580. Further successes of Maurice in Mesopotamia.

582. Death of Tiberius and accession of Maurice, Emperor in the East.

584. Many native Gauls retire into Armorica, where they preserve their Celtic tongue.

586. Cridda founds the last Saxon kingdom of Mercia. The Britons retire to the western side of the island, unite in a general league, and call themselves Cymri.

588. Northumberland is founded by the union of the kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira, under Ethelric.

589. Arianism is abandoned by the Visigoths in Spain. 591. Peace between Persia and the Eastern Empire.

597. Augustine sent by Gregory the Great to preach Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons. See "AUGUSTINE'S MISSIONARY WORK IN ENGLAND," iv, 182.

602. Revolt in Constantinople; Phocas is proclaimed emperor; flight of Maurice with his family; they are taken and put to death.

603. Khusrau, the Persian ruler, declares war against Phocas to revenge the death of his benefactor, Maurice.

605. Phocas begins his cruelties; Constantina, the widow of Maurice, is tortured and afterward beheaded with her daughters; Narses is decoyed to Constantinople and there burned alive. The hippodrome is defaced by the heads and mangled remains of the tyrant's victims.

607. Phocas concedes to Boniface III the supremacy of Rome over all Christian churches.

608. Boniface IV consecrates the Pantheon—built by Agrippa to the memory of his divine ancestors B.C. 27—as the Church of Santa Maria Rotunda.

Khusrau II, King of Persia, invades Asia Minor.

610. Phocas is given up to Heraclius and beheaded; Heraclius declared emperor of the East.

Venetia has an incursion of the Avars.

612. Caesarea, Cappadocia, taken by the Persians.

Syria is invaded by the Saracens.

613. Clotaire unites under his rule all the territories of the Franks.

The youthful Ali becomes Mahomet's vizier.

614. Damascus and Jerusalem are taken by the Persians under Khusrau II.

616. Alexandria and Egypt conquered by the Persians; another army encamps at Chalcedon. Their general, Saen, introduces to Khusrau an embassy from Heraclius, for which he is flayed alive, and the ambassador imprisoned.

Death of Ethelbert; his son Eadbald succeeds him and restores the pagan worship to England; he is afterward converted to Christianity.

First expulsion of the Jews from Spain.

619. Heraclius, while holding a conference with Baian, is treacherously attacked by the Avars; he escapes with difficulty.

622. Roused from his apathy, Heraclius leaves Constantinople and lands at Alexandria; he defeats the Persians, recovers Cilicia, and places his army in secure winter quarters.

Flight of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina: the era of the Hegira commences, July 16th. See "THE HEGIRA," iv, 198.

623. Heraclius occupies Armenia, takes Thebarma (Ooramiah), the birthplace of Zoroaster, reconquers Colchis and Iberia, and winters in Albania, having released 50,000 captives.

Suintilla takes the few remaining places in Spain that were still held by the Greek empire.

624. Ispahan, Persia, is taken by Heraclius; he defeats Sarbaraza at Salban.

625. Heraclius carries away an immense booty from Persia; he recovers Amida and Samosata.

626. Constantinople is besieged by the Persians and Avars; the siege fails. The emperor Heraclius contracts an alliance with the Turks, who, passing the Caspian gates, invade Persia.

627. Khusrau II is overwhelmed by Heraclius and his Turkish allies.

King Edwin, of Northumberland, embraces Christianity and builds the first minster of wood, at York.

628. Recovery of Jerusalem and of the presumed true Cross by Heraclius from the Persians.

Khusrau 11 deposed and slain; by treaty all the possessions captured by the Persians are restored to Rome.

630 (629). Mecca surrenders to Mahomet; he invades Palestine.

631. After many revolutions in Persia, Cesra is made king.

Dagobert I reunites the Frankish empire.

632. Death of Mahomet; his successor, Abu-Bekr, sends an army into Syria. See "THE SARACEN CONQUEST OF SYRIA," iv, 247.

Oswald builds the first minster of stone at York.

634. Death of Abu-Bekr; accession of Omar as head of the Saracens.

635. Defeat of the Welsh by the English at Heavenfield.

636. The Roman army is overcome by the Saracens. See "THE SARACEN CONQUEST OF SYRIA," iv, 247.

637. Emesa, Balbec, and Jerusalem taken by the Saracens.

638. Heraclius, unable to resist the Mahometans, retires to Constantinople, where he publishes his Ecthesis.

Death of Dagobert; his two sons succeed, Clovis to Neustria and Burgundy, Sigebert to Austrasia.

640. Capture of Caesarea. Invasion of Egypt by Amru, the general of Omar. See "SARACENS CONQUER EGYPT," iv, 278.

641. Death of Heraclius, Emperor of the East; three rival emperors succeed; accession of Constans II.

The Sassanian kingdom ends.

642. Victory at Nehavend by the Saracens; this places Persia in their power.

Istria and Dalmatia invaded by the Slavonians.

643. Rotharis publishes the Lombard code of laws.

644. Assassination of Omar; Othman succeeds. See "SARACENS CONQUER EGYPT," iv, 278.

646. Alexandria recaptured by the Greeks and again lost.

647. Abdallah advances, at the head of the Saracens, from Egypt to Roman Africa.

648. Constans II issues his Type, or model of faith.

649. Constans II orders the new exarch Olympius to enforce the adoption of his Type by the Western Church; it is rejected by the First Lateran Council.

650. The Moslems conquer Merv, Balkh, and Herat.[80]

Many orthodox churches are plundered by Constans II.

651. Death of Yezdejerd and end of the Persian kingdom.

652. Conversion of the East Saxons in England.

653. Pope Martin I is seized and banished by Constans II.

654. Martin, in Constantinople, is stripped of his pontifical robes and imprisoned; after long hesitation Eugenius is elected pope in his stead.

656. Assassination of Caliph Othman; Ali succeeds; Moawiyah revolts against him; he is supported by Ayesha the widow of Mahomet, Amru, Telhar, and Zobeir. These dissensions suspend the conquests of the Saracens. Ali is victorious on "the Day of the Camel"; Telhar and Zobeir are slain; Ayesha is made prisoner and sent to Medina.

657. Kufa is made the seat of government by Caliph Ali.

658. Constans takes the field against the Slavonians and repulses them.

Amru is sent by Moawiyah into Egypt and expels Ali's partisans. The two caliphs publicly pray for each other while waging fierce war.

660. Ali is assassinated; Hasan, his eldest son, is elected caliph.

661. Hasan resigns the caliphate; Moawiyah, the first of the Ommiads, becomes undisputed ruler of the Moslems; he makes Damascus his capital.

Death of Aribert; Lombardy is divided between his two sons. Constans, detested by all classes, leaves Constantinople and goes to Italy; the senate detains the Empress and his sons.

663. Constans visits Rome and carries away much spoil and retires to Syracuse.

664. Caliph Moawiyah appoints as his lieutenant in Persia, India, and the East his half-brother, Ziyad, "the greatest man of the age."

668. Constans is assassinated in a bath at Syracuse; Constans IV succeeds to the throne of the Eastern Empire.

The Sicilians set up Mecezius as emperor. Constantinople is first besieged by the Saracens.

669. Sicily is invaded by the Saracens, who capture Syracuse.

670. Kairwan, or Kayrawan, a holy Mahometan city in Northern Africa, founded.

Death of Clotaire III; Theodoric, or Thierry III, becomes king of Neustria and Burgundy.

671. Ebroin and Thierry are compelled by the Franks to retire into a monastery; Childeric for a time reigns alone.

672. Death of Ziyad; his son, appointed by Caliph Moawiyah lieutenant of Khorassan, penetrates into Bokhara and defeats the Turks.

673. First council of the Anglo-Saxon Church, at Hereford.

Year after year the Saracens repeat their attacks on Constantinople; Callinicus invents the Greek fire used successfully in its defence.

Thierry III and Ebroin leave their monastery and resume the government of Neustria.

Birth of the Venerable Bede.[81]

674. Revolts of the Gascons and Duke Paulus repressed by Wamba, King of the Visigoths in Spain.

The Bavarians, Thuringians, and other German subjects of Austrasia regain their independence.

677. Siege of Constantinople raised by the Mahometans; peace concluded.[82]

Domnus restores the authority of Rome over the Church at Ravenna.

678. Bulgarians establish themselves in the north of Thrace. Egfrid expels Wilfrid from York and divides his diocese; Wilfrid goes to Rome and obtains from Pope Agatho an order for his restoration. Egfrid resists the papal interference. A large comet visible for three months.

679. A council held at Rome for the reunion of the Greek and Latin churches.

680. Sixth general council of the Church, at Constantinople; Monothelite heresy condemned.

Establishment of a kingdom in Maesia (modern Bulgaria) by the Bulgarians.[83]

Hoseyn, son of Ali, and his followers massacred at Kerbela.

Murder of Dagobert II, after which Pepin of Heristal and Martin rule Austrasia with the title of dukes.

Attempt to poison Wamba; he resigns his crown and retires into a monastery; Ervigius succeeds him as king of the Visigoths.

683. For twelve months the papacy is vacant after the death of Leo II.

684. Constantine sends to Rome locks of the hair of his two sons, in token of their adoption by the Church.

Egfrid sends Beort with an army into Ireland and lays waste the country.

685. Justinian II becomes emperor of the East on the death of Constantine IV.

The Picts defeat the Angles of Northumbria under King Ecgfrith, at Nactansmere.

687. Battle of Testri; the victory of Pepin of Heristal gives him the sway over the whole Frankish empire.

688. Caedwalla resigns the crown of Wessex to Ina and goes to Rome; he dies there one year later.

690. On the death of Theodore, Berthwald becomes the first archbishop of Canterbury.

Two Anglo-Saxon bishops, Kilian and Wilbrord, preach in Germany. Pepin allows Clovis III to succeed Thierry III as nominal ruler of Neustria.

691. Council of Constantinople, called "Quinisextum in Trullo"; not acknowledged by the Western Church.

692. The Mahometans defeat the army collected by Justinian at Sebastopolis.

Armenia is conquered by the Mahometans.

694. Justinian's two ministers provoke his subjects by their oppressions; Leontius imprisoned.

695. Leontius, released from prison, is proclaimed emperor of the East; Justinian, with his nose cut off, is banished.

696. Pepin favors the preaching of the Anglo-Saxon missionaries among the Franks and Frisians; he appoints Wilbrord, under the name of Clemens, bishop of Utrecht.

697. Election of the first doge, with a council of tribunes and judges, in Venice. See "EVOLUTION OF THE DOGESHIP IN VENICE," iv, 292.

698. Hasan, at the head of the Saracens, storms and destroys Carthage.

699. At Mount Atlas the Berbers, or wild shepherds, successfully resist the advance of the Mahometans.

705. An army of Bulgarians, under Terbelis, restores Justinian to his throne; he inflicts bloody vengeance for his expulsion.

Accession of Caliph Welid.

706. Pope John VII refuses to accept, or even revise, the acts of the Council of Constantinople, A.D. 691, which Justinian requires him to adopt.

707. The Mahometans, under Musa, overcome the Berbers and are masters of all Northern Africa; they establish themselves in the valley of the Indus and conquer Karisme, Bokhara, and Samarkand, whence they introduce the manufacture of paper.

708. Justinian, unmindful of his obligations to Terbelis, attacks the Bulgarians, but is defeated.

709. Roderic ascends the Gothic throne in Spain.

Theodorus, by order of the Emperor Justinian, plunders Ravenna and sends the principal inhabitants to Constantinople, where they are cruelly murdered.

711. Tarik, with a large force of Arab-Moors, lands in Spain. See "SARACENS IN SPAIN," iv, 301.

Justinian's continued cruelties provoke a revolt at Ravenna; he sends a fleet and army to destroy Cherson and massacre its inhabitants. The citizens of Cherson proclaim Bardanes emperor, under the name of Philippicus; his cause is espoused by both the fleet and army, which conduct him to Constantinople, where he is acknowledged, and Justinian is put to death.

713. Musa, at the head of the Saracens, crosses the Pyrenees.

715. Charles Martel gains the ascendency in Austrasia; he contends against Chilperic II, the successor of Dagobert in Neustria.

717. Leo the Isaurian ascends the throne of the Eastern Empire. Constantinople is again besieged by the Moslems.

The Saracens suffer a disastrous defeat at the Cave of Covadonga, Spain.

718. Charles Martel is victorious at Soissons; both Frankish kingdoms acknowledge him.

719. Narbonne is captured and occupied by the Saracens under Zana.

721. Zana defeated and slain at the battle of Toulouse. Egbert, Abbot of Iona, translates the four gospels into Anglo-Saxon.

726. Iconoclastic edicts by Leo the Isaurian, against the worship of images, causes tumult and insurrection in Constantinople.

730. Image worship prohibited throughout the Eastern Empire.

731. Last confirmation of a papal election by the Eastern Emperor, the occasion being the election of Gregory III.

732. Battle of Tours, when Charles Martel utterly routs the Saracens and saves the empire of the Franks. See "BATTLE OF TOURS," iv, 313.

Pope Gregory III calls a council at Rome; an edict is issued against the iconoclasts.

733. Emperor Leo marries his son Constantine to a Tartar or Turkish princess, who at her baptism takes the name of Irene.

740. The Saracens are expelled from the greater part of France by Charles Martel and his ally, Lieutprand.

Death of Leo the Isaurian; accession of Constantine V as emperor of the East.

742. Birth of Charlemagne.

744. Carloman defeats the Saxons; they are forced into baptism.

746. King Carloman relinquishes the throne of the Franks, and retires into a monastery. See "FOUNDING OF THE CARLOVINGIAN DYNASTY," iv, 324.

747. Great plague in Constantinople.

748. Venetian merchants having purchased slaves to be sold in Africa to the Saracens, Pope Zachary forbids the traffic.

Virgilius, a priest, convicted of heresy for believing in the existence of the antipodes.

750. End of the Ommiad and rise of the Abbasside dynasty of caliphs; all the family of the former, except Abderrahman, put to death.

751. Pepin the Short founds the Carlovingian dynasty of the Franks. See "FOUNDING OF THE CARLOVINGIAN DYNASTY," iv, 324.

752. Extinction of the exarchate of Ravenna by the Lombards under Astolphus.

753. Pope Stephen II journeys to France.

754. Pepin the Short is crowned by Stephen II. See "FOUNDING OF THE CARLOVINGIAN DYNASTY," iv, 324.

755. Pepin the Short defeats Astolphus, King of the Lombards, and invests Pope Stephen II with Ravenna, and other places taken from the Lombards. The Papal States founded.

St. Boniface is martyred in Germany.

756. Abderrahman founds the kingdom of the Ommiads at Cordova.

757. Emperor Constantine courts the favor of Pepin; among other presents he sends him the first organ known in France.

759. Pepin conquers Narbonne and expels the last Saracens from France.

762.[84] Founding of Bagdad, the capital of the eastern caliphs.

767. Death of Pope Paul I; usurpation of Constantine, antipope.

768. Pepin dies and is succeeded by his sons Charles (Charlemagne) and Carloman. See "CAREER OF CHARLEMAGNE," iv, 334.

769. Council of Rome annuls all acts of the deposed pope Constantine; he, although blinded by the populace, is led into the assembly, insulted, and beaten. Laymen are declared incapable of being made bishops.

771. Death of Carloman; Charlemagne becomes sole king of the Franks. See "CAREER OF CHARLEMAGNE," iv, 334.

772. Charlemagne begins his long war against the Saxons.

774. Charlemagne visits Rome; he captures Pavia after a siege of eight months; and also puts an end to the kingdom of Lombardy. The papal temporalities are increased by Charlemagne. Forgery of the "Donation of Constantine" used as a plea to urge Charlemagne still more to aggrandize the see of Rome.

778. Spain is invaded by Charlemagne; on his return to repel the Saxons his rear-guard is surprised; there ensues the "Dolorous Rout" of Roncesvalles. See "CAREER OF CHARLEMAGNE," iv, 334.

780. The government of the Eastern Empire is assumed by Irene in the name of her son, Constantine VI.

781. Charlemagne visits Rome; his two sons are crowned by the Pope—one king of Italy, the other of Aquitaine.

785. Irene proposes a general council to establish the worship of images.

Fierce struggle of the Saxons against Charlemagne; Wittikind and Alboin submit and profess Christianity.

786. On the death of Al Hadi, the famous Harun-al-Rashid succeeds to the eastern caliphate.

787. Second Council of Nice—the seventh general council of the Church; it decrees the worship of images.

788. Bavaria is brought completely under the sway of Charlemagne.

789.[85] The first recorded inroad of the Northmen (Danes) into England.

790.[86] Publication of the Caroline Books, being the judgments of the general council of the bishops of the West on certain religious dogmas.

791. First campaign of Charlemagne against the Avars or Huns; they are defeated.

792. King Offa murders Ethelbert and annexes East Anglia to Mercia; in atonement for his crime he levies a tax on his subjects to support the school founded at Rome by Ina; this is afterward converted into "Peter's pence."

797. Irene deposes and puts out the eyes of her son, Emperor Constantine VI of the Eastern Empire.

799. Charlemagne finally conquers the Avars or Huns.

800. Pope Leo III presides at the coronation of Charlemagne as emperor of the West. See "CAREER OF CHARLEMAGNE," iv, 334.

Egbert is recalled from France by the West Saxons, who make him their king; the name of England is given to his dominions.

801. Barcelona is conquered from the Moors by the Franks.

802. Harun-al-Rashid murders the Barmecides, a powerful Persian family of high renown.

807. Harun-al-Rashid founds public schools; he sends an embassy to Charlemagne with rich presents, among which is a curious clock of brass.

The Saracens of Spain repulsed in their attempt on Sardinia and Corsica.

812. Civil war ensues between the sons of Harun-al-Rashid, who had died three years previously.

813. Constantinople menaced by the Bulgarian khan Krumn.

814. Death of Charlemagne; Louis le Debonnaire, his only surviving son, succeeds.

815. Louis exacts an apology from Pope Leo for having exercised civil judicial power at Rome.

817. Partition of the Frankish empire by Louis le Debonnaire.

826. Harold of South Jutland baptized; he receives from Louis a grant of land in Friesland.

827. The Saxon heptarchy founded by Egbert, King of Wessex. See "EGBERT BECOMES KING OF THE ANGLO-SAXON HEPTARCHY," iv, 372.

Beginning of the Saracen conquest of Sicily.

828. Syracuse and a great part of Catalonia captured by the Saracens.

829. North Wales submits to Egbert. Dungallo, a monk who had written a book in defence of image-worship, is placed over the school of Pavia.

830. First rebellion of the sons of Louis le Debonnaire.

832. Danes land on the Isle of Sheppey, England.

833. Louis is a prisoner in the hands of his son Lothair, who assumes full imperial power after the "Field of Lies."

Danes land in Wessex from thirty-five ships, and defeat Egbert.

The regular succession of Scottish kings begins with Alpine.

834. Continuance of the differences between the Anglo-Saxon and Roman clergy in England. See "EGBERT BECOMES KING OF THE ANGLO-SAXON HEPTARCHY," iv, 372.

Lothair compelled by his brother to restore their father, Louis, to his throne.

835. Egbert defeats a combined army of Danes and Cornish Britons at Hengston.

Danes invade the Netherlands and sack Utrecht.

836. Antwerp is burned and Flanders ravaged by the Danes.

Death of the first English king, Egbert.

837. First incursion of the Danes up the Rhine.

838. The Danes sail up the Loire and ravage the country as far as Tours.

Caliph Montassem invades Asia Minor.

839. Venetians repress the piracy of the Dalmatians, but lose their ships in an attack on the Saracens at Tarento.

840. Death of Louis le Debonnaire at Ingelheim; his empire divided into three separate states: Lothair (Emperor), taking Italy; Charles, France; Louis, Bavaria or Germany. Disputes follow.

841. Louis and Charles unite to resist the pretensions of Lothair; he is defeated at the battle of Fontenailles (Fontenay).

Rouen plundered by the Danes under Hastings.

842. A final sanction to image-worship is given by the Council of Constantinople.

The "Oath of Strasburg," a valuable matter of philology and history, which shows that in 841 the distinctions of race and language were beginning to make themselves felt. It sealed the pact made between Louis of Austrasia and Charles of Neustria.

FOOTNOTES:

[75] Date uncertain.

[76] Date uncertain.

[77] Date uncertain.

[78] Date uncertain.

[79] Date uncertain.

[80] Date uncertain.

[81] Date uncertain.

[82] Date uncertain.

[83] Date uncertain.

[84] Date uncertain.

[85] Date uncertain.

[86] Date uncertain.



END OF VOLUME IV