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The 720s

171 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 8th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

720 CE30 entries

  • February 10 – Caliph Umar II is poisoned by a servant, and dies in Aleppo (Syria) after a 3-year reign. He is succeeded by his cousin Yazid II.
  • Muslim forces under Al-Samh begin the prolonged siege of Carcassonne, a fortified Visigothic town located in the Languedoc-Roussillon.
  • Umayyad conquest of Transoxiana: The first Turgesh attack on Muslim-Arabs in Transoxiana leads to the siege and relief of the Umayyad garrison at the fortress of Qasr al-Bahili, near Samarkand (or 721).

721 CE24 entries

  • February 13 – King Chilperic II dies at Attigny (Ardennes), after a five-year reign. He is succeeded by Theuderic IV, infant son of Dagobert III, as Merovingian ruler of the Franks, under the control of the mayor of the palace, Charles Martel.
  • May 31 – Wak Chanil Ajaw (Lady Six Sky), who had been the regent for her son Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Chaak from 693 until his attainment of majority, becomes the new queen of the Mayan city state of Naranjo in Guatemala when K'ak Tiliw dies from unknown causes. She reigns until her death in 741.
  • June 9 – Battle of Toulouse: After besieging Toulouse for three months, Muslim forces under governor (wali) Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani are defeated by Eudes, duke of Aquitaine, preventing the extension of Umayyad control over Gaul.

722 CE14 entries

  • January 3 – King Kʼinich Ahkal Moʼ Nahb III takes the throne of the Maya city-state of Palenque (southern Mexico).
  • Emperor Leo III enforces the baptism of all Jews and Montanists in the Byzantine Empire.
  • Battle of Hehil: The West Saxons are defeated by a combined Viking and Cornish army, at Cornovii in Cornwall (approximate date).

723 CE8 entries

  • Boniface, Anglo-Saxon missionary, fells Thor's Oak (a sacred tree) near Fritzlar in Hesse, marking the decisive event in the Christianization of the northern Germanic tribes (approximate date).
  • Gunakamadeva, Lichhavi ruler (rajah), founds the city of Kathmandu (modern Nepal). During his reign, he transforms the agrarian society to an industrial city trading between India and Tibet.
  • Boniface makes Büraburg, a fortified Frankish settlement, his temporary religious base.

724 CE23 entries

  • January 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
  • February – Al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah of the Umayyad Caliphate inflicts a crushing defeat on the Khazars of what is now Russia in a battle fought between the Cyrus and Araxes Rivers.
  • April – Athanasius III becomes the new Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, six months after the death of Elias I.

725 CE14 entries

  • In Egypt, resentment of the Copts against Umayyad taxation (called jizya) leads to a revolt (approximate date).
  • Yi Xing, Chinese Buddhist monk and astronomer, applies a clockwork escapement mechanism, to provide rotating motion to his astronomical armillary sphere.
  • Bede, Northumbrian monk-historian, writes The Reckoning of Time (De temporum ratione), explaining how to calculate medieval Easter.

726 CE18 entries

  • October 22 – Itzamnaaj K'awiil, the ruler of the Mayan city state at Dos Pilas in Guatemala since 698, dies after a 28-year reign.
  • Seismic activity in the Mediterranean Sea: The volcanic island of Thera erupts, while the city of Jerash (in present-day Jordan) suffers a major earthquake.
  • The first annual Sumo tournament in Japan is held by Emperor Shōmu (approximate date).

727 CE19 entries

  • January 6 – Ucha'an K'in B'alam becomes the new ruler of the Mayan city state at Dos Pilas in Guatemala after the death of Itzamnaaj K'awiil and reigns until 741.
  • July – Pope Gregory II condemns iconoclasm at Rome, causing Italy to break with the Byzantine Empire. He becomes the virtual temporal ruler of most Byzantine possessions.
  • Arab–Khazar War: The Khazars drive back the Muslim invasion, led by Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik, into Mesopotamia. Reinforced with Syrian troops, Maslama counterattacks and takes Georgia, establishing the northern frontier on the Caucasus.

728 CE7 entries

  • King Liutprand of the Lombards occupies all of the Exarchate of Ravenna. He advances towards Rome along the Via Cassia, and is met at the city of Sutri by Pope Gregory II, near the borders of the Duchy of Rome. Liutprand signs the Donation of Sutri, by which parts of Latium are given to the papacy (the first extension of papal territory in Italy). This marks the historical foundation of the Papal States.

729 CE14 entries

  • In Denmark, construction of the Kanhave Canal across the island of Samsø is completed. Although the canal is only about 500 metres long, it is one of the largest engineering projects undertaken in Denmark during the Early Middle Ages.
  • Chinese eating sticks are introduced in the next 20 years in Japan, where people heretofore have used one-piece pincers. The Japanese call them hashi.
  • Siege of Kamarja: A small Arab garrison defends the fortress of Kamarja against the Turgesh for 58 days, ending with a negotiated withdrawal to Samarkand.