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The First Millenium

What happens in 761?

Telets seizes the throne of Bulgaria. He starts off by smashing forces all along the Byzantine frontier. Two years later, the Byzantines defeat him, and the next year, he is lynched by his subjects.

The Moslem Empire retakes the city of Kairouan in northern Africa from rebels. Today it is Islam's fourth holiest city.

Famine breaks out in part of China. Despite this, the Tang Dynasty continues to win victories over the rebels.
 
And now it is 762.

We need to backtrack a little on the Moslem empire. After seizing the entire Arab world, much of central Asia, all of north Africa, part of southeastern Europe, much of the Mediterranean, and the Iberian Peninsula, the Umayyad Caliphate was larger than the Roman Empire had ever been. It collapsed rapidly with civil wars and border wars. Rebels seized the empire and formed the Abbasid Caliphate. But a surviving Umayyad prince seizes southern Iberia and Morocco and restores the Umayyad Caliphate in those two areas.

The Abbasid Empire moves its capital to Baghdad, in modern Iraq.

China has a series of rapid assassinations, and when they are over, Daizong is the new Emperor. But in order to defeat the ongoing Anshi rebellion, he has to allow warlords to rule their areas as independent states.
 
Welcome to 763.

China finally defeats the Anshi Rebellion. But the rebellion has broken the back of the powerful Tang Dynasty, as the weakened Chinese nation is losing territory to Tibet and others. Inside, the nation is breaking apart, and the government is too weak to stop it. Tibet actually captures China's capital, but is driven out after 16 days.

Reeling in defeat in various areas, the Byzantine Empire and the Lombard Kingdom unite to invade the Papal States. But Pepin, King of the Franks, is able to mediate a peace treaty.
 
764 is here!

Seven years after abdicating the throne to her adopted son, Empress Shotoku forces him to resign. He had revolted unsuccessfully against her virtual control of the throne. She then holds the throne for the rest of her life.

Maurizio Galbaio begins his twenty-two year reign as Doge of Venice. Profiting heavily from the slave trade, Venice expands, loses a war with the Lombards, recovers, and heads steadily towards independence.

India has been dividing and uniting, and at this time there are three kingdoms in modern India. One small kingdom controls the southern tip of the sub-continent, while the east and west are divided between the other two. The three generally get along, and their rulers are related to each other.
 
It's 765.

In northern Africa, some Berbers revolt against the Moslem empire and form an independent nation in modern Algeria.

A Japanese family builds the Kasuga Grand Shrine. Filled with over 1,000 lanterns, it is still used by the family today.

Northern European start experimenting with a three-field crop rotation system. Two of the fields are planted at different times, with different crops that supplement each other, while the third field lies fallow. It's a better system than leaving a field fallow every other year.
 
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Welcome to 766.

The Karluks, a large tribe of nomadic Turks, seize control of the crumbling Turkish confederation.

Having moved their capital to Baghdad, Moslems have 100,000 laborers building it into a ringed city.

In Germany, Benedictine monks found St. Michael's Abbey. It eventually grows into a major educational institution that produced school teachers, college professors, and scientists. It still exists, serving as a Catholic boarding school.
 
You have reached 767.


Pope Paul I dies, and three rival popes emerge from the chaos.

Constantine II, a layman, is placed on the papal throne while Pope Paul I is still dying. Fearing that he will be loyal to the Franks, the Lombards quickly arrest him and execute him next year.

In northern Africa, Moslem rebels expand their territory but cannot win a decisive victory over the Abbasid Caliphate. I should point out that most of these Moslem civil wars are not started by people who don't want to be Moslems. They are started by Moslems who can't agree on who the leader should be or how things should be run.
 
768 is a rough year for Popes and their friends.

Determined to get Pope Constantine II off the papal throne, politicians seize Philip, chaplain to a monastery, and make him Pope. Faced with civil war, he is deposed after one day and quietly returns to his monastery.

Stephen IV then becomes Pope. He calls a council that declares that Constantine II was never the Pope, re-affirms statue-worship, and forms an alliance with the Lombards, rather than the Franks.

The Church in Wales formally re-unites with the Church of Rome.

Sep 24, Pepin the Short, King of the Franks, dies. His dominions are divided between his sons Charles (Charlemagne) and Carloman. A 26 year old giant of a man, Charlemagne is fluent in Greek and Latin but cannot learn to write. He practices both Catholicism and immorality and now rules the western half of the Frankish kingdom.

Deventer, a city in the modern Netherlands is founded. There were already people living there when an English missionary built a wooden church, and the city grew from that.
 
Happy New Year to all the folks who are following this thread.

And now it is 769.

Máel Ruain founds an Irish monastery, and from there he forms many of the rules of modern monastic life.

Pope Stephen IV holds a council to determine new rules of Papal succession, in order to prevent the current existence of three simultaneous Popes from happening again. The Catholic Church declares that Constantine II had never been the Pope.

There are conflicting reports of what happened to former Pope Constantine II. After his arrest by the Lombards, he is blinded, and afterwards either is executed or dies in prison. It is not clear how involved Pope Stephen IV was.
 
Welcome to 770!

Konin begins his eleven year reign as Emperor of Japan. He struggles to make the corrupt finances honest.

Conflicting reports agree that about this time, Telerig becomes King of Bulgaria. A ruthless plotter, he actively signs and breaks treaties and betrays whoever is convenient. He eventually flees to his Byzantine enemies for protection.

Seeking peace through intermarriage, Charlemagne and the Lombards plan a series of divorces and royal marriages, but they are condemned by Pope Stephen IV. He warns that the Franks are "...to be contaminated by a union with the perfidious and stinking Lombards..." Mama mia, Folks, those are my ancestors!

Charlemagne still divorces his wife for a Lombard princess, but next year he divorces her her and sends her back to Lombardy.

Horseshoes had been invented centuries ago, but they are common now. They increase military efficiency on stony roads and make it easier to plow rocky fields.
 
771 has arrived!

The Franks and Lombards sign a peace treaty. Meanwhile, Charlemagne divorces the daughter of King Desiderius of Lombardy and marries a thirteen year old. They eventually have nine children.

Dec 4, With the death of his brother Carloman, Charlemagne became sole ruler of the Frankish Empire. When Carloman dies, his widow Gerberga assumes that her two sons will take over the kingdom, but Charlemagne moves quickly to seize their territory. She flees to Lombardy, where King Desiderius gives them refuge. From there, the two plot to restore Carloman's territory to his two sons.
 
You have reached the year 772.

Adrian begins his 23 year reign as Pope, He is almost immediately invaded by the Lombards and appeals to Charlemagne, King of the Franks, for help. But the Lombard king Desiderius captures Rome, ending over two centuries of Byzantine rule. For those with short memories, Italy had declared itself independent of the Roman Empire over three centuries ago, but had soon been conquered by various German groups. Byzantium had invaded from the south and forced an unwilling Italy back into their empire, but then the Lombards had invaded from the north. For two centuries, the Lombards and the Byzantines had ruled different parts of Italy.
The next year, Charlemagne invades Italy, exiles the Lombard king, declares himself king of Lombardy, and gives the Papacy some additional territory.

Although loyal to the Franks, Pope Adrian required the veneration of images, which Charlemagne and the French bishops had condemned. He died on Christmas Day in 795, the fourth-longest reigning Pope in history.

But while those events occur over a period of years, Charlemagne is busy this year fighting the Saxons. It takes him 13 years to do it, but he eventually forces them to convert to Catholicism and adds them to his empire.
 
It is now 773.

Charlemagne invades the Lombard Kingdom, captures their capital, declares himself King of the Lombards, and dissolves their kingdom. Thus, the Kingdom of the Lombards disappears forever, and their language rapidly disappears. Spread throughout Italy, they had already been blending with the Romans, Germans (the Lombards were Germans), Byzantines, and Italians to become Italians themselves.

History has not been kind to the Lombards. At their height, they had conquered most of Italy, but their contributions to art and science were negligible. To be fair, they were constantly surrounded by enemies, so warfare took up much of their abilities. After centuries of fighting the Byzantines, the Lombards became allies with the Byzantines against the Franks, but it was too late. When the Pope was given a large territory around Rome (the Papal States), the rapidly-shifting alliances between the four powers were just too much for them. Italians are a blend of Romans and Germans, and the Lombards survive inside of that blend.

About this time, the Meitei language appears in northern India, and it is still spoken in parts of Asia.
 
Charlemagne and the year 774 both arrive in Rome. He confirms the Donation of Pepin to the Pope, recognizing that the Pope is secular ruler over territory in central Italy. But Charlemagne also makes clear that he is sovereign over that territory.

Silo begins his nine year reign as king of Asturias. Asturias is a kingdom stretching across northern Spain that had successfully resisted the Moslem conquest. Silo manages to extend his border southward during his kingship.
 
And now it is 775.

European merchants set up a market on Algeria's Mediterranean coast, as trade between Catholic Europe and Moslem Africa develops.

About this time, Baghdad, capital of the Moslem empire, becomes the largest city in the world.

Byzantine Emperor Constantine V dies, and his son, Leo IV, takes the throne. Reigning for five years, Leo quickly ends persecution of statue worshipers. In his second year, he appoints his son as co-emperor and immediately has to put down a revolt by his own brothers.

The Saxons of Germany are still resisting Charlemagne, so he invades their territory.

After a series of victories over various neighbors, Tibet signs a peace treaty with China.
 
776 has gotten here at last.

Central Italy revolts against Charlemagne, but he rapidly defeats the rebels.

In England, Kent rebels against Mercia and becomes independent again. But Mercia never gives up, and nine years later re-conquers and absorbs Kent.
 
Not many years are named 777.

Charlemagne defeats the Saxons, and a new German hero arises as a result. Little is known about Widukind, a Saxon nobleman who fled to Denmark rather than submit to Charlemagne. He returns a few years later to lead a series of revolts against the Franks, resisting the forced conversions to Catholicism, and attempting to restore the pagan gods of the Germans. After ten years of defeats, he surrenders, converts to Catholicism, and is imprisoned for life in a monastery. He is today a German folk hero, and, surprisingly, a Catholic saint.

Having defeated the Saxons temporarily, Charlemagne is confident enough to invade the Iberian Peninsula, which is mostly under Moslem control. However, he gets bogged down at Saragossa, where he encounters a heroic defense. Next year, a legend will develop over what actually happened.
 
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778 is a year of legend.

The bottom left corner of the Frankish Empire was connected to the top right corner of the Iberian Peninsula, most of which was Moslem. But the top area itself was an independent Catholic kingdom. We're not sure exactly what happened, but it was something like this:

Despite having much of his army tied up fighting the Saxons, Charlemagne had invaded Moslem Iberia (modern Spain). Surprisingly, he had Moslem allies who were promised governing positions if the Franks won. Advancing rapidly through thick forest and capturing large areas with little loss, the Franks got bogged down at the city of Zaragoza, and after a year-long siege, Charlemagne ordered his army to retreat. As they made their way through the thick forestland, the Franks were ambushed by Catholic Basques, an ethnic group from northern Iberia, who apparently wanted to plunder the gold in the Franks' baggage train.

The Basques massacred most of the rear guard, plundered the baggage train, and fled into the forest. Unable to pursue them, Charlemagne and his devastated army returned to their own kingdom. But two centuries later, "The Song of Roland" became the first great piece of French literature. It tells an incredible story of how Roland, commander of the rear guard, led a fantastic defense against a gigantic Moslem army before being killed. The epic poem became a classic story of the battle between Catholicism and Islam, and it is indeed an inspiring tale of heroism, magic, and religion. It isn't true, but it is the foundation of the modern French language. I had to study it in grade schol, and it really is a great tale.

And speaking of legends, Widukind returns to Saxony from Denmark and begins establishing a rebellion against the Franks.

On the other side of Europe, the Byzantine Empire wins a series of victories over the Moslems and retakes some of its lost territory.
 
Three massive events occur in 779.

Dezong begins his unsuccessful 26 year reign as Emperor of China. Loaded with severe financial problems due to the recent rebellion, he tries to stabilize the economy by eliminating corruption and waste. But various warlords have grown too powerful, and he is soon faced with a series of revolts. An honest man, he struggles hard to prevent the inevitable collapse of the once-powerful Tang Dynasty.

Technically, England does not yet exist,, but Offa, King of Mercia, becomes King of England. Taking advantage of the current instability, he makes alliances and conquests that make him either King or Overlord of central and southern England, although he is unable to subdue Northumbria in northern England. Although Catholic, he clashes with the Church of England and persuades the Pope to reduce the Archbishop of Canterbury’s power. Charlemagne unsuccessfully offers a marital alliance, but learning from the Romans' mistake, he does not invade England.

Exact dates are uncertain, but about this time, Tibet unites under a single Emperor. Fearing widespread mountain demons, he summons Padmasambhava, a Buddhist sorcerer, to cleanse the land, even giving him the queen as a consort. Known to his followers, who believe he is still alive, as “The Second Buddha,†he practices sexual immorality while converting the entire nation to Buddhism.
 
It's 780 AD, and history keeps rolling on.

The Soninke are Black African Moslems in western Africa who take control of Ghana and develop it into a major trading empire that lasts for five centuries. Surprisingly, the modern nation of Ghana is not included in its territory. There are about one million Soninke alive today, spread around the nations of western Africa.

Nine year old Constantine VI begins his nineteen year reign as Byzantine Emperor. His mother Irene had dominated his father for the last five years, and she now dominates him for the next ten. One of Irene's first acts is to restore statue worship.

Remember how Silla had betrayed the other two Korean kingdoms and with the aid of China had seized the entire Korean peninsula? This year, Silla's king is killed in a revolt.

In Indonesia, Buddhists begin constructing the magnificent Borobudur temple complex, which still stands. Abandoned centuries later when the island kingdom turned Moslem, it was rediscovered by the British and has been restored. It serves today as a museum and Buddhist temple.
 
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