Wikipedia / 720
Wikipedia / 720
Year 720 (DCCXX) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 720 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Events
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By place
Byzantine Empire
Summer Emperor Leo III secures the Byzantine frontier, by inviting Slavic settlers into the depopulated districts of the Thracesian Theme (western Asia Minor). He undertakes a set of civil reforms, and reorganizes the theme structure in the Aegean region. Leo's 2-year-old son Constantine V is associated on the throne, and married to Tzitzak, daughter of the Khazar ruler (khagan) Bihar.
Europe
Umayyad conquest of Gaul: Governor Al-Samh continues his campaign; he makes Narbonne the capital city of Muslim Septimania (Southern France), and uses it as a base for razziass. King Ardo is killed, and becomes the last ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania. Some Visigoths refuse to adopt the Muslim faith, and flee north to Aquitaine. This marks the end of the Visigothic Kingdom.
Muslim forces under Al-Samh begin the prolonged siege of Carcassonne, a fortified Visigothic town located in the Languedoc-Roussillon.
Britain
King Ine of Wessex builds a stone church at Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset (approximate date).
Egypt
The Egyptians wage the Bashmurian revolts against the foreign Arab rulers. Egyptians establish a semi-independent region in the Nile Delta with Bashmur as the capital.
Arabian Empire
Umayyad conquest of Transoxiana: The first Turgesh attack on Muslim-Arabs in Transoxiana leads to the siege and relief of the Umayyad garrison at the fortress of Qasr al-Bahili, near Samarkand (or 721).
Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, former governor of Iraq, revolts and is defeated at Basra, by Umayyad forces under Al-Abbas ibn al-Walid and Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik. He is arrested and later executed.
February 10 Caliph Umar II is poisoned by a servant, and dies in Aleppo (Syria) after a 3-year reign. He is succeeded by his cousin Yazid II.
The Umayyad Caliphate reaches its greatest extent in Spain, controlling all of it except a small region in the north controlled by the Kingdom of Asturias.
Asia
In the Chinese capital of Chang'an, the walls of a gated city ward collapse during the night, which unexpectedly forms a large pool out in the open. This is most likely caused by a sinkhole created when ground water eroded the limestone bedrock beneath. As a consequence of this, more than 500 homes are destroyed (approximate date).
Americas
The Third Tikal-Calakmul War begins.
By topic
Literature
The Nihon Shoki (日本書紀), one of the oldest history books in Japan, is completed under the editorial supervision of Prince Toneri, and with the assistance of Ō no Yasumaro.
Religion
Contact between the Welsh Church and Yvi of Brittany is the last known link between two Celtic countries. After this, each nation goes its own separate way (approximate date).
Astronomy
A second series of gravitational interactions with Saturn, the second since 1664 BC, once again force the Centaur (minor planet) Chiron into a new orbit, shifting it from orbiting in the edges of the Solar System to orbiting near the inner regions.
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Births
Baizhang Huaihai, Chinese Zen Buddhist monk (d. 814)
Bertrada of Laon, wife of Pippin the Short (d. 783)
Modestus, Irish missionary (approximate date)
Thierry IV, Frankish nobleman (approximate date)
Deaths
Aubert of Avranches, Frankish bishop
Fujiwara no Fuhito, Japanese statesman (b. 659)
Muhammad ibn Marwan, Muslim general (or 719)
Odile of Alsace, Frankish abbess (approximate date)
Tariq ibn Ziyad, Muslim general (b. 670)
Xue Ne, general of the Tang dynasty (b. 649)
Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, Muslim governor (b. 672)
Yeh Fa-shan, Daoist wonder-worker (b. 631)
References