710

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The Arabs begin an raid expedition against the Visigothic Kingdom in Spain (8th century)

Year 710 (DCCX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 710 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

• The Byzantine outpost of Cherson (Crimea) rebels with Khazar assistance against emperor Justinian II. He sends a fleet under the patrikios Stephen, which retakes the city and restores Byzantine control. The fleet however is struck by a storm on its way back and loses many ships, while the Chersonites, again with the aid of the Khazars, rebel anew.^[1]
• The Byzantine general Leo (future emperor Leo III) recovers Abkhazia (Caucasus) for the Byzantine Empire from the Arabs.^[2]

Europe

• Roderick becomes king of the Visigoths but the Visigothic nobles in Septimania rebel and proclaim the previous ruler's son Akhila. The Visigothic Kingdom is divided into two sub-kingdoms; first Muslim raid expedition against the southern Iberian Peninsula.^[3]
• An Arab army is invited into Ceuta by its governor, Julian, who is an opponent of Roderick. He encourages them to invade the Iberian Peninsula. Tariq ibn Ziyad is appointed governor of Tangier (Morocco) and establishes an Moorish garrison of 1,700 men.
• Lupus I, duke of Gascony, is assassinated in his attempt to seize Limoges (France). Eudes becomes ruler over both Gascony and Aquitaine.
• The Madara Rider, an early medieval rock relief, is carved on the Madara Plateau east of Shumen in Bulgaria (approximate date).

Britain

• Kings Ine of Wessex and Nothhelm of Sussex fight against king Geraint of Dumnonia who dies in battle. Ine's advance brings him control of what is now Devon and establishes a fortress at Taunton.^[4]
• Beorhtfrith fights against the Picts between Haefe and Caere^[5] (assumed to be between the rivers Avon and Carron which flow into the Firth of Forth in Scotland).

Africa

• Salih I ibn Mansur founds the Muslim Kingdom of Nekor (Morocco). He converts the local Berber tribes to Islam.

Asia

• April 5 – Emperor Zhong Zong of the Tang Dynasty has his chief ministers of court, sons-in-law, and high-ranking military officers engage during the Cold Food Festival, in the festive game of tug of war within a palace of Chang'an.
• July 3 – Zhong Zong is assassinated, allegedly poisoned by empress Wei who fails to install her daughter Li Guo'er as heir to the throne. Princess Taiping and her nephew Li Longji, launch a coup and restore Rui Zong as emperor.
• The Asuka period, the second and last part of the Yamato period, ends, and the Nara period begins; Heijō-kyō (Nara) becomes the capital of Japan.

By topic

Religion

• October 5 – Pope Constantine departs for a year-long visit to Constantinople. He will be the last pontiff to visit the capital for more than a thousand years.
• The first (wooden) Al-Aqsa Mosque is finished.

Births

• Fulrad, Frankish abbot (d. 784)
• Hnabi, duke of the Alemanni (approximate date)
• Leoba, Anglo-Saxon nun (approximate date)
• Lullus, archbishop of Mainz (approximate date)
• Walpurga, Anglo-Saxon missionary (d. 779)

Deaths

• Adrian of Canterbury, abbot and scholar
• Al-Akhtal, Arab poet
• Arikesari Maravarman, king of the Pandyan Empire (India)
• Bahram VII, son of Yazdegerd III
• Emebert, bishop of Cambrai
• June 30 – Erentrude, Frankish abbess
• Geraint, king of Dumnonia (England)
• Giles, Frankish abbot (approximate date)
• Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, Japanese poet
• July 21 – Li Guo'er, princess of the Tang Dynasty
• Lupus I, duke of Gascony
• March 27 – Rupert, bishop of Salzburg
• Shangguan Wan'er, Chinese poet (b. 664)
• July 21 – Wei, empress of the Tang Dynasty
• April 24 – Wilfrid, Anglo-Saxon bishop (or 709)
• Wittiza, king of the Visigoths (approximate date)
• July 3 – Zhong Zong, emperor of the Tang Dynasty (b. 656)

References