Directory

751 CE

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. Pepin the Short, youngest son of Charles Martel, forces the last Merovingian king Childeric III to retire to the monastery of Saint-Bertin. He proclaims himself as king of the Franks with the support of Pope Zachary, and is crowned at Soissons by Boniface, bishop of Mainz, becoming, as Pepin III, the first Carolingian monarch of the Frankish Kingdom. 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.

Conflict & Security

  • 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.source

Religion & Belief

  • November – Pepin the Short, youngest son of Charles Martel, forces the last Merovingian king Childeric III to retire to the monastery of Saint-Bertin. He proclaims himself as king of the Franks with the support of Pope Zachary, and is crowned at Soissons by Boniface, bishop of Mainz, becoming, as Pepin III, the first Carolingian monarch of the Frankish Kingdom.source
  • The oldest surviving printed document, a Buddhist scripture, is printed in Korea.source
  • Theodore succeeds Theophylact as Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.source
  • Kim Daeseong, chief minister of Silla, orders the construction of the Bulguksa and Seokguram temples at Gyeongju (South Korea).source
  • King Aistulf of the Lombards captures Ravenna and the Romagna, ending the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna. The last exarch Eutychius is killed by the Lombards. Aistulf threatens Rome, claiming a capitation tax. Pope Zachary, alarmed, appeals for aid from the Byzantine Empire, but his request is declined.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 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).source

Crime & Justice

  • The Japanese poetry anthology Kaifūsō is assembled.source

Culture & Society

  • The Great Buddha at Tōdai-ji in Nara (Japan) is completed.source

Births

  • June 28 – Carloman I, king of the Franks (d. 771)source
  • Meng Jiao, Chinese poet (d. 814)source
  • Adalard of Corbie, Frankish abbot (approximate date)source

Deaths

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