King Hyegong of Silla is killed in a revolt, terminating the kingly line of succession of former ruler Muyeol. He is the architect of Silla's unification of the Korean Peninsula (see 668).
Charlemagne meets Alcuin, Anglo-Saxon missionary, in Italy, and invites him to Aachen, where he becomes Charlemagne's chief adviser on religious and educational matters (approximate date).
The Frankish currency called the livre carolingienne is minted for the first time (approximate date).
Emperor Constantine VI is betrothed to the 6-year-old Rotrude, daughter of Charlemagne; Irene sends a scholar monk called Elisaeus to educate her in Greek language and manners.[6]
Battle of Süntel: The Franks under Charlemagne are defeated by Saxon rebels, led by Widukind. He succeeds in wiping out more than half of the occupying Frankish forces and again raises the banner of revolt.
Autumn – Charlemagne returns from his campaign in Italy, and musters a Frankish army of available troops in Bavaria. He then marches to Saxony, probably to Eresburg. Charlemagne marches north, down the Weser to the Aller River, making camp near Verden.[8]
Mauregatus of Asturias, illegitimate son of the late king Alfonso I, usurps the throne after the death of his brother-in-law Silo. However, the nobility has elected Alfonso II at Adosinda's (wife of Silo) insistence, but Mauregatus assembles a large army of supporters, and forces Alfonso to flee to Álava (modern Spain). Adosinda is put in the monastery of San Juan de Pravia, where she lives out the rest of her life.
October – Charlemagne marries Fastrada, the 18-year-old daughter of a Frankish count named Rudolph, and makes her his queen at Worms. The probable reason behind the marriage is to solidify a Frankish alliance east of the Rhine, against the Saxons in Lower Saxony (modern Germany).
Winter – Charlemagne returns to Eresburg and builds a church, probably on the site of the Irminsul (a pagan religious site). Frankish forces based at Eresburg attack rebel Saxon settlements, and take control of the roads. Charlemagne himself takes part in some of these raids.[10]
Nagaoka-kyō becomes the Japanese imperial capital.
Central America
February 4 – Itzamnaaj K'awiil, brother of Bat K'awiil (who reigned between 780 and 784) and the son of K'ahk' Ukalaw Chan Chaak (who ruled 755 to 780) becomes the new ruler of the Mayan city state of Naranjo in Guatemala and reigns until his death in 810.
Fujiwara no Tanetsugu, Japanese nobleman (chūnagon), has his daughter Azumako married to the 12-year-old crown prince Heizei (son of Emperor Kanmu). While supervising construction of the buildings in the capital of Nagaoka, he is killed by an arrow.
King Charles the Younger, son of Charlemagne and ruler of Aquitaine, visits Monte Cassino and Capua, both in Beneventan territory. Prince Arechis II, feeling threatened by the Franks, decides that he needs to stop quarrelling with the Byzantine Duchy of Naples so he can focus on the Frankish foe. Prince Arechis II therefore signs a peace agreement, or 'pactum', with the Duchy of Naples.
Britain
Cyneheard, brother of the late king Sigeberht, ambushes and kills his rival Cynewulf of Wessex, while he is at Meretun (now called Marten) with his mistress. The Wessex nobles refuse to recognise Cyneheard as king.
Cyneheard is executed and succeeded by Beorhtric, through the support of King Offa of Mercia. His rival claimant to the Wessex throne, a distant nephew of the late king Ine, named Egbert, is driven across the Channel.
Egbert settles at the court of Charlemagne, and learns the arts of government during his time in Gaul.[11] During his stay he meets Eadberht, a priest, who later becomes king of Kent.
August 26 – Arechis II, autonomous prince (or duke) of Benevento, dies. Grimoald III, taken hostage by the Franks, succeeds his father as ruler of Benevento.
An uprising in Japan leads to a major defeat for Emperor Kanmu, along with a severe drought and famine; the streets of the capital Nagaoka-kyō are clogged with the sick.
Al-Khayzuran, powerful wife and adviser of Abbasid caliph Al-Mahdi and the excellent mother of Al-Hadi and Harun Al-Rashid, the Abbasid caliphs, de facto co-ruler of the Abbasid Caliphate
^Dr. R. Hennig, Katalog bemerkenswerter Witterungsereignisse. Berlin 1904; Originalquellen: Aventinus (Turmair), Johannes (gest. 1534): Annales Boiorum. Mit Nachtrag. Leipzig 1710; Annales Fuldenses, Chronik des Klosters Fulda. Bei Marquard Freher: Germanicarum rerum scriptores ua Frankfurt aM 1600–1611)
