Directory

781 CE

Emperor Kōnin of Japan abdicates the throne after an 11-year reign, in favour of his half-Korean son, Kanmu. The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji occurs (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781). Yang Yan, Chinese statesman, commits suicide after being accused of bribery and corruption. He is credited with reforming the tax system for peasants, reducing the power of the aristocratic classes, and eliminating their tax-free estates.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • April 30 – Emperor Kōnin of Japan abdicates the throne after an 11-year reign, in favour of his half-Korean son, Kanmu.source

Religion & Belief

  • Charlemagne defines the Papal territory (see Papal States). He codifies the regions over which the pope would be temporal sovereign: the Duchy of Rome is expanded by Ravenna, the Duchy of the Pentapolis, parts of the Duchy of Benevento, Tuscany, Corsica and Lombardy.source
  • Nestorians in China build Christian monasteries, and erect the Nestorian Stele (approximate date).source
  • Marriage of Abbasid prince Harun ibn al-Mahdi (future caliph Harun al-Rashid) and Zubaidah bint Ja'far.source
  • King Charlemagne has his son Carloman (renamed Pepin) anointed "King of Italy", and he is crowned by Pope Adrian I with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. His younger brother Charles I is anointed king of Aquitaine, and Louis the Pious (only 3-years old) is appointed sub-king of Italy and Aquitaine, following the conversion of Aquitaine from a Duchy to a sub-kingdom.source
  • Charlemagne meets Alcuin, Anglo-Saxon missionary, in Italy, and invites him to Aachen, where he becomes Charlemagne's chief adviser on religious and educational matters (approximate date).source

Economy & Finance

  • The Frankish currency called the livre carolingienne is minted for the first time (approximate date).source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • New city of Bian (汴) is constructed on the site of Kaifeng during the Tang dynasty (China).source

Crime & Justice

  • Yang Yan, Chinese statesman, commits suicide after being accused of bribery and corruption. He is credited with reforming the tax system for peasants, reducing the power of the aristocratic classes, and eliminating their tax-free estates.source

Climate & Environment

  • July 31 – The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji occurs (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781).source

Births

  • Harith al-Muhasibi, founder of the Baghdad School of Islamic philosophy, and a teacher of the Sufi masters Junayd al-Baghdadi and Sari al-Saqti (d. 857)source

Deaths

  • Yang Yan, chancellor of the Tang dynasty (b. 727)source
  • Alchmund, bishop of Hexham (approximate date)source
  • Isonokami no Yakatsugu, Japanese nobleman (b. 723)source
  • King Fergus mac Echdach of Dál Riata (Scotland)source
  • Guo Ziyi, general of the Tang dynasty (b. 697)source