642

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This article is about the year 642. For the number, see 642 (number).

Millennium:	1st millennium
Centuries:	6th century – 7th century – 8th century
Decades:	610s 620s 630s – 640s – 650s 660s 670s
Years:	639 640 641 – 642 – 643 644 645

642 by topic
Politics
State leaders – Sovereign states
Birth and death categories
Births – Deaths
Establishment and disestablishment categories
Establishments – Disestablishments
v t e

642 in other calendars
Gregorian calendar	642 DCXLII
Ab urbe condita	1395
Armenian calendar	91 ԹՎ ՂԱ
Assyrian calendar	5392
Bahá'í calendar	−1202 – −1201
Bengali calendar	49
Berber calendar	1592
English Regnal year	N/A
Buddhist calendar	1186
Burmese calendar	4
Byzantine calendar	6150–6151
Chinese calendar	辛丑年 (Metal Ox) 3338 or 3278 — to — 壬寅年 (Water Tiger) 3339 or 3279
Coptic calendar	358–359
Discordian calendar	1808
Ethiopian calendar	634–635
Hebrew calendar	4402–4403
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	698–699
- Shaka Samvat	564–565
- Kali Yuga	3743–3744
Holocene calendar	10642
Igbo calendar	−358 – −357
Iranian calendar	20–21
Islamic calendar	21–22
Japanese calendar	N/A
Juche calendar	N/A
Julian calendar	642 DCXLII
Korean calendar	2975
Minguo calendar	1270 before ROC 民前1270年
Thai solar calendar	1185
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Year 642 (DCXLII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 642 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

Emperor Constans II marries Fausta, daughter of Valentinus, a general of Armenian origin. He proclaims her Augusta and appoints his father-in-law to commander-in-chief of the Byzantine army. Valentinus is allowed to wear the imperial purple and becomes the most powerful man in the Byzantine Empire.

April 30 – Chindasuinth, a Gothic warlord (already 79 years old), commences a rebellion and deposes king Tulga in Toledo (Spain). He is proclaimed king by the Visigothic nobility and anointed by the bishops. Tulga is tonsured and sent out to live his days in a monastery.
Radulf, a Frankish aristocrat, revolts against king Sigebert III of Austrasia and defeats his army, taking the title of rex or king of Thuringia.^[1]

August 5 – Battle of Maserfield: King Penda of Mercia defeats and kills king Oswald of Northumbria, age 38, at Oswestry (West Midlands). He commands a united British and Mercian force which includes the Welsh army of kings Cadafael Cadomedd of Gwynedd and Cynddylan of Pengwern. The Mercians become dominant in English Midlands.
Oswiu succeeds his half-brother Oswald as king of Bernicia. He strengthens his position by marryring Eanflæd, daughter of king Edwin of Northumbria, then in exile in the Kingdom of Kent.^[2]This marriage takes place between 642 and 644.

Battle of Nahāvand: The Rashidun army (30,000 men) under Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas defeat the Persians at Nahāvand (modern Iran). Persian cavalry, full of confidence mount an ill-prepared attack. The bedouins retreat to a safe area where they outmanoeuvre and destroy the Persians in a narrow mountain valley.

Battle of Dongola: 'Amr ibn al-'As sends an Arab expedition of 20,000 horsemen under his cousin Uqba ibn Nafi to Makuria (Southern Egypt). The Nubians strike hard against the Muslims near Dongola with hit-and-run attacks. The Arab incursions into Nubia are temporarily halted.
Caliph Umar I orders the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, the entire collection of books (except for the works of Aristotle) stored at the library are removed and used as fuel to heat water for the city's public baths.

Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty issues a decree throughout China that increases the punishment for men who deliberately inflict injuries upon themselves (most commonly breaking their own legs) in order to avoid military conscription. This decree is an effort to eradicate this practice that has grown as a trend since the time of the rebellion against the Sui Dynasty.
Taizong supports a revolt by Turkic tribes against the rebellious Tu-lu Qaghan of the Western Turkic Khaganate.
Empress Kōgyoku ascends to the throne of Japan after her husband (and uncle) emperor Jomei has died in 641.
Winter – Yeon Gaesomun seizes power over Goguryeo (Korea) and places king Bojang on the throne.

The earliest surviving dated Arabic papyrus (PERF 558), found in Heracleopolis (Egypt), and the earliest known Arabic text with diacritical marks is written.

Arabs begin construction of the Mosque of Amr at Cairo, the first mosque built in Egypt and in all of Africa.

October 12 – Pope John IV dies after a 2-year reign. He is succeeded by a Jerusalem-born cleric of Greek descent, Theodore I, as the 73rd pope of Rome.
A monastic settlement is founded in Hampshire (England) which later becomes Winchester Cathedral.

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