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.
China
Former emperor
Xuanzong is placed under
house arrest by the
eunuch official
Li Fuguo, with the support of Xuanzong's son,
Suzong. Li Fuguo is appointed commander of the
Imperial Guards, possessing nearly absolute power during Suzong's reign.
An
Abbasid Caliphate army reconquers the city of
Kairouan (in modern-day
Tunisia), from 'Abd al-Rahmān ibn Rustam of the
Rustamid dynasty. The latter is forced to flee west, where he creates an autonomous state around Tihert (
Tiaret).[5]
Khurshid II, the last ruler (spāhbed) of
Tabaristan, poisons himself when he learns that his family has been captured by the Abbasids.[6]
Asia
The Japanese priest
Dōkyō cures
Empress Kōken by using
prayers and potions. He may have become her lover and certainly becomes her court favorite, arousing the jealousy of
Emperor Junnin.
A great Chinese
famine in the
Huai-
Yangtze area, late in the year, drives many people to
cannibalism (approximate date).
Vinekh, ruler (khagan) of the
Bulgarian Empire, dies after a six-year reign. He is succeeded by
Telets, ending the rule of the
Vokil clan, and beginning the reign of the Ugain clan.
The Chinese official
Li Fuguo murders Empress
Zhang, wife of Emperor
Su Zong. Shortly afterward Su Zong dies of a
heart attack; he is succeeded by his son
Dai Zong, who kills Li by sending assassins.
In 763 Al-Mansur sent his troops to conquer
Al-Andalus for the
Abbasid empire. But the ruler
Abd al-Rahman I successfully defended his territory. Al-Mansur withdrew and thereafter focused his troops on holding the eastern part of his empire on lands that were once part of Persia.[10]
October 14–
21 –
Fujiwara no Nakamaro Rebellion: A short-lived revolt led by
Fujiwara no Nakamaro is suppressed.
Emperor Junnin is deposed after a 6-year reign, and forced into exile. Former empress
Kōken reassumes the imperial
throne of
Japan, and takes the name Shōtoku. She appoints her close associate, the priest
Dōkyō, prime minister (taishi), running the government with him. Nakamaro is captured and killed with his wife and children.[12]
European writings make the first known mention of a
three-field system in use in
medieval Europe. The
crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of
crops in the same area in sequential
seasons. Under this system, the land of an
estate or
village is divided into three large fields, and makes a given section of land productive 2 years out of 3, instead of every other year (approximate date).
Sabin, ruler (khagan) of
Bulgaria, flees to the Byzantine fortress city of
Mesembria, from where he escapes to
Constantinople. Constantine V arranges for the transfer of Sabin's family from Bulgaria.
Abbasid Caliphate
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 a palace built for Caliph
al-Mansur. The capital is ringed by three lines of
walls (approximate date).
Waiofar, duke of Aquitaine, and his family are captured and executed by the Franks in the forest of
Périgord.[17] Waiofar's kinsman
Hunald II succeeds to his claims and continues to fight against Charlemagne.[18]
Iberian Peninsula
Fruela I (the Cruel), the
King of Asturias, is assassinated in
Cangas, his capital, after he murders his brother Vimerano. Fruela is succeeded by his cousin
Aurelius, who is chosen by the
nobility.
King
Charlemagne (Charles "the Great") begins a military campaign against the Duchy of
Aquitaine and the Duchy of
Gascony. He leads a Frankish army to the city of
Bordeaux, where he sets up a
fort at
Fronsac. His younger brother
Carloman I refuses to help his brother fight the rebels, and returns to
Burgundy. Hunald, duke of Aquitaine, is forced to flee to the court of Gascony.
Lupus II, fearing Charlemagne, turns Hunald over in exchange for peace, and is put in a
monastery. Aquitaine and Gascony are subdued into the
Frankish Kingdom.
^Kirby, p. 151, states that Oswine's origins are unknown. Marsden, pp. 232–233, suggests he was a son of Eadberht. The description of Oswine as an ætheling comes from
John of Worcester's chronicle.
^Forsyth, Katherine (2000). "Evidence of a lost Pictish source in the Historia Regum Anglorum". In Taylor, Simon (ed.). Kings, clerics and chronicles in Scotland, 500–1297: essays in honour of Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson on the occasion of her ninetieth birthday. Dublin: Four Courts Press.
ISBN1-85182-516-9.
^Meynier, Gilbert (2010). L'Algérie cœur du Maghreb classique: De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518). Paris: La Découverte. p. 25.
^Joel Serrão and A. H. de Oliverira Marques (1993). "O Portugal Islâmico". Hova Historia de Portugal. Portugal das Invasões Germânicas à Reconquista. Lisbon: Editorial Presença. p. 124.
^Wise Bauer, Susan (2010). The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 369.
ISBN9780393078176.
^Sansom, p. 90; excerpt, "... Nakamaro, better known by his later title as the prime minister Oshikatsu, was in high favour with the emperor Junnin but not with the ex-empress Kōken. In a civil disturbance that took place in 764–765, Oshikatsu was captured and killed, while the young emperor was deposed and exiled in 765 and presumably strangled. Kōken reascended the throne as the empress Shōtoku, and her priest Dōkyō was all powerful until she died withous issue in 770."
^Gilbert Meynier (2010). L'Algérie cœur du Maghreb classique. De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518). Paris: La Découverte; p.27
^Mango, Cyril; Scott, Roger (1997). The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor. Byzantine and Near Eastern History, AD 284–813. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. p. 605.
ISBN0-19-822568-7.
^Winkelmann, Friedhelm; Lilie, Ralph-Johannes; et al. (2000).
"Gregorios Dekapolites (#2486)". Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit: I. Abteilung (641–867), 2. Band: Georgios (#2183) – Leon (#4270) (in German). Walter de Gruyter. p. 531.
ISBN3-11-016672-0.
^John V.A. Fine, Jr (1991). The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century, p. 77.
ISBN978-0-472-08149-3
^Lewis, Archibald Ross (1965). The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718–1050. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 27–28.
^Joel Serrão and A. H. de Oliverira Marques (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. 124.
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.
China
Former emperor
Xuanzong is placed under
house arrest by the
eunuch official
Li Fuguo, with the support of Xuanzong's son,
Suzong. Li Fuguo is appointed commander of the
Imperial Guards, possessing nearly absolute power during Suzong's reign.
An
Abbasid Caliphate army reconquers the city of
Kairouan (in modern-day
Tunisia), from 'Abd al-Rahmān ibn Rustam of the
Rustamid dynasty. The latter is forced to flee west, where he creates an autonomous state around Tihert (
Tiaret).[5]
Khurshid II, the last ruler (spāhbed) of
Tabaristan, poisons himself when he learns that his family has been captured by the Abbasids.[6]
Asia
The Japanese priest
Dōkyō cures
Empress Kōken by using
prayers and potions. He may have become her lover and certainly becomes her court favorite, arousing the jealousy of
Emperor Junnin.
A great Chinese
famine in the
Huai-
Yangtze area, late in the year, drives many people to
cannibalism (approximate date).
Vinekh, ruler (khagan) of the
Bulgarian Empire, dies after a six-year reign. He is succeeded by
Telets, ending the rule of the
Vokil clan, and beginning the reign of the Ugain clan.
The Chinese official
Li Fuguo murders Empress
Zhang, wife of Emperor
Su Zong. Shortly afterward Su Zong dies of a
heart attack; he is succeeded by his son
Dai Zong, who kills Li by sending assassins.
In 763 Al-Mansur sent his troops to conquer
Al-Andalus for the
Abbasid empire. But the ruler
Abd al-Rahman I successfully defended his territory. Al-Mansur withdrew and thereafter focused his troops on holding the eastern part of his empire on lands that were once part of Persia.[10]
October 14–
21 –
Fujiwara no Nakamaro Rebellion: A short-lived revolt led by
Fujiwara no Nakamaro is suppressed.
Emperor Junnin is deposed after a 6-year reign, and forced into exile. Former empress
Kōken reassumes the imperial
throne of
Japan, and takes the name Shōtoku. She appoints her close associate, the priest
Dōkyō, prime minister (taishi), running the government with him. Nakamaro is captured and killed with his wife and children.[12]
European writings make the first known mention of a
three-field system in use in
medieval Europe. The
crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of
crops in the same area in sequential
seasons. Under this system, the land of an
estate or
village is divided into three large fields, and makes a given section of land productive 2 years out of 3, instead of every other year (approximate date).
Sabin, ruler (khagan) of
Bulgaria, flees to the Byzantine fortress city of
Mesembria, from where he escapes to
Constantinople. Constantine V arranges for the transfer of Sabin's family from Bulgaria.
Abbasid Caliphate
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 a palace built for Caliph
al-Mansur. The capital is ringed by three lines of
walls (approximate date).
Waiofar, duke of Aquitaine, and his family are captured and executed by the Franks in the forest of
Périgord.[17] Waiofar's kinsman
Hunald II succeeds to his claims and continues to fight against Charlemagne.[18]
Iberian Peninsula
Fruela I (the Cruel), the
King of Asturias, is assassinated in
Cangas, his capital, after he murders his brother Vimerano. Fruela is succeeded by his cousin
Aurelius, who is chosen by the
nobility.
King
Charlemagne (Charles "the Great") begins a military campaign against the Duchy of
Aquitaine and the Duchy of
Gascony. He leads a Frankish army to the city of
Bordeaux, where he sets up a
fort at
Fronsac. His younger brother
Carloman I refuses to help his brother fight the rebels, and returns to
Burgundy. Hunald, duke of Aquitaine, is forced to flee to the court of Gascony.
Lupus II, fearing Charlemagne, turns Hunald over in exchange for peace, and is put in a
monastery. Aquitaine and Gascony are subdued into the
Frankish Kingdom.
^Kirby, p. 151, states that Oswine's origins are unknown. Marsden, pp. 232–233, suggests he was a son of Eadberht. The description of Oswine as an ætheling comes from
John of Worcester's chronicle.
^Forsyth, Katherine (2000). "Evidence of a lost Pictish source in the Historia Regum Anglorum". In Taylor, Simon (ed.). Kings, clerics and chronicles in Scotland, 500–1297: essays in honour of Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson on the occasion of her ninetieth birthday. Dublin: Four Courts Press.
ISBN1-85182-516-9.
^Meynier, Gilbert (2010). L'Algérie cœur du Maghreb classique: De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518). Paris: La Découverte. p. 25.
^Joel Serrão and A. H. de Oliverira Marques (1993). "O Portugal Islâmico". Hova Historia de Portugal. Portugal das Invasões Germânicas à Reconquista. Lisbon: Editorial Presença. p. 124.
^Wise Bauer, Susan (2010). The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 369.
ISBN9780393078176.
^Sansom, p. 90; excerpt, "... Nakamaro, better known by his later title as the prime minister Oshikatsu, was in high favour with the emperor Junnin but not with the ex-empress Kōken. In a civil disturbance that took place in 764–765, Oshikatsu was captured and killed, while the young emperor was deposed and exiled in 765 and presumably strangled. Kōken reascended the throne as the empress Shōtoku, and her priest Dōkyō was all powerful until she died withous issue in 770."
^Gilbert Meynier (2010). L'Algérie cœur du Maghreb classique. De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518). Paris: La Découverte; p.27
^Mango, Cyril; Scott, Roger (1997). The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor. Byzantine and Near Eastern History, AD 284–813. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. p. 605.
ISBN0-19-822568-7.
^Winkelmann, Friedhelm; Lilie, Ralph-Johannes; et al. (2000).
"Gregorios Dekapolites (#2486)". Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit: I. Abteilung (641–867), 2. Band: Georgios (#2183) – Leon (#4270) (in German). Walter de Gruyter. p. 531.
ISBN3-11-016672-0.
^John V.A. Fine, Jr (1991). The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century, p. 77.
ISBN978-0-472-08149-3
^Lewis, Archibald Ross (1965). The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718–1050. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 27–28.
^Joel Serrão and A. H. de Oliverira Marques (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. 124.