching of the Fathers, and carefully examined how things were ordered at the first beginning of the Church here in England, and where the honour of the monasteries according to the rules of justice was maintained"; the Privilege of Wihtred assuring the liberty of the Church is confirmed. The Holy Face (Volto Santo) of Lucca, allegedly carved by Nicodemus (who assisted Joseph of Arimathea in putting Christ in the tomb) arrives at the Basilica di San Frediano in Lucca, Italy (NW coast). Architecture: Japanese Yamato emperor Shomu orders the construction of the Dibutsu (Great Buddha) in Nara (finished 752). Births: Speaking of whores and moms? French 7' king (768-814) and HRE #1 (800-14) Charlemagne (Charles le Magne) (OG "great or big man") (d. 814) on Apr. 2 in Herstal; son of 3.5' Pepin III the Short (714-68) and Bertrada Broadfoot of Laon (710-83); brother of Carloman I (751-71); father of Louis I the Pious (778-840); raised in Jupille; has blonde hair, a good disposition, and merry eyes, is a good athlete and swimmer, prefers Frankish dress, and loves poon, er, wine and Roquefort cheese (with the red sheep logo, cured in the caves of Mt. Combalon); he speaks Latin and understands Greek, but can only read not write; the English term "churl" (serf) comes from the same root as "Charles" (OG "man"); has four wives, plus ? children by five mistresses; his sword is called Joyeuse (Fr. "joyful). Deaths: Chinese court painter Chang Hsuan (b. 713).
743 On Feb. 6 after building hs winter palace in Jordan, caliph (since 724) Hisham dies, and the palace is destroyed by an earthquake four years later; Walid II (Walid ibn Yazid) (the Unbelieving) (709-44) becomes Umayyad caliph #11 (until Apr. 17, 744). In May Artabasdus is defeated by Constantine V, who then defeats Nicetas; on Nov. 2 Constantine V enters Constantinople and captures Artabasdus, blinding his sons and exiling them to Chora Monastery on the city outskirts. Pepin III the Short and Carloman finally recognize Childeric III (717-54) (son of Chilperic II?) as Merovingian king of all the Franks (until 751), becoming the last; when Pope Gregory III later seeks his help against the Lombards, he bestows on him the title of "Most Christian", which French kings use ever afterwards. Japanese Yamato emperor Shomu issues the Law of Perpetual Ownership of Cultivated Lands. Deaths: Arab Umayyad caliph #10 (724-43) Hisham (b. 691) on Feb. 6.
744 The Turkic Uighur (Uigur) ("following") people begin ruling in Mongolia (Singkiang) and Turkestan (until 1100). The Britons of Strathcylde and the Picts begin the British-Pictish Wars (end 750); the Picts use the schiltron. After a brief civil war where he kicks Walid II's butt, Marwan (Mervan) II (d. 750), becomes the last Umayyad caliph, and the last with an expansionist policy of making Islam take over the world by force until the Ottomans, going on to ride through Harran in SE Turkey and order its pop. to convert to either Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, after which they allegedly pick Islam - a coverup for Khazaria? King Liutprand of the Lombards dies, and the dukes go back to living la vida loca without a king (until 749). Swabia becomes part of the Frankish empire. Caliph Marwan II defeats the Yamani-Arab Umayyads of Syria, causing Syrian Jews to flee to Nigeria, becoming the Igbo (Sambatyon) Jews? The Japanese capital city is moved back to Osaka. New Nestorian missionaries arrive in China. Gisulf II of Benevento creates the Terra Sancti Benedicti, the secular lands of the abbacy of Monte Cassino, subject to nobody but the abbot and the pope, comprising a new state between the Lombard principality of Benevento and the Byzantine coastal city-states incl. Naples, Gaeta, and Amalfi; too bad, the Muslims sack and burn Monte Cassino in 883 (first time was by the Lombards in 584). Architecture: The Benedictine Convent of Fulda is founded on Mar. 12 by St. Boniface on the Fulda River near the Vogel Gibirge (60 mi. NE of Frankfurt-am-Main) by Sturmius, complete with a singing school; Boniface obtains a privilegium of exemption from episcopal control, reporting directly to the pope; it goes on to produce top Carolingian illuminated mss. - rock the Fulda? Births: Italian grammarian-poet Petrus Grammaticus (Peter of Pisa) (d. 799).
745 The former Slavic principality of Carinthia (Carantania) becomes a margraviate of the Bavarian stem duchy under Duke Odilo. Emperor Constantine V defeats the Arabs. St. Boniface's growing political influence is challenged by Pepin the Short. The Sunni Abbasids (Abbassids), founded by Abu Muslim (718-55) Abu al-Abbas as-Saffah (the Blood-Shedder or Slaughterer) (721-754) son of Muhammad bin Ali, great-grandson of Abbas, descendant of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566-652), Muhammad's paternal uncle (who have claimed the caliphate since 718 and have been sending propagandists throughout the Islamic world) finally reach critical mass; the Abbasids come up with the Sunni concept of the Rightly Guided (Righteous) Caliphs to refer to the first four caliphs, from the soundbyte "Hold firmly to my example (sunnah) and that of the Rightly Guided Caliphs", whose quadruple reign was called the Rashidun Caliphate (632-61); Abu al-Abbas' brother Ibrahim (-748), sends his Persian mawla (non-Arab convert to Islam) Abu Muslim (718-55">Abu Muslim (728-55) to Khurasan (Khorasan) to preach the Arabs-ain't-everything Abbasid revolt, gaining support among the mawalis and the Shiites (although the latter are later betrayed). Births: Arab Shiite imam #7 Musa ibn Ja'far al-Kadhim (al-Kazimi) (d. 799) on Nov. 6 in Abwa; son of Ja'far al-Sadiq (702-65); father of Ali al-Riza (765-818).
746 Architecture: Tegernsee Abbey is founded in Bavaria on the shore of Tegernsee Lake, becoming the #1 Benedictine community in Bavaria until 1803. Deaths: Abbot Oengus mac Tipraiti of Chuain Fota Beatain; leaves a Latin Hymn to St. Michael.
747 On June 9 Abu Muslim leads the black-banner Abbasid (Abbassid) Revolt (Rev.) (Movement of the Men of the Black Raiment) against the ruling Umayyid (Omayyad) family in Khurasan in NE Iran, seeking to end the system of Arab cast supremacy and replace it by a cosmopolitan conception of Islam (ends 750); they start by taking over Iran and Iraq on the way to Syria. Under the influence of St. Boniface, Carloman (d. 754), mayor of Austrasia resigns his share of the govt. of Austrasia to his brother Pepin III the Short, and retires to the monastery of Monte Cassino, and Pepin II is that close to becoming what all Franks adore, ruler of all the all-meat foot-long Franks, which he achieves in a short four inches, er, years (751) - hear it for peppy? After St. Boniface writes King Aethelbald of Mercia in 745 tasking him for his dissolute and irreligious acts the Second Council of Clovesho, presided over by Archbishop Cuthbert declares the close union of the Anglo-Saxon and Roman Catholic Churches, requiring the feasts of St. Gregory and St. Augustine to be observed; in 749 Aethelbald issues a charter at Gumley, freeing the Church from some of its obligations. Births: Frankish Benedictine monk ("the Second Benedict") (St.) Benedict of Aniane (Witiza) (d. 821) in Languedoc; son of Septimanian Visigoth Count Aigulf of Maguelone; the first Benedict was Benedict of Nursia (480-544).
748 Abbasid leader Ibraham is captured and killed by the Umayyids, which only pisses them off more. The Arab fleet is destroyed during an attack on Cyprus. Odilo is killed by half-Carolingian usurper Grifo, who is killed by Tassilo III (-788), son of Odilo, who becomes the last independent duke of Bavaria. Murdachus dies, and Aed Find (Etfinus) (Hugh the White) (735-78) (great-grandfather of Kenneth MacAlpin) becomes king of the Dalriada Scots (until 778). English nun (St.) Walpurga (Walpurgis) (Valpurga) (Vaubourg) (Gaudurge) (Valderburg) (Guiibor) (Bugga) (710-79) goes to Germany as a missionary, ending up working in the Monastery of Heidenheim in Swabia with St. Boniface, St. Lioba, her brother St. Willibald et al. Arab Muslim theologian Wasil ibn Ata (700-48) dies after walking out on the lessons of Arab Sunni Muslim teacher (founder of Sufism) Hasan al-Basri (Abu said) (Abi'l-Hasan Yasar al-Basri) (642-728) and founding the Mu'tazilite (Arab. "to separate oneself from") school of Muslim philosophy, which rejects the doctrine that the Koran is uncreated and co-eternal with God, because else God "must have preceded his own speech", and claims that good and evil can be established through unaided reason, pissing-off the Sunni majority who follow the Hadith. Inventions: The first printed newspaper appears in Peking - China Today? Births: Arab Muslim historian Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Waqidi (d. 822) in Medina. Deaths: Japanese Yamato emperor #44 (715-24) Gensho (b. 683) on May 22 in Nara. Arab theologian Wasil ibn Ata (b. 700).
749 On Aug. 19 Japanese Yamato emperor (since 724) Shomu (b. 701) abdicates in favor of his daughter Princess Takano, and becomes a tonsured Buddhist priest (first ever); she becomes Japanese Yamato emperor #46 Koken (718-70) (until 758), and takes vows as a Buddhist nun. There is a large earthquake in Caesarea. Aistulf (-756) becomes the next-to-last king of the Lombards, continuing Liutprand's consolidation policy against the dukes and papacy. Art: The Neighing Stallion, a small Chinese fire clay sculpture is produced. Music: Caedmon (-680), Hymn; the earliest surviving copy dates to this year. Deaths: Korean-Japanese Buddhist priest Gyogi (b. 668).
750 St. Vitus' dance (Sydenham's chorea) (named after 3rd cent. St. Vitus) epidemics rock Germany. Umay out, Abbas in - watch your mouth or I'll kill you? In Jan. the Christians in Frankland who were reeling from the pesky Saracens coming over the Pyreenes get a lucky break when the Sunni Abbasid (Abbassid) Movement of disaffected non-Arab Sunni Muslims and Shiites in Iraq and Khurasan, led by the Arab Abbasids (Abbasids) of Khurasan in NE Persia, who claim descent from Muhammad's paternal uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, and whose Umayya clan is separate from Muhammad's Quraish clan (which they hate so bad that they even temporarily became Shiites to jockey for position against the Shinolas) , and who sent Persian (non-Arab) preacher Abu Muslim (718-55) out in advance to criticize Arab corruption and ethnocentrism and invite non-Arab Muslims like him to join, defeat Umayyid Caliph Marwan II at the Battle of the Great Zab River W of the Tigris River near Mosul, causing him to flee to Egypt, where he is captured and killed in Aug. in al-Khufa; Ibrahim's brother Abu al-Abbas as-Saffah (the Blood-Shedder or Slaughterer) (721-754) (did I mention that Islam is the religion of war and oozing blood?) becomes Abbasid caliph #1 (until 754); the Umayyid Dynasty (begun 661) ends, and the Abbasid (Abbassid) Dynasty is founded, moving the capital from Damascus to Baghdad, and controlling the caliphate for five cents. (37 caliphs) (until 1258), absorbing much of the pomp and ceremony of the Persian monarchy into their courts and going on to cultivate the arts and sciences and give Islam a fairly good name compared to the other dynasties, with an empire no longer consciously devoted to promoting Arabs per se, only the faith of Muhammad. The Sunni Abbasids (who started in Harran, moved to Baghdad in 762, and end up getting overwhelmed by their own Turkic Mamluk slave army by 1258) capture Jerusalem (until 878). Talorgen Mac Fergus, brother of Pictish king Angus I Mac Fergus attacks the kingdom of Strathclyde, led by King Tewdwr (d. 752), and is crushingly defeated, ending the British-Pictish Wars (begun 744); Tewdwr becomes overlord of the Picts, causing Angus' position to be threatened from within. The dukedom of Bavaria under Tassilo III is extended to Carniola. About this timeObadiah (Ovadiah) ibn Yaqub al-Isfahani (Isaac ibn Jacob al-Isfahani) AKA Abu Isa of Isfahan, Persia claims to be a Jewish prophet, which is taken by some of his followers to mean that he is the Jewish Messiah, and leads 10K Jews to their defeat by the army of Caliph al-Mansur in Rayy beore they can take back the Holy Land for the Jewish people, after which there is a gen. persecution of the Jews of Isfahan. The city of Teotihuacan in Mexico is destroyed; beginning of the Pueblo I Period in the Am. Southwest (ends 950). Kiev on the 1420-mi. Dnieper (Dnepr) River (modern pop. 1.4M) becomes a prominent fortress and trading center. The Kingdom of Granada in S Spain is founded by the Muslims (ends 1492). The earliest mention of Jews in Cochin in SW India. About this time Constantine V Copronymus makes an expedition to Armenia and brings back a number of Paulicians from Melitene and Theodosiopolis, settling them in Constantinople and Thrace, from whence they spread their proto-Protestant doctrines to Europe. This decade is a time of darkness in Europe and Byzantium, while China enjoys its Golden Age of Poetry and everything else; the Chinese royal stables contain 40K horses for use mainly in polo games? In this decade thanks to the work of St. Boniface, Pepin II the Short et al., the first independent Europe emerges as the papacy achieves emancipation from the Byzantines and founds the Papal States, the Merovingian Dynasty is replaced by the Carolingian Dynasty, and the idea of theocratic monarchy is established in W Europe. In this decade beds become popular in France and Germany. About this time coffee berries are allegedly discovered by Arab shepherd Kaldi of Ethiopia, who notices that his goats get friskier after eating them; first mentioned by Marionite Roman prof. Antoine Faustus Nairon in 1671 - thank God for goats? About this time hops is used as beer wort for the first time in Bavaria. In this half-cent. Old High German becomes the prevalent language in Germany (until the 11th cent.). About this time Muslims begin growing sugar cane in S Spain, causing the new confection of marzipan (almonds and sugar) to delight Christian palates. The Korean Nat. Confucian College (founded 682) is renamed Nat. Confucian U., with instruction on Chinese texts, and enrollment limited to higher aristocrats, culminating in a civil service exam system in 788. The Hanlin Academy of arts and sciences is established in China (until the 20th cent.). The earliest record of the Tamil Language dates to this time. Sports: About this time the game of Chess reaches China from India. Architecture: Shore Temple in Mamallapuram, Tami Nadu, India is built. Art: The gilded, dry-lacquer Healing Buddha is sculpted. Music: Gregorian church music rocks the house in Germany, France, and England; wind organs from Byzantium begin to replace water organs. Nonfiction: The illuminated Stockholm Codex Aureus (Bible) is written in Canterbury, England and delivered to Sweden. The Nitsara (Elements of Polity) by Kamandaki, an Indian manual on the art of govt. is written about this time. In this half-cent. Deor (Anglo-Saxon), Liber Anglei (in the Book of Armagh), Theodore of Tarsus' Penitential (Canons), and Expulsion of the Deisi are written. Abot this time the Irish World Chronicle begins to be composed in Bangor (ends 775). Births: Roman Byzantine emperor #123 (775-80) Leo IV the Khazar (d. 780) on Jan. 25; son of Constantine IV (718-75) and Irene of Khazaria; husband (768-) of Irene the Athenian (752-803); he's an iconoclast, she's an iconophile. Arab lyric poet ("Father of the Curl") Abu Nuwas (al-Hasan ibn Hani) (d. 811) in Persia; lover of wine, women, and song, known for his big hair; cuts a colorful and raucous figure at the Baghdad court of Harun al-Rashid. Italian pope (795-816) Leo III (d. 816) in Rome. French bishop of Orleans (798-818) Theodulf of Orleans (d. 821) (b. 760?) in Saragossa, Spain; of Visigothic descent. Syrian Melchite bishop-theologian Theodore Abu Qurrah (d. 825) in Edessa. Deaths: Umayyad caliph (last) Marwan (Mervan) II. Chinese scholar Zhang Xu (b. ?); originator of the wild cursive script in Chinese calligraphy.
751 In May-Sept. the Battle of the Talas River (Artiakh) in C Asia is a V by the Arab Abbasids and their Tibetan allies over the Chinese Tang Dynasty under Emperor Xuanzong, giving Muslims control of Transoxiana (W Asia) for the next four cents.; Chinese POWs allegedly teach the Arabs papermaking, resulting in a book and learning explosion after paper manufacture spreads W through the Muslim world, with factories in Samarkand, Baghdad (c. 800), Morocco (c. 1100), and Spain (c. 1150); the Arabs also learn the secrets of sericulture (silk); pesky Bukhara finally becomes Muslim; China begins to fragment into five northern dynasties and 10 southern kingdoms over the next half-cent. King Aistulf of the Lombards conquers Ravenna, seat of the exarch, ending the Byzantine exarchate, then sieges Rome and exacts tribute. Charles Martel's son Pepin III the Short, mayor of the palace sends letters to Pope Zachary asking him who is the true king of the All-Meat Franks, the man who holds the power (him), or the weak figurehead weenie-roaster royally-blooded Merovingian priest-king (descendant of Clovis I) Childeric III; when Pope Zachary says go for it, and his successor Stephen II seconds it "because he was not useful" (quia non erat utilis), citing the newly-minted Donation of Constantine to give him the right despite the papal pact made with Clovis I in 496, king (since 743) Childeric III is dethroned and tonsured (deposit et detonsit) (his long hair being a symbol of his dynasty and royal rights, like Sampson) and stuck in a monastery, and Pepin III the Short (Younger) (714-68) is elected the new king of the short, er, Franks (first Carolingian king) at a gathering of Frankish nobles in the Merovingian capital of Soissons, and anointed and crowned at the Abbey of St. Medard, officially deposing Childeric, who is packed off to the Monastery of Saint-Bertin next year with his son Theuderic (Saint-Omer and Saint-Wandrille?); for the first time bishops attend with a rank equal to secular nobles; annointing with oil supersedes the right of blood descent?; the Merovingian Dynasty (founded 496) ends, and the Carolingian (Carlovingian) Dynasty (House of Pepin) is founded (ends 987), with the remnants of the Merovingians going underground and plotting a comeback (until ?); it has its own Carolingian Cross; Pope Zachary becomes the first Roman pontiff to invest a sovereign, laying the foundation for future papal temporal authority and creating strong bonds with the Carolingians to back them up; Franks and Kraut, er, France and Germany stay united until the death of Peptol-Bismol, er, Pepin's grandson Louis I in 840. Architecture: Pulguk Temple in Korea (Silla) is built in Kyongju at the order of the chief minister, who orders the construction of manmade stone Buddhist grottoes (Sokkuram) like those in China. Inventions: A sutra dated this year found at Muyong-t'ap (Pagoda That Casts No Shadow) in Korea is the oldest printed work on Earth? Art: The wooden Gigaku Masks in Japan are made. Births: Frankish king (768-71) Carloman I (d. 771) on June 28; 2nd surviving son of Pepin III the Short and Bertrada of Laon; younger brother of Charlemagne (742-814). Chinese horse painter Han Kan. Deaths: Arab Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Wasi Al-Azdi (b. ?); known for his maxim "I never saw anything without seeing Allah therein."
752 On Mar. 15 (since 741) Pope Zachary (b. 690) dies after persuading the Lombards to quit occupying papal bldgs. in Italy and restore many territories and towns to the Church, and on Mar. 22-23 a priest named Stephen is elected Pope (#92) Stephen II, then dies in a few days (Mar. 25-26) unconsecrated, and on Mar. 26 Pope (#93) Stephen III (II) (-757) is elected (forever confusing people with the II or III bit?); the Sedia Gestatoria is ditched when the people of Rome carry him around on their shoulders; he crosses the Alps into France to implore Pepin II the Short, who is officially elected king by the Frankish magnates this year to defend Rome from Lombard attacks - since as a dwarf he'd know all about being carried around on peoples' shoulders, and those tall guys' ass crack odor probably got in his nostrils? The Visigoths recapture Nimes from the Muslims, and give control to Frankish leader Pepin II the Short. The Lombards take control of Bologna, Italy (until 774). Cuthred of Wessex defeats Aethelbald of Mercia at the Battle of Burford. Tewdwr of Strathclyde dies, and Angus Mac Fergus defeats his puppet Bridei Mac Maelchu, regaining Pictish independence with a grudge against Strathcylde. Architecture: Willibald and Winnebald found the double Heidenheim Monastery in Swabia, Germany. In 752 C.E. Emperor Shomu dedicates the 16-meter-high bronze Vairocana (Daibutsu) in the Todai-ji (Eastern Great) Temple in Nara, Japan (begun 743), becoming the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana. Births: Byzantine empress #125 (780-802) Irene (Gr. "peace") (the Athenian) (Sarantapechaina) (d. 803) in Athens; born of a humble family and orphaned, then raised by uncle (cousin?) Constantine Sarantapechos; wife (768-) of Leo IV. Deaths: Roman Catholic pope St. Zachary (Zacharias) (b. 690).
753 A census in China gives the pop. as 52,880,488; see 764. Pope Stephen III visits Lombard king Aistulf to talk about his continuing advance into his turf in Italy, but gets nowhere? What's in the news in the East? Leo III's son "My Name is Not Earl" Constantine V summons the Constantinople Synod of 753, which supports iconoclasm - sounds like? Dantidurga (Dantivarman) (-756), feudatory of the Badami Chalukyas defeats their king Kirtivarman II, founding the Jainist Rashtrakuta (Sansk. "rashtra" + "kuta" = country + chieftain) Dynasty in C-W India (ends 982), with capital in Manapura, incl. modern-day Indian states Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, spreading the Kannada language along with Jainism, and creating the Karnata Dravida style of architecture incl. the Kailasa Temple of Ellora. Chinese pilgrim monk Wukong passes through Kashgar, passing through again in 786 and seeing a Chinese deputy gov. as well as a local king. The city of Ferrara in Italy 30 mi. NNE of Bologna (modern-day pop. 132K) is first mentioned in a document of Lombard king Desiderius, who captures it from the Exarchate of Ravenna; in 756 the Franks conquer it and present it to the papacy, which in 988 cedes it to the House of Canossa, becoming a free commune after the death of Matilda of Tuscany in 1115, only to become a pawn in the war between the Guelph Adelardi and Ghibelline Salinguerra families until Obizzo II of the imperial House of Este takes it over in 1264 (until 1598). Deaths: Spanish Visigothic monk St. Pirmin (b. 700) on Nov. 3 in Hornbach, Germany.
754 On Aug. 12 Carloman (b. 706), mayor of Austrasia dies, and St. Boniface crosses the Alps to meet Pope Stephen III and anoint Pepin III the Short in Ponthion as patricius romanorum (a Byzantine legal title, but what the heck, it's Franks?), thereby enabling the Carolingian Dynasty to supplant the Merovingian Dynasty with official papal sanction as regent and protector of Italy to bolster his title of king of all the Franks; Pepin III in return promises the Church the lands in Italy which the Lombards had taken from Byzantium, then marches to Italy and defeats Aistulf in Rome, giving several lands in C Italy to the pope, incl. the Pentapolis and Ravenna (along with the exarchate), which become the Papal States, the later foundation of the temporal power of the papacy (until 1870); unfortunately Aistulf fails to go along, and begins snickering at the dwarf after he returns to France. Rhodri ap Idwal (b. 690) dies, and his distant cousin Caradog (Caractacus) ap Meirion (730-98) usurps the throne from his son Cynan and becomes king of Gwynedd in Wales (until 798). Emperor Constantine V begins the dissolution of monasteries. St. Boniface returns to missionary work among the pagans in Frisia, hoping to end his career as a martyr? Abu al-Abbas dies, and his brother Abu Jafar Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Mansur (Almanzor) (the Victorious) (714-75) becomes Abbasid caliph #2 (until 775), consolidating Abbassid authority around a mixed mawali bureaucracy and turning his Khurasan army into a prof. army; improvement in the status of non-Arab converts to Islam causes Persian's Muslim pop. to increase from 7% this year to 80% in 950, although the Shu'ubiyya lit. movement seeks to promote Persian culture above Arab; al-Mansur utters the soundbyte: "There are four people I need by my side: the chief judge, the chief of police, the chief of taxation, and the postmaster, who keeps tabs on the first three and writes me reliable reports about them." Births: German Charlemagne's 2nd wife (771-) Hildegard of the Vinzgau (d. 783); daughter of Count Gerold of Vinzgau (Kraichgau) and Emma, daughter of Duke Nebe (Hnabi) of Alemannia. Deaths: Syrian Christian theologian (St.) John of Damascus (b. 700); leaves Fount of Knowledge, a textbook on Greek Orthodox theology, including "Heads of Philosophy", "Compendium of Heresies", and "An Exact Exposition of Orthodox Faith". French mayor of Austrasia (741-54) Carloman (b. 706) on Aug. 12. Frankish Merovingian king (lat) (743-51) Childeric III (b. 717). Arabis Muslim Abbasid founder Abu al-Abbas (b. 721).
755 On Dec. 16 An Lushan (703-57) rebels against the Tang Dynasty, starting the An Lushan (An Shi) (Tianbao) Rebellion (ends 763), causing Jacob, son of the Christian king of the Uighurs to join with Kuang, son of Chinese emperor Hsuan-tsung to put them down; Tang emperor Tang Xuan Zong (Ming Huang) resigns and flees to Sichuan in Shu; poet Tu Fu is captured by the rebels (until 757). After Kormisosh's Bulgarian Empire breaks out in domestic disorders, the Byzantines begin attacks on it. Caliph al-Mansur orders the murder of Abu Muslim of Khurasan, renounces the Shiite origins of the Abbasid movement, and began supporting the Sunnis; the Arabs are stabbed in the back, taken off their high horses and put under Persian masters as the Persian Barmakid family is given the admin. of the empire; Zoroastrian leader Sunpadh (Sinbad) (the Magus) (d. 755) starts a revolt in Khurasan, Nishapur, Rayy and Qum (ends 756), claiming that Abu Muslim has not really died but will return in the company of the Mahdi); after the Abbasids order all Umayyad princes in Damascus killed, the Umayyad (Omayyad) Caliphate of Cordoba (Cordova) in Spain (ends 1031) is founded by Abd ar-Rahman (Abdur Rahman) I (the Immigrant) (the Falcon of Andalus) (731-88), grandson of the Umayyad caliph of Damascus, who escapes to Spain and defeats the Abbasid emir of Cordoba; his emirate tolerates dhimmis (Jews and Christians) (people protected because they are "people of the Book", i.e., Old Testament), as long as they pay the jizya tax and accept Muslim political and social domination, destroying all Christian churches in Cordoba except St. Vincent's Basilica, guaranteeing Christian possession by treaty, which they later renege on after a pop. explosion from Syria, taking half for a mosque without permission, which Muslim apologists now trumpet as proof that both faiths can pray side by side; later Abd ar-Rahman I forces them to sell him the rest with an offer they can't refuse. Pepin the Short reforms France's currency, increasing royal control of mints, increasing purity and standardizing coinage, replacing the gold Roman and Byzantine solidus with the .940-fine silver penny (denier) weighing 1/240 lb. (2g) (1 lb. = 489.5g), with 20 shillinds (solidus) per silver pound; the system is imported to England by Offa of Mercia, spreading and becoming the basic of English currency until the 20th cent. Births: French count of Narbonne and Toulouse #2 (790-811) (crypto-Jewish?) (Merovingian royal blood) (St.) Guillaume (William) (Guillem) (the Hook-Nosed) de Gellone (of Aquitaine) (of Orange) (d. 814) (AKA Fierabrace) (AKA Marquis au Court Nez) (Marquis Short Nose) in N France; a Peer of Charlemagne, leader of Charlemagne's armies, and hero of the 11th-12th cent. Chanson de Guillaume, an early chanson de geste; canonized in 1066 by Pope Alexander II. Deaths: English missionary St. Boniface (b. 673); martyred by a band of pagan Frisians in Dokkum, West Friesland (modern-day Holland). Japanese emperor #45 Shomu (b. 701) on June 4 in Nara.
756 On May 2 Japanese Yamato emperor (724-49) Shomu (b. 701) dies, and all his household effects and property are dedicated to Buddha - this one's for you, Bud? The Lombards under Aistulf attack Rome but are defeated by Pepin the Short, who reduces Lombardy to a vassal state, then hands control to Pope Stephen III, who becomes the first pope-king; Aistulf dies; the Lombard holdings are reduced to what they were in 681; the Donation of Pepin gives the reconquered lands officially to the Byzantine emperor, but tacitly recognizes the claims of the papacy as heirs of the Roman Empire in Italy; from here on the Carolingians maintain a protectorate over the papacy, developing a mental complex that they and their French language and culture are the class of Europe, superior especially to the Germans which they sprang from. Angus I Mac Fergus allies with Eadberht of Northumbria and invades Strathclyde, sacking Dumbarton and forcing King Dyfnwal map Tewdwr to submit, but his Britons ambush and massacre the booty-laden Pictish army as it returns to Fortriu. Cuthred dies, and his distant relative Siegbert (Sigeberht) (Sebright) (OE "magnificent victory") (-757) succeeds king #14 of Wessex (until 757). Kormisosh dies, and Vinekh (Vineh) (-762) becomes khan of the First Bulgarian Empire. Dantidurga dies without an heir, and is succeeded by his uncle Krishna I (-774) as emperor #2 of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty in India (until 774), finishing off the Badami Chalukyas next year by defeating their ruler Kirtivarman II and ending their dynasty, and going on to conquer the Western Gangas under their king Sripurusha, the Shilaharas of South Konkan incl. the Vengi, and the Eastern Chalukyas under their ruler Vishnuvardhana IV, and build the Kalaisa Temple at Ellora. After fleeing in the opposite direction from his father Tang Xuan Zong (to Lingwu in modern-day Yinchuan, Ningxia), Tang Su Zong (Li Heng) (Li Sisheng) (Li Jun) (Li Yu) (Li Shao) (711-62) is proclaimed Tang emperor #7 (until 762) by the army, going on to quell the An Lushan Rebellion with help from Arab caliph al-Mansur, while beginning the tradition of naming eunuchs to top official positions, starting with Li Fuguo (Li Jingzhong) (Li Huguo) (704-62) (AKA Prince Chou of Bolu), who becomes cmdr. of the imperial guards and rises to #2 in powah. Nestorian Christian Turkish gen. Tsz-i defeats the rebel Amroshar. Deaths: Japanese Yamato emperor #45 Shomu (b. 701) on May 26.
757 On Apr. 26 slap-happy King, er, Pope (since 752) St. Stephen III dies, and on May 29 his brother becomes Pope (#94) (St.) Paul I (-767). King Aethelbald of Mercia is assassinated by his bodyguard in Seckington, and buried in Repton, and after a power struggle with king-for-a-day Beornred (who is defeated and flees) is succeeded by his son Offa II (-796) (until July 29, 796), becoming the most powerful Anglo-Saxon king so far, ruling England S of the Humber River while Northumbria becomes isolated - and ungoogly? King Edbert (d. 768) of Northumbria receives the clerical tonsure and enters his brother Egbert's monastery at York, and next year his son Oswulf of Northumbria (-759) succeeds (until 759). King Siegbert of the West Saxons (Wessex) is deposed and slain by Cynewulf ("kin wolf") (-786) for "unrighteous deeds", who becomes king #15 of Wessex (until 786). Desiderius (Daufer) (Dauferius) (Didier) (Desiderio) (-774) becomes the last king of the loveless (Deep Throat?) Lombards. King (since 739) Alfonso I the Catholic (b. 693) in Cangas de Onis, and his eldest son Fruela (Froila) I (the Cruel) (722-68) becomes king #4 of Asturias (until Jan. 14, 768), going on to suppress an uprising of the Basques and marry trophy wife Basque babe Munia (Munina). An Lushan is killed; Tu Fu escapes, is recalled by the new emperor, and becomes a censor, but defends an official from the emperor, and is banished to a small town in Shensi Province as a sub-prefect. The Midrarid Dynasty in Morocco (later centered in Sijilmasa) is founded by Midrar (Sam'un ibn Yazlan), a Khariji Muslim and Zanata Berber from Meknes after revolting from the Umayyid gov. of Qayrawan and his Arab elitism (ends 960) - why don't you check your donkey door? Deaths: Spanish king of Asturias #3 (739-57) Alfonso I of Asturias (b. 693) in Cangas de Onis. Persian Zoroastrian-to-Muslim convert Ibn al-Muqaffa (Rozbih pur-i Dadoe) (d. 756-9?); leaves many works translated from Pahlavi (Middle Persian) to Arabic, incl. the fables Kalila wa Dimna (Panchatantra) (Five Devices), which becomes the first masterpiece of Arabic lit. prose.
758 The Muslims destroy part of the Chinese city of Canton. Iranian Muslim Ibn Rustam comes to N Africa as the Abbasid gov. of Qayrawan (until 761). Abbasid caliph al-Mansur orders his Arab Armenian gov. (since 750) Yazid ibn Usayd al-Sulami (-781) to take a royal Khazar bride and make peace with the Khazars, and he marries a daughter of Khagan Baghatur, but she dies unexpectedly (during childbirth?), pissing her daddy off, causing him to send a force under gen. Ras Tarkhan to invade Azerbaijan and Arran and raid for several mo., after which things calm down. Japanese Yamato emperor (since 749) Koken (b. 718) abdicates in favor of her 2nd cousin (1st cousin twice removed?) Junnin (Oi) (733-65) (7th son of Prince Toneri, son of Temmu), who becomes Japanese Yamato emperor #47 (until 764), although Koken wields the balls in the family? Births: Japanese shogun Sakanoue no Tamuramaro (b. 758). Deaths: Irish king Domnhall (b. ?).
759 Pepin the Short conquers Septimiania, disciplines Aquitaine, and extends his all-Frank rule to the Pyrenees; after cutting a deal with the Jewish pop. to give them their own kingdom in return for their help, causing them to slaugher the defenders and open the gates, he recaptures Narbonne from the Arabs. Architecture: The Toshodai-ji Temple in Nara, Japan is founded by Tang Dynasty Chinese Buddhist monk Jianzhen (Ganjin) (Chunyu) (688-763), who arrived in Japan in 754 after six attempts since 743, and ended up losing his eyesight. Births: Spanish king #7 of Asturias (783, 791-842) Alfonso II (the Chaste) (d. 842) in Oviedo (b. 760?); son of Fruela I and Munia; cousin of Mauregatus. Deaths: Chinese poet-painter Wang Wei (b. 698).
760 On Feb. 2 there is a great snowstorm in Ireland. About 208K Slavs flee from Bulgaria and receive asylum in Asia Minor from the Byzantine emperor. About this time a Letter by Philoxenus claims Christianity among the early Turks. In this decade the Turkish Empire is founded in Armenia by a Tartar (Tatar) tribe - Noah would roll over in his grave? Architecture: The rock-cut Brahman Kailasanatha(r) (Kalaisa) (Kalaish) Temple in Ellora, Hyderabad (modern-day Maharashtra), India is begun by Krishna I Rashtrakuta, king of Malkhed (finished 783), with cool stone elephants; there are eventually 18 other large Brahman and Buddhist rock cave temples in Ellora; they were carved out of one rock from the top down. Nonfiction: Lu Yu (733-804), The Classic of Tea (Ch'a Ching) (3 vols.); first definitive work on cultivation, preparation, and drinking of ch'a (tea), and the source of the tea service which Chinese Zen Buddhist missionaries later introduce into Japan; wait until the boiling water has bubbles resembling crystal beads rolling in a fountain before pouring over the leaves. Births: Persian grammarian (Muslim) ("Father of Arab Philology") Sibawayh (Abu Bishr 'Amr ibn 'Uthman ibn Qanbar Al-Bishri) (d. 796) in Bayza (Nesayak), Fars Province. Roman Byzantine emperor #126 (802-11) Nicephorus (Nikephoros) I (d. 811) in Selucia Sidera; father of Staurakios (-812). Deaths: Chinese painter Wu Tao-tzu (b. 700).
761 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records hard winters this year, followed by 763 and 764. On Aug. 6 King Mull of Northumbria slays King Oswin at the Battle of Edwin's Cliff (Eildon). On Nov. 25 the city of Oviedo (Ovetum) in Asturias, NW Spain is founded by Abbot Maximo and Fromestano, uncle of Fruela I the Cruel with the erection of a church to St. Vincent, becoming the capital of Asturias in the 9th-10th cents; the Sudarium is stored there for safekeeping. Angus I Mac Fergus dies, his Pictish kingdom #1 in N Britain, and Kenneth (Cinaed) (Gael. "handsome") I becomes king of the Picts, who now begin their downhill slide. Vinekh is killed during an uprising, ending the Ukil Dynasty, and Telets (-764) of the Ugain tribe becomes khan of the Bulgarian First Empire. Ibn Rustam goes Khariji, gains Zanata Berber backing and founds the Rustamid (Rustumid) (Rostemid) Dynasty in North Africa (ends 909), becoming its 2nd Khariji state, with himself as imam ruling from the capital at Tahert (Tihert) (Tiaret) in C Algeria, the N point of the trans-Saharan trade route, attracting Kharijis from Iraq. Poet Tu Fu gets a position on the Chinese board of works (until 767). Deaths: English Benedictine missionary (St.) Winebald (Winnibald) (Wunebald) (Wynbald) (b. ?) on Dec. 18 in Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm, Germany; brother of St. Willibald and St. Walpurga?
762 On May 16 Tang Su Zong (b. 711) dies, and on May 18 his devout Buddhist son Tang Dai Zong (Li Chu) (Li Yu) (727-79) becomes Tang emperor #8 of China (until May 23, 779), having pesky eunuch Li Fuguo (b. 704) assassinated on Nov. 8, and forbidding the use of the swastika on silk fabrics; too bad, he spends too much on temples and shrines, bankrupting the empire. In Sept. Shiite Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Nafs al-Zakiyya ("the Pure Soul") and his brother Ibrahim stages an unsuccessful revolt in Medina and Basra of the Hasanid branch of the Alids against the new Abbasid aliphate (ends Feb. 763), their failure consolidating Abbasid power. Baghdad (Arab. "gift of God") (Madinat al-Salam) is founded as the new Abbasid capital by caliph Abu Jafar al-Mansur 18 mi. N of the old Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon, designed on a circular plan, with canals dug to both the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which attracts traders from as far away as China, India and N Europe; Arabic numerals of Indian origin are used there; within a cent. the pop. reaches 300K. King Aethelbert of Kent (b. 725) dies, and his son Eadberht II becomes king of Kent, ruling jointly with Sigered. The Khazars invade Azerbaijan and Transcaucasus. The Uighurs adopt Manichaeism as their state religion. Chinese poet Li Po (b. 701) goes out on a boat while drunk, sees his reflection in the water, tries to kiss it, and drowns. Jewish exilarch Solomon dies, and his successor Anan ben David (715-95) turns reformer a la the Shiites and Protestants, founding the Qaraite (Karaite) (Aramaic "qara" = to read, "qera" = text), ditching the newfangled Talmud and sticking only to the Torah like the old Sadduccees, causing the heads of the rabbinical colleges of Sura and Pumbeditha (near Baghdad) to elect his younger brother Chananya (Achuna) in his place because he is well-read in the Talmud; the office of Jewish exilarch (accepted by the caliphs as political head of all Jews in Armenia, Babylonia, Persia, Turkestan, and Yemen) ceases being hereditary and is elected by the rabbinical academies; the Qaraites gain followers in Palestine, Egypt, and Spain, and begin declining in the 12th cent., surviving in the 20th cent. in Arabia, S Russia, and Turkey. Deaths: Chinese Tang emperor #6 (712-56) Tang Xuan Zong (b. 685) on May 3. Chinese Tang emperor #7 (756-62) Tang Su Zong (b. 711) on May 16.
763 On Feb. 17 the An Shi Rebellion (begun 755) is ended after turning the Tang Dynasty into a ghost. In Feb. Muhammad ibn Abdallah's brother Ibraham leads an uprising in Iraq, briefly capturing Basra and Wasit before being quashed by Abbasid troops. The Bulgarians are defeated by 9K Byzantine cavalry at the Second Battle of Anchialus (Anchialos) (708, 917) near Pomorie on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, causing the pissed-off Bulgarians to assassinate Khan Telets. The capital of the Islamic empire is officially changed from Damascus to Baghdad by Caliph al-Mansur. Tibet invades China and raids Changan. Ciniod I Mac Uuredech (-775) becomes king of the Picts (until 775). Irish Ailech king Niall Frossach (Gael. "flowery", after showers of silver, honey, and wheat fall on his home in Fahan, Inishowen at his birth) mac Fergaile (718-78) of the Cenel nEogain branch of the Northern Ui Neill, son of Irish high king Fergal mac Maele Duin (-722) and brother of Irish high king Aed Allan (-743) becomes high king of Ireland, proclaiming the law of St. Patrick in force instead of the law of Columba of Iona, facing a challenge from Donchad Midi of Mide before abdicating about 772. The Benedictine monastery at Lorsch, Hesse is founded. Births: Abbasid caliph #5 (786-809) Harun al-Rashid (Haround al-Raschid) (d. 809) (Arab. "Aaron the Rightly Guided") on Mar. 17 in Rayy (near Tehran), Persia; hero of "The Arabian Nights". Deaths: Chinese Buddhist monk Jianzhen (b. 688) in Nara, Japan.
764 A census in China after the An Lushan Rebellion gives a pop. of 16.9M, a loss of 36M (70%) in 11 years?; two-thirds still live in N China, but after this the S pop. in the Yangzi Delta begins to catch up. On June 4 after a 3-mo. snowstorm, a solar eclipse is recorded in Britain, followed by a great drought and dysentary. The Khazars capture Tbilisi. The Battle of Durrow and Clonmacnois in Ireland see monks of two monasteries fight, and 200 Durrow monks are kKIA. Empress Koken forces Junnin to abdicate, and becomes Japanese Yamato emperor #48 Shotoku (718-70 (until 770); she refuses to renounce her Buddhist vows, setting a precedent. Bishop Felix of Cordoba criticizes Christians for observing Jewish fasts. Japanese emperor Shotoku supresses the rebellion of PM Fujiwara no Nakamaro, and orders a Million Pagodas built in thanks. Architecture: The Benedictine Ottobeuren Abbey in Ottobeuren (near Memmingen) in Bavaria is founded, becoming one of 40+ self-ruling imperial abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire; dissolved in 1802 after reaching 266 sq. km. and ruling 10K subjects. Deaths: Shiite imam #6 Ja'far al-Sadiq (b. 702) on Dec. 4. Northumbrian king (-738) and monk (St.) Ceolwulf (Ceowulf) (b. ?) in Lindisfarne; feast day: Jan. 15.
765 Alred becomes king of Northumbria. Sabin of the Kormisosh family becomes khan of Bulgaria (until 766). Tibet invades China. The Karaite (Qaraite) (Heb. "q'raim" = scripturalist) (Ananite) Jewish sect is founded in the Middle East by Jewish religious leader Anan ben David, acknowledging only the Bible as a source of religious authority and rejecting rabbinical teachings and the Talmud that had been incorporated since Christ; the rest of the Jewish world declares them heretics - the Arian heresy of the Jews? Architecture: Frankish King Pepin the Short builds his royal palace in Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) (Roman town of Aquae Grani). Inventions: The first known printing of picture books occurs in Japan. Births: Arab Shiite imam #8 Ali ibn Musa al-Riza (al-Rida) (al-Rada) (d. 818) on Dec. 29 in Medina; son of Musa al-Kadhim (745-99); father of Muhammad al-Taqi (811-35). Deaths: Japanese Yamato emperor #47 (758-64) Junnin in Awaji Island. Arab Shiite imam #6 Ja'far al-Sadiq (b. 702) on Dec. 14 in Medina; buried in Jannatul Baqi, Medina.
766 Sabin is deposed and flees to Constantinople, and Boyan (Pagan) (d. 766?) becomes khan, and finally concludes peaces with the non-pagan Byzantines. Umor becomes khan of the Bulgarians for 40 days until he is deposed by Toktu, who becomes khan of Bulgaria (until 767), and is soon faced by a rebellion. Taking advantage of the Chinese D at Talas in 751, the Tibetans cut off all communication between China and the West. York archbishop (since 735) Egbert (b. ?) dies; Ethelbert and Alcuin go on to make York a center of learning. Jaenbert (-791) becomes archbishop of Canterbury. Deaths: British (Northumbrian) archbishop of York (735-66) Egbert (b. ?) on Nov. 19; son of Eata, brother of King Eadbert of Northumbria; cousin of King Ceowulf.
767 On June 28 Pope Paul I dies, and on July 5 Pope (#95) Constantine II (-768), brother of Toto of Nepi forcibly claims the papal throne. The ancient and disused Egyptian waterways across the 100-mi.-wide Isthmus of Suez (linking the Mediterranean and Red Sea) are filled in after an Arab invasion. Toktu flees N to avoid the rebellion, and is captured and killed with his brother Bayan near the Danube Ruber by the Greeks; he is succeeded by Pagan, who becomes khan of the Bulgarians (until 768), visiting Byzantine emperor Constantine V in Thrace, who criticizes the Bulgarians for anarchy incl. deposing Khan Sabin, but makes peace and allows him to return home. Tu Fu resigns from the Board of Works and begins wandering. Births: Frankish prince Pepin (Pippin) the Hunchback (d. 811); eldest son of Charlemagne and his noble concubine Himiltrude. Muslim Sunni jurist Abu Abdillah Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (d. 820) in Gaza; founder of the Shafi'l Law School, which is big in modern-day Egypt, E Africa, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Deaths: Islamic legal scholar Abu Hanifa (b. 699) on June 14 in Baghdad. Arab Muslim scholar Ibn Ishaq (b. 704) in Baghdad; leaves Sirat Rasul Allah (Life of Allah's Messenger), the first bio. of the Big Dude, spawning the Sirah Rasul Allah, a series of bios. that often contradict each other, but which true Muslims believe show what behavior they must emulate.
768 On Jan. 14 after king (since 757) Fruela I the Cruel (b. 722) assassinates his brother Vimerano and names Vimerano's son Bermudo as his successor (gaining him his nickname), he is in turn assassinated in Canga de Onis, and his cousin Aurelius (Aurelio) (740-74) is chosen by the nobility as king #5 of Asturias (until 774), and is crowned in Sama, going on to put down a rebellion of serfs, becoming the first anti-seignorial revolt in the Iberian Peninsula; he also negotiates a peace with the Muslims in S Spain via an exchange of bribes in San Martin del Rey Aurelio (part of Langreo), causing the place to become known as El Entrego. On July 31 Pope (since 767) Constantine II is deposed by papal pretender Philip, then killed on Aug. 6, and on Aug. 7 Pope (#96) Stephen III (IV) (720-72) is elected. On Sept. 24 Pepin III the Short (b. 714) dies, and his sons Charlemagne (742-814) and Carloman I (751-71) succeed him, dividing the Frankish kingdom, with Carloman becoming king of Austrasia (until 771), incl. S Aquitaine, Burgundy, Provence, and Septimania, and Charley the Main Man becoming king of the rest of the Franks, incl. Neustria and N Aquitaine, his favorite residence being Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen); Charlemagne conquers the former Roman province (since -16) of Noricum (Austria); meanwhile Charlemagne puts aside his ho-hum intruding common-law wife Himiltrude (742-80) in favor of more politically desirable Lombard princess Desiderata, daughter of King Desiderius of the Lombards; the short-lived Carolingian Renaissance begins (ends 855), promoted by Charlemagne, who tries to create a Roman Renaissance, with architecture imitating ancient Roman, early Christian, and Byzantine architecture, producing 27 new cathedrals, 417 monasteries, and 100 royal residences, incl. Lorsch Abbey in Lorsch, Germany 6 mi. E of Worms (built about 800). On Dec. 17 after being brought to Constantinople by Emperor Constantine V on Nov. 1 and winning a bride show, future Byzantine emperor Leo IV marries Irene of Athens (the Athenian) (Sarantapechaina) (752-803). King Ciniod of the Picts is defeated by Aed "the White" Find (735-78) of Dalriada in the Battle of Fortriu at the Pict home base of Fortiu, throwing off Pictish overlordship and restoring unity to the Scots, while Pictland becomes racked with internal clan power struggles. Khan Pagan changes his mind about peace, invades Bulgaria and nears the Bulgarian capital of Piska before changing his mind again and returning home, after which his Pagan's people turn on him and murder him as he flees to Varna; he is succeded by Telerig as king of Bulgaria (until 777), facing attacks by the Greeks, which are mainly successful. Architecture: The Shingo Kasuga Grand Shrine in Nara, Japan is built, becoming the shrine of the Fujiwara family, known for its numerous bronze and stone lanterns. Births: Chinese Confucian (anti-Buddhist) essayist-poet ("the Shakespeare, Dante, and Goethe of China") Han Yu (d. 824) in Heyang (modern-day Mengzhou), Henan. Deaths: French mayor of of Neustria (741-68) Pepin III the Short (b. 714) on Sept. 24 in St. Saint-Denis. Spanish king of Asturias #4 (757-68) Fruela I the Cruel (b. 722) on Jan. 14 in Cangas de Onis.
769
In Apr. the Lateran council rules that from henceforth only cardinals can become pope - the Constantine-Philip scandal did it?
770 - While the Wild Wild West rocks on, the mountainous lands of Tibet and Mongolia retool for a long, long era of doing nothing but digesting milk, butter, tea, and flour?
770 On Aug. 28 emperor (since 749/764) Shotoku (b. 718) dies, and her brother-in-law (husband of Shomu's daughter Princess Ikami) (son of Prince Shiki, and grandson of Tenji) Konin (709-82) (personal name Shirakabe) becomes Japanese Yamato emperor #49 (until 781). Charlemagne, overlord of the Lombards marries the daughter of Lombard king Desiderius - did he find her desirable or too serious? About this time Buddhist monk-scholar ("the Second Buddha") Padmasambhava ("born of the lotus") AKA Guru Rinpoche journeys from N India to Tibet, founding Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism) (Tibetan "blama" = superior), based on Mahayana (theistic) Buddhism, corrupted Sivaism, and eventually incorporating native ritualistic Shamanism, which holds religious services three times a day, called by the tolling of a small bell, with everybody seated in rows accoding to rank, and making use of rosaries, prayer wheels and flags, holy relics, charms, talismans, and mystical incantations, esp. "om mani padme hum" (oh lotus jewel, amen"); the top job in the hierarchy is Dalai (Grand) Lama ("Lamb of God"?), then Teshu (Bogodo) Lama, then the Hutukhtus, then the Hobilghans (bodhisattvas), then the lower clergy, consisting of abbot (teacher), mendicant, asst. priest, and novice; animal sacrifices are forbidden; New Year i s celebrated in Feb., the Flower Feast is held at the beginning of the summer to commemorate the incarnation of the Buddha, and the Water Feast in Aug.-Sept. marks the start of autumn; babies are baptised on the 3rd or 10th day after birth,and confirmed when able to walk and speak; in case one still gets bored in the Crystal Temple in Shelkar, Tibet at 14K ft. above sea level, the Lamaic Canon contains over 1K works, consisting of 100 vols. of 1K pages each, and then if you still can't sleep there's the Lamaic Exegetical Commentary - if they only had the Internet they coulda kicked Bill Gates' butt long before he was born? Sports: The first women chess players are mentioned by ?. Poetry: The Manyoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), the earliest anthology of Japanese poetry (4.5K short poems) (begun c. 760) is finished. The oldest example of printing in the world, passages from a Buddhist sutra end up housed in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Births: English (Wessex) Christian king #1 (802-39) Egbert (Ecgberht) (Ecgbriht) (d. 839) (b. 775?); son of Ealhmund of Kent; father of Aethelwulf (795-858); grandfather of Alfred the Great (849-99). Roman Byzantine emperor #127 (811-13) Michael I Rhangabe (Rangae) (d. 844) on Jan. 11; son of Adm. Theophylact Rhangabe; husband of Prokopia (daughter of Nicephorus I); father of Theophilus (813-42). Roman Byzantine emperor (820-9) Michael II (the Amorian) (the Stammerer) (d. 829) in Amorium. Deaths: Japanese Yamato emperor #46 (749-58) and #48 (764-70) Koken/Shotoku (b. 718) on Aug. 28.
771 On Dec. 4 Carloman I (b. 751), and his brother Charles the Big seizes his domains in Austrasia, becoming Charles (OG "man") the Great (Charlemagne) (751-814), sole king of all the Franks (until 814); disgruntled Carloman's wife and sons flee to the court of Desiderius, Lombard king of Italy, who supports their claims against Charlemagne, causing the latter to repudiate his new wife Desiderata), marry Hildegard of the Vinzgau (756-83) (daughter of Count Gerold of Vinzgau (-799) and Emma of Alemannia, daughter of Duke Nebe), and go to war. Donnchad Midi (-997) of Clann Cholmain becomes king of Mide in Ireland, going on to seize the monastery in Clonard in the Leinster borderlands in 775, campaign in Munster, devastating their territory, and invading Brega in 777, defeating and killing Knowth king Congalach mac Conaing (-778) in the Battle of Forchalad in 778. The name Rotuvilla (modern-day Rottweil) first occurs in writing, named after the red building stones used by the Romans when it was their admin. center E of the Rhine. Nonfiction: Paul the Deacon (720-99), Historia Romana; continuation of the "Brevarium" of Eutropius, adding Christian history and advancing it from 364 to 553. Deaths: French king (768-71) Carloman I (b. 751) on Dec. 4.
772 On Jan. 24 Pope Stephen III (IV) dies, and on Feb. 1 Pope (#97) Adrian (Hadrian) I (-795) is elected, reigning over 23 years, the longest for the next millennium (when Pius VI beats him by 6 mo.); he works to found the temporal sovereignty of the popes by using Charlemagne to get the pesky Lombards out of the way, and restores the walls of Rome along with the aqueducts. On Aug. 1 and Sept. 29 bad thunderstorms in Oenach Tailtern, Ireland cause widespread panic, followed by recurrent famines and plagues throughout Ireland which last until 786? Charlemagne begins a 32-year campaign to convert the Sad Sack pagan Saxons under Widukind to Christianity using the cruel, fierce (Muslim copycat?) Sword and Cross Technique (take the Cross or I'll give you the sword), and begins a system of taxes (tithes) to support the Church, schools, and the poor (ends 804); the confederation of W Slavic (Wend) tribes known as the Obotrites (Obodrites) (Abotrites) (Abodrites) in modern-day Mecklenburg and Holstein in N Germany (known for their busy trade emporium of Reric) ally with Charlemagne against the Germanic Saxons and Slavic Veleti; Charlemagne expels many Saxons and replaces them with friendly Wends (Polabian Slavs) (Elbe Slavs) from the Elbe River area, who found Liubice ("lovely") on the confluence of the Trave and Schwartau Rivers across from Teerhof Island 2.5 mi. N of modern-day Lubeck (Lübeck) in Schleswig-Holstein (modern-day pop. 216K).
773 Charlemagne breaks off his attack on the pesky pagan Saxons to invade Italy allegedly to answer an appeal from Pope Adrian I to repel an attack by Desiderius, but really to achieve the big dream of conferring imperial status on the Franks as the nearest substitute to the wet dream of a papacy that rules everybody and everything secularly and religiously. Eugenius VIII dies, and Fergus III (-776) becomes king of the Dalriada Scots. In Dec. after a bloody flux, abundant nut crop, drought and famine, a lunar eclipse is recorded in Ireland. Al-Mansur orders translations made of the Hindu Siddhantas (425 B.C.E.), which contain the Hindu numerals and zero. Births: French king of Italy (781-810) Pepin (Pippin) of Italy (nee Carloman) (d. 810) in Apr.; 3rd son of Charlemagne (751-814) and 2nd wife Hildegard (758-83); originally named Carloman, but given the royal name Pepin in 780 after his elder half-brother Pepin the Hunchback (767-811) is disinherited. Chinese essayist-poet Liu Tsung Yuan (Liu Zongyuan) (Zihou) (-819).
774 In May Byzantine emperor Constantine V invades Bulgaria again with an army and a fleet of 2K ships, which sail to the Danube River Delta and disembark near Varna before he inexplicably changes his mind again and returns home, agreeing to a truce; too bad, in Oct. Bulgarian Khan Telerig sends an army of 12K men to raid Berzitia, Macedonia and force its pop. to move to Bulgaria, pissing-off Constantine V, who attacks with an army of 80K men, winning a big V then invading Bularia, only to return home after bad winds in the Black Sea hamper his fleet, after which Telerig sends a secret emissary to Constantine V informing of him of his intention of fleeing Bulgaria and seeking refuge with him, after which Telerig changes his mind and has the emperor betray and execute his own agents, waiting for a Byzantine reaction that never materializes because the emperor dies in 775. In June after a 9-mo. siege, Charlemagne takes starving Pavia, captures his father-in-law Desiderius, declares himself king of the Lombards, and forces him to retire to a monastery; Desiderius' son Adalgis (-788) holds out in Verona, then flees to Constantinople to seek aid; Charlemagne then conquers Spoleto and Benevento, and begins to annex the Lombard Kingdom (N half of Italy), claiming the Lombard crown, making Bologna a free city, then visits Rome and confirms his daddy Pepin the Short's 756 donation of territory to the pope while making it plain that he's sovereign even in the papal lands, allowing the pope a primacy in honor only, like the Byzantines did; meanwhile the pope is finally rid of the pesky Lombards and Byzantines (and their hated exarch), allowing him to keep the peninsula from being united in a centralized secular govt. until the 19th cent.; the Carolingians (successors of Charlemagne) became Italy's protector against all attackers (esp. the Muslims) until they became kaput in 987, while participating in papal elections - Great Brennus' Ghost repeats the Gaullic takeover of N Italy of -390? King Offa II of Mercia subdues Kent and Wessex. King (since 768) Aurelius (b. 740) dies in his capital of Cangas de Onis, and his cousin-in-law Silo (-783), husband of Adosinda, daughter of Alfonso I becomes king #6 of Asturias in Spain (until 783), moving the capital from Cangas de Onis to Pravia in the Valle del Nalon at the terminus of the Roman Asturica Augusta, going on to extend his frontiers to Galicia and defeat a Galician revolt in Monte Cubeiro in Lugo province. Krishna I dies, and his eldest son Govinda II (-780) becomes emperor #3 of the Rashtrakuta Empire (until 780), indulging in sensual pleasures while leaving the admin. to his younger brother Dhruva Dharavarsha (-793), who expands the empire to three times as big. Architecture: Salzburg Cathedral in Austria is built on the remins of a Roman town; in 1181 it is rebuilt after a fire, then rebuilt in the Baroque style after a fire in 1598. Science: Euclid's Elements are trans. into Arabic - only how many years to 9/11? Births: Japanese Yamato emperor #51 (806-9) Heizei (Ate) (d. 824); eldest son of Kammu (737-806). Japanese Buddhist monk (founder of the esoteric Shingon or True Word school and inventor of Japanese kana) Kukai (Kobo-Daishi) (d. 835) in modern-day Zentsuji, Sanuki, Shikoku Island.
775 A major solar storm. On Apr. 25 the Battle of Bagrevand sees the Christian princes of Armenia unsuccessfully rebel against the Abbasids; Musel VI Mamikonian KIA, causing Taron (Armenia) to come under control of Ashot IV (-826), who founds the Bagratide (Bagratuni) Dynasty (ends 968). On Sept. 14 emperor (since 741) Constantine V (b. 718) dies, and is succeeded by his eldest son Leo IV (the Khazar) (750-80) as Roman Byzantine emperor #123 (until June 18, 780) under the regency of his mother Irene the Khazar; an iconoclast, his wife (since 768) Irene of Athens (the Athenian) (Sarantapechaina) (752-803) is an iconophile, causing him to allow iconophile monks to retain images of the Theotokos, appointing iconoclast-turned-iconophile Paul IV the New of Cyprus as ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople in 780-4, causing the clergy to annoint him as "Friend to the Mother of God". The Byzantines defeat the Bulgarians at Lithosoria. Alpin Mac Feret (-779) becomes ruler of the Gabrain clan of Dalriada Scots. Al-Mansur dies, and his son Al-Mahdi (-785) becomes Abbassid caliph, beginning his reign by instituting an inquisition, then seeking to pacify Shiites with special gifts and status (in vain), and creating a new centralized bureaucracy with diwans (divisions) dedicated to tax collection, correspondence, and the military; he creates the position of wazir (vizier) (chief minister). Tibet subdues the Himalayas and concludes a boundary agreement with China; the first Tibetan monks are ordained. The Nestorian patriarchate is moved from Seleucia-Ctesiphon to Baghdad. Nonfiction: About this time Miracula Nynie Episcopi is composed in Britain. Births: Roman Byzantine emperor #128 (813-20) Leo V (the Armenian) (d. 820); of Armenian-Assyrian descent. Frankish courtier-scholar Einhard (Einhart) (Eginhard) (d. 840). Deaths: Abbasid caliph #2 (754-75) Abu Jafar al-Mansur (b. 714). Byzantine emperor #122 (741-75) Constantine V Copronymus (b. 718) on Sept. 14.
776 On Apr. 26 Leo IV the Khazar sppoints his son Constantine VI as co-emperor, causing his five half-brothers incl. Caesar Nikephoros to revolt, which is quickly put down, and they are beaten, tonsured, and exiled to Cherson under guard. Charlemagne extends his conquests over the Saxons to Dalmatia, beyond the present-day NE boundary of Italy. Pope Hadrian I has several aqueducts in Rome restored. Fergus III dies, and Solvathius (-796) becomes king of the Gabrain clan of the Scots. Persian Mulsim heretic chemist Al-Muqanna "the Veiled Prophet" (-783) (AKA Hashim) (who veils his face to cover the damage caused by an explosion) starts a rebellion in Khurasan, calling on the memory of Abu Muslim, and continuing the program of 6th cent. Iranian heretic Mazdak to mix Islam and Zoroastrianism, calling for the communality of all property and women (ends 789) - women, where do I sign? A rabies outbreak is recorded in Ireland. Charlemagne invites learned Christian schoolmaster (St.) Paulinus II (730-802) of Aquileia, Italy to France as royal master of grammar, who goes on to help restore literacy to the West; he also invites Italian poet-grammarian Petrus Grammaticus (Peter of Pisa) (744-99) to be his primarLatin teacher. Births: Arab Muslim adab (belles lettres) master Al-Jahiz (Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr al-Kinani al-Basri) (d. 869) (Arab. "man with prominent pupils in his eyes") in Basra - sounds like a garbled porno flick title?
777 Bad summer storms, bloody flux, and cattle murrain are recorded in Ireland, lasting through 779. Telerig flees to new Byzantine emperor Leo IV, converts to Christianity under the name Theophylaktos, and marries a cousin of Empress Irne, and Kardam (-802) becomes khan of the First Bulgarian Empire (until 802), turning the corner against the Byzantines and rebuilding the state. The last Celtic Christian station in S Wales conforms to the Roman Catholic rites and ceremonies, although the Celtic Church hangs on in N Wales (until 1172). Architecture: Tassilo III of Bavaria builds the Benedictine Abbey of Kremsmunster (Kremsmünster) in Upper Austria. Charlemagne begins building a palace at Aix-la-Chapelle, raising the city to the #2 rank in his empire, and it holds his first Diet; the Norse destroy the palace in 881 but it is rebuilt in 983. Deaths: Arab Muslim Sufi mystic Ibrahim Bin Adham (Abu or Abou Ben Adhem) (b. ?) in Constantinople; subject of the 1838 poem "Abou Ben Adhem" by James Henry Leigh Hunt (1784-1859). Arab Muslim astronomer Ibrahim al-Fazari (b. ?); born in Baghdad; inventor of the Astrolabe (Gr. "astron" + "lab" = star + to take) for measuring the altitudes of celestial bodies, consisting of a sight hole, degree scale, calendar scale, and rotating alidade (diopter); it is not perfected until the 850s, and doesn't arrive in Europe until the 1050s.
778 Charlemagne invades Spain in hopes of kicking the Muslims out of the Iberian Peninsula and extending his empire, and is stopped at the Battle of Saragossa on the Ebro River in a heroic defense by the Muslims; rubbing it in, the Basques defeat Charlemagne's rear guard under his paladin (nephew?) Roland at the Pyrenees mountain pass of Roncesvalles (Roncevaux Pass) (Orreaga) in Navarre as it is returning to France, killing Roland and becoming the subject of the 12th cent. Song of (Chanson de) Roland; Roland takes his sword called Durendal (Durandal) (Fr. "durer" = to endure) (allegedly once owned by Hector of Troy and given to him by Malagigi or Maugris) and tries to destroy it to prevent it from being captured, creating La Breche de Roland, but after it proves indestructible, he hides it beneath his body along with the oliphant; his horn is used to summon Charlemagne; Roland's horse is called Veillantif (Vegliantin) (Vegliantino) (Brigliadoro); Charlemagne doesn't give up, and returns and kicks their infidel butts, securing part of Navarre, and by the end of the cent. has conquered the Spanish March in NE Spain as far as the Ebro River; meanwhile while he is campaigning in Chasseneuil near Poitiers his son Louis I the Pious (the Debonair) (b. 840) is born. Aed Find dies, and Pictish overlordship over the Scots is restored, and until the lucky year 839 it looks like Dalriada is going to be absorbed as a province of Pictland? Pope Hadrian I in a letter to Charlemagne first indirectly mentions the dubious document known as the Donation of Constantine (Constitutum Domini Constantini Imperatoris), dated Mar. 30 (of 315/317?), granting to the papacy "the city of Rome, and all the provinces, places and cities of Italy and the western regions" (the Papal States), claiming that Emperor Constantine I the Great resigned his title of emperor and donated it to the pope, who returned it to him with the implication that it is forever the pope's to give and take away; it also claims that Constantine I already gave the lands to the popes and that Pepin was merely restoring them; it is exposed as a forgery in 1440 by Lorenzo Valla; meanwhile the papacy tries to steal the imperial title from the Byzantine emperor and give it to the Frankish Carolingian kings by using the DOC as justification; the pope stops dating papal documents by the emperor's regnal year and begins using Charlemagne's; by next decade the popes begin sending official announcments of their election to the Frankish kings instead of the emperors. Births: French king and HRE (814-40) Louis (Ludwig) I (the Pious) (the Debonair) (d. 840) in Cassinogilum (Astronomus) (Chasseneuil near Poitiers?) (Casseuil near La Reole?); 3rd son of Charlemagne (742-814) and 2nd wife Hildegard; father of Lothair I (795-855), Pepin I (797-838), and Louis II the German (804-76) by 2nd wife Ermengarde of Hesbaye (daughter of Duke Ingerman of Hesbaye); father of illegitimate Charles the Bald (d. 877).
779 Offa II of Mercia becomes king of all England, getting the pope to acknowledge him as such; Charlemagne begins a genial correspondence with him. On May 23 Tang Dai Zong (b. 726) dies, and his son Tang De Zong (-805) becomes Tang emperor #9 of China (until 805), going on to establish taxes in summer and autumn. Timothy I (-823) becomes Nestorian (Church of the East) patriarch under the Arab caliphate, going on to appoint metropolitans for Armenia and Syria and convert the Kaghan of the Turks, and write about Tibet's large Christian pop. Inventions: The earliest known prints are made in Japan about this time. Births: French Roman Catholic archbishop (of Lyons) (St.) Agobard (d. 840). Deaths: English missionary St. Walpurga (b. 710) on Feb. 25 in Heidenheim, Swabia, Germany. Chinese poet Tu Fu (b. 712); leaves 1405 Poems of Tu Fu, all pub. in 1059, making him China's most-quoted poet. Chinese Tang emperor #8 (762-79) Tai Dai Zong (b. 727) on May 23. Scottish ruler Alpin Mac Ferret.
780 Whadya like tonight, chicken? On Sept. 8 emperor (since 741) Leo IV the Khazar (b. 750) dies from a poisoned crown from the Hagia Sophia (Irene's work), and his 10-y.-o. son Constantine VI (771-804) becomes Roman Byzantine emperor #124 (until 797), with his mother ("Me, Myself and ?") Irene of Athens (the Athenian) (Sarantapechaina) (752-803) as regent; she soon becomes co-emperor, and rules with an iron fist in a velvet glove, restoring the practice of image worship. After his 2nd wife Hildegard puts him up to it, Charlemagne disinherits his deformed (hunchbacked) son Pepin (Pippin) the Hunchback (767-811), and has his undeformed 3rd son (by 2nd wife Hildegard) Carloman (b. 773) baptized by the pope as Pepin, setting him up for the Frankish succession, which for four generations has alternated between Charleses and Pepins; Charlemagne continues to hold his hunchbacked son in favor, but he becomes a target for plotting by disaffected nobles. Alcuin (735-804), head of the school of York goes on a mission to Rome, where he meets Charlemagne, who hires him to found the Schola Palatina in Aachen next year along with his pupil Fredegis of Tours (-843) to educate the backward Franks; too bad, the English church sends too many brain men to the Continent, losing its intellectual leadership of Europe by 800. Unpopular ruler Govinda II dies, and his younger brother Dhruva Dharavarsha becomes emperor #4 of the Rashtrakuta Empire (until 793). Vatsaraja (Vasraja) (-800), grand-nephew of Nagabhata I becomes king #3 of the Gurjara-Pratihara Dynasty (until 800), becoming the first to win Vs over Kannauj and Bengal, forging the Pratihara empire. Births: Persian Muslim House of Wisdom mathematician-astronomer-geogapher (inventor of Hindu-Arabic numerals and algebra) Mohammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi (d. 850) in Khwarezm. Arab Sunni Muslim scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855) (AKA Sheikh al-Islam) in Baghdad; founder of the Hanbali School of Law, which becomes big in modern-day Saudi Arabia. Frankish Benedictine poet-scholar (archbishop of Mainz) (most learned man in Europe?) (St.) Hrabanus (Rabanus (Rhabanus) Maurus Magnentius (d. 856) in Mainz; feast day: Feb. 4. Deaths: Byzantine emperor (775-80) Leo IV the Khazar (b. 750) on Sept. 8 (poisoned?).
781 Charlemagne has his infant son Louis I (b. 778) crowned king of Aquitaine (subkingdom of the Franks) and set up with a court and regents to slow rebellion after his 778 defeat at Roncesvalles. The Arab Muslims sack Ephesus, and deport 7K Greeks as slaves. Japanese Yamato emperor (since 770) Konin (b. 709) abdicates, and his first wife empress Ikami gets pissed-off at him for passing over their son and curses him, causing him to strip her of her rank, after which she dies from some illness (official cover story?), after which his eldest son (by Takano no Niigasa, a descendant of King Muryeong of Baekje) Prince Yamabe becomes Kammu (737-806), Japanese Yamato emperor #50 (until 806). Chinese monks are invited into Tibet, laying the foundation for Tibetan Buddhism. Architecture: Chinese emperor Tang De Zhong erects the Da Qing Monument in Hsi-an-fu to commemorate Alopen and the Christian Nestorian faith, settled in China since 635, which was allowed to develop missionary activities and build monasteries free of the pesky Roman and Byzantine papacies; the Siganfu Inscription at Singanfu, capital of the Tang Dynasty is created by Iezdbouzid, priest and chorepiscopus of Chumdan, chronicling the Nestorian mission in 636-781 (rediscovered in 1623); meanwhile Nestorian patriarch Timothy debates Caliph al-Mahdi, and consecrates bishops for the Turks and Tibet. Births: Spanish king of Pamplona #1 (824-52) Inigo I Iniguez (Íńigo I Íńiguez) (Arista) (Aritza) (Aiza) (Eneko Enekones) (d. 852); father of Garcia I Iniguez (-882).
782 I want you for a good night's sleep? Christian king Charlemagne has 4.5K pagan Saxons executed in one day at Saxons' Grove in Verden, and issues the Capitulatio de Partibus Saxoniae - don't be burned by missing the king's 4th of July mattress sale? King Offa II of Mercia begins construction of Offa's Dyke between Wales and Mercia to act as a genetic barrier between the Welsh (Celtic) "true Britons" and the Anglo-Saxon (German) invaders - lucky for Tom Jones and Richard Burton? Charlemagne invites historian Paul the Deacon (Paulus Diaconus) (Warnefred) (Cassinensis) (720-99) to his court, nominating him abbot of Monte Cassino in 787; he also invites Theodulf of Orleans (750-821) Science: Arab (al)chemist-physician ("Father of Arab Chemistry") Geber (Gebir) (Jabir ibn Hayyan), (Abu Musa) (Abu Masa) Dshaffar (721-815) begins to study chemistry as distinct from alchemy: calcination, oxidation, congelation, fixation, solution, digestion, distillation, evaporation, sublimation, separation, extraction, ceration, fermentation, putrefaction, propagation, projection. Deaths: Japanese Yamato emperor #49 (770-81) Konin (b. 709) on Jan. 11.
783 A Byzantine army conquers the Slavonic tribes in Greece, but they continue to occupy Thrace and Illyria (modern-day Yugoslavia and Bulgaria). The Spanish Saracens (Moors) invade Madrid. King (since 774) Silo dies, and gov. of the palace Alfonso II of Asturias (the Chaste) (759-842), son of Fruela I the Cruel and Munia the Basque, who was under the guardianship of his aunt Adosinda (Silo's husband) is elected king #7 of Asturias in Spain; too bad, with help from Abdur Rahman I, Alfonso I's illegitimate son (by a Moorish serf woman) Mauregatus the Usurper (-789), seizes the throne of Asturias from Alfonso II, forcing him to retreat to Alava and becoming king #8 of Asturias (until 789); Mauregatus secures peace with the Muslims by promising to pay an annual tribute of 100 white Christian virgins, half of noble and half of ignoble birth (until 791). Deaths: German Charlemagne's 2nd wife Hildegard of the Vinzgau (b. 783) in Thionville, Moselle.
784 Architecture: The Great Mosque of Cordoba (Mezquita) begins construction under Abd ar-Rahman I (Abdur Rahman I) on the site of the Christian Visigoth church of St. Vincent (finished 987); it is built facing S as if it were still in Damascus, as a statement that he wants to return soon; it turned back into a Christian church in 1236 by Ferdinand III of Castile. Nonfiction: Paul the Deacon (720-99), Liber de Episcopis Mettensibus; written at the request of Bishop Angilram of Metz, head of the royal chapel of Charlemagne. Births: Muslim Sunni scholar (in Baghdad) Muhammad ibn Sa'd ibn Mani' al-Baghdadi (Ibn Sa'd) (d. 845) in Basra.
785 Saxon chief Wittekind (Widukind) is captured and baptized by Charlemagne, and Frankish political institutions are introduced in Saxony, with Christianity made compulsory; Cologne becomes a Roman Catholic archbishopric; the remaining defiant pagan Saxons fight on until 804. Births: Japanese Yamato emperor #52 (809-23) Saga (Kamino) (d. 842) on Feb. 8; 2nd son of Kammu (737-806); brother of Heizei (774-824). Deaths: Abbassid caliph Al-Mahdi in Baghdad.
786 On Sept. 14 Persian-born Harun al-Rashid (Haround al-Raschid) (763-809) (Arab. "Aaron the Rightly Guided"), hero of The 1001 Arabian Nights becomes Abbassid caliph #5 in Baghdad (until Mar. 24, 809), initially allowing his mother and PM Yahya of the Barmak family to run the govt., but later rising to the occasion and becoming the most famous of the Abbassid rulers, the last who governs a unified empire from Tunisia to C Asia, known for the magnificence of his court in Baghdad an establishing the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma) in Baghdad, launching the Islamic Golden Age of Learning (ends 1258) as his scholars begin to scour the Earth for ancient Greek and Syriac mss. to bring back and trans. into Arabic, incl. the works of Aristotle, Plato, Galen, and Hippocrates, and Sanskrit botanical and medicinal works; he becomes the first Abbasid ruler who doesn't want to visit Jerusalem, even though he returns through Syria several times after making his hajjj to Mecca; too bad, his central govt. begins to decay outside of Iraq, with local rulers setting up shop as independents while claiming to rule in his name; Jerusalem begins to be exploited by renegate Abbasid rulers whle Bedouins terrorize the countryside, causing the first overt tension between local Muslims and Christians, with Muslims resenting Christian wealth. Cynewulf is killed by exiled noble Cyneheard, brother of Sigeberht, and after support against Egbert by King Offa of Mercia is succeeded by Beorhtric (Brihtric) ("magnificent ruler") (-802) as king #16 of Wessex (until 802); his wife is Eadburh (Eadburg), daughter of King Offa of Mercia and Queen Cynethryth. Deaths: Arab scholar Khalil ibn Ahmed (b. 718) in Oman; leaves the first Arabic Dictionary, arranged by phonetic and physiological principles rather than the alphabet; stimulates the Jews to make the first Hebrew dictionaries?
787 In the summer the Danish Vikings begin their first incursions into N England, starting a habit that grows regularly for the next 50 years - well blow my lur? On Sept. 24-Oct. 23 the Second Council of Nicaea (Seventh Ecumenical Council) (last council with reps of the churches of Rome and Constantinople), called by Empress Irene supports her view of the veneration due to sacred images and icons, and regulates it while condemning iconoclasm, with the soundbyte: "It is for painters to execute; it is for the clergy to ordain the subjects and govern the procedure", claiming to end the Iconoclasm War (begun 726) and reunite the Eastern and Western Catholic Churches; too bad, her successor Emperor Nicephorus is an iconoclast, and ramps the war back up; the Nicean Church where the council is held is turned into a mosque after the Muslims conquer it in the 14th cent. Desiderius' exiled son Adalgis tries to take back Lombardy with the help of the Franks and Prince Grimoald III of Benevento, but fails, Charlemagne annexes the Lombard duchy of Beneventum; Adalgis flees back to Constantinople and dies next year. The First Synod of Chelsea (OE "chalk wharf") in Cealchyte, Kent, called by King Offa II of Mercia and King Beorhtric of Wessex becomes the first and only one attended by papal legates in England; it creates the archbishopric of Lichfield (ends 803), with Mercian areas taken from the province of Canterbury, and Hygberht (Higbert) (Hygebeorht) (Hygebald) (-804) as the first and only archbishop (until 799), who consecrates Ecgfrith of Mercia as co-king with Offa. Charlemagne issues the capitulary Charter of Modern Thought, ordering the creation of free schools by the Church to increase literacy and stop the degeneration of vulgar Latin into regional dialects, requesting that "Boys may be taught in the Psalms, the system of musical notation, singing, arithmetic and grammar." Charlemagne visits Monte Cassino Abbey, and grants it vast privileges; he appoints Paulinus of Aquileia as patriarch of Aquileia. Deaths: English missionary Willibald (b. 700) on July 7 in Eichstatt, Bavaria, Germany; leaves Account of Travels to Sites Associated With the Life of Christ, the first travelogue written in Anglo-Saxon. Korean Buddhist monk Hyecho (b. 704); leaves Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Kingdoms of India (Wango Cheonchuk Gukjeon); lost then rediscovered in 1908 by Paul Eugene Pelliot (1878-1945).
788 Charlemagne deposes Tassilo III, and annexes Bavaria and Upper Austria, encouraging colonization and Christianization; Tassilo III's son Theodo becomes a monk. The Slovenes settle in Carniola. Idris ibn Abdallah (d. 791), a descendant of Prophet Muhammad through Ali establishes a Shiite dynasty in Morocco (until 926) with the help of Awraba Berbers, becoming the first Shiite state and the first attempt to unify Morocco; he becomes a spiritual-political leader with divine powers (baraka). The first church of Wurzburg, Bavaria is built, and consecrated by Charlemagne. Births: Indian Hindu philosopher-theologian (founder of Advaita Vedanta) Adi Shankara (Sankara) Charya (d. 820) in Kaladi (modern-day Kochi, Kerala). Deaths: Arab Cordoban emir Abd ar-Rahman I (b. 731) in Cordoba.
789 Pictish king Conall Mac Tadg (Tadc) (-807) is defeated by Constantine (Castantin) I Mac Fergus (-820), king of the Gabrain clan of the Dalriada Scots (nephew of Aed Find?); Conall escapes and vies for a comeback. The Vikings invade England. King (since 783) Mauregatus the Usurper dies in Pravia, and in 791 Alfonso II of Asturias is restored as king of Asturias (until 842), going on to discover the alleged tomb of Apostle Santiago (James, son of Zebedee) in Compostela, making it into a pilgrimage town. The Tibetan alliance with the Arabs ends. Khurasan rebel al-Muqanna is killed and his movement quashed. Mauregatus dies, and deacon Bermudo (Vermudo) (Veremund) I "the Deacon" (brother of Aurelius) becomes king of Asturias (until 791). Vino Nobile di Montepulciano red wine, produced in Montepulciano, S Tuscany, Italy is first mentioned, later on Oct. 17, 1350, and in 1685 by poet Francesco Redi, who calls it "the king of all wines". Deaths: Yemeni harem girl Al-Khayzuran bint Atta (b. ?); wife of Caliph al-Mahdi; mother of caliphs al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid; by now the harem, first ordered for Muhammad's wives in the Quran is a fixture of Islamic urban life?
790 This is the only year of peace in Charlemagne's 45-year reign? Byzantine emperor Constantine VI makes a weak attempt to curtail the power of his mama Empress Irene. Abu Mansur al-Yasa (d. 823) becomes ruler of the Khariji Midrarid dynasty in Morocco, founding his capital at the oasis town of Sijilmasa SE of Fez on the Ziz River; he marries a son to the neighboring Rustamid Dynasty, and makes Sijilmasa a major stop in the gold trade route with Sudan. Idrid captures Tlemcen from the Khariji Zanaba Berbers. In this decade Tibet regains control of the Silk Road (until 850). In this decade Irish monks reach Iceland, and colonize it (until 874). Alcuin is appointed principal of the Frankish court school. The Islamic Renaissance (Golden Age) begins during the reign of Harun al-Rashid (ends 13th cent.) - I got style, I got style to make the queen of England smile? In this decade schools for church music are established at Paris, Cologne, Soissons, and Metz under the supervision of the Schola Cantorum in Rome. Nonfiction: About this time the Libri Carolini (Caroline Books or Carolines) (Charlemagne's Books) (4 vols.), allegedly written at the command of long-gone Charlemagne (d. 714) are written, dissing the 787 Second Council of Nicaea and its endorsement of all-out image worship, although it allows a little for show?; after realizing that it misunderstands the actual position of the Byzantine church, they are quietly archived, and not pub. until 1549, becoming a hot book for Protestants incl. John Calvin, who uses it to argue against the veneration of images in "Institutes of the Christian Religion" (Book 1, Ch. 11, Sect. 14). Architecture: King Offa II of Mercia founds St. Albans Abbey. The Mosque of Cordoba (begun 784) is finished, becoming a wonder of the medieval world. Poetry: The Wessobrunn Prayer (Creation Poem), the earliest Old High German ecclesiastical verse is written. Births: Spanish king of Asturias (842-50) Ramiro I (d. 850); son of Bermudo I; father of Ordono I (831-66). Byzantine Macedonian Renaissance mathematician-logician ("cleverest man in Byzantium in the 9th century") Leo the Mathematician/Philosopher (d. 870) in Thessaly; of Armenian descent; cousin of John the Grammarian; starts out as iconoclast archbishop of Thessalonica.
791 On Aug. 12 Jaenbert dies, and the Mercian Ethelhard (d. 805) becomes archbishop of Canterbury. Byzantine emperor Constantine VI imprisons his mother Empress Irene for her cruelty. Charlemagne's armies conquer the empire of the Hunnish Avars, destroying their "Avar Ring" of military fortifications and driving them back east (791-5); the Avars and Slavs are forced to pay tribute. Idris ibn Abdallah dies, and his son Idris II (d. 828) becomes head of the Idrisid kingdom in Morocco. Bermudo I abdicates and returns to being a deacon after being badly defeated by the Moors in Bierzo (Burbia), and on Sept. 14 Oviedo-born Alfonso II "the Chaste" (759-842) (son of Fruela I and Munia, and cousin of Mauregatus) is elected king of Asturias in NW Spain (until 842), reestablishing the Visigoth admin. style, moving his court from Pravia to Oveido, and sending delegations to Charlemagne's court in Aachen in 796, 797, and 798. Byzantine emperor Constantine VI invades Bulgaria in retaliation for incursions in the Struma Valley since 1789, and Bulgarian khan Kardam meets him up front near Adrianople in Thrace, defeating and sending him home.
792 On July 20 the vulgar Bulgarians under Khan Kardam kick prissy Byzantine Greek emperor Constantine VI's butt at the Battle of Marcellae (Markeli) near Karnobat, and force him to pay annual tribute in gold and accept his mother Irene as co-emperor. King Offa II of Mercia murders King Ethelbert II, of East Anglia, and takes possession of his kingdom; he did it because Ethelbert II minted a silver penny that calls him rex? Irene regains power in Constantinople. A plot by disaffected nobles to assassinate Charlemagne and set up his dispossessed son Pepin the Hunchback as a puppet king is foiled by Lombard deacon Fardulf, and after the other plotters are executed, Pepin's sentence is commuted, and he is forced to enter the Monastery of Prum (Prüm) for life (until 811). The town of Omagh (Gael. "virgin plain") in N Ireland at the confluence of the Drumragh, Camowen, and Strule Rivers is first mentioned as the site of a new monastery. Architecture: Fulda Cathedral in Germany is begun. Architecture: Jewish count of Narbonne and Toulouse (since 790) (St.) Guillaume (William) (Guillem) (the Hook-Nosed) de Gellone (of Orange) (755-814) founds a Jewish academy and library in Gellone, France, which after his death becomes the Benedictine St. Guilhem-le-Desert (Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert); he retires to it in 806. Births: Spanish Muslim emir of Cordoba (822-52) Abd ar-Rahman II (d. 852) in Toledo; son of Al-Hakam I (-822).
793 "Exceptional flashes of lightning and firey dragons were seen in the air", followed by famine, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. On ? (Easter Eve) Adoptionist Bishop Elipandus (Elipando) (717-808) of Toledo accuses Abbot Beatus of Liebana in Asturias of predicting the End of the World during the night, sparking a riot; actually his Commentary on the Apocalypse predicts the end of the world by the year 800 at the very latest. Artri (Artrí) mac Cathail (-821), son of Cathal mac Finguine becomes king of Munster (untl 820), becoming the last king from the Glendamnach branch of the Eoganachta. The Antichrist Thor's Hammer Odin's Raven Norse Vikings sack the English island Lindisfarne Monastery in Northumberland (founded 635), terrorizing and messing it up so much that it haunts the English for cents.?; many mss. are destroyed, incl. history materials about the Celts, plaguing later historians - causing Viking victims to see Devil horns on their helmets in their nightmares? The Muslim Saracens under Caliph Hisham invade Aquitaine and burn down the suburbs of Narbonne, causing Charlemagne's forces, led by super-soldier Guillaume d'Orange (William of Gellone) (750-812) (who in 790 had been selected to train Charlemagne's oldest son Louis the Pious in soldiery) to take them on at the Battle of Villedaigne, and get their cross-carrying butts kicked. East Anglia is formally annexed to Mercia by King Offa II. Winchester bishop Aethelhard (Ethelhard) (Aethilheard) (Aethelheard) (-805) becomes archbishop of Canterbury (until May 12, 805). Popular ruler Dhruva Dharavarsha dies, and his son Govinda III (-814) becomes emperor #5 of the Rashtrakuta Empire (until 814); his chief queen is Gamundabbe. A tea tax is introduced in China - where's them Adamses?
794 The Norse Vikings arrive on the coasts of Caledonia ("trick or treat"?), allowing the Scots and Britons to regain their independence from the Picts; about this year the Scots begin celebrating the Hogmanay (pr. hug-muh-NAY) (from Latin "hoc in anno" = in this year) (Feast of the Numbers or Years) New Year's festival; if the "first footing", the first person of the year to knock on their door is a dark-haired (Celt) man, the family will have good luck, but if he's a blonde he's probably a *!?*! Viking and your wife has to do tricks for him or he'll give you a treat? - what about the Normans and their first night? In June the Council of Frankfort sees Charlemagne and St. Paulinus II condemn image worship and Adoptionism; Alcuin leads the fight against Adoptionism. The Third Council of Clovesho in England sees King Offa of Mercia sign a charter granting land for pious purposes. State-owned paper mills are established in Baghdad. Japanese Yamato emperor Kammu moves his capital from Buddhist clergy-dominated Nara to the new city of Heian (Jap. "safety and tranquility") (modern-day Kyoto) in S Honshu Island, Japan (modern-day pop. 1.47M) (until 1185); the Early Nara Period of Japanese art (begun 710) ends, and the Heian Period in Japan (ends 1185). Charlemagne gives his son Louis I the Pious of Aquitaine four Gallo-Roman villas in his Spanish March for winter quarters, Doue-la-Fontaine in Anjou, Ebruil in Allier, Angeac-Charente, and Cassinogilum. Births: Japanese Buddhist monk Ennin (Jikaku Daishi) (d. 864) (b. 793?) in Tochigi Prefecture. Deaths: French bishop of Rheims (748-) Turpin (Tilpin) (Tulpin) (b. ?);
795 A lunar eclipse is recorded in Britain this year or next. On Dec. 25 Pope (since 772) Adrian I dies, and on Dec. 26 Pope (#99) (St.) Leo III (750-816) is elected, sending the keys of St. Peter's Tomb and a banner to Charlemagne as the symbols of his sovereignty in Rome as king of Italy. The Spanish March (Marca Hispanica) in NE Spain is created, with William as its Count, and next year Charlemagne begins consolidating his gains there (finished 811); first he decides to break the pesky Avars in Carinthia and Croatia (ends 796). The first Viking raids on Ireland begin in Reachrainn (Lambay Island 5 mi. NE of the Irish mainland off N County Dublin), Rathlin Island (northernmost point of Northern Ireland), plus two monasteries on the W coast incl. Iona and Inishmurray; at this time there are no cities, stone bridges, or foreign trade to speak of in Ireland; about this time the Gaelic poem The Guardian Storm is written; "It plows up the wild hair of the sea,/ I have no fear that Viking hosts/ Will come over the water to me". :) The Bashmurian (Peshmurian) Revolt of Coptic Christians in Bashmur, N Nile Delta against the Abassids over jizya ramps up (ends 830). Births: Frankish duke of Septimania and count of Barcelona (826-32, 835-44) Bernard (Bernat) of Septimania (d. 844); son of William of Gellone (Orange) (755-814); husband (824-) of Dhuoda Sanchez, daughter of Sancho I of Gascony; father of Bernard Plantapilosa (841-86). German king of Bavaria (815-17), Italy (818-55), and Middle Francia (840-55), and HRE (817-55) Lothair (Lothar) (Lothaire) I (d. 855); eldest son of HRE Louis I the Pious (778-840) and Ermengarde of Hesbaye (daughter of Duke Ingerman of Hesbaye); brother of Pepin I (797-838) and Louis II the German (804-76); grows up in the court of Charlemagne; namesake of Lorraine. English (Wessex) Christian king #2 (839-58) Ethelwulf (Aethelwulf) (d. 858) in Aachen, Germany; elder son of Egbert (771-839) and Raedburh of the Franks; father of Ethelbald (-860), Ethelbert (836-65), Ethelred (847-71), and Alfred the Great (849-99). Deaths: Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf (b. ?); leaves Elena, Juliana, Christ, and Fates of the Apostles.
796 On July 29 King (since 757) Offa II of Mercia dies after "bequeathing to England the useful lesson that he who will be secure on land must be supreme at sea", and in July his son Ecgfrith (who had already been consecrated as king in 787 by his daddy to imitate what the pope did to Charlemagne's sons in 781) becomes king of Mercia, dying in Dec. after killing all his relatives, after which distant relative Cenwulf (Coenwulf) (Kenulf) (Kenwulph) (-821) succeeds him as king of Mercia (until 821), killing his son Egfrith on Dec. 13; during his watch Mercia reverses positions with Wessex, becoming the weak sister. Louis I and Count William defeat the Saracens in Aquitaine. The Avar fortress "Ring of the Avars" is destroyed by a combined Frankish-Bulgarian attack, and by 805 Charlemagne controls most of the territory to the Oder River, after which Charlemagne's son Pepin founds the Avar March (Awarenmark), a frontier district in the SE of his empire (ends 820). Bulgarian khan Kardam demands tribute of the Byzantines, threatening an invasion of Thrace, causing emperor Constantine VI to send dung as gold while threatening to lead an army to kick aging Kardam's butt in Marcellae, but is intercepted for the 2nd time near Adrianople, causing a push as negotiations drag on for 17 days until peace terms are reached. Solvathius dies, and Achaius (d. 828) becomes king of the Gabrain clan of the Dalriada Scots. Japanese Yamato emperor Kammu initiates the imperial hawking excursion to Serikawa. The Synod of Cividale sees St. Paulinus II back the filioque against the Adoptionists. The monastery school at Tours becomes a univ., with abbot Alcuin as its head; he develops the Caroline (Carolingian) miniscule script for his numerous writings, which is later adopted during the Italian Renaissance and by early Italian typesetters, becoming the foundation of modern type. Deaths: Islamic jurist Malik ibn Anas (b. 715); leaves Al-Muwatta (The Beaten Path), the earliest collection of Muhammad's sunna (words and deeds) in hadith (written) form, and the first book of Islamic law. Persian grammarian Sibawayh (b. 760) in Shiraz.
797 Empress Irene of Athens (the Athenian) (Sarantapechaina) (752-803) has her son Constantine VI blinded and imprisoned for life, becoming sole Byzantine emperor #125 (until 802) (the first woman in charge, and look, no Charles?), proposing marriage to Charlemagne as an ideal way to heal the East-West divide; having the Devil on the run, the Greek Church later canonizes her. After gov. Zeid of Barcelona rebels against Cordoba and fails, he hands Barcelona to Louis I the Pious of the Franks (until 799), who creates Visigoth nobleman Borrell (-820) as count #1 of Cerdanya, Urgell, and Osona on the iffy N border of Cordoba. Harun al-Rashid of Baghdad receives emissaries from Charlemagne, as noted in Latin but not Arabic annals. Korean civilization flowers about this time. Horse-changing posts for royal messengers are created in France. Births: Frankish Italian king (810-8) Bernard (d. 818) in Vermandois, Normandy; illegitimate son of Pepin of Italy (773-810) (3rd son of Charlemagne). Frankish king of Aquitaine (817-38) and duke of Maine Pepin (Pippin) I (d. 838); 2nd son of HRE Louis I the Pious (778-840) and 1st wife Ermengarde of Hesbaye; brother of Lothair I (795-855) and Louis II the German (804-76). Greek patriarch of Constantinople (847-58, 867-77) (St.) Ignatius (Ignatios) (d. 877) in Constantinople; son of Michael I Rhangabe (770-844) and Prokopia; maternal grandson of Nicephorus I.
798 King Cenwulf of Mercia takes the region of Kent (SE tip of the British island) - tastes good, like a filter tip should? Alfonso II of Asturias captures Lisbon from the Moors. The Slavic Obotrites under Prince Drozko (Thrasco) (-810) defeat the Saxons under Swieciana. Caradog ap Meirion dies, and Rhodri ap Idwal's son (by Margaret ferch Duplory of Ireland) Cynan Dindaethwy ap Rhodri (-816) becomes king of Gwynedd in Wales (until 816). The Fourth Council of Clovesho in Mercia, presided over by King Coenwulf and Archbishop Ethelheard agrees to a land exchange between Ethelheard and Abbess Cynethryth; after diligently examining "in what way the Catholic Faith was held and how the Christian religion was practised amongst them", "They all replied with one voice: 'Be it known to your Paternity, that even as it was formerly delivered to us by the Holy Roman and Apostolic See, by the mission of the most Blessed Pope Gregory, so do we believe, and what we believe, we in all sincerity do our best to put into practice.'" Salzburg becomes the seat of an archbishopric, with bishop (since 785) Arno (Arn) (Aquila) of Salzburg (740-821) as archbishop, receiving the pallium from Pope Leo III. The Vikings destroy the monastery on St. Patrick's Island in County Dublin. Architecture: The Tendai Buddhist Kiyomizudera Temple (Jap. "pure water temple") overlooking Kyoto, Japan is founded (rebuilt in the 1630s), becoming known for its long veranda supported by hundreds of pillars, which people jump from for luck; during Edo period 85.4% survive the 234 known jumps; behind the West Gate is the 3-tiered Sanjuoto Pagoda, tallest in Japan.
799 Bishop Gregory of Tours (d. 594) predicts the End of the World between this year and 806 - give it er, 7 years? On Apr. 25 Pope Leo III is attacked by employees of Pope Adrian I's jealous nephews on his way towards the Flamian Gate during the St. Mark's Day procession, dashed to the ground, and his eyes and tongue attacked in an unsuccessful attempt to root them out, and he completely recovers and flees to Charlemagne for protection. The Umayyads recapture Barcelona from the Franks. Charlemagne destroys the Adriatic port of Fiume (Rijeka) on the Gulf of Rijeka in modern-day Croatia, known for its tunny catch and grapes. The Island of (Ile de) Noirmoutier off the WC coast of France is raided by Vikings, who attack the monastery of St. Philibert of Jumieges (Jumičges) (608-84), causing the monks to abandon their home in 836, settling in 875 in Tournus in EC France on the right bank of the Saone River. Births: Italian historian Paul the Deacon (b. 720) on Apr. 13 in Monte Cassino; leaves Historia Gentis Langobardorum (History of the Lombards) (6 vols.) (unfinished), which covers from 568 to the death of King Liutprand in 744; Gesta Episcoporum Mettensium (History of the Bishops of Metz to 766); Life of Pope Gregory the Great; Collection of Homilies; done at the request of Charlemagne; Poems, incl. "Ut Queant Laxis". Deaths: Italian grammarian-poet Petrus Grammaticus (b. 744). Arab Shiite imam #7 Musa al-Kadhim (b. 745) on Sept. 1 (poisoned in prison by caliph Harun al-Rashid); buried in Al Kadhimiya Mosque in Kadhimayn (N of Baghdad), Iraq, where pilgrims wear white shrouds to symbolize their willingness to die for Grand Slam Shia Islam.