730 - 749 A.D.

by Deborah Marino Lùna 23, 2022

(Feature Photo: An Umayyad palace built in 720 on the Citadel of what is now modern-day Amman; It was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 and was never fully rebuilt; Credit: Andryn, Wikimedia Commons)

730

RULERS & ROYALTY: Aethelbald is king of Mercia (midlands England) – The Merovingian kings (Frankish kings) are ruling in France – Gregory II is pope/bishop of Rome – Leo III "The Isaurian" is emperor of the Byzantine Empire

The Battle of Marj Ardabil is fought on the plains around the city of Ardabil in present-day northwestern Iran; The Khazarian army, led by a man named Barjik, the son of the Khazar khagan, invades the Umayyad provinces in retaliation for Caliphate attacks on Khazaria during a decades-long Khazar-Arab war that began early in the 700's

731

RULERS & ROYALTY: Aethelbald is king of Mercia (midlands England) – Pope Gregory II dies, ad is succeeded by Gregory III – Leo III "The Isaurian" is emperor of the Byzantine Empire

February 11, Pope Gregory II dies, and is succeeded by Gregory III

The Venerable Bede completes his Historica Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People)

732

RULERS & ROYALTY: Aethelbald is king of Mercia (midlands England) – Gregory III is pope/bishop of Rome – Leo III "The Isaurian" is emperor of the Byzantine Empire

The Frankish army under Charles Martel halts the Arab advance at Loire (A History of the World, Map by Map, pg. 94)

733

RULERS & ROYALTY: Aethelbald is king of Mercia (midlands England) – Gregory III is pope/bishop of Rome – Leo III "The Isaurian" is emperor of the Byzantine Empire

734

RULERS & ROYALTY: Aethelbald is king of Mercia (midlands England) – Gregory III is pope/bishop of Rome – Leo III "The Isaurian" is emperor of the Byzantine Empire

735

RULERS & ROYALTY: Aethelbald is king of Mercia (midlands England) – Gregory III is pope/bishop of Rome – Leo III "The Isaurian" is emperor of the Byzantine Empire

736

RULERS & ROYALTY: Aethelbald is king of Mercia (midlands England) – Gregory III is pope/bishop of Rome – Leo III "The Isaurian" is emperor of the Byzantine Empire

737

RULERS & ROYALTY: Aethelbald is king of Mercia (midlands England) – Gregory III is pope/bishop of Rome – Leo III "The Isaurian" is emperor of the Byzantine Empire

738

RULERS & ROYALTY: Aethelbald is king of Mercia (midlands England) – Gregory III is pope/bishop of Rome – Leo III "The Isaurian" is emperor of the Byzantine Empire

740

RULERS & ROYALTY: Aethelbald is king of Mercia (midlands England) – Gregory III is pope/bishop of Rome – Leo III "The Isaurian" is emperor of the Byzantine Empire

A major tremor reduces the church of St. Irene in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey), capital of the Byzantine Empire, to its foundations (Byzantium, Pg. 17)

741

RULERS & ROYALTY: Aethelbald is king of Mercia (midlands England) – Pope Gregory III dies, and is succeeded by Zachary – Leo III "The Isaurian," emperor of the Byzantine Empire, dies, and is succeeded by his son, Constantine V

June 18, Leo III "The Isaurian," emperor of the Byzantine Empire, dies, and is succeeded by his son Constantine V

November 28, Pope Gregory III dies, and is succeeded by Zachary; Zachary, during his reign, builds a tower with a triclinium at the top--a Roman style dining room with reclining couches--luxuriously furnished and frescoed with the map of the world that will impress the future Frankish Emperor, Charlemagne (The Secret Archives of the Vatican, pg. 76); The tower is opposite of the Lateran, where the papal archives are being kept; Note: This area is not called the "Vatican" yet

The church on the site of York Minster is destroyed by fire