St Columba establishes a monastery on the island of Iona, from which Celtic Christianity is carried to Scotland and northern England

The Lombards invade northern Italy, and within four years occupy it as far south as the Po

Fugitives from the Lombard invasion of northern Italy take refuge on islands in the Venetian lagoon - and become the founders of Venice

Byzantine Italy is brought under a new administration, or exarchate, based in Ravenna

Gregory, bishop of Tours, brings his 'History of the Franks' up to this year

Pope Gregory I negotiates with the Lombards who are threatening Rome

Augustine, arriving with a party of monks from Rome, reaches Canterbury and is well received by the pagan king of Kent

The distinction between capital and lower-case emerges in the scriptoria of the Irish monasteries

The Scots, a tribal group of northern Ireland, extend their kingdom across the sea into Scotland

St Columban founds a monastery at Bobbio, the furthest outpost of Celtic Christianity

In the Frankish kingdoms the 'mayors of the palace' steadily become more powerful than their nominal masters, the Merovingian kings

The Book of Durrow, one of the earliest of the great Celtic manuscripts, is written and illuminated in Ireland

The Vikings develop the fast and narrow longships with which they raid across the North Sea

The king of Northumbria summons a synod at Whitby to hear the arguments of Roman and Celtic Christians, then opts for Rome

A Muslim fleet attacking Constantinople is deterred by the first known use of the Byzantine secret recipe for 'Greek fire'

With a victory at Tertry, Pepin II wins effective control over all three Frankish kingdoms

Willibrord, recently arrived from England to convert the Frisians, is consecrated archbishop of a new see in Utrecht

The Lindisfarne Gospels are written and illuminated by Celtic monks on the Scottish island of Lindisfarne

Many Anglo-Saxon kingdoms have by now amalgated, until there are just the seven of the Heptarchy

Muslim Arabs cross from north Africa into Spain and drive the Visigoths from Toledo

The death of the Frankish 'mayor of the palace' Pepin II is followed by civil war between members of his family

Retreating from the Arab onslaught, the Visigoths establish a kingdom of last resort in the extreme north of Spain, in Asturias

The civil war among the Franks ends with complete victory for Charles Martel, an illegitimate grandson of Pepin II

The Frankish ruler Charles Martel, granting tracts of land to his nobles, lays the foundation for European feudalism

The emperor Leo III launches the iconoclastic controversy, sending soldiers to smash the great image of Christ over the gateway to his palace