740s

The 740s decade ran from January 1, 740, to December 31, 749.

Millennium: 1st millennium
Centuries:
Decades:
Years:
Categories:
  • Births
  • Deaths
  • Establishments
  • Disestablishments

Events

740

By place
Byzantine Empire
  • Battle of Akroinon: Following the disastrous Battle of Sebastopolis (see 692), Emperor Leo III has largely confined himself to a defensive strategy, while the Umayyad armies regularly launch raids into Byzantine-held Anatolia.[1] Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik assembles an expeditionary force (90,000 men) under his son Sulayman ibn Hisham. One of these armies, 20,000 men strong under Abdallah al-Battal, is defeated at Akroinon (modern-day Afyon) by the Byzantines, led by Leo and his son, the future emperor Constantine V. About 6,800 Muslim Arabs, however, resist and manage to conduct an orderly retreat to Synnada (Phrygia).[2]
  • October 26 – 740 Constantinople earthquake. An earthquake strikes Constantinople and the surrounding countryside, causing destruction to the city's land walls and buildings.
Europe
  • The Berber tribes in the recently conquered region of Galicia (northwest Spain) rebel. This facilitates the establishment of an independent kingdom in the Cantabrian Mountains under King Alfonso I of Asturias.[3]
  • Duke Thrasimund II recovers the duchy of Spoleto and kills Hilderic with Papal-Beneventian aid.[4] He does not return the confiscated papal cities, and his alliance with Pope Gregory III ruptures.
  • December – King Liutprand of the Lombards attempts to counter the growing independence of the Lombard duchies in southern Italy.
  • Sicily, Sardinia, Provence, and Greece are raided by a fleet of Arab Muslim ships sent by the governor of Ifriqya, the ones raiding South Western Europe are led by Habīb Ibn Abi ‘Ubayda Al-Fihrī, while the fleet raiding Greece is led by Mu’awiya ibn Hishām. All of them are successful, submitting the Islands and returning with much wealth from the spoils of war.
Britain
  • King Eadberht of Northumbria marches his army north to attack the Picts. King Æthelbald of Mercia takes advantage of his absence, and ravages the city of York. Internal struggles re-emerge in Northumbria with the murder of Eardwine, probably the son of the late usurping king Eadwulf I.[5][6]
  • King Æthelheard of Wessex dies after a 14-year reign. He is succeeded by his brother (and probably distant relative) Cuthred. Æthelbald of Mercia takes control of Berkshire from Wessex.
Africa
  • Battle of the Nobles: The Berber rebels under chieftain Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati defeat and overwhelm the Umayyad forces of Khalid ibn Abi Habib al-Fihri, near Tangier (Northern Morocco), undermining Arab domination in Islamic North Africa. The rebellion spreads in Al-Andalus (Spain), causing governor Ubayd Allah ibn al-Habhab to withdraw Moorish troops from many garrisons north of the Pyrenees.[7]
Asia
  • Much to the delight of the citizens of Chang'an, the Chinese government of the Tang Dynasty orders fruit trees to be planted along every main avenue of the city, which enriches not only the diets of the people but also the surroundings (approximate date)
  • Fujiwara no Hirotsugu Rebellion: The Fujiwara clan led by Fujiwara no Hirotsugu, dissatisfied with the political powers in Japan, raise an army in Dazaifa (Kyushu) but are defeated by government forces.
  • The Japanese imperial capital is moved from Heijō-kyō to Kuni-kyō.

By topic
Religion

741

By place
Byzantine Empire
  • June 18 – Emperor Leo III ("the Isaurian") dies of dropsy at Constantinople, after a 24-year reign that has saved the Byzantine Empire and delivered Eastern Europe from the threat of an Arab conquest. He is succeeded by his son Constantine V.
  • Artabasdos, Byzantine general (strategos) of the Armeniac theme, defeats Constantine V and advances on Constantinople, where he is crowned emperor. He secures the support of the themes of Thrace and Opsikion, and abandons Leo's religious policy of iconoclasm. Constantine seeks the support of the Anatolic theme.
Central America
  • February 11 – Wak Chanil Ajaw (Lady Six Sky), queen of the Mayan city state of Naranjo in Guatemala, dies after a reign of more than 47 years and is succeeded by her son, Yax Mayuy Chan Chaak, who reigns until his own death in 744.
  • June 23 – Kʼawiil Chan Kʼinich becomes the new ruler of the Mayan city state at Dos Pilas in Guatemala after the death of Ucha'an K'in B'alam and reigns until 761 when he is forced to flee during an uprising by rebels from Tamarindito.
Europe
  • October 22 – Charles Martel, Merovingian mayor of the palace, dies in his palace at Quirzy-sur-Oise (modern-day Picardy). His territories are divided between his adult sons Carloman and Pepin the Short, although the Frankish Kingdom has had no true king since the death of Theuderic IV (see 737). Lands to the east, including Austrasia and Alemannia (with Bavaria as a vassal) go to Carloman, while Pepin receives Neustria and Burgundy (with Aquitaine as a vassal). Grifo, youngest son of Charles, succeeds him as mayor of the palace, and probably receives a strip of land between Neustria and Austrasia.
  • Pepin the Short marries Bertrada of Laon, daughter of Count Charibert of Laon.[8]
Switzerland
  • In 741 and 744, documents in the archives of St. Gallen Abbey describe the village of Kempraten as Centoprato, another document in 863 as Centiprata, inspired by the Latin name Centum Prata.
  • A nunnery given by the Alamannic noblewoman Beata on Lützelau island is first mentioned. In 744, the nunnery is sold to Einsiedeln Abbey.
  • Ufenau island in Switzerland is first mentioned in 741 as "Hupinauia", and in 744 as "Ubinauvia" — island of Huppan of Huphan.
Africa
  • The Great Berber Revolt: Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik appoints Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi as governor (wali) of Ifriqiya (North Africa). A fourth expedition is sent from Syria by the Umayyad Caliphate to crush the rebellion in the Atlas region, but is defeated at the Battle of Bagdoura, in the plain of the Ghrab (modern Morocco). The counter-attack of the Kharijite rebels to the East is successful, but fails to conquer Kairouan from the loyalists. A more radical branch of the Tunisian Kharijites, (the Sufrists) however, manages to take the city soon after.[9]

By topic
Religion

742

By place
Europe
  • King Liutprand of the Lombards meets Pope Zachary at Terni (Central Italy), who appeals to the king's religious faith. Liutprand is a pious Catholic and signs a 20-year peace treaty, restoring the cities of the Duchy of Rome which he has captured. The independent Lombard duchies of Spoleto and Benevento absorb into the Lombard Kingdom.
  • Arab-Byzantine Wars: Arab forces under Sulayman ibn Hisham invade Anatolia, reaching as far as Herakleia, and return with much wealth & livestock.
  • Umayyad conquest of Hispania: Arab forces under Abd al-Malik ibn Katan al-Fihri, governor (wali) of Al-Andalus, suppress the Berber rebellion in the region of Mértola (modern Portugal).[12]
  • Teodato Ipato succeeds his father Orso Ipato, as the fourth doge of Venice. He moves the capital from Heraclea to Malamocco.
Africa
  • The Great Berber Revolt: Muslim forces under Handhala ibn Safwan al-Kalbi, governor of Egypt, break out of besieged Kairouan (Tunisia). He scatters the Berbers, and in the following months he reconquers all lands lost during the Revolt in Morocco and South of it.
Asia
  • Emperor Xuan Zong begins to favor Taoism over Buddhism, adopting the new reign title Tianbao ("Heavenly Treasures"), to indicate his divine mandate. The total number of enlisted troops in the Tang armies has risen to about half a million, due to Xuan Zongs's earlier military reforms.
  • For the municipal census of the Chinese capital city Chang'an and its metropolitan area of Jingzhou (including small towns in the vicinity), the New Book of Tang records that in this year there are 362,921 registered families with 1,960,188 people.
  • Li Bai (also Li Po), Chinese poet, is summoned by Xuan Zong to attend the imperial court. He and his friend Du Fu become the two most prominent figures in the flourishing of Chinese poetry, during the mid-Tang Dynasty.

By topic
Religion
  • After a 40-year vacancy, Stephen IV becomes Orthodox patriarch of Antioch, at the suggestion of caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik.
  • Chrodegang, chancellor of Charles Martel, is appointed bishop of Metz and embarks on a reorganisation of the Frankish church.
  • Sturm, disciple of Boniface, establishes the Benedictine Abbey of Fulda (present-day Hesse) in Germany (or 744).
  • The Holy Face of Lucca is transferred to Lucca from Luni (approximate date).

743

By place
Byzantine Empire
  • Summer – Emperor Constantine V defeats his brother-in-law Artabasdos, who has led a two-year insurrection in an attempt to usurp the Byzantine throne. He heads for Constantinople, and captures the capital three months later. Artabasdos and his son Niketas are publicly blinded, and relegated to the monastery of Chora. Constantine renews his policy of Iconoclasm.
  • Constantine V reforms the old Imperial Guard of Constantinople into new elite cavalry and infantry units, called tagmata (Greek for 'the regiments'). He uses these troops against a rebellious theme in north-west Anatolia (modern Turkey), and later for offensive campaigns against Arab Muslim raiders and Bulgars.[13]
Europe
  • Childeric III re-succeeds to the throne of the Frankish Kingdom as the last Merovingian king, (until his death in 754) after an interregnum of seven years. Power remains firmly in the hands of the major domus, currently Carloman and Pepin the Short.
  • Duke Odilo of Bavaria comes to the aid of Boruth, prince (knyaz) of the Carantanians, against repeated Avar incursions in present-day Austria, and is able to vassalize the Slavic principality. In exchange for Bavarian assistance, Boruth accepts his overlordship and is converted to Christianity.[14]
Britain
Arabian Empire
  • February 6 – Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik dies after a 19-year reign, in which the Arab expansion in Europe has been stopped and the Umayyad Caliphate has come under pressure from the Turks in Central Asia and Berbers in North Africa. He is succeeded by his nephew Al-Walid II, who has Khalid al-Qasri, former governor of Iraq, imprisoned and tortured.
Japan
  • Emperor Shōmu changes the law of Perpetual Ownership of Cultivated Lands. This permits aristocrats and members of the clergy to cultivate land. The new farmland will be called shoin.
Americas
  • In one of the final battles of the Third Tikal-Calakmul War, the city of El Peru is taken by Tikal.
Asia
  • 743 Caspian Gates earthquake. It took place in the Caspian Gates (Gates of Alexander). The location is identified with either Derbent, Russia or Talis, Iran. [15]

By topic
Religion
  • The Concilium Germanicum: First major Church synod held in the eastern parts of the Frankish Kingdom. Organized by Carloman, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, and presided over by Saint Boniface, who is solidified in his position as leader of the Frankish church.

744

By place
Europe
  • February – King Liutprand of the Lombards dies of natural causes after a 32-year reign, in which he has defeated the dukes of Spoleto and Benevento, bringing the Lombard Kingdom to the height of her power. He is succeeded by Hildeprand, called "the Useless" (nephew or grandson of Liutprand), as ruler of the Lombards.[16]
  • October – Hildeprand is deposed by the council of nobles, for his incompetence as ruler. He is succeeded by Ratchis (formerly duke of Friuli) as king of the Lombards, who makes peace with Pope Zachary.[17]
  • Pepin the Short, mayor of the palace of Neustria and Burgundy, invades the Swabian Jura (southwestern Germany), and chases Theudebald, Duke of Alamannia, from his mountain redoubt in Alsace.
Switzerland
  • In 741 and 744, documents in the archives of St. Gallen Abbey describe the village of Kempraten as Centoprato, another document in 863 as Centiprata, inspired by the Latin name Centum Prata.
  • A nunnery given by the Alamannic noblewoman Beata on Lützelau Island is first mentioned, and is in this year sold to Einsiedeln Abbey.
  • Ufenau island in Switzerland is first mentioned in 741 as "Hupinauia", and in 744 as "Ubinauvia" — island of Huppan of Huphan.
Britain
  • Wat's Dyke, a 40 mile (64 km) earthwork in present-day Wales, is constructed. The border between Mercia and Powys is set here. The date that Wat's Dyke was constructed is very uncertain, with some estimates linking the construction of the dyke to the 5th century and others to the early 9th century (approximate date).
Arabian Empire
  • April 17 – Caliph Al-Walid II is besieged in his castle outside the city of Damascus. He is defeated and killed by Arab forces under Sulayman ibn Hisham. Al-Walid is succeeded by his cousin Yazid III, who dies shortly after of a brain tumor.[18]
Dirham of caliph Ibrahim ibn al-Walid. He ruled the caliphate for just two months
  • December – Marwan ibn Muhammad rebels against Yazid's designated successor Ibrahim ibn al-Walid, defeats the Umayyad forces under Sulayman ibn Hisham, and becomes caliph.
Asia
  • Turkic subjects like Uyghur, Karluk and Basmyl, who are not the members of the Ashina clan, stage a coup. This ends the Turkish Empire and Ashina clan (except in Khazaria).
  • Autumn – Li Bai (also Li Po), Chinese poet and skilled calligrapher, meets Du Fu for the first time.
  • The Japanese imperial capital is moved from Kuni-kyō to Heijō-kyō.
Central America
  • February 4 – In the Third Tikal-Calakmul War in what is now Guatemala, the Mayan city-state of Tikal conquers the state of Naranjo and captures its king, Yax Mayuy Chan Chaak, who is subsequently sacrificed. The conquest by Tikal destroys Calakmul's once powerful and extensive network of allies, vassal states and trade networks.

By topic
Religion

745

By place
Byzantine Empire
Europe
  • Hunald I, duke of Aquitaine, retires to a monastery, probably on Île de Ré.[21] He is succeeded by his son Waifar, who struggles during his rule for independence against the Frankish Kingdom with deposits of coprolite found.
  • Carantania (modern Austria) loses its independence and becomes part of the Frankish Kingdom, due to the pressing danger posed by Avar tribes from the east (approximate date).
Asia

By topic
Religion
  • Genbō, Japanese scholar-monk, is exiled to Dazaifu on the island of Kyushu.[22]

746

By place
Byzantine Empire
Europe
  • Council of Cannstatt: Carloman, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, convenes an assembly of the Alemanni nobility at Cannstatt (modern Stuttgart), and has most of the magnates, numbering in the thousands, arrested and executed for high treason. This ends the independence of the tribal duchy of Alamannia, which is thereafter governed by counts or dukes appointed by their Frankish overlords.
  • King Ratchis codifies the Lombard laws, promulgated in Latin, and advised by his council and the Lombard army (approximate date).
Britain
  • King Saelred of Essex dies after a 37-year reign. He is succeeded by Swithred, grandson of the late king Sigeheard. Like his predecessors, he is not an independent ruler, but a sub-king of Mercia.[23]
Umayyad Caliphate
  • August or September – Battle of Kafartuta: Caliph Marwan II defeats and kills Al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani, leader of the Kharijites, in Upper Mesopotamia. The rebels withdraw across the River Tigris, escaping destruction.
Asia
  • The Hida-Kokubunji Temple in Japan is built to pray for peace and prosperity (approximate date).
  • Jayshikhari Chavda establishes the Chavda Dynasty in Gujarat (India).
Central America
  • August 15 – K'ak' Yipiiy Chan Chaak is installed as the new ruler of the Mayan city state of Naranjo in Guatemala and reigns until his death in 748.

By topic
Religion

747

By place
Byzantine Empire
Europe
Islamic Empire
  • June 9 – Abbasid Revolution: Abu Muslim Khorasani, Persian military leader from Khorasan, begins an open revolt against Umayyad rule, which is carried out under the sign of the Black Standard. Close to 10,000 Muslims, primarily Khorasani Persians are under his command, when the hostilities officially begin in Merv (modern Turkmenistan).
Asia

748

By place
Europe
  • January 18 – Duke Odilo of Bavaria dies after a 12-year reign. Grifo, youngest son of Charles Martel, seeks to establish his own rule by seizing the duchy for himself, and abducts Odilo's infant son Tassilo III.
  • In Rome, Pope Zachary closes down a slave market, where Venetian merchants had been selling Christian captives to the Muslims in North Africa.[26]
Britain
Arabian Empire
  • February 14 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan (modern Iran), marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt. Qahtaba ibn Shabib al-Ta'i takes the cities Nishapur and Rey, defeating an Umayyad army (10,000 men) at Gorgan.
  • December 9 – Nasr ibn Sayyar, Arab governor of Khorasan, dies after a 10-year administration in which he has fought vigorously against dissident tribes, Turgesh neighbors, and the Abbasids. Nasr had imposed poll taxes (jizya) on non-Muslims, and introduced a system of land taxation for Muslim Arabs.
  • The city of Baalbek (modern Lebanon) is sacked with great slaughter.
Asia

749

By place
Europe
  • King Ratchis of the Lombards besieges Perugia, but is convinced to lift the siege by Pope Zachary. His decision to lift the siege of Perugia undermines his authority among the Lombard nobility, and ultimately results in the nobility deposing him at a council in Milan. King Ratchis is forced to retire with his family to the monastery at Monte Cassino.
  • June – Aistulf succeeds his brother, Ratchis, as king of the Lombards and marries Gisaltruda, sister of Anselm, Duke of Friuli.
Britain
  • King Ælfwald of East Anglia dies after a 36-year reign. He is succeeded by Beonna, Æthelberht I and possibly Hun (relationship unknown). Beonna emerges as the dominant monarch.
  • King Æthelbald of Mercia calls the Synod of Gumley, at the instigation of Boniface, bishop of Mainz, and issues a charter that releases the Catholic Church from all public burdens.
Arabian Empire
  • Abbasid Revolution: Muslim forces under Qahtaba ibn Shabib al-Ta'i defeat a large Umayyad army (50,000 men) at Isfahan, and invade Iraq, taking the city of Kufa.
  • Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik, Umayyad prince, is executed by crucifixion on orders of the first Abbasid caliph, Abdullah ibn Muhammad, at Al-Hirah (or 750).
  • October 28 – Abdullah ibn Muhammad is proclaimed caliph at Kufa by his supporters and adopts the title of al-Saffah (the "Slaughterer of Blood").[27]
Central America
  • February 18 – Kʼakʼ Yipyaj Chan Kʼawiil ("Smoke Squirrel") becomes the new ruler of the Mayan city state of Copán in Honduras upon the death of Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Yopaat, who had reigned since 738. K'ak' Yipyaj reigns until 763.
Japan
  • August 19 – Emperor Shōmu abdicates the throne, after a 25-year reign that has been dominated by his wife (and aunt), Kōmyō, a commoner he married at age 16. He is succeeded by his daughter Kōken; Shōmu becomes the first retired emperor to become a Buddhist priest.[28]

By topic
Catastrophe

Significant people

References
  1. Blankinship, Khalid Yahya (1994). The End of the Jihâd State: The Reign of Hishām ibn ʻAbd al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. pp. 104–105, 117. ISBN 978-0-7914-1827-7.
  2. Blankinship, Khalid Yahya (1994). The End of the Jihâd State: The Reign of Hishām ibn ʻAbd al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-7914-1827-7.
  3. de Oliviera Marques, A. H. (1993). "O Portugal Islâmico". In Joel Serrão and A. H. de Oliverira Marques (ed.). Hova Historia de Portugal. Portugal das Invasões Germânicas à Reconquista. Lisbon: Editorial Presença. p. 123.
  4. Hartmann, Ludo Moritz. Geschichte Italiens im Mittelalter. II, pp. 2, 139.
  5. D.P. Kirby, The Earliest English Kings. London: Unwin Hyman, 1991. pp. 150 & 154 ISBN 0-04-445691-3
  6. Barbara Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms in Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Seaby, 1990. p. 89 ISBN 1-85264-027-8
  7. David Nicolle (2008). Poitiers AD 732, Charles Martel turns the Islamic tide (p. 19). ISBN 978-184603-230-1
  8. Settipani 1989.
  9. Gilbert Meynier (2010). L'Algérie cœur du Maghreb classique. De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518). Paris: La Découverte; pp. 25
  10. Horace K. Mann (1913). "Pope St. Gregory III" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  11. "Fires, Great", in The Insurance Cyclopeadia: Being an Historical Treasury of Events and Circumstances Connected with the Origin and Progress of Insurance, Cornelius Walford, ed. (C. and E. Layton, 1876) pp24
  12. Serrão, Joel; de Oliveira Marques, A. H. (1993). "O Portugal Islâmico". Hova Historia de Portugal. Portugal das Invasões Germânicas à Reconquista. Lisbon: Editorial Presença. p. 123.
  13. Brian Todd Carey (2012). Road to Manzikert: "Byzantine warfare in an age of Crisis and Recovery", p. 71. ISBN 978-1-84884-215-1
  14. Curta, Florin (2006). Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521815390
  15. Guidoboni, Traina, 1995, p. 120-121
  16. Wickham 1981, p. 221.
  17. Hallenbeck 1982, p. 51.
  18. Dionysius of Telmahre apud Hoyland, 661 n 193
  19. Costambeys, "Abel (fl. 744–747)"
  20. Letter by Pope Zacharias to Boniface, dated Nov. 5, 744, ed. Tangl (no.58), tr. Emerton.
  21. Pierre Riche, The Carolingians: A Family who forged Europe, pp. 51–52.
  22. Grapard, Allan G. (1992). The Protocol of the Gods: A Study of the Kasuga Cult in Japanese History, p. 67; excerpt, "We have no information concerning Genbō's exile; the Shoku-Nihongi states simply that Genbō behaved in a manner that did not befit his ecclesiastic position and that he died in 746 as he was trying to escape."; Matsunaga, p. 125; excerpt, "...the degree of Genbō's corruption remains equivocal."
  23. Barbara Yorke, 'East Saxons, kings of the (act. late 6th cent.–c.820)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 9 Feb 2008
  24. Pryor, John H.; Jeffreys, Elizabeth M. (2006), The Age of the ΔΡΟΜΩΝ: The Byzantine Navy ca. 500–1204, Brill Academic Publishers, p. 33, ISBN 978-90-04-15197-0
  25. New Book of Tang, vol. 135
  26. McCormick, Michael (2002). "New Light on the 'Dark Ages': How the Slave Trade Fuelled the Carolingian Economy". Past & Present. 177 (177): 17–54. doi:10.1093/past/177.1.17. ISSN 0031-2746. JSTOR 3600877.
  27. David Nicolle (2009). The Great Islamic Conquests 632–750 AD, p. 78. ISBN 978-1-84603-273-8
  28. Varley, H. Paul (1980). A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04940-4

Sources
  • Hallenbeck, Jan T. (1982). "Pavia and Rome: The Lombard Monarchy and the Papacy in the Eighth Century". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. New Series. 72 (4): 1–186. doi:10.2307/1006429. JSTOR 1006429.
  • Settipani, Christian (1989). Les Ancêtres de Charlemagne [Charlemagne's Ancestors] (in French). Paris, France. ISBN 2-906483-28-1. OCLC 28323789.
  • Wickham, Chris (1981). Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society, 400–1000. London: Macmillan.
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