Directory

669 CE

Kamatari, Japanese statesman and reformer, receives the surname Fujiwara from Emperor Tenji as a reward for his services, but dies in Yamato prefecture (modern-day Sakurai City). [Significance of this event is unclear]. King Ecgberht of Kent loses the overlordship of Surrey to King Wulfhere of Mercia. Ecgberht then grants the old Saxon Shore Fort at Reculver (south-east England) to a priest named Bassa, in order to establish a monastery dedicated to St. Mary (approximate date). Spring – Arab forces that have taken Chalcedon, on the Asian shore of the Bosporus, threaten the Byzantine capital Constantinople. The Muslim-Arabs are decimated by famine and disease. Yazid, the Arab commander, retreats to the island of Cyzicus (modern Turkey).

Religion & Belief

  • King Ecgberht of Kent loses the overlordship of Surrey to King Wulfhere of Mercia. Ecgberht then grants the old Saxon Shore Fort at Reculver (south-east England) to a priest named Bassa, in order to establish a monastery dedicated to St. Mary (approximate date).source

Climate & Environment

  • Spring – Arab forces that have taken Chalcedon, on the Asian shore of the Bosporus, threaten the Byzantine capital Constantinople. The Muslim-Arabs are decimated by famine and disease. Yazid, the Arab commander, retreats to the island of Cyzicus (modern Turkey).source

Births

  • Qutayba ibn Muslim, Arab general (approximate date)source
  • Gregory II, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 731)source
  • Justinian II, Byzantine emperor (approximate date)source

Deaths

  • January 1 – Javanshir, king of Caucasian Albania (b. 616)source
  • November 14 – Kamatari, Japanese statesman and reformer, receives the surname Fujiwara from Emperor Tenji as a reward for his services, but dies in Yamato prefecture (modern-day Sakurai City). [Significance of this event is unclear]source
  • November 14 – Fujiwara no Kamatari, founder of the Fujiwara clan (b. 614)source
  • December 31 – Li Shiji, general and chancellor of the Tang dynasty (b. 594)source
  • Jaruman, bishop of Mercia (approximate date)source
  • Mezezius, Byzantine usurper (approximate date)source