istoryworld
All Events
Charles Martel dies and leaves the Frankish kingdoms to his two sons, Carloman and Pepin III
Boniface, working as a missionary among pagan Germans, makes his headquarters at Mainz
The elder son of Charles Martel retires to a monastery, leaving Pepin III in control of the entire Frankish empire
With papal support Pepin III is elected king of the Franks, beginning the Carolingian dynasty (named from his father, Charles Martel)
Karaism, relying on scripture rather than rabbinical commentary, develops among the Jewish community in Babylon
T'ang potters make vigorous and brightly coloured figures, of horses, camels or human attendants, to accompany the dead in the grave
The Arabic language gradually replaces Aramaic as the lingua franca of the Middle East
The professional bards of the Germanic tribes give lasting life to Norse legend
Sufism develops as a mystical strain within Islam
The Abbasids massacre the Umayyads in Damascus and establish a new caliphate
A battle at the Talas river, between the Chinese and the Arabs, is a decisive victory for the Arabs
Skilled Chinese paper-makers are captured by the Arabs - beginning the slow westward transmission of the technology of paper
Muscat and Oman establish a tradition of spiritual rule by elected imams
Pope Stephen II anoints Pepin III and his two sons (one of them Charlemagne) in the abbey church of St Denis
Abd-ar-Rahman, escaping from the massacre of his family in Syria, establishes a new Umayyad dynasty at Cordoba
Pepin III, after recovering Byzantine territories in Italy from the Lombards, hands control of the region to the pope in Rome
The Abbasid caliphs create Baghdad as a new capital city on the Tigris
The empress of Japan, in a remarkable start to the story of printing, commissions a million copies of a Buddhist charm
On the death of Pepin III, the empire of the Franks is divided between his two sons - Charlemagne and his younger brother, Carloman
On the death of his brother, Charlemagne inherits the entire kingdom of the Franks
Charlemagne destroys a great Saxon shrine, the Irminsul - the start of a 30-year campaign against his pagan neighbours in what is now Germany
After two campaigns in Lombardy, Charlemagne establishes himself as king of the Lombards in northern Italy
An attack on Charlemagne's army, traditionally at the pass of Roncesvalles in the Pyrenees, is later the basis for the Chanson de Roland
Islam reaches Shanga, off the east coast of Africa, with the building of a tiny wooden mosque
The Anglo-Saxons have a name for the Celts west of Offa's dyke - wealas or Welsh, meaning foreigners
