08th Century

Events 740s – Book of Tang

Book of Tang record of Byzantium  Events 740: Battle of Akroinon. Byzantines win their first large-scale victory in a pitched battle against the Arabs. 742: For the municipal census of the Tang-dynasty Chinese capital city Chang’an and its metropolitan area of Jingzhou Fu (including small towns in the vicinity), the New Book of Tang records that in this year there were 362,921 registered families with 1,960,188 persons. 748: The Chinese Buddhist monk Jian Zhen writes in his Yue Jue Shu of the international sea traffic coming to Guangzhou, ships from Borneo, Persia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and others bringing tons of goods. Sicily, Sardinia, Provence, and Greece are raided by a fleet of Arab Muslim ships Much to the delight of the citizens […]

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Events 760s – Offa’s Dyke is constructed

Offa’s Dyke is constructed around this time  Events Battle of Hereford: The Welsh kingdoms of Brycheiniog, Gwent and Powys defeat the Mercians under King Offa at Hereford. They free themselves from the influence of the Anglo-Saxons Offa’s Dyke is constructed around this time, according to the traditional history of this defensive earthwork. This 150-mile-long (240 km) earthwork marks the current border with the Welsh kingdoms, between England and Wales (approximate date). However, modern analysis of Offa’s Dyke suggests that it was built in the 5th century, well before the reign of King Offa. Baghdad nears completion as up to 100,000 labourers create a circular city about 1 or 2 km in diameter (depending on the source). In the center of the “Round City” is […]

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Events 770s – Charlemagne’s Saxon Wars

Charlemagne’s Saxon Wars Events 772–804: Charlemagne invades what is now northwestern Germany, battling the Saxons for more than thirty years and finally crushing their rebellion, incorporating Saxony into the Frankish Empire and the Christian world. King Charlemagne conquers the Lombard Kingdom, and establishes Frankish rule in Pavia, Venetia, Istria, Emilia, Tuscany, and Corsica. Charlemagne visits Rome; he confirms the Donation of Pepin (see 756) while insisting on his own sovereignty. Pope Adrian I grants him the title of patrician. At around this time, Baghdad becomes the largest city in the world, taking the lead from Chang’an, capital of China Saxon Wars: King Charlemagne spends Easter in Nijmegen, and leads a large Frankish army to Paderborn, where a general assembly of Carolingian and Saxon leaders had been summoned. Saxon lands are integrated into the Frankish Kingdom, and divided into missionary parishes

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Events 780s – The Second Council of Nicaea

The Second Council of Nicaea  Events Saxon Wars: King Charlemagne decrees the death penalty for any subdued Saxon refusing Christian baptism The Second Council of Nicaea was set up to restore the use and veneration of icons (or holy images), which had previously been suppressed 785–805: Chinese geographer Jia Dan describes large lighthouse pillars built in the Persian Gulf, which is confirmed a century later by al-Mas’udi and al-Muqaddasi. 787: The Empress Irene of Athens convenes the Seventh Ecumenical Council, ending the first phase of Byzantine Iconoclasm. The city of Osnabrück, developed as a marketplace, is founded by Charlemagne Charlemagne meets Alcuin, Anglo-Saxon missionary, in Italy, and invites him to Aachen, where he becomes Charlemagne’s chief adviser on religious and educational matters  The Frankish currency called the livre carolingienne is minted […]

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Events 720s – Iconoclastic Controversy

Iconoclastic Controversy Events 726: Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian destroys the icon of Christ above the Chalke Gate in the capital city of Constantinople, beginning the first phase of the Byzantine Iconoclasm. King Ine of Wessex builds a stone church at Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset Prague is founded (according to legend) by Princess Libuše and her husband Přemysl, founder of the Přemyslid dynasty A revolt breaks out in Greece against the religious policies of Emperor Leo III). A rebel fleet under Agallianos Kontoskeles sets out for Constantinople with Kosmas, an anti-emperor, but is destroyed by the Byzantine fleet through the use of Greek fire Chinese eating sticks are introduced in the next 20 years in Japan, where people heretofore have used one-piece pincers. The Japanese call them hashi. Religion Boniface, Anglo-Saxon missionary, fells Thor’s […]

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Events 710s – Saint Boniface defeating Thor

Saint Boniface defeating Thor Events 711: Tariq ibn Ziyad crosses the Straits of Gibraltar. With the creation of Al-Andalus, most of the Iberian Peninsula is conquered by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and beginning almost eight centuries of Muslim rule. Salih I ibn Mansur founds the Muslim Kingdom of Nekor (Morocco). He converts the local Berber tribes to Islam. 712–756: Emperor Xuanzong reigned, the time was considered one of China‘s high points. 712–776: Caliphate campaigns in India Arab Expansions Halted. 713: Treaty of Tudmir, signed between Abd al-‘Aziz, the commander of Muslim troops invaiding Spain and Theodemir, the Christian king of a southern region is Spain. 717–718: Siege of Constantinople. The Bulgarians and the Byzantines decisively defeat the invading Arabs, thus halting the Arab advance […]

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700 The Lindisfarne Gospels

Far from ‘dark’, the early medieval period saw religious diversity and the invention of new forms of art. The Lindisfarne Gospels is only 1 example of great early medieval art. 1. Why is the period known as ‘dark’? The term ‘Dark Age’ was used by the Italian scholar and poet Petrarch in the 1330s to describe the decline in later Latin literature following the collapse of the Western Roman empire. In the 20th century, scholars used the term more specifically in relation to the 5th-10th centuries, but now it is largely seen as a derogatory term, concerned with contrasting periods […]

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793 First mention of Viking voyages

On a clear day, a Viking longship at sea could be seen some 18 nautical miles away. With a favourable wind, that distance could be covered in about an hour – which was perhaps all the time that the monks at Lindisfarne had to prepare themselves against attack on one fateful day in 793. This was the raid that signalled the start of the violence associated with the onset of the Viking age.   “We and our fathers have now lived in this fair land for nearly 350 years, and never before has such an atrocity been seen in Britain […]

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