Timeline 600AD-999AD
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600 Feb 16, Pope
Gregory the Great decreed "God bless You" as the religiously correct
response to a sneeze.
(MC, 2/16/02)
600 Li Shimin, son of Chinese
General Li Yuan (the Duke of Tang), was born about this time.
(ON, 5/06, p.1)
600 Yang Di (Yangdi), a Sui
emperor, extended the Grand Canal. He reportedly assumed power by
poisoning his father. Ma Shu-mou, aka Mahu, was one of the canal
overseers and was said to have eaten a steamed 2-year-old child each
day he worked on the canal. On completion the canal extended for 1,100
miles. 5.5 million people were pressed into service to complete 1,550
mile canal.
(WSJ, 10/25/99, p.A50)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)
600 Quill pens, made from the
outer feathers of crows and other large birds, became popular. The 1st
books were printed in China.
(SFC, 7/26/04, p.F4)
c600 Small porkers came to Hawaii
with the Polynesians some 1400 years ago, and big pigs arrived with the
Europeans.
(WSJ, 7/25/95, p.A-6)
c600 Early settlers from the
Marquesas built the Alakoko fishpond and taro fields on Kauai, Hawaii.
(SFEC, 8/29/99, p.T6)
c600 The Joya de Ceren Maya site
in El Salvador was buried beneath 16 feet of ash from nearby Loma
Caldera.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.D)
600 Germanic invaders, who
occupied England after 600AD, saw themselves as a nation of immigrants,
according to Prof. Nicholas Howe (1953-2006) of UC Berkeley, author of
“Migration and Mythmaking in Anglo-Saxon England” (1989).
(SFC, 10/16/06, p.B6)
c600 "The Navigatio Sancti
Brendani Abbatis" (Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbott) recounts a 7-year
trip to a land across the sea by the Irish saint and a band of acolytes
about this time.
(SFEM, 11/15/98, p.24)
c600-625 The burial site of the Prince of
Prittlewell, an East Saxon prince or king, dated to about this time.
(www.southend.gov.uk/content.asp?content=3686)
600-700 The Tantras, Buddhist texts for generating
deep religious experiences, were produced in India.
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.T5)
c600-700 King Songstan Gampo reigned over Tibet in
the 7th century. He introduced Buddhism and started construction of the
Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple. He married the Chinese princess Wen
Cheng.
(WSJ, 8/2/01, p.A12)
600-700 The library at Alexandria, Egypt, disappeared
in the 7th century.
(WSJ, 6/1/00, p.A1)
600-700 In the seventh century the Frisians clashed
with the Franks and resisted Christianity, but succumbed to Frankish
rule and accepted Christianity a century later. Citizens of the
Netherlands’s province of Friesland are still called Frisians and the
Frisian language is still spoken there.
(HNQ, 3/5/00)
c600-700 St. Willibrord, an Irish missionary, spread
Christianity in the region of Luxembourg.
(SFC, 9/1/96, T3)
600-700 Calinicus (Callinicus), an engineer from
Heliopolis, Syria, is thought to have brought "Greek fire," (flammable
petrochemicals) to Constantinople. The incendiary liquid could be fired
from siphons toward enemy ships or troops. The weapon helped save the
Byzantine Empire from Islamic conquest for several centuries.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.57)(NH, 10/98, p.24)
600-700 The Caracol Maya site in Belize was one of
the most prosperous cities in the pre-Columbian world with some 120,000
people in a 65-square-mile metropolis. It has the 140-foot-high
platform Caana, or "Sky-Place. "
(SFC, 4/26/97, p.E4)
600-700 The martial art of "tie-kwan-doe"
(kick-strike-art) was developed as part of the military training for
young noblemen charged with protecting the kingdoms of what became
Korea.
(WSJ, 10/3/97, p.A1)
600-700 In Vietnam Hoi An was a port site of the Cham
kingdoms of central Vietnam. It may date back to the 2nd century BC.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.H)
600-800 In 2003 evidence of an Indian village was
found at an Illinois site some 35 miles east of St. Louis, that dated
to the Late Woodland period.
(SFC, 4/21/03, p.A6)
c600-800 Irish monks began to seek solace in Iceland.
(NH, 6/96, p.53)
600-800 Polynesian seafarers 1st landed on Easter
Island, 1400 miles from the coast of South America. They later carved
nearly 900 colossi of compressed volcanic ash: the moai. In 1722 A
Dutch explorer stopped by on Easter Sunday. It later became a
possession of Chile.
(WSJ, 2/8/02, p.W11C)
c600-850 Late Classic Mayan paintings were found at a
site in eastern Chiapas, Mexico, named "Bonampak," (painted walls).
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.35)
600-900 Late classic period of the Maya. The San
Andres site in El Salvador flourished during the late classic.
The El Tajin civilization thrived on the central coast of what became
Mexico.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.BC)(SFC, 9/14/00, p.C8)
600-900 A three hundred year dynasty ruled over
Palenque. In the Pyramid of Inscriptions is the tomb of Pakal, the
greatest king of the dynasty.
(SFC, 5/19/96, T-9)
600-1200 In Malaysia ceramic shards at Kampong Sungai
Mas in the Bujang Valley date to this time. Brick foundations and a
block of shale with a Buddhist mantra inscribed in Sanskrit was also
found.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.F)
600-1600 Burma entries under Myanmar. Pagan was the
seat of Burma’s greatest dynasty and the site shows the remains of more
than 7,000 temples and monuments of this period.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.F)
604 Mar 12, Gregory I the Great
(64), Pope (590-604), died. In 1997 R.A. Markus authored “Gregory the
Great and His World.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_I)(WSJ,
4/12/08, p.W8)
604 In Japan a 17 article
constitution was promulgated by Prince Shotoku (574-622). It was a
Confucian document that focused more on ethics and virtue than on the
basic laws by which the state was to be run. [see 702]
(www.theosophy.org/tlodocs/teachers/PrinceShotoku.htm)
604-617 King Saebert of Essex reigned in England. St.
Mellitus converted him to Christianity.
(www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/kids/prittlewell_prince.html)
607 Mar 13, The 12th recorded
passage of Halley's Comet occurred.
(HN, 3/13/98)
607 The first envoy from Japan was
sent to China.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
609 May 13, Pope Boniface I turned
Roman Pantheon into Catholic church.
(MC, 5/13/02)
610 Apr 6, Lailat-ul Qadar: The
night that the Koran descended to Earth. Muhammad is believed by his
followers to have had a vision of Gabriel. The angel told him to recite
in the name of God. Other visions are supposed to have Gabriel lead
Muhammad to heaven to meet God, and to Jerusalem to meet Abraham, Moses
and Jesus. These visions convinced Mohammad that he was a messenger of
God.
(ATC, p.59)(MC, 4/6/02)
610 Oct 5, Heraclitus' fleet took
Constantinople.
(MC, 10/5/01)
610-632 A Muslim tradition has it that Mohammed one
day found that his favorite wife, Aisha, had purchased some cushions
decorated with birds and animals. The prophet proclaimed that only God
could bestow life and that pale imitations should be avoided. Thus the
hadith, or tradition of the prophet, holds that: The house which
contains pictures will not be entered by the angels."
(WSJ, 7/22/96, p.A12)
610-632 During Mohammed’s ministry in Mecca and
Medina the definition of jihad moved from persuasive proselytism to
Muslim war against all infidels.
(WSJ, 10/10/01, p.A10)
610-641 Heracles ruled the Byzantine Empire.
(ATC, p.69)
611 In Cambodia at Angkor Borei
the earliest known Khmer inscription dates to this time.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.D)
614 Croats settled in the area
between the Adriatic Sea and the rivers Sava and Drava.
(WSJ, 7/14/99, p.A23)
614 Christian Palestine was
invaded by the Persians. The 5th century monastery of St. Theodosius
east of Beit Sahour near Bethlehem was destroyed by the Persians. The
Jews of Jerusalem allied with the Persians during the invasion and
entered into the cave beneath the tomb of Christ in the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre.
(SFEC, 12/22/96, p.T3)(WSJ, 4/5/02, p.W12)(SFC,
10/23/06, p.A15)
615 May 8, St. Boniface IV ended
his reign as Catholic Pope.
(MC, 5/8/02)
615 May 25, Boniface IV, Pope
(608-15), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
615 Nov 23, Columbanus, Irish
explorer, monastery founder, poet and saint (Poenitentiale), died (aka
St. Columba).
(MC, 11/23/01)
615 Yang Di (Yangdi), a Chinese
Sui emperor, announced a 4th attempt to conquer Korea. In response to
peasant rebellions in the north, Yangdi moved to the eastern city of
Yangzhou.
(ON, 5/06, p.1)
615 Pakal (12) became the Mayan
ruler of Palenque. His reign ended with his death in 683.
(SSFC, 12/7/03, p.C10)(WSJ, 9/16/04, p.D12)
617 Jun, Chinese general Li Yuan
(the Duke of Tang) declared his rebellion and ordered the Tang army to
prepare a march against Chang’an (later Xian), capital of China and the
world’s largest city.
(ON, 5/06, p.2)(Econ, 3/15/08, p.101)
617 Dec 12, The Chinese city of
Chang’an fell to the Tang army.
(ON, 5/06, p.2)
617-1279 The Tang Dynasty unified China.
(ATC, p.69)
618 Apr, General Li Yuan, the Duke
of Tang, claimed the throne of China after receiving word that Emperor
Yangdi had been assassinated in the city of Yangzhou. Yuan proclaimed
himself Emperor Gaozu, the 1st monarch of the new Tang dynasty.
(ON, 5/06, p.3)
618-907 The Tang Dynasty was in China. The marble
head of Eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara dates to the Tang period.
Porcelain was invented during the T’ang dynasty.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(NH, 7/96, p.32)(WSJ,
2/19/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 8/28/98, p.W10)
618-907 The area of Tiananmen Square was first
cleared.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A8)
619 Li Shimin led his armies
against 2 warlords in northern China.
(ON, 5/06, p.3)
620 Aug 22, This day corresponds
to the 27th day of Rajab, 1427, in the Islamic calendar. It
commemorates to the night flight of Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq
to the farthest mosque, usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to
heaven and back.
(WSJ, 8/8/06,
p.A10)(www.atheists.org/Islam/mohammedanism.html)
620 In northern China Gen’l. Li
Shimin (~20) attacked Luoyang, which was held by the warlord Wang
Shichong.
(ON, 5/06, p.3)
620 The town of Cholula was
founded in central Mexico. It was later said to be the oldest
continuously occupied town in all of North America.
(SSFC, 2/26/06, p.F10)
620 Mohammad gained about a
hundred converts including some wealthy Meccan families. This made
other Meccans hostile. Mohammad in this year dreamed of being
transported from Mecca to the Rock of Mariah in Jerusalem, from which
he ascended into heaven and received instructions from God for himself
and his followers.
(ATC, p.59)(ON, 7/03, p.6)
621 Mar, In China a force of
120,000 men from Xia province advanced to rescue the city of Luoyang.
(ON, 5/06, p.3)
621 May 28, In China Dou Jiande,
general of the Xia army, was wounded and captured by the Tang army
under Gen’l. Li Shimin at Hulao Pass. 3,000 Xia were killed and 50,000
were taken prisoners. The city of Luoyang soon surrendered. Xia
province surrendered in turn.
(ON, 5/06, p.4)
622 Jul 16, Islamic Era began.
Mahomet began his flight from Mecca to Medina (Hegira).
(MC, 7/16/02)
622 Sep 20, Prophet Mohammed Abu
Bakr arrived in Jathrib (Medina).
(MC, 9/20/01)
622 Sep 24, In the Hegira Muhammed
left Mecca for Medina (aka Yathrib) with 75 followers. This event
marked the beginning of the Islamic lunar calendar. The new faith was
called "Islam," which means submission to Allah. Believers in Islam are
called Muslims-- "Those who submit to Allah’s will." In Medina Mohammad
tried to unite the Jews and Arabs and initially faced Jerusalem to
pray. The Jewish leaders did not accept Mohammad as a prophet and so
Mohammad expelled from the city the Jews who opposed him. From then on
he commanded the Muslims to face the Kaaba in Mecca when praying.
(V.D.-H.K.p.19)(ATC, p.60)
624 Muslims engaged non-believers
for the 1st time at the Battle of Badr
(www.islaam.com/Article.aspx?id=128)
c625 Raedwald, king of the East
Angles and high king of the English peoples, was buried about this time.
(Arch, 7/02, p.61)
626 Aug 7, Battle at
Constantinople: Slavs, Persians and Avars were defeated. Emp. Heraclius
repelled the attacks. The attacks began in 625.
(PCh, 1992, p.60)(MC, 8/7/02)
626 In China Gen’l. Li Shimin
foiled an assassination attempt by 2 brothers. He ambushed his older
brother, Jianchen, killing him him with a bow and arrow, and became the
oldest son and crown prince. Li Yuan abdicated 2 months later and
Shimin became the new ruler under the name Emperor Taizong.
(ON, 5/06, p.4)
627 Byzantine Emperor Heraclius
defeated the Persian army and regained Asia Minor, Syria, Jerusalem and
Egypt.
(ATC, p.45)
628 Apr 3, In Persia Kavadh sued
for peace with the Byzantines. He handed back Armenia, Byzantine
Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
(HN, 4/3/99)(AP, 4/3/99)
628 Apr 3, Chosroes II, emperor of
Persia (579-628), was murdered by his son.
(MC, 4/3/02)
629 A Chinese pilgrim reported
seeing a 1000-foot reclining Buddha at Bamiyan, Afghanistan. By 2004
the sleeping Buddha had not been seen for several hundred years. [see
632]
(SFC, 8/31/04, p.A2)
629-645 Hsuang-Tsang, Chinese pilgrim, journeys over
5,000 miles from China to India and back to collect Buddhist teachings.
He recorded fantastic tales of his adventures.
(ATC, p.13)
630 Mar 21, Heraclius restored the
True Cross, which he had recaptured from the Persians.
(HN, 3/21/99)
630 Mohammad raised an army of
10,000 and took over Mecca (Makkah). He immediately set out to destroy
all the idols at Kaaba. The black stone remained embedded in the
corner. The area around became the first mosque, or Muslim house of
worship. Mohammad returned from Medina and began the Islamic conquest
of Arabia.
(ATC, p.60)(WSJ, 11/15/01, p.A16)
632 Jun 8,
Mohammed, the founder of Islam and unifier of Arabia, died. His
companions compiled his words and deeds in a work called the Sunna.
Here are contained the rules for Islam. The most basic are The Five
Pillars of Islam. These are: 1) profession of faith 2) daily prayer 3)
giving alms 4) ritual fast during Ramadan 5) Hajj, the pilgrimage to
Mecca. The Sunna also calls for "jihad." The term means struggle, i.e.
to do one’s best to resist temptation and overcome evil.
Four contenders stood out to
succeed Mohammad. They were Abu Bakr, his trusted father-in-law. Umar
and Uthman, long-time friends and advisers, and Ali, a cousin and blood
relative. Ali was Mohammad’s son-in-law and the father of Mohammad’s
grandsons. Abu Bakr was chosen as caliph i.e. successor.
(ATC, p.60,63)(HN, 6/8/98)(SFC, 12/15/98, p.A7)(AP,
6/8/03)
Iqra, which means read in Arabic,
was reportedly the first word that the archangel Gabriel spoke to
Mohammed.
(SFC, 10/22/98, p.C5)
In 2001 Minou Reeves,
Iranian-born scholar, authored "Muhammad in Europe: A Thousand Years of
Western Myth-Making "
(WSJ, 12/12/01, p.A15)
632 Jun 16, Origin of Persian
[Yazdegird] Era.
(MC, 6/16/02)
632 Hiuan-tsang, an Chinese
pilgrim, visited the great Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 12/20/01, p.A13)
633 Muhammad’s chief clerk
collected Mohammad’s revelations into one work called the Koran
(Quran). Loosely translated it means "recitation." "Whoever witnesses
the crescent of the month, he must fast the month." (Koran, al Baqarah
2:185) Ramadan begins the day after the crescent of the new moon is
sighted and confirmed by 2 witnesses. Muslims must abstain from food
and sex during daylight hours for a month to celebrate the revelation
of the Koran to Mohammed. The later Sunnah holy text reported the
sayings and deeds of Muhammad. The Muslim beard tradition is from the
Sunnah.
(ATC, p.60)(WSJ, 1/7/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/27/01, p.A14)
633 Gen Khalid ibn al-Walid sent a
letter to the Persian emperor that said: "Submit to our authority and
we shall leave you and your land and go against others. If not, you
will be conquered against your will by men who love death as you love
life."
(WSJ, 10/19/01, p.W19)
c633 Nikbanou, a 7th century
Persian Zoroastrian princess, fled to a mountain refuge at Chak to
escape Arab horsemen planting the green pennants of Islam in Iranian
soil.
(AP, 7/15/04)
633 The 4th Synod of Toledo took
on the right to confirm elected kings. Jews were obliged to be
baptized. The vernacular language, of Latin origin, prevailed over that
of the Visigoths.
(www.sispain.org/english/history/visigoth.html)
634 Aug 22, Abu Bekr Abd Allah
(61), [al-Siddik], successor of Mohammed, died. He was a friend, an
Arabic merchant, Mohammed’s father-in-law and the first Caliph. Before
his death he appointed Mohammed's adviser Omar (Umar) as his successor.
(ATC, p.66)(PC, 1992, p.61)
634 Sophronius (74), Christian
monk, was elected patriarch and political ruler of Jerusalem.
(ON, 7/03, p.3)
635 Damascus was captured by the
Muslims.
(ATC, p.78)
636 Summer, A Byzantine army
arrived in the region of Jerusalem and was defeated by a much smaller
Muslim army at the Yarmuk River. With Muslims at the gate Sophronius,
head of Jerusalem, requested a meeting with Caliph Omar.
(ON, 7/03, p.5)
636 Jul 23, Arabs gained control
of most of Palestine from Byzantine Empire.
(MC, 7/23/02)
636 Aug 15, At the Battle at
Yarmuk, east of the Sea of Galilee, Islamic forces beat a Byzantine
army and gained control of Syria.
(PC, 1992, p.61)
636 Nov 1, Nicholas
Boileau-Despreaux, French poet, was born. He was also a critic and
official royal historian and wrote "Lutrin. "
(HN, 11/1/99)
637 Ctesiphon, a center of
Christianity southeast of Baghdad, was taken by Arabs, who renamed it
Madain.
(SFC, 3/31/03, p.W5)
637 Muslim armies conquered
Mesopotamia.
(ATC, p.78)
638 cJan, Sophronius met with
Caliph Omar and obtained a set of guarantees and regulations that came
to be known as "the Covenant of Omar."
(ON, 7/03, p.3)
638 Mar 11, Sophronius of
Jerusalem, saint, patriarch of Jerusalem, died.
(MC, 3/12/02)
638 Arabs conquered the city of
Hebron. They allowed the Jews to build a synagogue near Abraham’s
burial site.
(SFC, 12/4/08, p.A27)
640 Muslim Arabs invaded Armenia
and capture Dvin, its principal town.
(CO Enc. / Armenia)
640 The Muslim government began
minting coins about this time.
(ATC, p.83)
641 Feb 11, Heraclius (~65),
emperor of Byzantium (610-641), died.
(MC, 2/11/02)
642 Sep 17, Arabs conquered
Alexandria and destroyed the great library. Omar, the second caliph,
successor of Mohammed, conquered Alexandria, then the capital of world
scholarship.
(V.D.-H.K.p.103)(MC, 9/17/01)
642 The Arabs conquered the
Sassanids.
(ATC, p.33)
642 Pope Theodore I began using
the title “Patriarch of the West.” In 2006 the Vatican took the unusual
step of explaining its decision to renounce the title, saying the
omission of "patriarch of the West," from the new edition of the
Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican's 2,373-page directory of prelates,
should benefit relations with the Orthodox Church, not hinder them.
(AP, 3/23/06)
644 Nov 4, Umar of Arabia, the 2nd
Caliph of Islam, was assassinated at Medina and was succeeded as caliph
by Uthman. On his deathbed Umar named a council to choose the next
caliph. The council appointed Uthman. Uthman continued to expand the
Muslim empire. [see Dec 8]
(ATC, p.67)(HN, 11/4/98)(MC, 11/4/01)
644 Dec 8, Omar I, 2nd caliph of
Islam, was murdered. [see Nov 4]
(MC, 12/8/01)
645 Downfall of the Soga Clan in
Japan.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
649 May 14, Theodore, Greek Pope
(642-49), excommunicated by Paul II, died.
(MC, 5/14/02)
649 Jul 5, St. Martin I began his
reign as Pope.
(MC, 7/5/02)
650 The Khazars’ aggressive
territorial expansion drove some Bulgars
westward. These Bulgars soon founded a kingdom in the southeastern
Balkans
that became known as Bulgaria.
(TJOK, 1999, p.16)
c650 An early Mayan classic temple
in Copan was closed and covered about this time. Ritual items of flint
knives and stingray spines was later discovered.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.28)
c650 The first pyramid of the
Teotihuacan culture was built in Cholula. Over the next 800 years a
nested series of 4 pyramids were constructed. The most important and
largest city of pre-Colombian central Mexico, the Nahuatl meaning of
Teotihuacan was "Where Men Become Gods" or "The City of Gods." Just
north of Mexico City, Teotihuacan was planned at about the beginning of
the Christian era and was sacked and burned by invading Toltecs in 650
CE.
(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.T10)(HNQ, 4/24/99)
650-700 In northern Peru archeological evidence later
indicated that civil strife during this period, which followed some 30
years of drought, led to the demise of the Moche civilization.
(PBS, 10/1/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moche)
650-750 In Mexico the Teotihuacan culture began
declining and was almost abandoned by the end of this period.
(SFC, 10/22/98, p.C2)
c650-850 The alliterative epic poem Beowulf was
composed at least 100 years before the manuscript was written. It was
written in the 8th century. In 1999 Seamus Heaney wrote a new
translation of the old English tale of a Scandinavian warrior who kills
a trio of monsters including Grendel. In the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf,
the hero of the Geats people, mortally wounds the monster Grendel--who
has been terrorizing the court of the king of Danes--by tearing off one
of his arms with his bare hands. Based on folk tales known to the
Anglo-Saxons prior to their invasion of England, the work is made up
primarily of pagan myths and legends. The poem is believed to date from
the late seventh or early eighth century and the only surviving text,
now in the British Museum, dates from about 1000 A.D.
(WUD, 1994, p.140)(WSJ, 2/24/00, p.A16)(WSJ,
1/11/99, p.R53)(HNQ, 1/10/02)
651 In Persia Yazdegird III, the
last Sassanian king, was murdered.
(WSJ, 2/2/00, p.A24)
652 Arabs introduced Islam to
Afghanistan.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)
654 A Saxon monk founded St.
Botolph’s Town in England. The name gradually changed to Boston.
(SFC, 8/12/00, p.B3)
656 In Saudi Arabia Uthman
(Othman), the 3rd caliph, was murdered. Under his rule a full, standard
text of the Quran was compiled. He had appointed members of his own
family as regional governors and caused bitter jealousy among other
families. This caused an angry mob of 500 to murder him. This gave Ali
an opportunity to claim power. Some claim that Ali plotted Uthman’s
murder. Civil war broke out. Muawija, Uthman’s cousin and governor of
Syria, challenged Ali’s right to rule. Ali prepared for war but was
murdered by an angry former supporter. The followers of Ali became
known as Shiites from the Arabic meaning "the party of Ali." Those who
believe that the election of the first three caliphs was valid and who
claim to follow the Sunna reject the Shiite idea of the Imam, and are
called the Sunnis.
(ATC, p.67-68)(WSJ, 1/12/08, p.A6)
656 The Imam Ali mosque in Najaf
marks the grave of Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed and a central figure
in Shiite Islam.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A16)
657 Jun 2, St. Eugene I ended his
reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 6/2/02)
657 Jul 26, Mu'awiyan defeated
Caliph Ali in the Battle of Siffin in Mesopotamia.
(HN, 7/26/98)
658 Hirafu Abe went to meet with
the Ainu on Hokkaido after he had defeated an indigenous tribe called
Emishi in the northeast region of Honshu.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 217)
661 Jan 27, Ali ibn Abu Talib,
caliph of Islam (656-61), was murdered in Kufa, Iraq. Caliph Ali,
son-in-law of Mohammed, was assassinated and his followers (Shiites)
broke from the majority Muslim group. A member of the anarchist sect of
Kharajites assassinated Ali. This sect believed that there are no
verdict’s but God’s.
(SFC, 3/16/02,
p.A14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_ibn_Abi_Talib)(SSFC, 6/30/02,
p.M6)(http://tinyurl.com/44dtom)
661 Muawija became caliph. He
moved the capital from Medina to Damascus. His followers were called
the Umayyads. Muawija was one of the soldiers who helped capture
Damascus and for 25 years he had served as governor of Syria. Muawija
began the practice of appointing his own son as the next caliph, and so
the Umayyads ruled for the next 90 years. Muslim forces expanded into
North Africa and completely conquered Persia. The Islamic Empire
continued to expand into Afghanistan and Pakistan. After the Omayyad
Caliphs conquered Damascus, they build the palace at Qasr Al-Kharaneh
(in Jordan) as a recreational lodge.
(ATC, p.67,78)(SFEC, 4/11/99, p.9)
662 Aug 13, Maximus Confessor
(b.c580), Greek theologian, died.
(MC, 8/13/02)
662 By 2004 Simon Martin, Mayan
scholar, worked out an almost day-by-day account of events from this
year in the plain of Tabasco, Mexico.
(Econ, 5/22/04, p.79)
668 Jul 15, Constantine II (37),
emperor of Byzantium, died.
(MC, 7/15/02)
668-1392 In Korea the Silla Kingdom united the
peninsula and began the Koryo Dynasty from which Korea derived its name.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.E3)
669 Theodore, a native of Tarsus
in Cilicia, arrived in England to take over the See of Canterbury under
the direction of Pope Vitalian. He was well received everywhere and was
the first Archbishop whose authority the whole English Church was
willing to acknowledge.
(www.britannia.com/bios/abofc/theodore.html)
c670 A Japanese inventor based the
first design of a folding fan on the structure of a bat’s wing.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, Z1 p.2)
c672 The Venerable Bede (d.735),
Beda Venerabilis, English speaking church historian, was born.
(WSJ, 10/22/03, p.D12)
676 Cairo was built by the Arabs only 1300 years
ago. The name comes from the Egyptian "El Qahir," the name of the
planet Mars.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.165)(SFEC, 8/17/97, Z1 p.2)
678 Jun 27, St. Agatho began his
reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 6/27/02)
680 Oct 10, Imam Hussein, grandson
of prophet Mohammed, was beheaded. He was killed by rival Muslim forces
on the Karbala plain in modern day Iraq. He then became a saint to
Shiite Muslims. Traditionalists and radical guerrillas alike
commemorate his martyrdom as the ceremony of Ashura. The 10-day
mourning period during the holy month of Muharram commemorates the
deaths of Caliph Ali’s male relatives by Sunnis from Iraq. Shiites went
on to believe that new leaders should be descendants of Mohammad and
Ali. Sunnis went on to vest power in a body of Muslim scholars called
the ulema.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A14)(SFC, 2/24/06,
p.A15)(http://countrystudies.us/iraq/15.htm)
681 Bulgaria’s 1st kingdom was
established.
(WPR, 3/04, p.28)
682 Aug 17, Leo II, later St. Leo,
began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 8/17/02)
682-721 Ah Cacaw (Lord of Cocoa) ruled over Tikal
(later Guatemala) during this period. His burial tomb was later found
deep inside the 145-foot high Temple of the Great Jaguar.
(SFEM, 6/13/99, p.8)
683 Pacal, Mayan ruler of
Palenque, died. His sarcophagus, found in 1952, has the intricately
carved lid later suggested to represent an extra-terrestrial visitor.
(SSFC, 5/5/02, p.C5)(WSJ, 9/16/04, p.A1)
683-685 Khazars invaded Transcaucasia and inflicted
much damage and stole
much booty. The Khazar invaders killed the rulers of Armenia and
Georgia.
(TJOK, p.159)
684 Jun 26, Benedict II (d.685)
was consecrated as Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.162)
684-702 Mayan leader Kan Balam II, son of Pakal,
ruled over Palenque.
(SSFC, 12/7/03, p.C10)
685 May 8, St. Benedict II ended
his reign as Catholic Pope.
(MC, 5/8/02)
685 May 21, Battle at
Nechtansmere: Picts trounced the Northumbrians.
(MC, 5/21/02)
685 In China a manual on
calligraphy was made. It summarized the aesthetic ideals and theories
of Chinese writing.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.37)
685-705 Abd al Malik, Umayyad caliph, influenced the
shaping of Islamic culture. He declared Arabic as the official language
of the empire and established a common coinage system that was purely
Arabic. They had no images but were inscribed with quotations from the
Koran.
(ATC, p.83)
686 Aug 2, John V, 1st
Greek-Syrian Pope (685-86), died.
(MC, 8/2/02)
687-714 Pepin II united and ruled the Franks.
(ATC, p.51)
688 North Africa was conquered by
the Muslims under Abd al Malik.
(ATC, p.83)
691 Muslims built the Dome of the
Rock mosque in Jerusalem. It contained inscriptions that later were
held as the 1st evidence of the Koran.
(SFC, 3/2/02, p.A15)(WSJ, 5/20/06, p.P16)
694 Nov 9, Spanish King Egica
accused Jews of aiding Moslems and sentenced them to slavery.
(MC, 11/9/01)
c696 Feng Du, a 1,300-year-old
Tang dynasty city near the Yangtze River gorges, known as the city of
ghosts.
(WSJ, 10/8/96, p.A20)
c697 The last major earthquake
occurred in the Salt Lake City region of Utah about this time. A major
quake hits the region about every 1300 years.
(SFEC, 4/6/97, p.C13)
697 In Ireland an assembly was
called at the hill of Tara to put an end to the participation of Irish
women in battle.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.11)
699 Li Po (d.762), classical
Chinese poet, was born. His poems included "Drinking Alone With the
Moon."
(SFC, 10/30/03, p.A26)
699 En no Ozunu appeared in the
official Japanese national log of events or the 'Shoku Nihongi.' It is
in this year that En was banished from society, following the charge
that he "misused his magical powers to control people." It is believed
that En No Gyoja was historically known as En no Ozunu. The Japanese
ascetic En-no-Gyoja founded the Shugendo religion on Mount Omine (5,640
feet). He blended aspects of tantric Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism,
Confucianism and Japanese shamanism.
(SSFC, 10/2/05,
p.E4)(http://tinyurl.com/8s4gm)
c700 The mound building Caddo
culture began flourishing in the Texas and Oklahoma area. It lasted to
the mid-18th cent.
(AM, Vol. 48, No. 3)
c700 Nov 1, The Celts of Ireland, Great Britain and
northern France celebrated Oct. 31 to Nov 2 as their New Year from
around 1000-500BC. The pagan harvest event incorporated masks to ward
off evil ones, as dead relatives were believed to visit families on the
first evening. The Catholic holiday of All Saints' Day, set for Nov. 1,
was instituted around 700 CE to supplant the Druid holiday and Pope
Gregory (731-741) made it official. Halloween was transplanted to the
US in the 1840s. [see 835]
(WSJ, 10/28/99, p.A24)(WSJ, 10/29/99, p.W17)
c700 Abd al Malik issued the first
pure Islamic coins.
(ATC, p.83)
c700 The Chinese gained control
over Manchuria from the Koreans about this time.
(WSJ, 10/9/95, p.A-1)
c700 Trade along the coast of East
Africa expanded and promoted the founding of such settlements as
Kismayu, Mogadiscio, Gedi, Malindi, Mombasa, Kilwas and others.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.169)
c700 In Mexico the Zapotec city of
Monte Alban was abandoned about this time.
(SFEC, 10/3/99, p.A24)
c700 The Potala Palace in Lhasa,
Tibet, was constructed. It became the traditional home of the Dalai
Lama.
(SSFC, 10/5/03, p.D2)
700-800 King Offa decreed that an earthen barrier be
built along the border between Wales and his kingdom of Mercia. Llwybr
Clawdd Offa opened as a hiking trail in 1971.
(SSFC, 4/7/02, p.C10)
700-800 In Bulgaria the Madara Horseman in Kaspichan
was carved into a sandstone cliff.
(SFEC, 8/28/98, p.T4)
700-800 The Catholic Church changed its rules on
fasting and allowed fish to be eaten on Fridays and during Lent.
(NH, 5/96, p.58)
c700-800 Dionysus Exiguus (Dennis the Short), a
Catholic monk, created a chronology for Pope St. John I with a calendar
that began in the year CE 1.
(SFEC,11/16/97, BR p.5)
700-800 In Bhutan the Taktsang monastery was founded
by tantric master Padmasambhava, often described as "another Buddha."
(SFEC, 2/23/96, p.T5)
700-800 According to Iraqis Muslim forces "liberated"
Iraq from the Persians in the 8th century qadissiyah battle.
(SFC, 2/1/02, p.A18)
700-800 Escaped slaves called the Zanj took refuge
from the early Islamic empire in the marshes of southern Iraq.
(SSFC, 12/28/03, p.A6)
700-800 The Tanka (short song) poetry form emerged in
Japan about this time. The unrhymed verse formalized to 31 syllables
arranged in a 5 line pattern of 5-7-5-7-7. In 2005 it became popular on
cell phones.
(WSJ, 10/4/05, p.A1)
700-800 In Japan a priest in the 8th century
discovered the mineral hot springs at Yamashiro Onsen.
(WSJ, 7/19/05, p.A1)
700-800 The village site of Galu, Kenya, produced the
world’s oldest crucible steel.
(NH, 6/97, p.44)
700-800 The Bonampak site in Chiapas, Mexico, has
frescoes painted on the stucco walls of Structure I from this time.
They depict war, sacrifice and celebration. The name glyph for Shield
Jaguar II, king of nearby Yaxchilan, was recognized.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.F)(AM, May/Jun 97 p.37)
700-800 Invading Slavs assimilated the Thracians in
the area of modern Bulgaria and parts of Greece, Romania, Macedonia and
Turkey.
(SFC, 8/17/05, p.A2)
700-800 Slav tribes settle into the territories of
present-day Slovenia, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, and
assimilated the Illyrian populations of these regions. The Illyrians in
the south averted assimilation.
(www, Albania, 1998)
700-800 Vikings settled the Faeroe Islands in the 8th
century replacing Irish settlers. In 1948 the group of 18 islands,
located between Britain and Iceland, became an autonomous region of
Denmark.
(SSFC, 7/29/07,
p.G8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faroe_Islands)
700-800 Vikings began arriving to the Orkney Islands.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3)
701 Sep 8, Sergius I, Syrian and
Italian Pope (687-701), died.
(MC, 9/8/01)
702 Japan's first civil and penal
code was promulgated. [see 604CE]
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
705 Mar 1, John VII began his
reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 3/1/02)
705 Oct 8, Abd al-Malik, caliph of
Damascus, died.
(MC, 10/8/01)
708 Mar 25, Constantine began his
reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 3/24/98)
708 In France Bishop Aubert of
Avranches had a dream in which Archangel Michael persuaded him to build
an oratory dedicated to the saint on the rock off the Normandy coast
known as Mont Tombe. Over the years it grew and became known as Mont
St. Michel.
(WSJ, 10/7/06, p.P18)
709 Apr 24, Wilfried (~76), bishop
of York, died.
(MC, 4/24/02)
709 May 25, Aldhelmus (~69) of
Ealdhelm, England, abbot, bishop, poet, saint, died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
710 The Fujiwara clan established
the Kasuga Shrine in Nara, Japan.
(Hem, 9/04, p.46)
710-784 The Nara Period of Japan. Japan’s 1st
permanent capital arose in the Nara basin.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(Hem, 9/04, p.41)
711 Apr 14, Childebert III (~27),
king of the French, died.
(MC, 4/14/02)
711 Jul 19, The Muslim troops
crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and defeated the Visigoth king Rodrigo
at the battle of Guadalete. Berbers under Tarik-ibn Ziyad occupied
Northern Spain. The Umayyads with the help of the Berbers in North
Africa moved across the Strait of Gibraltar and began the conquest of
Spain and Portugal. The word Gibraltar comes from the term
Jabal-al-Tarik, which means the hill of Tarik. Gebel-al-Tarik means
"Rock of Tarik."
(ATC, p.79)(SFEC, 9/29/96, Z1
p.2)(www.sispain.org/english/history/visigoth.html)
711 Dec 11, Justitianus II (~42),
emperor of Byzantium, died.
(MC, 12/11/01)
712 The publication of Kojiki in
Japan, the Record of Ancient Matters. The work was compiled by the
court to strengthen its control over various noble lineages. Fictitious
rulers were inserted to project the nation’s founding back to 660BC
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.34)
712 Muza ben-Nosair completed the
Muslim conquest of Spain. The Visigothic period ended.
(www.sispain.org/english/history/visigoth.html)
715 Apr 9, Constantine I,
Greek-Syrian Catholic Pope (708-15), died.
(HN, 4/9/98)(MC, 4/9/02)
715 May 19, St. Gregory II began
his reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 5/19/98)
718 The Japanese inn Hoshi Ryokan
was founded in Komatsu.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.104)(SFC, 4/14/06, p.D1)
720 The Nihon Shoki (the Chronicle
of Japan), the oldest recorded Japanese document, was published. It was
compiled by the court to strengthen its control over various noble
lineages.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.34)(WSJ,
1/11/99, p.R46)
721-764 Kinich Ahkal Mo' Nab ruled Palenque.
(AM, Jul-Aug/99, p.16)
c722 In China a 233-foot Buddha
was built in Sichuan province. In 2002 a $30 million restoration
project was undertaken.
(SFC, 7/4/02, p.A12)
727 May 30, Hubertus (72), bishop
of Tongeren-Maastricht, saint, died.
(MC, 5/30/02)
727 Houei-tch’ao, a Korean pilgrim, visited the
great Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 12/20/01, p.A13)
729 Apr 24, Egbertus (89), English
bishop, St. Egbert, died in Iona.
(MC, 4/24/02)
729 Emperor Leo the Isaurian
ordered the destruction of an icon of Christ set in the great Bronze
Gate in Constantinople. Theodosia led a group of enraged women who
killed the officer removing the image. Theodosia was killed in the
forum and became a martyr-saint. Her saint’s day was May 29.
(Ot, 1993, p.3)
730 Khazar commander Barjik led
Khazar troops through the Darial Pass
to invade Azerbaijan. At the Battle of Ardabil, the Khazars defeated an
entire Arab army. The Battle of Ardabil lasted three days, and resulted
in the death of a major Arab general named Jarrah. The Khazars then
conquered Azerbaijan and Armenia and northern Iraq for a brief time.
(TJOK, pages 160-161)
731 Feb 11, Gregory II,
Greek-Syrian Pope, died.
(MC, 2/11/02)
731-741 Gregory III served as Pope.
(WUD, 1994, p.621)
732 Oct 10, At Tours, France,
Charles Martel killed Yemenite general Abd el-Rahman and halted the
Muslim invasion of Europe. Islam's westward spread was stopped by the
Franks at the Battle of Tours (also known as the Battle of Poitiers).
(http://tinyurl.com/o1uj)(HN,10/10/98)
732 Pope Gregory III banned
horseflesh from Christian tables after he learned that pagans of
northern Europe ate it in their religious rites.
(SFC, 5/30/98, p.E4)
735 May 26, The Venerable Bede
(~62), Beda Venerabilis, English speaking church historian, died.
(MC, 5/26/02)(WSJ, 10/22/03, p.D12)
737 Marwan, an Arab general,
captured the Khazar khagan and forced him to pledge support to the
Caliphate and convert to Islam.
(TJOK, pages 162-163)
738 The great Lord 18 Rabbit built
a ball court at the Mayan city of Copan. In a surprise attack he was
captured and decapitated by Cauac Sky from the city of Quirigia, some
60 km. to the east. In 1998 Michael D. Coe and Justin Kerr published
"The Art of the Maya Scribe," a look at the progress made in decoding
the Mayan writing system.
(Hem, Dec. 94, p.123)(SFEC, 7/5/98, BR p.10)
738 Butz Tiliw’ or Cauac Sky
defeated his overlord, Copan’s 13th ruler, 18 Rabbit. Monuments to this
event are at the Quirigua Maya site in Guatemala.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.F)
739 Nov 7, Willibrord (81),
[Clemens], 1st bishop of Utrecht (695-739) and saint , died.
(MC, 11/7/01)
740 Tah ak Chaan (Taj Chan Ank)
began a 50 year rule over the city of Cancuen in what later became
Guatemala.
(SFC, 9/9/00, p.A2)(AM, 7/04, p.16)
740 The Virupaksha temple in
Pattadakal, an early capital of the Chalukyas of southern India, was
built by Queen Lokamahadevi about this time to commemorate her
husband's victory over the Pallavas.
(http://tinyurl.com/s6lck)
741 Jun 18, Leo III de Isaurier,
Byzantine Emperor (717-41), died.
(MC, 6/18/02)
741 Oct 22, Charles Martel of Gaul
died at Quiezy. His mayoral power was divided between his two sons,
Pepin III and Carloman.
(HN, 10/22/98)
741 The Arab slave trade was one
of the elements that sparked the great Berber rebellion in North
Africa and Islamic Spain (http://tinyurl.com/2zrltp).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hisham_ibn_Abd_al-Malik)(Econ, 7/7/07,
p.79)
742 Apr 2, Charlemagne (d.814),
Charles I the Great, King of the Franks and first Holy Roman emperor
(800-14), was born. His capital was at Aachen (Acquisgrana in Latin).
(V.D.-H.K.p.105)(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.46)(HN, 4/2/98)
743 Mar 1, Slave export by
Christians to heathen areas was prohibited.
(SC, 3/1/02)
743-1194 In France five cathedrals were built on the
site of Chartres cathedral over this period.
(Hem., 10/97, p.83)
744 Lords of the Lowland Maya city
of Caracol conducted a burning ritual in the cave at Naj Tunich, in the
Peten of Guatemala.
(AM, 7/97, p.51)
745 Some 200,000 Slovenians,
settled in a pocket of the eastern slopes of the Alps, were threatened
by the Avars and the Bavarians. For safety they adopted Christianity
and accepted the protection of the Frankish emperor
(SFC, 5/26/96, T-5)
745-840 The Uighur of eastern Turkestan formed an
empire in the north that was ended by an invasion of the Kyrgyz peoples.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
746 Jun 12, The estimated date for
the dedication of the Mayan Temple 22 in Copan.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.31)
749 An earthquake cause great
damage in the area of the Sea of Galilee.
(SFC, 6/18/02, p.A2)
c750 The Anasazi built entire cities into cliffs
around the West since at least this time. Before that they were digging
pit houses and even earlier, about 350 B.C., were probably living in
Colorado caves. Their present name comes from a Navajo word meaning
"the ancient ones" or "the ancient enemy."
(HNQ, 7/1/01)
750 Constantinople, as the center
of eastern rule used the Greek language for communication.
(V.D.-H.K.p.65)
c750 Arab immigrants settled
upstream from Soba, the capital of Alwa, and developed a strong new
state called Funj.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.170)
c750 Teotihuacan, the 1st major
urban center of Mesoamerica, fell about this time. It was burned,
deserted and its people scattered. It contained the Pyramid of the Moon
and the Pyramid of the Sun.
(SSFC, 5/6/01, p.T8)
c750-850 The Maya city of La Milpa reached its peak
with about 50,000 people.
(SFC, 6/23/96, p.A10)
750-1258 Muslim power in Persia was held by the
Abbassid caliphs, who claimed lands that stretched from Central Asia to
North Africa and Spain. One Abbasid general, Abdullah, invited 80
Umayyad leaders to a banquet where they were killed by Abdullah’s men.
Only one Umayyad, Abd al Rahman, was able to escape. He fled all the
way to Spain where he united the warring Muslin groups there and built
a new Umayyad government. So now the Muslims were split in two groups.
The Abbassid dynasty of the Moslem Empire ruled Arabia and the eastern
empire. All of the caliphs of this era claim descended from Abbas, the
uncle of Mohammed.
(AHD, 1971, p.2)(ATC, p.84)(SFC, 4/12/03, p.A14)
750-1375 The Sican culture flourished on Peru's
northern desert coast. In 2006 archaeologists unearthed 22 graves
containing a trove of Sican artifacts, including the first "tumi"
ceremonial knives ever discovered by archaeologists rather than looted
by thieves.
(AP, 11/22/06)
751 During a raid into central
Asia, the Abbasids captured some Chinese artisans skilled in paper
making.
(ATC, p.89)
751- 987 The Frankish dynasty of Pepin the Short
began the Carolingian period.
(AHD, 1971, p.205)
752 Mar 23, Pope Stephen II was
elected to succeed Pope Zacharias; however, Stephen died 4 days later.
(AP, 3/23/97)(PTA, 1980, p.184)
752 Mar 26, Pope Stephen II died 4
days after his election.
(SS, 3/26/02)(PTA, 1980, p.184)
752 Abu Jafar al Mansur, the
second Abbasid caliph, moved the capital to Baghdad.
(ATC, p.85)
c752 Emperor Shomu built a great
Buddhist temple and started a collection from the gifts that were
brought to its dedication. Rulers for the next 12 centuries added to
the collection.
(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A20)
752 The dedication of the Great
Buddha of Todai Temple in Nara.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
754 Jun 5, Friezen murdered bishop
Boniface [Winfrid], English saint, archbishop of Dokkum, and over 50
companions.
(MC, 6/5/02)
754 The Iconoclasts (image
smashers) prevailed and religious art was banned in churches by an
edict that remained in effect for a century.
(WSJ, 3/10/97, p.A16)
756 May 15, Abd-al-Rahman was
proclaimed the emir of Cordoba, Spain. Abd al Rahman united the Umayyad
forces in Spain and made the ancient Roman city of Cordoba his new
capital.
(ATC, p.95)(HN, 5/15/98)
757 Apr 26, Stephen II ended his
reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 4/26/98)
757 May 29, St. Paul I (d.767)
began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.188)(SC, 5/29/02)
760 May 22, The 14th recorded
perihelion passage of Halley's Comet occurred.
(MC, 5/22/02)
762 Jul 30, A Persian astrologer,
selected by caliph al-Mansur (the Victorious), selected this day as
propitious for breaking ground for the city of Baghdad. Al-Mansur was
one of the founders of the Abassid dynasty.
(WSJ, 2/14/09, p.W8)
763 Tibetan armies occupied the
capital of China.
(SFEM, 1/24/99, p.6)
763 Altar Q depicts Yax Pasah (Yax
Pasaj), Copan’s last dynastic ruler, receiving the symbolic baton of
office from founder K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo’ in this year.
(NG, 12/97, p.80)(AM, 3/04, p.43)
764-770 In Japan Empress Shotoku had a million
miniature pagodas made in thanks for regaining control of the throne.
Sacred text was placed in each one and distributed to the 10 most
important temples.
(WSJ, 7/27/00, p.A20)
765 Dec 31, The coffin of Ho-tse
Shen-hui was interred in a stupa built in China.
(MC, 12/31/01)
765-790 The Mayan palace of Cancuen, one of the
largest in Guatemala, was built by King Taj Chan Ahk.
(AP, 4/23/04)
766-787 The Chinese poet Du Fu arrived in Baidi Cheng
and was given the means to write poetry by the local warlord. He wrote
a third of his life’s work with many poems in the regulated style
called lushi.
(NH, 7/96, p.32)
768 Sep 24, Pepin the Short (54)
of Gaul died. His dominions were divided between his sons Charles
(Charlemagne) and Carloman.
(PC, 1992, p.67)
768-814 Charlemagne becomes king of the Franks and
emperor of the former Western Roman Empire.
(V.D.-H.K.p.105)(ATC, p.72)
771 Dec 4, With the death of his
brother Carloman, Charlemagne became sole ruler of the Frankish Empire.
(HN, 12/4/98)
771-814 Reign of Charlemagne.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
772 Mar 1, Po Tjiu-I (Bai Juyi),
Chinese poet (d.846), Governor of Hang-tsjow, was born. His work
included the narrative poem "Song of the Pipa," which protested the
social evils of his day.
(WSJ, 3/17/00, p.W2)(SC, 3/1/02)
774-814 Charlemagne became king of the Lombards.
(V.D.-H.K.p.68)
776-795 Chan Muan (Sky Screech Owl) reigned over the
Bonampak site in what is now eastern Chiapas, Mexico. The site was
abandoned at the end of his reign.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.35)
778 Aug 15, At the Battle at
Roncesvalles the Basques beat Charlemagne.
(PC, 1992, p.67)
779 King Trisong Detsen led Tibet.
Under his rule the first Buddhist monastery, Samye, was built. It was
built under the influence of Padmasambhava (Guru Rimpoche), Tibet’s
greatest saint. Padmasambhava was an 8th century sorcerer and saint who
converted Tibet to Buddhism. Legend has it that he dictated "sacred
geography" texts to his queen consort and then hid them for future
discovery. The texts were discovered by 17th century charismatic lamas.
(Hem., 4/97, p.72,75)(SFEC,12/14/97, p.T5)(WSJ,
3/11/99, p.A20)
780 A group of West Africans
called the Soninke took control of Ghana and developed it into a major
trading empire.
(ATC, p. 113)
781 Yakib ben Laith, a Saffarid
prince from an eastern Iranian dynasty, stripped the sanctuaries of
Bamiyan, Afghanistan, of their metal idols.
(WSJ, 12/20/01, p.A13)
783 Jul 12, Bertha "with the great
feet", wife of French king Pippin III, died.
(MC, 7/12/02)
786 Feb 4, Harun al-Rashid
succeeded his older brother the Abbasid Caliph al-Hadi as Caliph of
Baghdad.
(HN, 2/4/99)
786 Sep 24, Al-Hadi, Arabic caliph
of Islam (185-86), died.
(MC, 9/24/01)
786 Abd al Rahman began
construction of the Great Mosque of Cordoba. It was under construction
for 200 years.
(ATC, p.95)
787 Sep 24, The 2nd Council of
Nicaea (7th ecumenical council) opened in Asia Minor.
(http://www.malaspina.com/site/person_672.asp)
787 Oct 23, Byzantine
Empress Irene (c. 752-803) attended the final session of the 2nd church
council at Nicaea, Bithynia [now Iznik, a city in Anatolia (now part of
Turkey)]. The council formally revived the adoration of icons and
reunited the Eastern church with that of Rome.
(http://www.malaspina.com/site/person_672.asp)
c791 Croats established the
principalities of Primortska Hrvatska on the Adriatic coast and
Posavska Hrvatska in inland Croatia.
(WSJ, 7/14/99, p.A23)
792 The first paper making factory
in the Islamic Empire was built in Baghdad.
(ATC, p.89)
793 Jun 8, Vikings raided the
Northumbrian coast in England. Corfe served as a center of West Saxon
resistance to Viking invaders. Vikings plundered the monastery and St.
Cuthbert convent at Lindsfarne
(HN, 6/8/98)(AM, 7/00, p.64)(PC, 1992, p.68)
794 Aug 10, Fastrada (30), 3rd
wife of French king Charlemagne, died.
(MC, 8/10/02)
794 The capital of Japan was moved
from Nara to Kyoto and the new Imperial Palace was built there. It
remained there until 1868.
(Hem., 2/96, p.57-58)(Hem, 9/04, p.41)
794-1185 The Heian Period in Japan. The kimono
originated in this period. Prof. Helen McCullough (d.1998) of UC
Berkeley and her husband translated "A Tale of Flowering Fortunes,"
whose notes and appendixes made it an encyclopedia of Heian court life.
She published 11 volumes of studies and translations of classical
Japanese poetry that included: "The Tale of the Heike" and "The Great
Mirror."
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(SFC, 2/7/97, p.D1)(SFC,
4/23/98, p.B4)
795 Taj Chan Ahk, the Mayan ruler
of Cancuen (Guatemala), died.
(SFC, 11/17/05, p.A17)
795 Vikings first raided Ireland.
(SFEC, 8/1/99, p.T8)
795-1185 The Heian period was a time of elegant and
refined rice papers.
(SFC, 5/17/97, p.A20)
796 Jul 26, Offa, king of Mercia
(in central England), died.
(MC, 7/26/02)
796 Frankfurt, Germany. This 1200
year old city of 650,000 is the hub of Germany’s banking and business
community.
(SFC, 5/5/96, p.T-7)
796 A 600-pound limestone altar
was carved to honor a treaty in the Mayan city of Cancuen (Guatemala).
It was uncovered in 2001 and soon stolen. It was retrieved in 2003.
(USAT, 10/30/03, p.12D)(SFC, 10/30/03, p.A11)
796-821 Anglo Saxon king Coenwulf of Mercia, ruled a
kingdom that covered vast swathes of the English midlands and northern
counties to the southeast. In 2001 a metal detector enthusiast
discovered a gold coin beside the River Ivel in Bedfordshire, southern
England. The 4.25 gram coin depicts Anglo Saxon king Coenwulf of Mercia.
(AFP, 2/8/06)
c797 The 1,200 year-old Book of
Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the Gospels, was made by Irish
monks. It was later kept in the library of Dublin’s Trinity College.
The Book of Kells is a richly decorated copy of the four
gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke and John--produced by Christian monks,
possibly in the late 700s on the Scottish isle of Iona or in the Irish
town of Kells. Joyce later used it as a model for Ulysses.
(SFC, 3/17/97, p.A20)(HNQ, 1/13/99)(SFEM, 5/16/99,
p.7)
799 Nov 29, Pope Leo III, aided by
Charlemagne, returned to Rome.
(MC, 11/29/01)
799 Imam Musa ibn Jaafar al-Kadhim
(55), one of the 12 principle Shiite saints, died from poisoning in
Baghdad.
(www.shiachat.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t52098.html)
c799-878 St. Ignatius Nicetas. He served as the
Patriarch of Constantinople from 846-858 and 867-878.
(WUD, 1994 p.708)
800 Dec 25, Pope Leo III crowned
Charlemagne emperor at the basilica of St. Peter's at Rome.
(V.D.-H.K.p.105)(HN, 12/25/98)
c800 England’s King Lear lived
about this time. Shakespeare wrote his play “King Lear” in 1606.
(www.rsc.org.uk/lear/current/director.html)
c800 The inhabitants of the
British Isles did not comb their hair until they were taught by the
Danes about this time.
(SFC, 6/30/96, Z1 p.5)
c800 In Egypt an earthquake sent
the Nile port cities of Herakleion, Canopus and Menouthis into the
Mediterranean Sea.
(SFC, 6/8/01, p.A1)
c800 The stone image of Fudo
Myo-o, a fierce Japanese deity of fire and thunder was carved by a
revered priest in Kyoto about this time. It was transferred to Narita
about 940.
(Hem, 8/95, p.56)
800 About this time unidentified
conquerors destroyed the Mayan palace at Cancuen (Guatemala) and killed
the members of the court. Archeologists in 2005 reported that King
Maax, son of Taj Chan Ahk, was found buried in full regalia.
(SFC, 11/17/05, p.A17)
c800 The height of the Mayan city
of Copan. Some 20,000 people lived in the Copan pocket, a fertile
section of the Copan River valley in what is now Honduras.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.29)
800 The city of Jenne-jeno on the
Niger (Mali) grew to a bustling trade center of about 10,000 people. By
1400 the city was abandoned.
(ATC, p.111)
c800 The first Polynesians come
from somewhere in the central Pacific to New Zealand. These people are
called the tangata whenua, which means "people of the land," but are
more commonly called in English the moa-hunters, for hunting the large
grass-eating, ostrich-like bird.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.196)
c800-900 In England Nennius wrote a history in the
early 9th century and mentioned King Arthur as a fabulous figure.
(WSJ, 3/27/98, p.W10)
c800-900 The Alawi faith was founded in the 9th
century by a Muslim, who declared himself the "gateway" to the divine
truth and abandoned Islam.
(WSJ, 6/12/00, p.A30)
800-900 Buran, the wife of the Caliph of Baghdad, had
a lavish wedding. The groom was led to a carpet of woven gold and 1,000
pearls were poured over his head in honor of a poet who had described
the surface of a glass of white wine as: "pearls scattered like pebbles
on a plain of gold."
(SFC, 12/18/96, zz-1 p.8)
800-900 In northern Bangladesh the Buddhist monastic
complex at Paharpur was built by the Pala dynasty.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.B)
800-900 In China the 9th cent. poet Chu Chen Pu wrote
about the hedgehog.
(NH, 7/98, p.54)
c800-900 "The Diamond Sutra,’ a 9th century Chinese
work, was found in 1900 in a cave in Duhuang by Sir Airel Stein, a
British scholar-explorer, and handed over to the British Library.
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.A30)
800-900 Ninth century monks called Bhutan "the hidden
world."
(WSJ, 3/6/97, p.A8)
800-900 In France monks moved inland from the Loire
valley to escape the depredations of the Vikings and revived the making
of Chablis wine with Chardonnay grapes.
(SFC, 7/16/97, Z1 p.4)
c800-900 In Germany Archbishop Hatto of Mainz
supposedly hoarded grain during a time of famine and said that starving
masses were nothing more than mice. He was beleaguered by rodents and
took refuge on his island in the Rhine where legend has it that mice
devoured him.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T4)
800-900 The first Khmer or king, know as Kambu,
founded Kambujadesa, which means "The Sons of Kambu" or Kambuja for
short. Construction of the city and temple complex known as Angkor Wat
was begun.
(SFEC, 10/20/96, T5)
800-900 Muhammed ibn-Musa al-Khwarizmi, Arab
mathematician and astronomer, wrote his "ab al-jabr w’ al muqabalah"
(the science of reduction and comparison). The work dealt with solving
equations. It was the first time that algebra was discussed as a
separate branch of mathematics. In the 12th century it was translated
into Latin as "Ludus algebrae et almucgrabalaeque."
(Alg, 1990, p.87)
800-900 The Vikings brought ponies to Iceland.
(SFC, 3/21/98, p.A9)
800-900 A timber mosque was built at Shanga, Kenya.
(NH, 6/97, p.43)
800-900 In Poland a 9th century edict forbade Jews
from baking. The law was supposedly circumvented by boiling bread and
then toasting it. This process is believed to have led to the creation
of the bagel.
(WSJ, 11/29/08, p.W11)
c800-900 In Southern Korea peasant uprisings led to
the establishment of 2 rival states.
(SFEM, 6/20/99, p.6)
800-900 In Scandinavia Futhark evolved around the 9th
century. Instead of 24 letters, the Scandinavian "Younger" Futhark had
16 letters. In England, Anglo-Saxon Futhorc started to be replaced by
the Latin alphabet by the 9th century, and did not survive much more
past the Norman Conquest. Futhark continued to be used in Scandinavia
for centuries longer, but by 1600 CE, it had become nothing more than
curiosities among scholars and antiquarians.
(www.ancientscripts.com/futhark.html)
800-900 The Uygur, a Turkic people, fled the
Mongolian steppe and settled in Xinjiang.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.12)
800-900 In Thailand Sadokkokthom was a Khmer
sanctuary on the Thai-Cambodian border in the Aranyaphrathet region.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.H)
800-1050 Ghana controlled West Africa’s rich trade,
yet villagers continued to use cowry shells for money. Koumbi, Ghana’s
capital, became the busiest and wealthiest marketplace in West Africa.
(ATC, p.107,115)
c800-1200 Wat Phu (mountain temple) in southern Laos
was a religious complex patronized by the Khmer of Cambodia.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.E)
c800-1700 The Calusa Indian tribe, nicknamed "The
Fierce Ones," dominated Florida’s Gulf coast from about 800 to 1700.
They escaped from Florida to Cuba in the early 1700s after Spanish
soldiers and other tribes overran their region.
(AP, 3/14/04)(AM, 11/04, p.47)
802 Oct 31, Empress Irene was
driven out of Byzantium.
(MC, 10/31/01)
802 Jayavarman II proclaimed
himself a "universal monarch" in a ritual that united religion and
politics (Cambodia) and gave rise to the cult of the Devaraja (deified
king). He declared the region’s independence from Java.
(WSJ, 7/3/97, p.A9)(SFC, 8/14/07, p.A18)
802 Vikings stage their 1st raid
of Iona (Scotland).
(AM, 7/01, p.50)
804 Vikings returned to Iona and
killed 68 of the monastic community.
(AM, 7/01, p.50)
809 Mar 24, Harun al-Rashid (44),
caliph of the Abbasid empire (786-809), died.
(MC, 3/24/02)
810 Jul 8, Pepin, son of
Charlemagne and King of Italy, died.
(MC, 7/8/02)
811 Jul 26, Nicephorus I,
Byzantine Emperor (802-11), died in the Battle at Pliska. The Bulgarian
under monarch Krum beat the Byzantines.
(MC, 7/26/02)
813 Sep 25, Al-Amin, Arabic Caliph
of Islam (809-813), was murdered.
(MC, 9/25/01)
c813 Pelayo to Dantiago, a Spanish
hermit, was guided, according to legend, by strange lights in the sky
to discover the long-forgotten tomb of the apostle St. James (San
Tiago). This led others to make pilgrimages across northern Spain to
the city of Santiago de Compostela. [see 1130]
(SFC, 3/11/04, p.F9)
813-833 Caliph al Ma’mun founded a school in Baghdad
called the House of Wisdom. In this school scholars translated Greek
philosophy classics into Arabic.
(ATC, p.89)
814 Jan 28, Charlemagne (71),
German emperor, Holy Roman Emperor (800-814), died. In 1968 Jacques
Boussard authored “The Civilisation of Charlemagne.”
(MC, 1/28/02)(Econ, 1/3/04, p.39)
815 Abu Nawas, Arab poet, died.
His odes included verses on Baghdad liquor that was "as hot between the
ribs as a firebrand."
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.68)
816 Fatima, sister of the eighth
Imam, lies buried in a sanctuary at Qum, one of the sacred cities of
the Shia faith.
(NG, 9/1939, p.320)
818 Imam Reza, a descendant of the
Prophet Muhammad, died. Shiites later believed that he was fed
poisonous grapes by a Sunni leader of the Muslim world. Reza was buried
in Sanabad, which later became known as Mashad, “place of martyrdom.” A
major shrine grew at the site and by 2007 the Imam Reza Shrine
Foundation was the largest (bonyad) in Iran and accounted for 7.1% of
the country’s GDP.
(WSJ, 6/2/07, p.A12)
820 Jan 20, Abu Abdallah Mibn
Idris al-Sjafi'i, Islamic author of Book of Mother, died.
(MC, 1/20/02)
820 Dec 25, Leo V, the Armenian,
Byzantine gen and Emperor (813-20), was murdered.
(MC, 12/25/01)
c820 The collapse of the Mayan
ruling Classic period dynasty in Copan.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.25)
825 The Buddhist temple of
Borobudur on the island of Java was completed about this time under the
supervision of an architect named Gunadharma. The site was abandoned
after 100-200 years. In 1814 British Gov. Thomas Stamford Raffles was
advised of its location and dispatched an expedition to locate and
excavate the legendary monument.
(SFEC, 3/28/99, p.T9)(WSJ, 9/13/08,
p.W18)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur)
828 Apr 5, Nicephorus (~77),
patriarch of Constantinople (806-815), died.
(MC, 4/5/02)
828 Venetian merchants stole the
relics of Saint Mark from a Coptic church in Alexandria and brought
them home in triumph.
(Econ, 12/23/06, p.125)
835-1500 Medieval British history for this period is
covered by timeref.com.
(www.timeref.com/hsttime0.htm)
833 Jul 20, Ansegis (Ansegius,
63), French abbot of Fontenelle, author, died.
(MC, 7/20/02)
834 Oct 31, This evening became
All Hallow’s Eve with the establishment of Nov 1 as Feast of All Saints
by Pope Gregory IV.
(PTA, 1980, p.204)(SFC, 10/31/01, p.C2)
834 Nov 1, This day was declared
to be All Saints’ Day by the Catholic Church. [see 835CE]
(SFC, 10/31/01, p.C2)
834 In southeastern Norway's
Vestfold County a 65-foot vessel was buried in an enormous mound as the
grave ship for a rich and powerful Viking woman. In 1904 the mound
surrendered the Oseberg Viking longboat.
(AP, 9/11/07)
835 Nov 1, After the spread
of Christianity through the west, the Roman Catholic Church in 835 A.D.
made November 1 a church holiday to honor all the saints. This
celebration was called All Saint's Day or All Hallows and the day
before it--October 31--was called All Hallow's Eve (later Halloween).
Pope Gregory extended the Feast of All Saints on Nov 1 to France and
Germany. [see 834CE]
(PTA, 1980, p.204)(HNPD, 10/31/99)
836 Caliph al-Mutasim built a new
capital at Samarra to replace Baghdad as the capital of the Abbasid
Caliphate. It was abandoned by Caliph al-Mutamid in 892.
(SFC, 2/23/06, p.A15)
837 Apr 13, Best view of Halley's
Comet in 2000 years.
(MC, 4/13/02)
838 Jan 4, Babak, Persian social
and religious reformer, was martyred.
(MC, 1/4/02)
839 Charles III the Fat, sometimes
called Charles II of France, was born. He was the son of Louis the
German and grandson of Charlemagne. Charles III the Fat was a Frankish
king and emperor. His fall in 887 marked the final disintegration
of the empire of Charlemagne. He was the youngest son of Louis the
German and was crowned emperor by Pope John VIII in 881 and became king
of all the East Franks in 882, succeeding his brother Louis the
Younger. Charles III the Fat died on January 13, 888.
(HNQ, 8/30/99)
839 The Stone of Scone was first
believed to be used in the coronation of a Scottish king at the village
of Scone in southeast Scotland.
(SFC, 11/16/96, p.A11)
839 The first official mention of
Andorra was recorded in the records of the cathedral at Seu d’Urgell in
Spain.
(Hem., 3/97, p.74)
840 Mar 14, Eginhard (69), French
nobleman, biographer (Vita Karoli Magni), died.
(MC, 3/14/02)
840 Jun 6, Agobard, archbishop of
Lyon (anti-Semite), died.
(MC, 6/6/02)
840 Vikings settled in Ireland.
(SFEC, 8/1/99, p.T8)
841 Jun 25, Charles the Bald and
Louis the German defeated Lothar at Fontenay.
(HN, 6/25/98)
842 Feb 19, The Medieval
Iconoclastic Controversy ended as a council in Constantinople formally
reinstated the veneration of icons in the churches.
(MC, 2/19/02)
842 Mar 20, Alfonso II the Chaste,
king of Asturia (791-842), died. Asturias was a kingdom in NW Spain.
(MC, 3/20/02)(WUD, 1994 p.92)
842 Vikings attacked the Irish
monastery at Clonmacnoise from bases in Ireland.
(SFEC, 8/1/99, p.T8)
843 Mar 11, Icon worship was
officially reinstated in Aya Sofia, Constantinople.
(MC, 3/12/02)
843 Apr 19, Judith, French
empress, 2nd wife of Louis de Vrome, died.
(MC, 4/19/02)
843 Jun 24, Vikings destroyed
Nantes.
(MC, 6/24/02)
843 Aug 10, Treaty of Verdun:
Brothers Lotharius I, Louis the German and Charles the Bare divided
France.
(MC, 8/10/02)
844 In Scotland the Scotti and
Picts united under Cinaed (Kenneth) Mac Ailpin. The Pict language
disappeared following the union.
(AM, 7/01, p.46)
846 Nov 1, Louis II, the
Stutterer, King of France (877-79), was born.
(MC, 11/1/01)
849 Alfred the Great (d.899) was
said to have been born near Uffington. He became King of the West
Saxons in 871. He was the 5th and youngest son of King Aethelwulf and
Queen Osburga of Wessex.
(AHD, 1971, p.32)(AM, 9/01, p.42)(ON, 4/08, p.4)
c850 Outsiders found coffee in the region of Ethiopia
called Kaffa, hence the name.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, Z1
p.4)(http://www.koffeekorner.com/koffeehistory.htm)
850-930 Hucbaldus Elnonensis, was a French monk and
composer, who became known for writing poetry about the hairless. He
wrote "Ecloga de Calvis," (In Praise of Bald Men) for Hatto, a bald
archbishop. All 150 lines of the Latin verse begin with the letter c
(calvus means bald in Latin).
(WSJ, 11/23/98, p.B1)
850-933 Harold the Fairhaired. Princess Gyda is said
to have incited Harold to gather the whole of Norway under his scepter.
The name Gyda was later corrupted to Gjøe, the name of
Amdunsen’s Northwest Passage sloop (1903-1905).
(Ind, 4/27/02, 5A)
c850-1100 Native Indians in Chaco Canyon [New Mexico]
built multistory buildings and roads. Evidence was later discovered
that they designed a vast map of the yearly sun cycle and the 19-year
cycle of the moon.
(WSJ, 6/16/00, p.W2)
c853 The Baltic shoreline
Curonians repulsed Danish Viking attempts at subjugation. King Olaf led
Swedish Vikings in retaliation and overcame the towns of Seeburg and
Apuole (Apulia).
(TB-Com,
10/11/00)(www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/anskar.html#lifeans)
853 Olaf, King of Sweden, led his
forces across the Baltic Sea and into western Lithuania. They attacked
the castle at Apuole near the town of Skuodas on the Luba River. A
truce was declared after 8 days of fighting. King Olaf took home much
gold, silver and amber, 30 (Kursiu) local inhabitants and destroyed the
castle.
(H of L, 1931, p.14)
855 Sep 28, The Emperor Lothar
died in Gaul, and his kingdom was divided between his three sons.
(HN, 9/28/98)
855 A version of "Cinderella" came
from China about this time.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, Z1 p.7)
858 Apr 17, Benedict III, Catholic
Pope, died.
(PTA, 1980, p.210)
858 Apr 24, Nicholas I succeeded
Benedict III as the Catholic Pope.
(HN, 4/24/98)(MC, 4/24/02)
860 Jun 18, Swedish Vikings
attacked Constantinople.
(MC, 6/18/02)
860 Aug 1, Peace of Koblenz
involved Charles the Bare, Louis the German & Lotharius II.
(MC, 8/1/02)
c860 Novgorod, Russia, was founded
about this time.
(AM, 11/00, p.32)
861 The Khazar kings converted to
Judaism. A Jewish dynasty of kings presided over the Khazar
kingdom until the 960s. In 2008 Dmitry Vasilyev, a Russian professor at
Astrakhan State University, said his nine-year excavation near the
Caspian Sea has finally unearthed the foundations of a triangular
fortress of flamed brick, along with modest yurt-shaped dwellings, and
he believes these are part of what was once Itil, the Khazar capital.
(TJOK, chap. 6)(AP, 9/20/08)
866 Sep 19, Leo VI Sophos,
Byzantine Emperor (886-912) and writer (Problematica), was born.
(MC, 9/19/01)
867 Feb 11, Theodora, the Saint,
beauty queen, Byzantine Empress, died.
(MC, 2/11/02)
867 Nov 13, Pope Nicholas I (the
Great) died at age 67. He served from 858-867.
(MC, 11/13/01)
867 A last surviving older brother
of Alfred, became King Aethelred I of Wessex, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in
southern England.
(ON, 4/08, p.4)
867 Danes fought Saxons in the
battle of Eoferwic (York).
(WSJ, 1/28/05, p.W6)
867-1057 The Byzantine Empire expanded.
(ATC, p.24)
868 The 10th imam, Ali al-Hadi,
died. His remains were placed in the Askariya shrine in Samarra
(Persia-Iraq).
(AP, 2/22/06)
869 Feb 14, Cyrillus, Greek
apostle of Slavs, died.
(MC, 2/14/02)
869 Aug 8, Lotharius II, King of
Middle-France (Lotharingen) (855-869), died.
(MC, 8/8/02)
870 In the Treaty of Mersen Louis
II, the Holy Roman Emperor, forced the partition of Lorraine under King
Charles the Bald. The realm was divided on the basis of revenue.
(PC, 1992, p.71)
870 Dec 31, Skirmish at
Englefield. Ethelred of Wessex beat back a Danish invasion army.
(MC, 12/31/01)
871 Jan 4, Ethelred of Wessex was
defeated by Danish forces at Reading.
(PCh, 1992, p.72)
871 Jan 8, Ethelred of Wessex
defeated the Danish forces at Ashdown.
(PCh, 1992, p.72)
871 Mar 2, Battle at Marton
(Maeretun): Ethelred van Wessex (d.871) beat the Danish invasion army.
Ethelred died in April and his brother Alfred (22) took over. Alfred
became Alfred the Great and ruled until 899.
(PCh, 1992, p.72)(SC, 3/2/02)
871 Apr 23, Ethelred I, king of
Wessex, brother of Alfred the Great, died.
(MC, 4/23/02)
871-899 Saxon reign under Alfred the Great.
(AHD, 1971, p.32)
872 Dec 14, Adrian II (~80),
Italian Pope (867-72), the last married pope, died.
(MC, 12/14/01)
872-882 Pope John VIII (b.1814). A novel by Donna
Cross in 1996 is based on historical documents that indicate that he
was actually female.
(WUD, 1994, p.769)(SFEC, 11/17/96, BR p.8)
874 The 11th imam, Hassan
al-Askari, son of Ali al-Hadi, died. His remains were also placed in
the Askariya shrine in Samarra (Persia-Iraq). Hassan al-Askari was the
father of Al-Mahdi, the hidden imam.
(AP, 2/22/06)
874 Vikings from Norway began to
survey Iceland. The monks withdrew to Ireland. The 40,000-square-mile
island situated 500 miles northwest of Scotland was first settled by
Norwegians.
(NH, 6/96, p.53)(HNQ, 4/28/00)
875 Aug 12, Louis II (~50), king
of Italy, emperor of France, died.
(MC, 8/12/02)
c875-925 Lord Chaak ruled over the Mayan city of
Uxmal in Mexico.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.H)
876 Oct 8, Charles the Bald was
defeated at the Battle of Andernach. Louis the Young beat Charles the
Bare.
(HN, 10/8/98)(MC, 10/8/01)
876 Charles the Bald donated a
relic, the Sancta Camisia, to the city of Chartres. The relic was
believed to the childbirth tunic of the Virgin Mary.
(Hem., 10/97, p.86)
877 Oct 6, Charles II the Kale,
King of France and Roman emperor (875-77), died at 54.
(MC, 10/6/01)
878 Jan, Danish forces from north
of Wessex launched an unexpected attack on Wessex, ruled by King
Alfred. In 1911 G.K. Chesterton authored the historical novel “The
Ballad of the White Horse” set in England during this time.
(SSFC, 4/22/07, p.P10)(ON, 4/08, p.4)
878 Imam Mahdi went into hiding.
Shiites went on to believe that he would return, along with Jesus, to
lead Muslims in a struggle for justice.
(SFC, 1/19/08, p.A7)
879 Apr 10, Louis II, the
Stutterer, King of France (877-79), died and Louis III was crowned King
of France.
(MC, 4/10/02)
879 Sep 17, Charles III, [The
Simple], king of France (893-923), was born.
(MC, 9/17/01)
882 Aug 25, Louis III (19), King
of France (879-82), died.
(MC, 8/25/02)
883 Mar 8, Albumasar [Ahmad Aboe M
Gafar al-Balkhi], Arabic astronomer, died.
(MC, 3/8/02)
884 May 17, St. Adrian III began
his reign as Catholic Pope.
(MC, 5/17/02)
885 Apr 6, Methodius, Greek
apostle to the Slavs, archbishop of Sirmium, died.
(MC, 4/6/02)
886 Aug 29, Basilius I, the
Macedonian, Byzantine emperor (867-886), died.
(MC, 8/29/01)
886 Under Muslim Arabs the
Bagratid family rose to prominence in Armenia and established a line of
kings from this time to the 10th century.
(CO Enc. / Armenia)
889 Bhaktapur, Nepal, was founded
under the Malla dynasty.
(SSFC, 9/21/03, p.C8)
889 Ibn Qutayba (b.828), a
renowned Islamic scholar from Kufa, Iraq, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Qutaybah)
889-1324 The Khmer Empire‘s dominions roughly
correspond to present-day Laos and Cambodia and reached its height
during the Angkor period (889-1434 CE). The kingdom flourished from the
6th to 15th centuries CE and then declined with invasions from
neighboring Thailand.
(HNQ, 8/7/00)
890-1170 The Medieval Warm Period extended across
Asia, Europe and North America.
(SFC, 2/10/06, p.A6)
891 Feb 6, Photius, Byzantine
theologist, patriarch of Constantinople, saint, died.
(MC, 2/6/02)
891 Sep 1, Norse defeated near
Louvaine, France.
(MC, 9/1/02)
891-896 Formosus served as Pope following Stephen VI.
(PTA, 1980, p.224)(WSJ, 6/27/01, p.A14)
894 Japan abolished the sending of
envoys to China.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
895 The Tatev Monastery was built
near the village of Tatev, Armenia. The construction on the Church of
Peter and Paul was completed in 906.
(www.cilicia.com/armo5_tatev.html)
896 Feb 22, Pope Formosa was
crowned king Arnulf of Carinthia, French emperor.
(MC, 2/22/02)
896 Apr 4, Pope Formosus died. His
body was exhumed by his successor in the Cadaver Synod. He was then put
on trial for perjury, found guilty and dumped in the Tiber River.
(PTA, 1980, p.224)(WSJ, 6/27/01, p.A14)
896 The founding date of Hungary.
Seven tribes of Magyars settled in the Carpathian Basin. Kingdom of
Hungary was formed under Arpad by seven Magyar and three Khazar tribes.
(WSJ, 12/26/96, p.4)(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.T5)(TJOK, p.
206)(Reuters, 4/12/05)
899 Oct 26, Alfred the Great
(b.849), writer and king of Wessex (871-99), died. He helped to bring
about the English state, the Royal Navy and English universities. He
translated Pope Gregory’s “Pastoral Care,” the universal history by
Orosius, Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, and the “Consolation of
Philosophy” by Boethius. Alfred also compiled England’s first code of
laws, The Doom Book.
(Econ, 5/26/07,
p.18)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Great)(ON, 4/08, p.5)
899 Dec 8, Arnulf of Carinthia,
last emperor of Austria-France, died.
(MC, 12/8/01)
900 Benedict IV succeeded John IX
as Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
c900 By this time the Fatimids
broke away from the Abbasids and migrated to North Africa. They were
descendants of Mohammad’s daughter, Fatima.
(ATC, p.91)
c900 The east coast of Africa was
impacted by trade and Arab, Persian and Indian traders mixed with the
indigenous Bantu. Many of the coastal Bantu adopted Islam and the
Arabic word Swahili, meaning "people of the shore," to describe
themselves. By this time they had reached as far south as Sofala in
Mozambique.
(ATC, p.142)(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.169)
c900 The Mayan city-state of
Palenque [in later Mexico] was abandoned
(SFC, 5/19/96, T-10)
c900 The Mayan city-state of Copan
[in later Honduras] was abandoned
(NG, 12/97, p.80)
c900 In Peru the Lambayeque people
established themselves over areas previously developed by the Moche.
(NG, 7/04, p.116)
c900-950 The 7-foot hanging scroll, ink-on-silk
masterpiece "Riverbank" by Dong Yuan was created. It is the earliest
surviving example of monumental Chinese landscape painting. The work
was also thought to be a forgery by Chang Da-chien (1899-1983) through
whom it passed to the New York Met.
(WSJ, 7/2/97, p.A12)(WSJ, 7/24/97, p.A16)(WSJ,
12/13/99, p.A32)
900-1000 Alsace became part of Germany in the 10th
century.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.T4)
900-1000 Weimar is believed to date back to the 10th
century.
(SSFC, 8/1/04, p.D10)
900-1000 The French village of Prelenfrey dates back
to the 10th Century.
(SFC, 6/23/96, p.T8)
900-1000 Viking longships entered the Douro River
mouth in Portugal. Their ships are believed to be the design form from
which the wine carrying boats "barcos rabelos" were designed.
(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.T7)
900-1000 The Tresco Abbey was a Benedictine monastery
on the Isles of Sicily off the southwest coast of England.
(Hem., 7/96, p.66)
900-1000 The terminal classic period of the Maya.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.B)
c900-1000 The Japanese discovered the wasabe root
growing near mountain streams and began incorporating it into their
cuisine.
(SFC, 6/3/98, Z1 p.6)
900-1000 In Thailand the site of Prasat Hin Phanom
Wan was an important Khmer sanctuary in the Upper Mun River Valley of
northeastern Thailand.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.G)
900-1100 A Fremont culture settlement in Horse
Canyon, Utah, left extensive ruins that became known as Range Creek.
(SFC, 6/30/04, p.A2)
900-1200 The Killke people occupied the region around
Cuzco, Peru, from 900 to 1200 A.D., prior to the arrival of the Incas.
In 2008 Archaeologists discovered the ruins of an ancient temple,
roadway and irrigation systems at Sacsayhuaman, a famed fortress
overlooking Cuzco, that shed light on the pre-Inca cultures of Peru.
(AP, 3/15/08)
902 Aug 1, The Aghlabid rulers of
Ifriqiyah (modern day Tunisia) captured Taormina, Sicily.
(HN, 8/1/98)
902-970 In China Tao Gu lived. He wrote "Qing yi lu,"
(An Examination of Strange Accounts). He mentioned the Chinese use of
cormorants for fishing.
(NH, 10/98, p.69)
903 Benedict IV, Catholic Pope,
died.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
903 Good King Wenceslaus, saint,
duke of Bohemia (928-935), was born.
(WUD, 1994 p.1622)
904 Jul 31, Arabs captured
Thessalonica of the Byzantine Empire.
(HN, 7/31/98)
905 Persian astronomer Al Sufi
referred to the Andromeda galaxy as the "Little Cloud."
(NH, 11/96, p.78)
907 Fall of the T’ang dynasty in
China.
(V.D.-H.K.p.169)
907-1279 "The Five Dynasties and the Song Period" by
Richard M. Barnhart is the first section of Wu Hung’s 1997 "The Origins
of Chinese Painting."
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.6)
910 The French abbey at Cluny was
founded.
(SFEC, 11/21/99, p.T4)
910 Rhazes, an Arab physician,
wrote the 1st account of smallpox and proposed the earliest theory of
immunity.
(NW, 10/14/02, p.46)
911 Sep 2, Viking monarch Oleg of
Kiev, Russia, signed a treaty with the Byzantines.
(MC, 9/2/01)
911 The Carolingian period of
Frankish rule ended in Germany.
(AHD, 1971, p.205)
911 A relic donated by Charles the
Bald, the Sancta Camisia, was displayed above the city walls of
Chartres and seemed to repel a Viking attack. The relic was believed to
be the Virgin Mary’s childbirth tunic.
(Hem., 10/97, p.86)
912 Nov 23, Otto I, the Great
(d.973), German king and Holy Roman emperor (962-73), was born. Otto
the Great became King of Germany in 936.
(AHD, 1971, p.931)(MC, 11/23/01)
912-961 Abd al Rahman III, Umayyad caliph in Spain,
purchased Scandinavian, African and German slaves to serve in his
forces. At this time Cordoba was western Europe's largest city with a
population of 200,000 people.
(ATC, p.96)
917 Aug 20, A Byzantine
counter-offensive was routed by Syeon at Anchialus, Bulgaria.
(HN, 8/20/98)
917 In Italy the Castle Torre
d’Orlando was built between Paciano and Panicale in Umbria.
(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.49)
918 Mar 1, Balderik became bishop
of Utrecht.
(SC, 3/1/02)
918 In Ireland there was a great
flood in the region of Clonmacnoise.
(SFEC, 8/1/99, p.T8)
918-1392 During Korea's Age of Enlightenment, the
period of the Goryeo Dynasty, the Buddhist aristocracy commissioned
many works of art to further the Buddhist ideal.
(SFC, 10/14/03, p.D1)
919 May 12, Duke Henry of Saxon
became King Henry I of Eastern Europe.
(MC, 5/12/02)
919 Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon
Nat'l Monument in Northern New Mexico had its ceremonial room
completed. Occupancy lasted till c1130.
(K.I.-365D, p.159)
921 Nov 7, Treaty of Bonn: East
France and West France recognized each other.
(MC, 11/7/01)
921 In Turkey the Armenian Akdamar
church, called the Church of Surp Khach, or Holy Cross, was
inaugurated. Written records say the church was near a harbor and a
palace on the island on Lake Van, but only the church survived. Turkey
restored the church in 2007.
(AP, 3/25/07)
922 Mar 27, Al-Hallaj
al-Mughith-al-Hsayn Mansur (64), Persian mystic, was beheaded.
(MC, 3/27/02)
922 Jun 9, French republic chose
Robert I as King of France.
(MC, 6/9/02)
922 Mansur al-Hallaj (b.858), a
Sufi mystic, was crucified in Baghdad for pronouncing in the midst of a
trance that he was the truth, i.e god.
(SFC, 4/21/04, p.A10)(
http://www.uga.edu/islam/sufismearly.html#Hallaj)
923 Feb 16, Abu Dja'far Mohammed
Djarir al-Tabari (83), Islamic historian, died.
(MC, 2/16/02)
924 Apr 7, Berengarius I, Emperor
of Italy, was murdered.
(MC, 4/7/02)
924 Jul 17, Edward the Older,
English king (899-924) and son of Alfred the Great, died. He was
succeeded by his son Athelstan.
(PC, 1992, p.75)
924-940 Athelstan ruled as king of England.
(www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon8.html)
925 The Croatian kingdom was
established.
(WSJ, 7/14/99, p.A23)
927 May 27, Symeon, czar of
Bulgaria, died.
(MC, 5/27/02)
927 Ivan Rilski (later St. John of
Rila), an Orthodox Bulgarian, chose a hermit’s life in a cave in the
mountains above Sofia, Bulgaria. His students built a complex nearby
that grew to become the Rila Monastery.
(SSFC, 7/16/06, p.G4)
929 Sep 28, Wenceslaus I, duke of
Bohemia, was murdered.
(www.stfrancisvernon.org/stwenceslaus.htm)
930 Jun 23, Icelanders established
the Althing, an open-air national parliament and the world‘s oldest
surviving parliamentary body. This was later credited as the first
example of representative government.
(NH, 6/96, p.53)(DrEE, 1/4/97, p.4)(SFC, 1/1/00,
p.C3)(MC, 6/23/02)
930 The Aleppo Codex was written
on parchment in the Holy Land town of Tiberias by the scribe Shlomo Ben
Boya'a about this time. Its completion marked the end of a
centuries-long process that created final text of the Hebrew Bible.
(AP, 9/27/08)
933 Mar 15, Henry the Fowler
routed the raiding Magyars at Merseburg, Germany. The Wagner opera
Lohengrin is about King Henry and how he united the people of Brabant
with the Saxons against the Hungarian foe.
(HN, 3/15/99)(WSJ, 7/28/99, p.A21)
935
In the Icelandic "Egils-saga" there is an account of how Thorolf and
Egil harried in Curonia (along the eastern Baltic shore) about this
time.
(DrEE, 11/23/96, p.3)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
935 In southern Korea the last
Shilla king surrendered his throne.
(SFEM, 6/20/99, p.6)
936-973 Otto the Great became King of Germany and
later the first Holy Roman Emp.
(AHD, 1971, p.931)
936-1531 Aachen in West Germany was the coronation
city for German kings over this period.
(WUD, 1994, p.1)
c938 In the late 930s Khazar
baliqchi Pesakh defeated the Rus. According to an anonymous letter
written by a Khazarian Jew in the 940s, the Rus prince Oleg captured
the Khazar-held city Tmutorokan one night. Pesakh, a prominent Khazar
baliqchi (governor), learned of Oleg’s actions and conquered several
Crimean cities belonging to the Byzantines and also did away with many
Rus. Oleg was badly defeated, and was forced to surrender to
Governor-General Pesakh. This was a major Khazar victory over the
Rus.
(TJOK, pages 191-192)
938-1002 Al-Mansur (the Conqueror), Moorish leader.
He was born Abu'Amir al-Ma'asiri and rose to power by wooing the
caliph's favorite concubine. He raided Christian Spain and hauled his
booty back to Cordoba and built a palace called Madinat al-Zahira, the
Shining City.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R4,6)
940 The stone image of Fudo Myo-o,
a fierce Japanese deity of fire and thunder, was carved by a revered
priest in Kyoto about 800 CE and transferred to Narita about 940.
(Hem, 8/95, p.56)
942 May 16, Saadiah Gaon, head of
Talmudic Academy of Sura, died.
(MC, 5/16/02)
945 In England monks settled along
the Thames riverbank at Bablock Hythe.
(SFEC, 8/20/00, p.T9)
945 The Buyids (Buwayhids) came to
power in Baghdad. They were ousted by the Seljuks in 1055 under Tughril
Beg.
(www.mongabay.com/reference/country_studies/iraq/HISTORY.html)
946 May 25, Edmund the Older, king
of Wessex, England, (939-46), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
950 Nov 22, Lotharius, King of
Italy (947-50), died.
(MC, 11/22/01)
c950 The Anasazi first came to Keet Seel, Arizona.
(Hem., 5/97, p.75)
951 Sep 23, Otto I, the Great,
became king of Italy.
(MC, 9/23/01)
953 Apr 21, Otto I, the Great,
granted Utrecht fishing rights.
(MC, 4/21/02)
954 Nov 12, Lotharius became king
of France.
(MC, 11/12/01)
954 The Count of Ventimiglia ceded
Seborga (in northwest Italy, twenty minutes from the Mediterranean
north of Bordighera) to the monks who elected their abbot as sovereign
prince.
(SFEC, 3/30/97, p.T5)
955 May 16, Alberich II,
(bastard?) son of Octavianus, was elected pope.
(MC, 5/16/02)
955 Aug 10, Otto organized his
nobles and defeated the invading Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld in
Germany.
(HN, 8/10/98)
955 In England King Eadwig failed
to appear at his coronation feast. Dunstan, chronicler of the event,
found him cavorting with a young lady and her mother.
(WSJ, 1/29/99, p.W7)
956 Jun 16, Hugo the Great, duke
of France, died.
(MC, 6/16/02)
956-1015 Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev and the first
Christian grand prince of Russia (980-1015). He married the sister of
the Byzantine emperor and thus brought in Orthodox Christianity to
Russia.
(WUD, 1994, p.1598)(WSJ, 3/28/97, p.A16)
958-1025 Basil II, Byzantine emperor. His empire held
a monopoly on royal purple silk and he flourished by manufacturing and
trading silk.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
959 The Viking ruler Gorm the Old,
the father of Harald Bluetooth, died.
(AM, 11/00, p.21)
959-987 Harald Bluetooth, or Harald Blatand,
10th-century king of Denmark, attributed to himself the unification of
Denmark and the Christianization of the Danes. He also conquered Norway
and raided Normandy. He was later invaded and defeated by German
emperor Otto II.
(HNQ, 9/3/98)(AM, 11/00, p.21)
960 Denmark's King Harald
Bluetooth was baptized.
(Econ, 6/28/03, p.55)
960-1127 The period of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Most artistic representations of nature during this period carried
auspicious meanings, e.g. bamboo signified resilience in the face of
diversity, and the cicada bespoke immortality.
(NH, 7/00, p.59)(SFC, 5/14/03, p.D3)
960-1279 The Sung (Song) dynasty ruled over China. It
was from this period that the Japanese tea ceremony originated; the
ritual was developed for a tranquility of mind. Since this period
mountainous looking rocks have been prized as objects of contemplation.
Porcelain from this period is particularly beautiful.
(Hem, Dec. 94, p.64)(SFC, 6/4/96, p.E5)(WSJ,
9/27/96, p.B14)
961 Ani became the capital of
Armenia. At its height it had over 100,000 inhabitants. Within a
century it began falling victim to waves of conquerors including Seljuk
Turks, Georgians and Mongols.
(Econ, 6/17/06, p.59)
962 Feb 2, Otto I (912-973)
invaded Italy and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XII.
(AHD, 1971, p.931)(HN, 2/2/99)(MC, 2/2/02)
962 Abd-Er Rahman III (891-961),
Muslim governor of Spain, was succeeded by his son Al-Hakim. Rahman III
is famed for his quote: "I have now reigned above fifty years in
victory and peace, beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and
respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have
waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to be wanting
for my felicity. In this situation, I have diligently numbered the days
of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: they amount
to fourteen.”
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/04359b.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/985jj)
962-1030 An Islamic era in Afghanistan was
established with the Ghaznavid Dynasty.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)
962-1140 Under the Ghaznavid Dynasty Afghanistan
became the center of Islamic power and civilization.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)
963 Mar 15, Romanus II (25),
Byzantine emperor (959-63), died.
(MC, 3/15/02)
964 Benedict V (d.965), succeeded
John XII as Catholic Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
964 Arab astronomers described the
Great Nebula in Andromeda, our closest galaxy.
(V.D.-H.K.p.333)
965 Mar 1, Leo VIII, Italian
(anti-)Pope (963-65), died.
(SC, 3/1/02)
965 Jul 4, Benedict V, Catholic
Pope, died.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
965 Part of Khazaria was
conquered by the Kievan Rus prince Svyatoslav.
(TJOK, pp. 193-194)
967 Nov 20, Aboe al-Faradj
al-Isfahani, Arabic author (Book of liederen), died.
(MC, 11/20/01)
969 Oct 28, After a prolonged
siege, the Byzantines ended 300 years of Arab rule in Antioch.
(HN, 10/28/98)
967 Dec 7, Abu Sa'id ibn Aboa
al-Chair, Persian mystic, was born.
(MC, 12/7/01)
969 Dec 10, Nicephorus II Phocas,
Byzantine co-Emperor (963-69), was murdered.
(MC, 12/10/01)
969 Named El Qahira -"the
victorious," Cairo gained power from its position beside the Nile.
(NG, May 1985, R. Caputo, p.603)
969CE By this time the Fatimids
had conquered most of North Africa and claimed Cairo as their capital.
The Shiites gained control of Egypt.
(ATC, p.91)(SSFC, 2/8/04, p.M2)
969-1000 Olaf Tryggvesson, Olav I, King of Norway
from 995-1000.
(WUD, 1994, p.1002)
971-1030 Machmud of Ghazni, ruler of Afghanistan. He
made annual invasions to northern India where he pillaged temples,
captured slaves, and transported his goods back by elephant. His
library had a large collection of erotic manuscripts and he shared his
palace with 400 poets.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
972 John I Tzimiskes, the
Byzantine Emperor at Constantinople (969-976), granted a charter for
the Monastic Republic of Holy Mount Athos in Greece.
(SSFC, 10/8/06,
p.H1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_I_Tzimisces)
973 Jan 19, Benedict VI was
consecrated as Catholic Pope. He succeeded John XIII.
(PTA, 1980, p.236)
973 May 6, Henry II, German King
(1002) and Holy Roman Emperor (1014-1024), was born.
(HN, 5/6/98)(MC, 5/6/02)
973 Otto I, the Great (b.912),
German king and Holy Roman emperor (962-73), died.
(AHD, 1971, p.931)(MC, 11/23/01)
974 Pope Benedict VI was strangled
to death by a priest named Stephen under directions of anti-Pope
Boniface Franco, who called himself Boniface VII.
(PTA, 1980, p.270)
975 Jul 25, Thietmar bishop of
Merseburg, German chronicler, was born.
(SC, 7/25/02)
975 Al-Azhar University in Egypt
was founded and became the chief center of Arabic literature and Sunni
Islamic learning in the world. As of 2008 it was world's second oldest
surviving degree granting university.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Azhar_University)
975-1038 St. Stephen of Hungary. His crown was a
fusion of Greek and Latin elements.
(WSJ, 11/18/96, p.A10)
0976 Oct 1, Al-Hakam II, the
caliph of Cordoba, died.
(MC, 10/1/01)
976 Nov 14, T'ai tsu, emperor of
China and founder of Sung-dynasty, died.
(MC, 11/14/01)
976 The Great Mosque of Cordoba
(Spain) was completed and served as a religious, social and educational
center. The largest of the 70 libraries in Cordoba contained 500,000
volumes. 70,000 books a year were hand-copied to satisfy the citizen’s
literary appetites.
(ATC, p.95,98)
976-1025 The reign of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer, ruler
of Byzantium. [see 330CE]
(WSJ, 10/14/95, p.A-12)
977 The shrine of Imam Ali, a
gold-domed mosque, was built in Najaf, Iraq, on the burial site of Imam
Ali, son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed.
(SFC, 8/30/03, p.A1)
978 Mar 18, Edward the Martyr
(15), King of Anglo-Saxons (975-78), was murdered.
(MC, 3/18/02)
979 Apr 14, There was a challenge
to throne of King Aethelred II, the Unrede (Unready), of England
(979-1016). He attempted to buy peace with from Scandinavian invaders
and called for England’s 1st general tax, the Danegeld. Some 140,000
pounds of silver was paid in tribute.
(WSJ, 5/24/01, p.A20)(MC, 4/14/02)
979 The Isle of Man parliament,
the Tynwald Court, was established.
(SSFC, 8/13/06, p.G5)
980-983 Eric the Red was banished from Iceland for a
murder. He sailed west and for 3 years explored the rocky land that he
named Greenland.
(HT, 5/97, p.31)
980-1037 Avicenna (Ibn Sina, Afghan scientist), the
Muslim philosopher-scientist, was born in Bukhara (Balkh). He wrote
"The Book of Healing," a vast philosophical and scientific
encyclopedia, and "The Canon of Medicine," an encyclopedia of the
medical knowledge of his time. Both works were translated to Latin and
exerted great influence on Scholastics in the West.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)(V.D.-H.K.p.115)
981 Adherents to the Jainist faith
consecrated a 57-foot statue of their most important siant, Bahubali,
in the town of Shravana Belgola, India.
(Sm, 3/06, p.23)
982 Eric the Red (Eiric
Rauthornpi), father of Leif Ericson, discovered Greenland.
(SFEM, 11/15/98, p.24)
983 Dec 7, Otto II the Red (~28),
German king and emperor (973-83), died in Italy. Otto III [aged
3] took the throne after his father's death.
(HN, 12/7/98)(MC, 12/7/01)
984 Eric Thorvaldsson, aka Eric
the Red, left Iceland and established his 1st settlement on Greenland.
(ON, 12/07, p.5)(www.bookrags.com/Erik_the_Red)
c985 Montpellier, France, was
founded at the intersection of 3 trade and pilgrimage routes.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R22)
985-1014 The Brihadeshwarar temple was built in
southeastern India’s Tamil Nadu state.
(WSJ, 10/1/04, p.A10)
985-1200 The Chola Kingdom prospered in southern
India. Arts flourished and the economy prospered under expanding trade
and military conquests. Ganesha, son of Shiva, was the first god
invoked at the beginning of a new enterprise.
(WSJ, 10/8/99, p.W14)(WSJ, 10/8/99, p.W14)
986 Mar 2, Lotharius (44), King of
France (954-86), died.
(SC, 3/2/02)
986 Eric the Red and his followers
began to settle Greenland.
(SFEM, 11/15/98, p.24)
986 Bjarni Herjolfsson sailed from
Norway to Iceland with cargo for his father, who had moved on to
Greenland. Herjjolfsson was blown off course and reached Labrador,
which he described as "worthless country."
(NG, V184, No. 4, Oct. 1993, p.4)(WSJ, 7/6/04, p.D5)
987 May 21, Louis V, last
Carolingian King of France (966-987), died. The Carolingian period of
Frankish rule from the dynasty of Pepin the Short ended in France with
the death of Louis V (20). [see May 22]
(PCh, 1992, p.78)(AHD, 1971, p.205)(MC, 5/21/02)
987 May 22, Louis V le Faineant
(20), the Lazy, king of France (986-87), was allegedly poisoned by his
mother. [see May 21]
(MC, 5/22/02)
987 Jul 3, The count of Paris,
Hugh Capet (49), became king of France. Paris soon emerged as the
center of French political, cultural and religious life, once again
becoming the capital.
(PCh, 1992, p.78)(HNQ, 4/18/02)(MC, 7/3/02)
987 Dec 30, French King Hugh Capet
crowned his son Robert the Compassionate.
(MC, 12/30/01)
988 May 6, Dirk II, West Frisian
count of Holland, died.
(MC, 5/6/02)
988 May 19, Dunstanus, English
archbishop of Canterbury, died.
(MC, 5/19/02)
988 Prince Vladimir of Kiev
accepted Byzantine Orthodoxy. This is the traditional date for the
beginning of Russian Christianity.
(DVD, Criterion, 1998)(SSFC, 6/24/01, p.A14)
c990 A set of instructions on
chess, the Versus de Scachis (Poem About Chess), emerged in Switzerland.
(Arch, 1/05, p.40)
991 Aug 11, Danes under Olaf
Tryggvason killed Ealdorman Brihtnoth and defeated the Saxons at Maldon.
(HN, 8/10/98)
992 Constantinople granted
Venetian goods lower tariffs than other merchandise.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R50)
992 Ghana captured its chief
trading rival, the Berber town of Audoghast.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.172)
993 The south Indian Cola Empire
captured Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka).
(Arch, 7/02, p.34)
994 Nov 7, Muhammad ibn Hazm,
historian, jurist, author of Islamic Spain, was born.
(MC, 11/7/01)
994-1035 Life of Canute, later King of England,
Denmark and Norway.
(AHD,1971, p.198)
995 Guido d’Arezzo (d.~1049,
Italian monk and musical theorist, was born. He is generally credited
with developing current musical notation.
(WUD, 1994, p.629)(WSJ, 5/27/97, pB1)
995-1000 In Norway Olaf I was king.
(WUD, 1994, p.1002)
995-1027 Heydey of the Fujiwara Clan in Japan.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
995-1030 Olaf Haraldsson, aka Saint Olaf, the patron
saint of Norway. He was king from 1016-1029. He and a crew of Vikings
attacked London and pulled down the London Bridge with ropes. This is
remembered in the nursery rhyme "London Bridge is falling down..."
(WUD, 1994, p.1002)(SFC, 8/23/97, p.E3)
996 May 21, Otto III (16) was
crowned the Roman Emperor by his cousin Pope Gregory V.
(HN, 5/21/98)(MC, 5/21/02)
996 Oct 24, Hugh Capet, king of
France (987-96), died at 58.
(MC, 10/24/01)
c996 In Iran the Astan Ghods
Ravazi religious foundation was started.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A4)
997 St. Adalbert was martyred. He
brought Christianity to Bohemia.
(SFC, 4/26/97, p.A12)
997 The name "Austria" first
appeared in a medieval manuscript.
(WSJ, 4/16/97, p.A16)
c998-1061 Bao Qingtian (Bao Zheng), Chinese judge of
the Song Dynasty, had a reputation for sticking up for the common man.
(Econ, 4/23/05,
p.43)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bao_Zheng)
999 Feb 18, Gregory V, [Bruno] 1st
German Pope, died.
(MC, 2/18/02)
999 Turkish dynasties became the
rulers of Transoxania, and area that covered much of what later became
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.
(Econ, 7/26/03, p.46-4 )
Go to 1000AD