The Venetians for the first time elect their own doge, acting independently of the Byzantine governor in Ravenna

The Venerable Bede, in his monastery at Jarrow, completes his history of the English church and people

The Muslim advance into France is halted when Charles Martel defeats the Arabs between Poitiers and Tours

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)

The professional bards of the Germanic tribes give lasting life to Norse legend

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

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

The Anglo-Saxons have a name for the Celts west of Offa's dyke - wealas or Welsh, meaning foreigners

Charlemagne, meeting the English scholar Alcuin on a visit to Italy, invites him to become head of the palace school in Aachen

Alcuin leaves the palace school at Aachen to become abbot of the monastery of Tours

The script known as Carolingian minuscule (basis of the modern roman typeface) is developed by Alcuin and his scribes at the monastery of Tours

Beowulf, the first great work of Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons

The Jews prosper in the Muslim and Carolingian empires, forming strong communities in Spain and in Germany

In St Peter's in Rome, on Christmas Day, pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne emperor - supposedly to Charlemagne's surprise

Pope Leo III consecrates Charlemagne's new palace chapel in Aachen, modelled on San Vitale in Ravenna

Hemming, a Danish king, makes a treaty with the Franks establishing the river Eider as the southern border of Denmark