740

Year 740 (DCCXL) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 740th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 740th year of the 1st millennium, the 40th year of the 8th century, and the 1st year of the 740s decade. The denomination 740 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Synnada (Phrygia).^[2]
• October 26 – 740 Constantinople earthquake. An earthquake strikes Constantinople and the surrounding countryside, causing destruction to the city's land walls and buildings.

Europe

• The
  Berber tribes in the recently conquered region of Galicia (northwest Spain) rebel. This facilitates the establishment of an independent kingdom in the Cantabrian Mountains under King Alfonso I of Asturias.^[3]
• Duke
  Thrasimund II recovers the duchy of Spoleto and kills Hilderic with Papal-Beneventian aid.^[4] He does not return the confiscated papal cities, and his alliance with Pope Gregory III
  ruptures.
• December – King Liutprand of the Lombards attempts to counter the growing independence of the Lombard duchies in southern Italy.
• Habīb Ibn Abi ‘Ubayda Al-Fihrī, while the fleet raiding Greece is led by Mu’awiya ibn Hishām
  . All of them are successful, submitting the Islands and returning with much wealth from the spoils of war.

• King Eadberht of Northumbria marches his army north to attack the Picts. King Æthelbald of Mercia takes advantage of his absence, and ravages the city of York. Internal struggles re-emerge in Northumbria with the murder of Eardwine, probably the son of the late usurping king Eadwulf I.^[5][6]
• King Æthelheard of Wessex dies after a 14-year reign. He is succeeded by his brother (and probably distant relative) Cuthred. Æthelbald of Mercia takes control of Berkshire from Wessex.

Africa

• Battle of the Nobles: The Berber rebels under chieftain Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati defeat and overwhelm the Umayyad forces of Khalid ibn Abi Habib al-Fihri, near Tangier (Northern Morocco), undermining Arab domination in Islamic North Africa. The rebellion spreads in Al-Andalus (Spain), causing governor Ubayd Allah ibn al-Habhab to withdraw Moorish troops from many garrisons north of the Pyrenees.^[7]

Asia

• Much to the delight of the citizens of Chang'an, the Chinese government of the Tang dynasty orders fruit trees to be planted along every main avenue of the city, which enriches not only the diets of the people but also the surroundings (approximate date)
• Fujiwara no Hirotsugu Rebellion: The Fujiwara clan led by Fujiwara no Hirotsugu, dissatisfied with the political powers in Japan, raise an army in Dazaifa (Kyushu
  ) but are defeated by government forces.
• The Japanese imperial capital is moved from Heijō-kyō to Kuni-kyō.

By topic

Religion

• The Khazars, a nation of the Black Sea steppe, though not ethnically Jewish, voluntarily convert to Judaism.
• Cuthbert becomes archbishop of Canterbury after the death of Nothhelm (see 739).

Births

• Aurelius, king of Asturias (approximate date)
• Gao Ying, chancellor of the Tang dynasty (d. 811)
• Chinese Chán (Zen) Buddhist (d. 808
  )
• Mashallah ibn Athari, Jewish-Arab astrologer (d. 815)
• abbot
  (approximate date)
• Theoctista, politically influential Byzantine woman (d. 802
  )

• Abdallah al-Battal, Arab general
• Æthelburg, queen of Wessex
• Æthelheard, king of Wessex
• Æthelwold, bishop of Lindisfarne
• Acca, bishop of Hexham (or 742)
• Anna, Byzantine princess and empress, wife of Artabasdos
• Frithugyth, queen of Wessex
• Gregory, duke of Benevento
• Hilderic, duke of Spoleto
• Khalid ibn Abi Habib al-Fihri, Arab general
• Maysara al-Matghari, Berber rebel leader
• Meng Haoran, Chinese poet
• Rhain ap Cadwgan, king of Dyfed and Brycheiniog
• Uqba ibn al-Hajjaj, Arab governor
• Husayn ibn Ali (b. 695
  )
• Zhang Jiuling, chancellor of the Tang dynasty (b. 673)

References