710s

This is a list of events occurring in the 710s, ordered by year.

710

By place

Asia

• The Asuka period, the second and last part of the Yamato period, ends, and the Nara period begins in Japan; Heijō-kyō (Nara) becomes the capital of Japan.
• April 5 – During the Cold Food Festival, Chinese Emperor Zhongzong of Tang has his chief ministers of court, sons-in-law, and high ranking military officers engage in the festive game of tug of war within a palace of Chang'an City. The Emperor purportedly laughs when two older ministers fall over during the game.
• The Byzantine general Leo (the future emperor Leo III) recovers Abasgia for the Byzantine Empire from the Arabs.^[1]

Africa

• The Muslim Kingdom of Nekor is founded in Morocco.

Europe

• A Muslim army is invited into Ceuta by its governor, Count Julian, who, being an opponent of Roderick, encourages them to invade the Iberian peninsula.
• Roderic deposes Achila to become king of the Visigoths.
• The isolated Byzantine outpost of Cherson in the Crimea rebels with Khazar assistance, against Justinian II. The emperor sends a fleet under the patrikios Stephen, which retakes the city and restores imperial control. The fleet however is struck by a storm on its way back and loses many ships, while the Chersonites, again with the aid of the Khazars, rebel anew.^[2]

By topic

Religion

• The first (wooden) Al-Aqsa Mosque is finished.

711

By place

Europe

• April 30 – Ummayad troops led by Tariq ibn Ziyad land at Gibraltar, and begin their invasion of the Iberian peninsula and conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom (See Moors, Al-Andalus, and Umayyad conquest of Hispania).
• July 19 – Battle of Guadalete: Ummayad Moors' victory over the Visigothic army. Visigothic king Roderic (Rodrigo in Spanish and Portuguese) dies in the battle.
• Childebert III died and is succeeded by Dagobert III as king of Austrasia.

Byzantine Empire

• Philippicus incites a revolt against Justinian II, and upon the latter's death declares himself Byzantine Emperor.

Asia

• After pirates plunder an Arab ship near the mouth of the Indus River, Arabs led by Muhammad bin Qasim invade India with 6,000 horses, establishing a sultanate in Sindh.
• Reconstruction of the Horyuji Temple in Japan ends.

712

By place

Europe

• Ansprand succeeds Aripert as king of the Lombards.
• From North Africa, Musa bin Nusair reinforces last year's Muslim invasion of Iberia.
• June 12 – Liutprand succeeds his father Ansprand as king of the Lombards.

Asia

• Emperor Xuanzong of Tang China succeeds Emperor Ruizong of Tang China as emperor of China. Princess Taiping's coup fails.
• The Kojiki, a history of Japan, is completed.

713

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Byzantine Emperor Philippicus is deposed; Anastasius II is made emperor.
• The Arabs under al-Abbas ibn al-Walid sack Antioch in Pisidia, which never recovers.

Asia

• Construction begins on the Leshan Giant Buddha near Leshan, Sichuan province, China. Upon its completion in 803, it will become the largest stone carved Buddha in the world.
• Emperor Xuanzong of Tang starts to rule in Ancient China. He liquidates the highly lucrative Inexhaustible Treasury, which is run by a prominent Buddhist monastery in Chang'an. This monastery collects vast amounts of money, silk, and treasures through multitudes of rich people's repentances, left on the premises anonymously. Although the monastery is generous in donations, Emperor Xuanzong issues a decree abolishing their treasury on the grounds that their banking practices were fraudulent, collects their riches, and distributes the wealth to various other Buddhist monasteries, Daoist abbeys, and to repair statues, halls, and bridges in the city.
• Chinese Emperor Xuanzong of Tang allots the money of 20 million copper coins and assigns about 1,000 craftsmen to construct a hall at a Buddhist monastery with tons of painted portraits of himself, and of deities, ghosts, etc.
• In the Chinese capital of Chang'an, for the annual Lantern Festival of this year, recently abdicated Emperor Ruizong of Tang erects an enormous lantern wheel at a city gate, with a recorded height of 200 ft. The frame is draped in brocades and silk gauze, adorned with gold and jade jewelry, and when its total of some 50,000 oil cups is lit the radiance of it can be seen for miles.
• The Islamic community at Multan is founded.

Europe

• Seville and Mérida fall to the Arab armies of Musa bin Nusair.

714

By place

Asia

• February 28 – An earthquake strikes Syria.
• The Tibetan invasion of China's Tang Dynasty is defeated.
• Emperor Xuanzong of Tang forbids all commercial vendors and shops in the Chinese capital city of Chang'an to copy and sell Buddhist sutras, so that the emperor can give the clergy of the Buddhist monasteries the sole right to distribute written sutras to the laity.

Europe

• King Radbod of the Frisians defeats Charles Martel; Frisia becomes independent.
• Zaragoza falls to the Arab armies of Musa bin Nusair.
• On the death of Pepin II, his illegitimate son Charles Martel becomes mayor of the Austrasian palace and effective power behind the Frankish throne.

715

By place

Europe

• September 26 – Battle of Compiègne: Ragenfrid defeats Theudoald, becoming mayor of the palace of Neustria and Burgundy.

Asia

• Empress Gemmei of Japan is succeeded by Empress Genshō.
• A major earthquake hits Turkey.^[3]
• Umayyad caliph al-Walid I ibn Abd al-Malik is succeeded by Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik.

By topic

Religion

• King Nechtan invites the Northumbrian clergy to establish Christianity amongst the Picts.
• May 19 – Pope Gregory II succeeds Pope Constantine as the 89th pope.
• August 11 – Germanus is translated from the bishopric of Cyzicus to the Patriarch of Constantinople.
• Saint Boniface sets out on a missionary expedition to the Frisians.
• The Grand Mosque of Damascus is built over the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.^[4]
• Saint Winnin, an Irish monk, lands at the mouth of the River Garnock, where he establishes a community or cell of monks, termed cella or "Kil" in Gaelic.

716

By place

Asia

• Inal Khan succeeds Kapagan Khan and Bilge Khan succeeds Inal Khan in the Turkish Empire.

Byzantine Empire

• Theodosius III leads a revolt against Anastasius II and is proclaimed Byzantine Emperor.

Europe

• The Ummayads conquer Lisbon.
• Æthelbald returns from exile to succeed Ceolred as king of Mercia.
• Battle of Amblève: Charles Martel defeats the Neustrians.

By topic

Religion

• April 19 – The monastery on the Island of Iona celebrates Easter on the Roman date.
• Boniface begins missions to the Germans.

717

By place

Europe

• March 21 – The Battle of Vincy is fought between Charles Martel and Ragenfrid.

Byzantine Empire

• March 25 – Leo III usurps the throne of Byzantium.
• August 15 – Maslamah begins the Second Arab siege of Constantinople. The siege lasts for nearly a year.

Asia

• December 24 – An earthquake shakes many places in northern Syria, and destroys the Old Church of Edessa.
• Umayyad caliph al-Walid I ibn Abd al-Malik is succeeded by Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik.
• Hoshi Ryokan, world's longest running business, formed in Japan.

By topic

Religion

• King Nechtan IV of the Picts expels the monks from the Scottish island of Iona.

718

By place

Europe

• Battle of Covadonga, first major victory by a Christian military force in Iberia following the Muslim Moors' conquest of that region in 711.
• Tervel's reign as monarch of Bulgaria ends.
• Saint Boniface sets out for Frisia a second time.

Asia

• Emperor Leo III and Khan Tervel defeat Arab forces besieging Constantinople, stopping a large Arab incursion towards Europe.
• The world's oldest hotel, Hoshi Ryokan, is founded in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.

719

By place

Europe

• Charles Martel defeats king Radbod of the Frisians. Frisia to the banks of the river Vlie become part of the Frankish Empire.^[5]

By topic

Religion

• The West Saxon monk Winifrid is sent by Pope Gregory II, who gives him the name Boniface, to evangelize in Germany and reorganize the church there.
• The church of Nubia transfers its allegiance from the Eastern Orthodox Church to the Coptic Church.

Significant people

Births

Deaths

References