701
John VI becomes Pope.

702
Cenred recieves the kingdom of Mercia, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Southern England.

705
John VII becomes Pope.

708
Sisinnius becomes Pope.

Constantine I becomes Pope.

710
Ine of Wessex and his kinsman Nun fought with Geraint, the Welsh king. Roderick becomes king of the Visigoths. General Tariq ibn Ziyad leads a Muslim army into Spain.

713
The Moorish invasion forced the Holy Grail to be taken from Huesca and brought to the Monastery of San Juan de la Pena, the cup Christ used at the Last Supper remained safely here until 1399.

715
St. Gregory II becomes Pope.

716
Leo III the Isaurian, becomes Emperor. He was a valiant soldier with an autocratic temper. He had cruelly persecuted the Jews and Paulicans. He was also suspected of learning Islam.

The Iconoclasm persecutions begin.

717
Omar II becomes Khalifa and converted Emperor Leo III to Islam.

718
Byzantine Emperor Leo III, the Isaurian successfully defends Constantinople against an Arab attack. Saint Boniface is authorized by Pope Gregory II to preach Christianity to all the tribes of Germany. Osric received the kingdom of Northumbria.

720
In the Domain of the Khalifa at Damascus, Yezid II, thinking like a good Moslem, that all pictures are idols, tried to prevent their use among his Catholic subjects. This was one of the many Muslim persecutions and is the forerunner of the troubles in the Empire.

Anastasius II leads a rebellion against Byzantine Emperor Leo III.

Death of St. Richard, King of the English, but not of England. He is the father of Saints, Winebald, Willibald, and Walburga,a nun.

721
Death of St. John of Beverly.

Anastasius II is captured and killed.

722
St. Boniface begins conversion of the Germans. He knew that his greatest challenge was to eradicate pagan superstitions which hindered the acceptance of the gospel and the conversion of the people. The German heathens venerated an oak called the Tree of Thor. They claimed this tree has supernatural power. St. Boniface then took his broad ax and began striking the tree. A mighty wind suddenly arose and the tree fell, wrenching its roots from the earth, and it split into four pieces.

Behind the mighty oak stood a young fir tree, pointing like a cathedral spire toward heaven. St. Boniface again spoke to the people, "This little tree, a young child of the forest, shall be your holy tree tonight. It is the wood of peace, for your houses are built of the fir. It is the sign of an endless life, for its leaves are ever green. See how it points upward to heaven. Let this be called the tree of the Christ-child; gather about it, not in the wild wood, but in your own homes; there it will shelter no deeds of blood, but loving gifts and rites of kindness." This was the first Christmas tree.

So they took the fir tree and carried it to the village. Duke Alvold set the tree in the middle of his great hall. They placed candles on its branches, and it seemed filled with stars. Then St. Boniface, with Hunrad sitting at his feet, told the story of Bethlehem, the Baby Jesus in the manger. St. Boniface used its wood to build an Oratory dedicated to St. Peter. The heathens became Baptized in great numbers.

726
Emperor Leo III, now a professed Muslim, published an Edict declaring images to be idols, forbidden by Exodus 20:4-5, and commanded all such images in Churches to be destroyed. His soldiers carried out his orders and disturbances were provoked throughout the Empire. Leo III signed the edict using the Title, Emperor and priest.

727
Pope St. Gregory II answered the Emperor by explaining the difference between pictures and idols with some surprise that Leo III did not already understand it. The Pontiff described the lawful use of, and reverence paid to, pictures by Christians. He blamed the Emperor's interference in Ecclesiastical matters and his persecution of image-worshipers.

St. John Damascene wrote his first Apologetic Sermon against those who Reject Sacred Images.

In the West, at Rome, Ravenna, and Naples, the people rose against the Emperor's law. This anti-imperial movement is one of the factors of the breach between Italy and the Old Empire, the independence of the Papacy, and the beginning of the Papal States.

730
Byzantine Emperor Leo III publishes Decrees forbidding Christians to venerate icons and images of Christ and the Saints.

St. John Damascene wrote his Second of the Apologetic Sermons.

731
St. Gregory III becomes Pope. He carried on the defense of the Holy Images.

All Saints Day is celebrated on November 1st.

Pope St. Gregory III consecrates St. Boniface as Archbishop of Germany.

Byzantine Emperor Leo III, the Isaurian is excommunicated by the pope for banning icon worship.

732
Charles Martel defeated the Saracens at Tours. He was Charles the Hammer. He the illegitimate son of Pepin Hertstal and the father of Pepin the Short. He was one of the most famous Mayors of the Palace. The Mayors administered the government.

739
Byzantine Emperor Leo III, the Isaurian issues the "Ecloga," a legal code.

740
King Aethelheard dies and his kinsman Cuthred recieves the Wessex kingdom.

741
St. Zachary becomes Pope.

Death of Emperor Leo III. Constantine V, the son of Leo III, becomes Emperor. He was an even greater persecutor than his father was.

Artabasdus, the son-in-law of Leo III, seized an opportunity after the Emperor's death and took advantage of the unpopularity of the Iconoclast Government by raising a rebellion. He declared himself "Protector of the Holy Icons" and took possession of the capitol. He had himself crowned Emperor by the pliant Patriarch Anastasius, and immediately restored the images. Anastasius, helped restore the images and excommunicated Constantine V.

743
St. John Damascene wrote "The Source of Knowledge."

Constantine V began his furious revenge. He marched on Damascus, took it, blinded his brother-in-law, Artabasdus, and showed no mercy to the so-called image-worshipers. His behavior toward Artabasdus was a typical example of the way of the way Emperors treated the Patriarchs through whom they tried to govern the Church. In addition to being blinded, Artabasdus was flogged in public and driven shamefully through the streets. He was finally reinstated as Patriarch.

751
Mayor of the Palace, Pepin the Short deposed the last of the "Do-nothing Kind," Childeric III, and was anointed King of the Franks by St. Boniface. This began the Carolingian Dynasty.

752
Stephen II becomes Pope. Stephen III becomes Pope.

753
Cuthred, king of Wessex, battles with the Welsh.

754
Pope Stephen III appealed to Pepin the Short to assist Rome against the Lombards. The Lombards were even a worse scourge than the earlier barbarians. They established permanent settlements in Northern Italy, while the earlier heathens did not usually stay in the same place for any great length of time. Pepin marched his army over the Alps and conquered the Lombards.

Death of St. John Damascene, Doctor of the Church.

Constantine V summoned the Synod of Constantinople.

Death of Artabasdus.

Constantine II, a creature of Emperor Leo III's government was chosen as Patriarch of Constantinople. He was prepared to carry on its campaign against the sacred Images. On August 27th, the Decrees were published in the Forum. After this sad event, the destruction of the Holy pictures went on with renewed zeal. All of the Bishops were required to sign the Acts of the Synod of Constantinople and were made swear to do away with the icons in their dioceseses. As a result of this action, the Paulicans were treated well, however the so-called image-worshipers and the monks were fiercely persecuted. Instead of holy images of the Saints, the Churches were decorated with pictures of flowers, fruit, and birds. The comments of the people at this time were "The churches look like grocery stores and bird shops."

755
Martyrdom of St. Boniface, Apostle to Germany.

756
Pepin the Short, King of the Franks, on his conquest over the Lombards, won the territory, consisting of twenty-two reconquered towns in a region known as Exarchate and the Pentapolis, was donated to the Pope; even though the Emperor at Constantinople objected. This land would eventually become the Papal States in Central Italy; this gift to Pope Stephen II established the temporal power of the Pontiff.

757
St. Paul I becomes Pope. He was a Roman by birth and orphaned early in childhood. Offa, becomes King of the Mercians. At this time, what we know today as England, was divided into three great states: Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex.

758
Eadbriht, king of Northumbria recieves the tonsure and gives his kingdom over to his son, Osulf.

759
Osulf, the new king of Northumbria, is killed by his household on July 24th.

760
Pepin the Short's main military activity was trying to conqueror Aquitaine.

761
Martyrdom of Saints Peter, a monk who was scourged to death and John, the Abbot of Monagria, who refused to trample on an icon, was tied up in a sack and thrown into the sea.

762
Death of Aethelbriht, king of Kent. Until 796 the kingdom of Kent is under the rule of the king of Mercia. Abu-al-Abbas, the Muslim caliph, builds the city of Baghdad for his capital.

763
The revolt against the T'ang empire that began in 755, ends.

765
Alhred becomes king of Northumbria.

766
Nicetas I becomes Patriarch after Constantine II was murdered by the Emperor. Sacred Relics were dug up and thrown into the sea by order of the Emperor, Constantine V.

Death of Archbishop Egbert of York. He was succeeded by Ethelbert.

Jaenbert becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.

Offa, the King of Mercia, schemed to weaken Canterbury's influence by dividing the Southern province, and creating a Mercian Arch-bishopric at Lichfield: he accomplished this in time upon the Legatins of George and Theophylact sent by Pope Hadrian I.

Death of St. Andrew of Crete.

767
Constantine is anti-Pope.

Martyrdom of St. Andrew, a Cretan monk, was flogged and lacerated till he died. In November of this year, a great multitude of monks were also Martyred as a result of Iconoclasm.

Ethelbert was consecrated Bishop of York. He was the brother of Eaderht, King of Northumbria. He continued his laborious life, working with such success that he is regarded as one of the founders of the Church of York. He set himself to rebuild the Cathedral that had been destroyed by fire in 741. From York, Bishop Ethelbert developed both missionary work and educational effort.

768
Philip is anti-Pope. Stephen IV becomes Pope.

Charles the Great Charlemagne becomes King of the Franks after the death of his father, Pepin the Short. Foreseeing his end, King Pepin made a partition of his domains between his two sons, Charles and Carloman. Those dominions consisted of two divisions, Frankland; and as many as seven more or less self governing dependencies, inhabited by people of many races and obeying various codes of law.

769
Byzantine Emperor Leo IV marries Irene.

770
Charlemagne marries Desiderata, the daughter of the Lombard Ruler, Desiderius. This marriage was carried out in defiance of Pope Stephen III' s protest.

771
Death of Charlemagne's younger brother, Carloman, December 4th. He left a wife, Gerberga and two sons. The Frankish Law did not give preference to sons against a brother; left to their own choice, the Frankish Lieges, whether from love of Charles or for fear which his name already inspired, gladly accepted him for their King. From his father, Charlemagne inherited the Title: Patricius Romanus which carried with it a special obligation to protect the temporal rights of the Holy See. The closest menacing neighbor of St. Peter' s Patrimony was Desiderius (Didier), King of the Lombards. It was because of this potential threat that the dowager, Bertha, had arranged a matrimonial alliance for her elder son. Pope Stephen III had solid temporal reasons for objecting to this arrangement. Charles the Great, was already, if not in Frankish Law, married to Himiltrude.

Carloman's widow, Gerberga and her two sons fled to the Lombard court of Pavia.

772
Death of the Lombard King, Alboin. He had made Pavia the capitol of his realm. It was from that city where he launched a series of campaigns that eventually deprived the Byzantine power in Italy of everything except the southern province and the Exarchate of Ravenna in the north.

Desiderius becomes King of the Lombards.

Hadrian I becomes Pope. He was from a Noble Roman family and was orphaned in childhood, like his predecessor, who made him sub-Deacon, Pope St. Paul I. He served as a Deacon under Pope Stephen III.

Charlemagne made his first exhibition to the land of the Saxons. They were an aggressive horde of pagans that offered no hope to Christian missionaries, except that of Martyrdom.

773
Bishop Ethelbert received the Pallium from Pope Hadrian I.

Charlemagne repudiated his wife, Desiderata, and married Hildegarde, the beautiful Swabian.

Desiderius, naturally furious with this insult, and the domains of the Holy See bore the brunt of his wrath. This forced Charlemagne had to defend his borders as well as the Holy See from the Lombards. Charlemagne summoned his whole military strength of the Franks for a great invasion of Lombardy. He was slow to strike, but he meant to strike hard, and hard he did!

774
Charlemagne crushed the Lombards, a Germanic tribe, who was a threat to the Papacy. Charlemagne is consecrated as the First Champion of the Catholic Church on Easter Sunday.

In June of this year, the city of Pavia fell and Desiderius was banished.

775
Death of Byzantine Emperor, Constantine V.

Leo IV succeeded his father as Emperor. He was much milder in enforcing the Iconoclast laws.

776
The affairs at Lombardy interrupted Charlemagne's Saxon conquest. Areghis of Beneventum, the son-in-law of the vanquished Desiderius, had conceived a plan with his brother-in-law, Adalghis, then an exile at Constantinople, by which the latter was to make a descent upon Italy, backed by the Eastern Emperor; Pope Hadrian I at this time was involved in a quarrel with the three Lombard Dukes, Reginald of Clusium, Rotgaud of Friuli, and Hildebrand of Spoleto. The Archbishop of Ravenna, who called himself: Primate and Exarch of Italy was also attempting to found an independent principality at the expense of the Papal State, but he was subdued and his successor was content with the title of Vicar or representative of the Pope.

In the Spring of this year, Charlemagne won over Hildebrand and Reginald by diplomacy and descended into Lombardy again, this time by the Brenner Pass and defeated the Rotgaud. He left garrisons and governors, or Counts, as they were called, in the reconquered cities of the Duchy of Fruili, then hurried back to Saxony.

777
Many Saxon converts were Baptized at the great Spring hosting of Paderborn. The Saxon leader, Wittekind, who would become a popular hero to the Saxons, fled to his brother-in-law Sigfrid, the Dane.

Three Moorish Emirs came to Charlemagne in Paderborn; these Emirs were enemies of the Ommeyad Abderrahman, the Moorish King of Cordova. The Three Emirs paid homage to Charlemagne and proposed to him an invasion of Northern Spain. One of them, Ibn-el-Arabi, promised to bring to the invader's assistance a garrison of Berber auxiliaries from Africa; the other two promised to exert their powerful influence at Barcelona and other areas north of Ebro.

778
Charlemagne moved his army toward the Pyrenees, and marched his troops straight to Pampelona. His trusted Duke Bernhard, with a single division, entered Spain by way of the coast. Ibn-el-Arabi, who had prematurely brought on his army of Berbers was assassinated by an Emissary of Abderrahman.

Charlemagne demolished Pampelona, Barcelona fell, Saragossa, however held out. The results of this campaign were insignificant, although it is this part of history that Roland, the great Paiadin, at the Pass of Roncesvalles, furnished the medieval world the material for its famous epic, "The Song of Roland."

Wittekind returns from his exile, bringing with him Danish allies; together they ravished Hesse.

779
Charlemagne storms into Wittekind's entrenched camp at Bocholt, and suppresses the Saxon country.

780
Death of Emperor Leo IV. His wife, the Empress Irene becomes Regent for their nine year old son, Emperor Constantine VI. The Empress immediately set out undoing the work of the Iconoclast Emperors. Pictures and Relics were restored to the Churches and Monasteries were reopened. For fear of the army, who were at this time fanatical Iconoclasts, kept the Empress, for a time, anyway, from repealing the laws. She waited for the right opportunity to restore the broken Communion with Rome.

Preparing for his death, Archbishop Ethelbert consecrates Eanbald as his coadjutor Bishop and committed Alcuin, whom had come with Eanbald to superintend the construction of the new Cathedral, the care of the school and library.

781
Death of Ethelbert, Archbishop of York. Shortly before his death, he appeared one last time in public, that he might consecrate the cathedral which was now completed. Alcuin, who mourned the loss of the Bishop as a father, said "To him, Ethelbert was both Pontiff and Saint."

Alcuin, a Latin scholar and theologian, became the friend of Charlemagne, and assisted him in his education. Charlemagne established schools and libraries, creating a love for learning. Alcuin gave Charlemagne the Abbey of St. Martin of Tours in which to spend his declining years.

Charlemagne's son, Carloman, later called Pepin, became King of Lombardy at Rome.

782
Synod of Aclea.

783
Death of the Two Frankish Queens, Bertha, Charlemagne's mother; and Hildegarde, his third wife, the beautiful Swabian.

Within a few months of the death of his wife, Charlemagne married his fourth wife, Fastrada, the daughter of Austrian Count.

785
Wittekind receives the Sacrament of Baptism in the Catholic Church.

786
Cynewulf, king of Wessex, is killed by Cyneheard,who was soon killed himself; Brihtric becomes king of Wessex. Harun al-Rashid becomes caliph.

787
The Ecumenical Council of Nicea II. This general Council declared that Sacred Images could be honored (not Worshiped) without fear of committing idolatry.

The Council condemned the Iconoclasm.

The Holy Council also condemned the Adoptionists heresy. Adoptionism in a sense, is a Christolological theory according to which Christ, as man, is the "adoptive Son of God" There have been three distinct heresies that contain the name "Adoption" in their title. This first one, was Adoptionism of Elipandus and Felix. This was the original form of Adoptionism; asserts a double sonship in Christ: one by generation and nature, and the other by adoption and grace. Christ as God is indeed the Son of God by generation and nature, but Christ as man is son of God only by adoption and Grace. Hence, "The Man Christ" is the adoptive and not the natural Son of God. This theory was held by Elipandus, Archbishop of Toledo, which was then under Mohammedan rule, and by Felix, Bishop of Urgel, then under Frankish dominion. The origin of this Hispanicus error, as it was called, is obscure. Nestorianism had been an decidedly Eastern heresy, it is surprising to find an offshoot of it in the most Western part of the Western Church, and so long after the parent heresy found a grave in its native land.

Adoptionism began in that part of Spain where Islam dominated, and where a Nestorian colony had for years found refuge. The combined influence of Islam and Nestorianism had, no doubt, blunted the elderly Elipandus' Catholic sense. This was followed by another heresy, founded by the heretic, Migetius, who preached loose doctrine, holding, among other errors, that Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity did not exist before the Incarnation.

Elipandius drew a hard and fast line between Jesus and God and Jesus and Man. The former being the natural, and the latter merely the "adoptive Son of God." This re-assertion of Nestorianism raised a storm of protests from Catholics, headed by St. Beatus, Abbot of Libana, and St. Etherius, Bishop of Osma. In an effort to maintain his position, Elipandius enlisted the aid and cooperation of Felix, Bishop of Urgel. He was known for his learning and versatile mind. He got so caught up in the heated discussions, he went off the deep end and headed up a movement called by contemporaries, "Haeresis Felicana."

Elipandius' obstinacy and Felix's versatility were but the partial cause and temporary success of Adoptionism.

788
Synod of Narbonne.

789
The first mention of Viking invasion on England. Brihtric of Wessex marries Eadburg, daughter of Offa the king of Mercia. Osred II becomes king of Northumbria.

790
Osred II, king of Northumbria is betrayed and exciled. Aethelred, son of Aethelwold Moll, becomes king of Northumbria a second time.

791
Charlemagne invades the territory of the Avars. They were a pagan danger on the eastern frontier.

792
Synod of Ratisbon.

In Ireland, the Book of Kells is published. The Great Gospel of Columcille. This is one of the first books of the Gospels published.

793
The Vikings attacked and Lindisfarne and the monastary at Jarrow.

794
Council of Frankfort. This local Council convened "By the grace of God, authority of the Pope, and commanded by Charlemagne," and attended by Bishops of the Frankish Kingdoms, Italy, and the provinces of Aquitania, and for good measure, ecclesiastics from England. The Council was primarily called for condemnation of the Adoptionist heresy. Theophylact and Stephen, the Papal legates, represented the Pope. After an allocution by Charlemagne, the Bishops drew up two commemorative decrees against the Adoptionists. In the first of its fifty-six canons the council condemned Adoptionism, and in the second rejected the Ecumenical Council of Nicea II, which, according to the faulty Latin translation of its Acts seemed to decree that the same kind of worship should be given to images as to the Blessed Trinity, though the Greek text clearly distinguishes between them. This was the only Canon that was condemned, and just to reiterate, it was the translation that was condemned, not the Canon itself. The remaining fifty-four canons dealt with metropolitan jurisdiction, monastic discipline, and superstition.

Death of Charlemagne's fourth wife, Fastrada. Charlemagne marries his fifth wife, Liutgarde.

795
Death of Pope Hadrian I on Christmas Day.

St. Leo III becomes Pope. He was a Roman of modest South Italian stock. He announced his election to Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Patrician of the Romans, sending him the Keys of St. Peter's tomb and banner of Rome and requested an envoy to receive the citizens oath of loyalty.

796
Death of Offa, King of Mercia. He was the first to collect taxes for the Pope called Peter's Pense.

797
Byzantine Empress Irene overthrows her son Constantine, imprisons him and blinds him.

798
Cenwulf, king of Mercia, attacked the Kentish people and captured their king, Eadbert II,also known as Praen, who was then blinded and his hands cut off. There was a great battle in Northumbria.

799
Synod of Aix-La-Chapelle (Aachen). Proclaimed St. Bede to be Venerable and Admirable Doctor for modern times.

On April 25th, Pope St. Leo III, whom had many enemies in the Eternal City, was ambushed in the streets, beaten and left unconscience. After escaping to St. Peter's he was rescued by two of the Kings missi, who came with a considerable force. The Duke of Spoleto sheltered the fugitive Pontiff, who later went to Paderborn, where the King had made camp.

Charlemagne received Pope St. Leo III with the utmost reverence. Pope Leo was sent back to Rome escorted by Royal guards. The insurgents, meanwhile, thoroughly frightened and unable to connive Charlemagne of the Pope's evil, surrendered, and the guards sent the culprits, Paschalis and Campulus, nephews of Pope Hadrian I and ringleaders against Pope St. Leo III, to the King, to be dealt with at the Royal pleasure.

800
On December 25th, Christmas Day, the principle event in the life of Charles the Great took place; Pope St. Leo III crowned Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor. During the Pontifical Mass celebrated by Pope St. Leo III, as the King knelt in prayer before the High Altar beneath which lay the bodies of Saints Peter and Paul; the Pope approached him, and placed on his head the Imperial Crown, did him formal reverence after the ancient manner, saluted him as Emperor and Augustus, and anointed him, while the Romans cheerfully acclaimed three times, "To Carolus Augustus crowned by God, mighty and pacific Emperor, be life and victory."

The Imperial Crown is also known as the famous Iron Crown of Lombardy. It is believed that one of the Holy nails, probably the one Emperor Constantine the Great had set in his helmet, was placed in the Crown.

According to Einhard's "Vita Caroli" Charlemagne had no suspicion of what was about to happen to him. If he was tipped off beforehand, he would not have accepted the Honor. What a Christmas present! The headdress is now preserved in the Cathedral of Monza.