748

Events

By place

Europe

• January 18 – Duke Odilo of Bavaria dies after a 12-year reign. Grifo, youngest son of Charles Martel, seeks to establish his own rule by seizing the duchy for himself, and abducts Odilo's infant son Tassilo III.
• In Rome, Pope Zachary closes down a slave market, where Venetian merchants had been selling Christian captives to the Muslims in North Africa.

Britain

• King Æthelbert II of Kent sends a message to Boniface, archbishop of Mainz, requesting two well-trained goshawks for hunting. He had earlier made a gift of two falcons and a goshawk to King Æthelbald of Mercia (approximate date).

Arabian Empire

• February 14 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan (modern Iran), marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt. Qahtaba ibn Shabib al-Ta'i takes the cities Nishapur and Rey, defeating an Umayyad army (10,000 men) at Gorgan.
• December 9 – Nasr ibn Sayyar, Arab governor of Khorasan, dies after a 10-year administration in which he has fought vigorously against dissident tribes, Turgesh neighbors, and the Abbasids. Nasr had imposed poll taxes (jizya) on non-Muslims, and introduced a system of land taxation for Muslim Arabs.
• The city of Baalbek (modern Lebanon) is sacked with great slaughter.

Asia

• An earthquake strikes the Middle East from northern Egypt to northwestern Mesopotamia, destroying many remnants of Byzantine culture (approximate date).

Births

• Al-Waqidi, Muslim historian and biographer (approximate date)
• Charlemagne, king and emperor of the Franks (or 747)

Deaths

• January 18 – Odilo, duke of Bavaria
• May 22 – Genshō, empress of Japan (b. 683)
• December 9 – Nasr ibn Sayyar, Arab general (b. 663)
• Cellan of Clonfert, Irish abbot
• Eadbert I, king of Kent (approximate date)
• Indrechtach mac Dungalaig, king of Brega (Ireland)
• Wasil ibn Ata, Muslim theologian and jurist (b. 700)

References

References

1. McCormick, Michael. (2002). "New Light on the 'Dark Ages': How the Slave Trade Fuelled the Carolingian Economy". Past & Present.