By place Europe • King
Liutprand of the
Lombards meets
Pope Zachary at
Terni (Central
Italy), who appeals to the king's religious faith. Liutprand is a pious
Catholic and signs a 20-year
peace treaty, restoring the cities of the
Duchy of Rome which he has captured. The independent Lombard duchies of
Spoleto and
Benevento absorb into the
Lombard Kingdom. •
Arab-Byzantine Wars: Arab forces under
Sulayman ibn Hisham invade
Anatolia, reaching as far as
Herakleia, and return with much wealth and livestock. •
Umayyad conquest of Hispania: Arab forces under
Abd al-Malik ibn Katan al-Fihri, governor (
wali) of
Al-Andalus, suppress the
Berber rebellion in the region of
Mértola (modern
Portugal). •
Teodato Ipato succeeds his father
Orso Ipato, as the fourth
doge of
Venice. He moves the capital from
Heraclea to
Malamocco.
Africa • The
Great Berber Revolt: Muslim forces under
Handhala ibn Safwan al-Kalbi, governor of
Egypt, break out of besieged
Kairouan (
Tunisia). He scatters the Berbers, the western and central Maghreb remained under the control of the Berber
Kharijites.
Asia • Emperor
Xuan Zong begins to favor
Taoism over
Buddhism, adopting the new reign title
Tianbao ("Heavenly Treasures"), to indicate his divine
mandate. The total number of enlisted troops in the Tang armies has risen to about half a million, due to Xuan Zongs's earlier military reforms. • For the
municipal census of the Chinese capital city
Chang'an and its
metropolitan area of
Jingzhou (including small towns in the vicinity), the
New Book of Tang records that in this year there are 362,921 registered families with 1,960,188 people. •
Li Bai (also
Li Po), Chinese
poet, is summoned by Xuan Zong to attend the imperial court. He and his friend
Du Fu become the two most prominent figures in the flourishing of
Chinese poetry, during the mid-
Tang dynasty.
By topic Religion • After a 40-year vacancy,
Stephen IV becomes
Orthodox patriarch of Antioch, at the suggestion of caliph
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. •
Chrodegang, chancellor of
Charles Martel, is appointed bishop of
Metz and embarks on a reorganisation of the
Frankish church. •
Sturm, disciple of
Boniface, establishes the Benedictine
Abbey of Fulda (present-day
Hesse) in
Germany (or
744). • The
Holy Face of Lucca is transferred to
Lucca from
Luni (approximate date). == Births ==