The 8th century

1,936 sourced entries across 100 documented years, grouped into 10 decades. A century here runs 1900–1999 rather than 1901–2000, so its decades sit inside it exactly.

Decades

By subject

A few of the years

  • 700King Cunipert dies after a 12-year reign, and is succeeded by his son Liutpert. He rules the Lombard Kingdom together with Ansprand, duke of Asti, as regent.
  • 712September 8 – Emperor Rui Zong abdicates after a brief reign, in favor of his 27-year-old son Xuan Zong, who ascends the imperial throne of the Tang dynasty (China).
  • 724January 26 – (24 Sha'ban 105 AH) Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, becomes the new Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, which covers most of the Middle East, North Africa and Spain, after his brother Yazid II dies of tuberculosis following a 4-year reign. Hisham reigns for 19 years, during which he appoints Khalid al-Qasri as of Governor of Iraq
  • 736June 15 – Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil ("Eighteen Rabbit"), ruler of the Mayan city state of Copán in Honduras is defeated in battle by Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Yopaat, the ruler of Quiriguá (in Guatemala), and is beheaded. K'ak' ("Smoke Monkey") rules until his death in 749.
  • 748January 18 – Duke Odilo of Bavaria dies after a 12-year reign. Grifo, youngest son of Charles Martel, seeks to establish his own rule by seizing the duchy for himself, and abducts Odilo's infant son Tassilo III.
  • 761August 6 – Battle of Eildon: King Æthelwald Moll of Northumbria faces a rebellion, under a rival claimant to the throne named Oswine, brother of the murdered King Oswulf of Northumbria. Oswine is killed after a three-day battle against the forces of Æthelwald in Scotland.
  • 773A large and sudden increase in radiocarbon ( 14 C) occurs around 773, in coral skeletons from the South China Sea (see 774-775 carbon-14 spike).
  • 785Ludger, Frisian missionary, visits Heligoland (Fossitesland), and destroys the remains of paganism. On his return he meets the blind bard Bernlef, last of the Frisian skalds, and cures his blindness (approximate date).