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The 640s

232 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 7th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

640 CE37 entries

  • July 6 – Battle of Heliopolis: The Muslim Arab army (15,000 men) under Amr ibn al-As defeats the Byzantine forces near Heliopolis (Egypt). Amr divides his troops into three parts, surrounding the Byzantines.
  • December 22 – On orders of the Saracen leader, Amar, the Serapeum of Alexandria, containing works that had survived the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, is burned down, along with its collection of 500,000 manuscripts. This story may be apocryphal.
  • December 24 – Pope John IV succeeds Severinus as the 72nd pope. His election is accepted by the Exarchate of Ravenna.

641 CE24 entries

  • May – Constantine III, age 29, dies of tuberculosis after a four-month reign, leaving his half-brother Heraklonas sole emperor. Rumors spread that Constantine has been poisoned by Heraclius's second wife (and niece) Martina.
  • September – The Byzantine Senate turns against Martina and her son Heraklonas, who are both mutilated, and exiled to Rhodes. Supported by general Valentinus, Constantine's son Constans II, age 10, succeeds to the throne.
  • November 8 – Siege of Alexandria: Muslim Arabs under 'Amr ibn al-'As capture Alexandria after a six-month siege. Byzantine officials formally capitulate to Amr, turning the city over to Arab hands.

642 CE32 entries

  • April 30 – Chindasuinth, a Gothic warlord (already 79 years old), commences a rebellion and deposes King Tulga in Toledo, Spain. He is proclaimed king by the Visigothic nobility and anointed by the bishops. Tulga is tonsured and sent out to live his days in a monastery.
  • August 5 – Battle of Maserfield: King Penda of Mercia defeats and kills King Oswald of Northumbria, age 38, at Oswestry (West Midlands). He commands a united British and Mercian force, which includes the Welsh army of Kings Cadafael Cadomedd of Gwynedd and Cynddylan of Pengwern. The Mercians become dominant in the English Midlands.
  • October 12 – Pope John IV dies after a 2-year reign. He is succeeded by a Jerusalem-born cleric of Greek descent, Theodore I, as the 73rd pope of Rome.

643 CE20 entries

  • 'Amr ibn al-'As sends a detachment to Sabratha (modern Libya). The city puts up feeble resistance, but soon surrenders and agrees to pay Jizya.
  • A Chinese embassy is sent to the North Indian Empire. They are invited by Emperor Harsha, who holds a Buddhist convocation at the capital Kannauj, which is attended by 20 kings and thousands of pilgrims.
  • Arab–Byzantine War: Arab armies continue their military expansion into North Africa and lay siege to Tripoli. The city is captured after one month.

644 CE14 entries

  • November 3 – The second caliph Umar, , dies of wounds inflicted by the Persian slave Abu Lu'lu'a Firuz at Medina. On his death bed he appoints a committee to determine his successor. They select Uthman ibn Affan, who becomes the third caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate.
  • Zenkoji, a Buddhist temple and landmark spot in Nagano, Japan, is officially built by Empress Kogyoku.
  • Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty sends a Chinese expeditionary force, to invade and annex the Tarim Basin kingdom of Karasahr in Xinjiang, a vassal of the Western Turkic Khaganate. The oasis state is conquered, and Western Turks sent to assist Karasahr are defeated by the Tang forces.

645 CE30 entries

  • May 1 – First conflict of the Goguryeo–Tang War: A Chinese expeditionary army under Emperor Taizong of Tang crosses the Liao River into Goguryeo (one of the Three kingdoms of Korea).
  • July 10 – Isshi Incident: Prince Naka-no-Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari assassinate Soga no Iruka, during a coup d'état at the imperial palace.
  • July 18 – Tang forces under Li Shiji heading southeast toward the Yalu River put the strategic fortress of Ansi City (in the province of Liaoning) under siege.

646 CE18 entries

  • Arab-Byzantine War: Alexandria is recaptured by the Muslim Arabs, after a Byzantine attempt (see 645) to retake Egypt fails, ending nearly 1,000 years of rule by Greco-Roman states in the city.
  • Emperor Kōtoku makes a decree about the policies of building tombs. He discontinues the old customs of sacrificing people in honor of a dead man, and forbids ill-considered rituals about purgation.
  • Caliph Uthman ibn Affan founds the city of Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) on the coast of the Red Sea. He establishes a port for Muslim pilgrims making the required Hajj to Mecca.

647 CE19 entries

  • Jindeok becomes queen of the Korean kingdom of Silla after the death of Queen Seondeok.
  • Self-proclaimed emperor Gregory the Patrician is killed during the Arab invasion at Sufetula. Africa returns to imperial allegiance after his death, but the foundation of Byzantine rule is fatally undermined.
  • A stone tower astronomical observatory (named Cheomseongdae) at Gyeongju is constructed in Silla (South Korea) around this time.

648 CE16 entries

  • Tang general Ashina She'er re-establishes Tang control of Karasahr, and leads a military campaign against the Tarim Basin kingdom of Kucha in Xinjiang, a vassal of the Western Turkic Khaganate.
  • King Sigebert III of Austrasia is advised by Remaclus to establish a double-monastery, at Stavelot and Malmedy. As a missionary bishop, he founds an abbey on the River Amblève (modern Belgium).
  • The Book of Jin is compiled in China during the Tang dynasty. Its chief editor is the chancellor Fang Xuanling, who dies in this year as well.

649 CE22 entries

  • January 19 – The Tang campaign against Kucha ends after the forces of Kucha surrender, following a 40-day siege led by general Ashina She'er, establishing Chinese control over the northern Tarim Basin (Xinjiang).
  • May 14 – Pope Theodore I dies after a 7-year reign, in which he has shown generosity to the poor. He is succeeded on July 5 by Martin I as the 74th pope.
  • October 5 – The Lateran Council of 649, summoned by Theodore and carried forward by Martin, opens. It strongly condemns Monothelitism and the Type of Constans.