Charlemagne repudiates his Lombard wife Desiderata, daughter of Desiderius, after one year of marriage. He marries the 13-year-old Swabian girl Hildegard, who will bear him nine children. Desiderius, furious at Charlemagne, plans a punitive campaign against the Franks and Rome.
Saxon Wars: King Charlemagne leads a Frankish expedition from the Middle Rhine into disputed territory lost by the Franks in 695. He starts a campaign against the Saxons and seizes Eresburg, destroying the Irminsul (Saxon sacred tree) near Paderborn. Charlemagne devastates several major Saxon strongholds, and forces them to retreat beyond the Weser River. After negotiating with some Saxon nobles and obtaining hostages, he installs a number of garrisons.[5]
King Desiderius of the Lombards, enraged by the repudiation by Charlemagne of his daughter Desiderata, proclaims Gerberga's sons lawful heirs to the Frankish throne. He attacks Pope Adrian I for refusing to crown them, and invades the Duchy of the Pentapolis. Desiderius marches on Rome, and Adrian turns to the Franks for military support.
In England, King Offa of Mercia attempts to rule Kent directly, possibly to depose his rival Egbert II (approximate date).
Summer – King Charlemagne and his uncle Bernard, son of Charles Martel, cross the Alps with a Frankish expeditionary force at the request of Pope Adrian I. At the foot of the mountains in the Susa Valley (Northern Italy), the Franks are hindered by Lombard fortifications. After scouting, Charlemagne attacks the defenders from the flank, and forces the Lombards to flee to the fortified capital Pavia.
Siege of Pavia: Charlemagne besieges Pavia, which is poorly stocked with food. King Desiderius remains in the capital, and orders his son Adalgis to defend Verona to guard Gerberga, and the children of Carloman I. After a short siege, Adalgis flees to Constantinople, where he is received by Emperor Constantine V. Meanwhile, the Franks capture the cities of Verona and Mortara.
Battle of Berzitia: The Bulgarian ruler (khagan) Telerig sends a small raiding army (12,000 men) to strike into the southwest of Macedonia, and capture Berzitia. Emperor Constantine V is informed about this raid by his spies in Pliska, and assembles an enormous force (80,000 men). He surprises the Bulgarians, who did not expect to find a Byzantine army there, and defeats them decisively. The Bulgars suffer heavy losses.
Telerig sends a message to Constantine V, stating that he is going to flee in exile to Constantinople. In exchange, he asks the emperor to reveal the spies to his associates in Pliska for their own safety. Constantine sends the Bulgarian government a list of the spies; however, Telerig executes them all, and eliminates the Byzantine spy network within his government.[10]
Saxon Wars: Saxon raiders ravage much of northern Hesse (modern Germany), and burn the abbey at Fritzlar, putting the abbot and monks to the sword. Charlemagne hurriedly returns to Austrasia, assembles local troops, and recaptures Eresburg, before the approach of winter halts further operations.[11]
King Aurelius dies after a 6-year reign, and is succeeded by his cousin-in-law Silo, as ruler of Asturias (Northern Spain).
Britainedit
Unrest in the Northumbrian Church appears to lead to the expulsion of King Alhred, who is driven from his capital York. He sails from Bamburgh into exile amongst the Picts, where he is received by King Ciniod I. He is replaced by Æthelred I, the 11-year-old son of the late king Æthelwald Moll.
Saxon Wars: King Charlemagne holds a major assembly at Quierzy (Northern France). He leads a Frankish army into Saxony to retake the castrum of Syburg (near Dortmund), then rebuilds and garrisons fortified Eresburg. He reaches the Weser at a place called Braunsberg, where the Saxons stand for battle, but are defeated when Frankish troops cross the river.[13]
Westphalian Saxons, probably commanded by Widukind, cross the Weser and fight an inconclusive battle at Hlidbeck (modern-day Lübbecke). Charlemagne claims victory, but perhaps in reality suffers a setback. He reunites his forces and inflicts a real defeat upon the Saxons, seizing considerable booty and taking hostages, though Widukind escapes.[14]
Andalusian merchants set up an emporium (trade settlement) on the Maghreb coast at Ténès (modern Algeria). It is early evidence of the revival of the maritime trade in the Western Mediterranean, after the chaos of the early 8th century.[16]
Abbasid–Carolingian alliance: Charlemagne receives a request for support from pro-Abbasid rulers in the eastern thughur, or military frontier zone of the Emirate of Córdoba. Several powerful officials and noblemen in northeastern Iberia, such as the governors of Barcelona and Zaragoza, seek to rise up against the Umayyad emir Abd al-Rahman I.[25]
Saxon Wars: Widukind and his close followers return to Saxony from Denmark. He probably makes alliances with the Danes and the northwestern Slav tribes. Saxon rebels destroy the fortress of Karlsburg and sack Deutz (near Cologne), but are unable to cross the Rhine. They are driven back by the garrison of Koblenz, but then ambush and defeat the Frankish pursuers. Counter-attacking Frankish forces pursue the Saxons up the Lahn Valley, and defeat them near Leisa.[26]
Britainedit
Unrest in Northumbria leads to King Æthelred I ordering the execution of three of his dukes. This considerably weakens his position (approximate date).
^David Nicolle (2014). The Conquest of Saxony AD 782–785, pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-1-78200-825-5
^David Nicolle (2014). The Conquest of Saxony AD 782–785, p. 14. ISBN 978-1-78200-825-5
^"The History Of Zero". Yale Global. April 25, 2009. Archived from the original on August 25, 2016.
^"Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati". Archived from the original on April 11, 2005. Retrieved September 11, 2006.
^Liu, Y; Zhang, ZF; Peng, ZC; Ling, MX; Shen, CC; Liu, WG; Sun, XC; Shen, CD; Liu, KX; Sun, W (2014). "Mysterious abrupt carbon-14 increase in coral contributed by a comet". Sci Rep. 4: 3728. Bibcode:2014NatSR...4E3728L. doi:10.1038/srep03728. PMC3893640. PMID 24430984.
^Fine, John V. A. Jr. (1991) [1983]. The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. p. 77. ISBN 0-472-08149-7.
^David Nicolle (2014). The Conquest of Saxony AD 782–785, p. 14. ISBN 978-1-78200-825-5
^Mekhaldi, Florian; Muscheler, Raimund; Adolphi, Florian; Aldahan, Ala; Beer, Jürg; McConnell, Joseph R.; Possnert, Göran; Sigl, Michael; Svensson, Anders; Synal, Hans-Arno; Welten, Kees C. (2015-10-26). "Multiradionuclide evidence for the solar origin of the cosmic-ray events of AD 774/5 and 993/4". Nature Communications. 6 (1): 8611. doi:10.1038/ncomms9611. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC4639793. PMID 26497389.
^David Nicolle (2014). The Conquest of Saxony AD 782–785, pp. 14–15. ISBN 978-1-78200-825-5.
^David Nicolle (2014). The Conquest of Saxony AD 782–785, p. 15. ISBN 978-1-78200-825-5.
^David Nicolle (2014). The Conquest of Saxony AD 782–785, p. 12. ISBN 978-1-78200-825-5.
^Gilbert Meynier (2010). L'Algérie cœur du Maghreb classique. De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518). Paris: La Découverte; p. 26.
^"Largest Cities Through History". About.com Geography. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2006.
^Bagchi, Jhunu (1993). The History and Culture of the Pālas of Bengal and Bihar, cir 750 A.D. - 1200 A.D. ISBN 978-81-7017-301-4.
^Lovett, Richard A. (2012). "Mysterious radiation burst recorded in tree rings". Nature News & Comment. doi:10.1038/nature.2012.10768. S2CID 124800942.
^The Chronicle of Theophanes Anni Mundi 6095–6305 (A.D. 602–813): Tr. Harry Turtledove (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982), p. 137
^Treadgold, Warren. A History of the Byzantine State and Society.
^David Nicolle (2014). The Conquest of Saxony AD 782–785, p. 15. ISBN 978-1-78200-825-5
^David Nicolle (2014). The Conquest of Saxony AD 782–785, pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-1-78200-825-5
^David Nicolle (2014). The Conquest of Saxony AD 782–785, p. 12. ISBN 978-1-78200-825-5.
^David Nicolle (2014). The Conquest of Saxony AD 782–785, p. 16. ISBN 978-1-78200-825-5.
^David Nicolle (2014). The Conquest of Saxony AD 782–785. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-78200-825-5
^David Nicolle (2014). The Conquest of Saxony AD 782–785, p. 17. ISBN 978-1-78200-825-5
^David Nicolle (2014). The Conquest of Saxony AD 782–785, p. 17. ISBN 978-1-78200-825-5.