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.