Wikipedia

750s

Millennium: 1st millennium
Centuries:
Decades:
Years:
  • 750
  • 751
  • 752
  • 753
  • 754
  • 755
  • 756
  • 757
  • 758
  • 759
Categories:

The 750s decade ran from January 1, 750, to December 31, 759.

Events

750

By place

Umayyad Caliphate
  • January 25 – Battle of the Zab: Abbasid forces under Abdallah ibn Ali defeat the Umayyads near the Great Zab River. Members of the Umayyad house are hunted down and killed. Defeated by his rivals, Caliph Marwan II flees westward to Egypt, perhaps attempting to reach Al-Andalus (Iberian Peninsula), where there are still significant Umayyad armies.[1]
  • August 6 – Marwan II is caught and killed at Faiyum by supporters of the Abbasid caliph As-Saffah. Almost the entire Umayyad Dynasty is assassinated; Prince Abd al-Rahman I escapes to Al-Andalus. The Abbasids assume control of the Islamic world and establish their first capital at Kufa.
Europe
Britain
Africa
India
America
  • Native Americans, in the area now known as the Four Corners, begin constructing and occupying pueblos.
  • The city of Teotihuacan (modern Mexico) is destroyed and left in ruins, its palaces burned to the ground.
Indonesia
  • Borobudur, or Barabudur (a Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia, as well as the world's largest Buddhist temple, and also one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world) is built (approximate date).

By topic

Art
Food and drink
  • In China during the Tang Dynasty, a bargeload of tea (a medicinal herb) comes up the Grand Canal to Luoyang, from Zhejiang (approximate date).

751

By place

Byzantine Empire
  • June – Leo IV, son of Emperor Constantine V, is crowned co-emperor at Constantinople. Only a year or so after his mother Irene died, Constantine's second wife Maria dies, at approximately the same time as Leo's coronation.
Europe
Abbasid Caliphate
  • Battle of Talas: First recorded encounter (and the last) between Arab and Chinese forces. The rulers of Tashkent and Ferghana are both nominal vassals of the Tang Dynasty; the Chinese have intervened on behalf of Ferghana in a conflict between the two; the Abbasid Caliphate, competing with the Chinese for control of Central Asia, has become involved. Arab forces from Samarkand have marched to challenge a Chinese army (30,000 men) under Gao Xianzhi. Gao has had a series of military victories in the region, but his Turkish contingent, Karluk mercenaries, defects. Out of 10,000 Tang troops, only 2,000 manage to return from the Talas River to China. The Arabs triumph, and they will remain the dominant force in Transoxiana for the next 150 years.
  • Muslim introduction of papermaking: The first paper mill in the Islamic world begins production at Samarkand. Captured craftsmen, taken at the Battle of Talas River, have by some accounts revealed the technique of papermaking (although paper may have arrived from China much earlier via the Silk Road). Arab scholars will use paper to produce translations of Ancient Greek and Roman writings.
Asia
  • Like the storm of 721, the storm of this year at the southern Chinese seaport of Yangzhou reportedly destroys over 1,000 ships engaged in canal and river traffic (approximate date).
  • The Japanese poetry anthology Kaifūsō is assembled.

By topic

Religion

752

By place

Europe
  • King Pepin III ("the Short") begins a Frankish military expedition down the Rhône Valley, and receives the submission of eastern Septimania (i.e. Nîmes, Melguelh, Agde and Béziers), after securing Count Ansemund's allegiance.
  • Siege of Narbonne: Pepin III lays siege to the fortress city of Narbonne, occupied by Gothic-Muslim forces. The garrison and residents are able to withstand the attacks, thanks to the supplies provided by sea by the Arab fleet.
Britain
Africa
  • Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Fihri, ruler of Ifriqiya (North Africa), dispatches a Muslim army and reconquers Tripolitania from the Ibadites (a puritanical Khaijite sect), driving their remnants south into the Nafusa Mountains (northwestern Libya).
  • Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Fihri launches an assault on the island of Sardinia, perhaps the beginning of the occupation of the island by the Muslim Arabs that lasts until 1005.[6] He also attempts to invade Sicily, but finds the defenses too strong.
Mesoamerica
  • Yaxun B'alam IV becomes king (ajaw) of the Maya city of Yaxchilan (modern Mexico), after a 10-year struggle for the throne.

By topic

Religion

753

By place

Europe

By topic

Religion

754

By place

Europe
Abbasid Caliphate
Asia
  • Jianzhen, Chinese Buddhist monk, arrives in Nara, where he is welcomed by former emperor Shōmu and empress Kōmyō. During his visit Jianzhen introduces sugar to the Japanese court, using it to mask the flavors of foul-tasting herbal tea.
  • A Tang census shows that 75% of the Chinese live north of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) River. The capital of Chang'an has a population of 2 million and more than 25 other cities have well over 500,000 citizens (approximate date).

By topic

Religion

755

By place

Europe
Britain
  • The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's description under this date (now dated 757), of King Sigeberht of Wessex being deposed by Cynewulf, is notably fuller than earlier entries.[9]
Asia

756

By place

Byzantine Empire
  • Byzantine–Bulgarian War: Emperor Constantine V builds a series of fortifications along the Byzantine frontier on the Danube, and starts settling Christian Armenians and Syrians in the Thracesian Theme. In response, Kormisosh, ruler (khagan) of the Bulgarian Empire, demands the payment of tribute. Constantine refuses, and the Bulgars raid into Thrace, reaching the Anastasian Wall stretching between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara (near the outskirts of Constantinople).
  • Battle of Marcellae: Constantine V sends a Byzantine expeditionary force (500 ships and 6,000 cavalry) to Thrace, and defeats the Bulgars around the Danube Delta and near the fortress city of Markeli (modern Bulgaria). Kormisosh is forced to accept a peace treaty, and confirms the existing frontier.[11] Due to the constant political crisis, the Bulgarian Empire is on the verge of destruction. Kormisosh is deposed during a palace coup and succeeded by Vinekh, a member of the Vokil clan.
Europe
Britain
Abbasid Caliphate
  • Ibn al-Muqaffa', Muslim writer and thinker, is tortured at Basra (modern Iraq), on orders from Caliph al-Mansur. His limbs are severed and he is thrown, still alive, into a burning oven (approximate date).
Chinese Empire
  • January 18[13] – An Lushan Rebellion: The eastern capital of Luoyang falls to the 200,000-strong army of the rebel general An Lushan, who defeats loyalist forces under Feng Changqing. The rebels cross the Yellow River, and march on to capture the cities Chenliu and Yingyang (modern Zhengzhou, Henan).
  • Battle of Yongqiu: A Tang garrison (2,000 men), under Zhang Xun, successfully defend their fortress against the rebel army at Yongqiu. Zang achieves a victory after a 4-month siege, and prevents the rebels from capturing the fertile Tang territory south of the Huai River.
  • February 5 – An Lushan declares himself emperor at Luoyang, establishing a new empire, called the Great Yan. He pushes on towards the primary Tang capital at Chang'an (now Xi'an). An decides to seize southern China, to cut off loyalist reinforcements. Meanwhile, numerous soldiers join the rebellion.
  • May – Emperor Xuan Zong hires 4,000 Muslim mercenaries to help defend Chang'an against the rebels. Loyalist forces take defensible positions in the mountain passes, but chancellor Yang Guozhong gives orders for them to leave their posts.
  • July 7[14][note 1]– An Lushan crushes the Tang troops at the Tong Pass, leaving the road to the capital wide open.
  • July 14 – Xuan Zong flees (along with the imperial court) the capital of Chang'an for Sichuan, as rebel forces advance through the Tongguan Pass toward the city. Meanwhile, An Lushan is ailing, perhaps with diabetes. He is nearly blind and suffers from extreme irascibility.
  • July 15 – Xuan Zong is ordered by his Imperial Guards to execute Yang Guozhong, by forcing him to commit suicide or face a mutiny. He permits his consort Yang Guifei to be strangled by his chief eunuch. An Lushan also has other members of the emperor's family killed.
  • August 12 – Xuan Zong abdicates the throne after a 44-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Su Zong, as emperor of the Tang Dynasty. He hires 22,000 Muslim mercenaries to reinforce his decimated army at Lingzhou.
  • November 19 [17] – Tang General Fang Guan is defeated at Xianyang. The imperial forces consisted of two thousand oxcarts with cavalry and foot soldiers on two fronts, but the rebels took advantage of their upwind position and attacked with fire. Imperial forces killed or wounded numbered more than 40,000 men.
Japan
  • June 4 – Emperor Shōmu (retired since 749) dies at Nara. His wife Kōmyō dedicates over 600 items to the Great Buddha, and donates large sums of money to the Shōsō-in treasure (storehouse) in Tōdai-ji.

757

By place

Europe
Britain
Africa
China
  • January 29 – An Lushan, leader of a revolt and emperor of Yan, is murdered by his own son An Qingxu at Luoyang. He succeeds his father, and appoints Shi Siming as his deputy. The military leaders of the Tang Dynasty are able to retake both of the capitals at Chang'an and at Luoyang. The rebel army is forced to retreat east.
  • Battle of Suiyang: A Tang garrison (7,000 men) under Zhang Xun defend their fortress against the rebel army at Suiyang. Zhang makes multiple attempts to get food from nearby fortresses, but this is refused. After a desperate 10-month siege, Suiyang is overrun by rebel forces who take the city. Because of famine an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 citizens are cannibalized, only 400 people are left.
  • December 8 – Du Fu, Chinese poet, returns to Chang'an as a member of Emperor Xuan Zong's court, after having escaped the city during the An Lushan Rebellion.

By topic

Catastrophe
  • March 9 – A major earthquake strikes Palestine and Syria.
Religion

758

By place

Europe
  • Summer – Duke Liutprand of Benevento attains majority, and rebels against Lombard rule. King Desiderius defeats him, and grants his duchy to Arechis II (son of Liutprand). He marries Adelperga, daughter of Desiderius, and establishes friendly (but largely independent) relations with the Lombard Kingdom.
  • Desiderius deposes Alboin, duke of Spoleto (Central Italy), and exercises ducal authority himself, tying the duchy more closely to the Lombard capital of Pavia.
Britain
Africa
Asia
  • An Lushan Rebellion: The Chinese seaport of Guangzhou is sacked by Muslim and Persian raiders. The port is shut down for the next 5 decades, while foreign vessels dock at Hanoi (modern Vietnam) instead. Guangzhou thrives again, once it is reopened to foreign trade in the early 9th century.
  • June – Abbasid Arabs and Uyghur Turks arrive simultaneously at the Tang capital of Chang'an, in order to offer tribute to the imperial court. The Arabs and Turks bicker and fight over diplomatic prominence at the gate, to present tribute before the other. A settlement is reached when both are allowed to enter at the same time, but through different gates to the palace.
  • Empress Kōken abdicates the throne, after a 9-year reign. She is succeeded by her adopted son Junnin, grandson of the late emperor Tenmu. He becomes the 47th emperor (tennō) of Japan.

759

By place

Byzantine Empire
Europe
  • Siege of Narbonne: The Franks under King Pepin III ("the Short") retake Narbonne from the Muslims, after a 7-year siege. He pushes them back across the Pyrenees, and the Muslims retreat to the Andalusian heartland after 40 years of occupation. The government of the city is assigned to the Visigothic count Miló.
Britain
Abbasid Caliphate
  • Caliph al-Mansur of the Abbasid Caliphate launches the conquest of Tabaristan (on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea). Its ruler, Khurshid II, flees into the mountainous region of Daylam.
Asia
  • An Lushan Rebellion: Tang forces under Guo Ziyi lay siege to the city of Yanjing (Northern China) as they increase their efforts to end the rebellion. The fighting creates such a shortage of food within its walls that rats sell at enormous prices.
  • Otomo no Yakamochi, Japanese general, compiles the first Japanese poetry anthology, Man'yōshū. It contains some 500 poems by Japanese poets who include the emperor, nobleman and commoners.
  • December 24 – Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu departs for Chengdu, where he is hosted by fellow poet Pei Di.

By topic

Religion

Births

750

751

752

  • Al-Mada'ini, Muslim scholar and historian (d. 843)
  • Irene of Athens, Byzantine empress (approximate date)
  • Joannicius the Great, Byzantine theologian (d. 846)
  • Zheng Yin, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 829)

753

754

  • Hildegard of the Vinzgau, Frankish queen and wife of Charlemange (d. 783)
  • Li Fan, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 811)

755

756

757

758

759

Deaths

750

751

  • June – Maria, Byzantine empress
  • Childebrand I, duke of Burgundy (b. 678)
  • Eutychius, Byzantine exarch of Ravenna
  • Fergus mac Fogartaig, king of Brega (Ireland)
  • Gisulf II, duke of Benevento (approximate date)
  • Mansur ibn Jumhur al-Kalbi, Arab governor of Sindh
  • Taki, Japanese princess and saiō

752

753

754

Boniface

755

756

757

Pope Stephen II died on April 26, 757

758

759


Notes

  1. ^ Others date it on July 9[15][16]

References

  1. ^ David Nicolle (2009). The Great Islamic Conquests 632–750 AD, p. 79. ISBN 978-1-84603-273-8.
  2. ^ Higham, pp. 148–149; Kirby, p. 150; York, Kings, p. 89.
  3. ^ Stringer, Keith (1998). Alexander, Grant (ed.). Medieval Scotland. Columbia University Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-7486-1110-2.
  4. ^ Pierre Riché, The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe (Philadelphia, 1993), p. 65.
  5. ^ Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 34–37. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
  6. ^ Benvenuti, Gino (1985). Le Repubbliche Marinare. Amalfi, Pisa, Genova e Venezia. Rome: Newton & Compton Editori. p. 42. ISBN 88-8289-529-7.
  7. ^ Kazhdan (1991), p. 1600
  8. ^ Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). "Pope Stephen II". The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 1. New York: Oxford University Press.
  9. ^ Greenfield, Stanley Brian (1986). A New Critical History of Old English Literature. New York University Press. p. 60. ISBN 0-8147-3088-4.
  10. ^ Sargent, Denny. Shinto and Its Festivals.
  11. ^ Runciman S., A History of the First Bulgarian Empire, London G.Bell & Sons, 1930, pp. 37, 289.
  12. ^ Lawler, Jennifer (2015-05-20). Encyclopedia of the Byzantine Empire. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-0929-4.
  13. ^ Ju-n̂eng Yao, Robert baron Des Rotours (1962). Histoire de Ngan Lou-chan. p. 26.
  14. ^ Graff, David. Fang Guan's Chariots: Scholarship, War, and Character Assassination in the MiddleTang (PDF). p. 1.
  15. ^ Charles D. Benn Daily life in traditional China : the Tang dynasty Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002 ISBN 978-0-313-30955-7
  16. ^ Ju-n̂eng Yao, Robert baron Des Rotours (1962). Histoire de Ngan Lou-chan. p. 26.
  17. ^ Graff, David. Fang Guan's Chariots: Scholarship, War, and Character Assassination in the MiddleTang (PDF). p. 2.
  18. ^ "PÉPIN LE BREF (741-768)" (in Latin and French). Noctes-gallicanae.org. Archived from the original on 2009-12-05. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  19. ^ Gilbert Meynier (2010). L'Algérie cœur du Maghreb classique. De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518). Paris: La Découverte; p.26.
  20. ^ Gilbert Meynier (2010). L'Algérie cœur du Maghreb classique. De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518). Paris: La Découverte; p. 25.
  21. ^ Theophanes the Confessor. Chronographia, p. 431
  22. ^ Stratton, J.M. (1969). Agricultural Records. John Baker. ISBN 0-212-97022-4.
  23. ^ Lynch, Michael (ed.). The Oxford companion to Scottish history. Oxford University Press. p. 604. ISBN 9780199693054.
  24. ^ Lifshitz, Felice (2014). Religious Women in Early Carolingian Francia: A Study of Manuscript Transmission and Monastic Culture. Fordham University Press. p. 303. ISBN 9780823256891.
  25. ^ Palmer, Andrew (1990). Monk and Mason on the Tigris Frontier: The Early History of Tur Abdin. Cambridge University Press. p. 192. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia® - the free encyclopedia created and edited by its online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of Wikipedia® encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information, please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.

Copyright © 2003-2025 Farlex, Inc Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.