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	Anglo-Saxon England 700-849 © History Bookshop.com																				Anglo-Saxon England 700-849																				Anglo-Saxon England 700-849																					< back
			• 703: Bede becomes a priest. • 704: King Aethelred of Mercia gives up his kingdom to become a monk at Bardney in Lindsey. He is succeeded by Cenred, son of Wulhere.		• 709: St Wilfrid dies at Oundle. • 709: King Cenred of Mercia also abdicates to follow a life of religion in Rome. He is succeeded by Ceolred, son of Aethelred.		• 710: St Boniface becomes a priest.		• 716: Ceolred of Mercia dies - he was insane according to St Boniface. He is the last of the descendants of King Penda to rule Mercia. Aethelbald becomes king and will reign for 41 years.		• 721: The Lindisfarne Gospels are completed at this time. The book was probably begun soon after 698, in memory of St Cuthbert when his remains were exhumed and enshrined. Its author was Eadfrith, bishop of Lindisfarne from 698 to 721.		• 725: King Wihtred of Kent dies. • 726: King Ine of Wessex follows the example of a predecessor, Caedwalla and retires to Rome to lead a religious life. With Wihtred's death and Ine's abdication, Aethelbald of Mercia is now the most powerful king south of the River Humber. Under Aethelheard, Ine's successor, Wessex will recognise Aethelbald's overlordship.		• 731: Bede writes his Ecclesiastical History of the English People at the monastery of Monkwearmouth/Jarrow. He describes the Britain of his day as largely peaceful, in which two kings, Ceowulf of Northumbria and Aethlebald of Mercia, hold dominion over the Anglo-Saxon peoples; the Britons lack real power and the Picts and Scots are friendly to the Anglo-Saxons.		• 735: Bede dies aged 62. • 735: Alcuin, who will become the 'architect of the Carolingian renaissance,' is born. • 736: A charter describes Aethelbald as rex Britanniae, a Latinised version of the English term bretwalda, or overlord.				• 746/7: St Boniface writes to King Aethebald of Mercia acknowledging his good governance but deploring his personal immorality. • 749: Aethelbald of Mercia frees the church from contributing to the cost of public 'burdens', except repairing bridges and fortresses.		• 750: Cynewulf, poet, is born. • 752: Wessex, under its king Cuthred, rebels against Mercian domination and remains independent until Cuthred's death.		• 756: on the death of Cuthred, Wessex again falls under Mercian control. • 757: Aethelbald, king of Mercia, is murdered after 41 years as king. His death sparks a civil war from which Offa emerges to become king. He will reign for 37 years but at first his power outside Mercia is far more limited than that of his predecessor. He will go on, however, to raise the power and influence of Mercia to its height.		• 764: Offa of Mercia is overlord of Kent by this time and probably of Sussex.		• 768: The monk and scholar, Alcuin, is teaches in York at this time. • 768: Willibald, Life of St Boniface				• 776: Battle of Otford between Mercia and Kent. This is probably a defeat for Mercia allowing both Kent and Sussex temporarily to regain their independence. • 778: Offa raids into Wales. • 779: Offa defeats Cynewulf of Wessex and regains some of the lands disputed between Mercia and Wessex. However, Cynewulf remains at the head of an independent kingdom.		• 784: Offa again raids into Wales. • 784-796: The probable dates within which King Offa constructs a dyke running north-south between the rivers Severn and Dee. It is the greatest monument of its kind in Europe and involves the deployment of thousands - maybe tens of thousands - of labourers. With its ditch on the Welsh side of an earth bank, its purpose is most likely defensive, rather than acting as a territorial boundary marker.		• 785: Offa seeks papal approval to create a new archbishopric at Lichfield in Mercia. His aim is to demonstrate his own power. • 786: Offa is the first English king to convene an ecclesiastical council presided over by papal legates. Attended by Alcuin, it agrees to new cannons recommended by the legate designed to strengthen Rome's authority. A similar council is held in Northumbria. 786: Cynewulf of Wessex is killed and a power struggle ensues. With probable Mercia help, Beorhtric becomes king, but under the overlordship of Offa (marrying Offa's daughter in 789). His rival, Egbert, is driven into exile in the Frankish kingdom. • c787: In the first known Viking raid on England, probably at Portland in Wessex, the King's Reeve is killed as he goes to meet them.		• c790: Cynewulf the Northumbrian poet writes Elene, the story of St Helena and the true cross. Uniquely for this time, he signs his name. • 790-3: Alcuin returns to Northumbria. • 792: Offa integrates the kingdom of East Anglia into Mercia. • c792: In thanks for his victories Offa agrees to send money to Rome each year to support the poor and for the maintenance of lights (not the origin of Peter's Pence, a later Saxon tax paid by each household to the papacy). • 793: Offa of Mercia commands the construction of a cathedral at St Albans. • 793:The monastery of Lindisfarne is sacked in a Viking raid. • 794: Offa has the East Anglian king, Aethelberht, executed. Offa now styles himself rex Anglorum to highlight his supremacy.		• 795: Offa raids into Wales. • 796: Charlemagne writes to King Offa, a reply to an earlier letter. It is the only extant letter from a European monarch to an Anglo-Saxon king. Charlemagne confirms that pilgrims from Offa's kingdom and bona fide merchants-those who pay his tolls-will receive his protection while in his empire. It highlights the importance of international trade; it talks of English cloth exports for example, and the esteem in which Offa was held by Charlemagne. • 796, 26 July: Offa dies to be succeeded by his son Egfrith and after five months by Cenwulf. • 796: Following Offa's death there is a rebellion against Mercian rule in Kent, led by Eadbert. It is finally crushed by Cenwulf in 798. Canterbury Cathedral may have been sacked during the revolt.		• c800: Widsith, an anonymous poem of 143 lines in Old English. Widsith is a wandering minstrel who travels across much of Europe meeting kings and princes. The story may date from the c4th. • 802: Beorhtric of Wessex dies and Egbert, who had been exiled in Francia, returns to seize the kingdom. • 803, 12 Oct: At a provincial council held at Clovesho, the abolition of the Archbishopric of Lichfield is confirmed.				• About this date Nennius writes Historia Brittonum, a chronicle of Britain. It includes the first explicit reference to ‘Arthur’, although as a British 'leader of battles' against the Saxons, rather than a king.		• 815: Egbert of Wessex invades Cornwall becoming its ruler. He gives one-tenth of its land to the church.		• 821: Ceowulf becomes king of Mercia, following the death of Cenwulf. • 823: Beornwulf deposes Ceowulf to become king of Mercia.		• 825: Egbert of Wessex defeats Beornwulf of Mercia at ‘Ellendun’, now Wroughton, near Swindon. It marks the end of Mercian dominance over southern England and the growing authority of Wessex. Egbert then drives out the Kentish ruler and receives the submission of Essex, Surrey and Sussex. • 825: Beornwulf, of Mercia, is killed while trying to put down a revolt against Mercian overlordship in East Anglia. He is succeeded in a much reduced kingdom by Ludeca, and in 827 by Wiglaf. • 829: Egbert of Wessex defeats Mercia, gaining a temporary hold over Mercia and the Mercian town of London. He marches north and is recognised as overlord of Northumbria. Egbert is named by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the eighth of the British bretwalda.		• 830: Wiglaf is restored to the Mercian throne, probably as a result of a Mercian revolt against rule by Wessex. Although Egbert of Wessex retains control of Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Essex, he is no longer dominant across all of southern England. • 830: Ebert of Wessex raids in North Wales. • 832: Wulfred, Archbishop of Canterbury, dies.		• 835: Vikings raid the Isle of Sheppey. • 838: Battle of Hingston Down; Danes, supported by Cornishmen, are defeated attempting to invade Wessex. The battle probably ends Cornish prospects of independence. • 839: Egbert, King of Wessex, dies and is succeeded by his son Aethelwulf who gives the kingdoms of Kent, Surrey and Sussex to his son Aethelstan.		• 840: Vikings raid Portland and Southampton. • 842: London and Rochester are attacked by Vikings. • 843: Kenneth I MacAlpin, king of Dalriada, also becomes king of the Picts. In uniting the kingdoms he is often referred to as the first king of Scotland, but his lands are smaller than modern-day Scotland: they do not include the British kingdom of Strathclyde for example.		• 849: Alfred, future king of Wessex and England, is born.
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			• 704: In Constantinople Justinian II is restored to power from exile.		• 706: Saracens move into Asia Minor.		• 711: Justinian II is killed. • 711: July: Battle of Lake Janda; a Moorish army lands in Spain and defeats its last Visigoth king. The Moors are followed by the Saracens who take Seville (712) and extend their power across Spain. • 714: Pepin II dies and is succeeded as ruler of the Franks by his son Charles Martel.		• 717: A Saracen attempt to take Constantinople is repulsed. • 718: St Boniface returns to his mission to convert the Germans to Christianity.		• 720: Saracens from Spain cross the Pyrenees. Their advance is temporarily halted near Toulouse (721). • 723: St Boniface is made a bishop.				• 731: Saracens defeat Duke Eudo of Aquitaine near Arles. • 732: Battle of Tours(or Poitiers): Duke Eudo and Charles Martel defeat the Saracens and halt their advance.		• 735: Charles Martel captures Avignon from the Saracens and, by 739, forces them from Provence.		• 741: Charles Martel dies and is succeeded by both Pepin the Short and Carloman. • 744: St Boniface becomes archbishop of Maine.				• 751: Saracens defeat a Chinese force near Samarkand. • 751: St Boniface crowns Pepin the Short king of the Franks, Carloman having retired to a monastery in 747. • 751: Lombards capture Ravenna. The Pope appeals to the Franks for aid. • 754: Pepin the Short moves against Lombardy.		• 754: St Boniface is murdered by the Frisians.• 756: Pepin the Short restores Ravenna to the Papacy and places a client king on the Lombard throne. • 759: Pepin forces the Saracens from their remaining footholds in France.		• 762: a Saracen capital is established at Baghdad; it becomes a great centre of learning.		• 768: Pepin the Short dies and splits his kingdom between his sons Charlemagne and Carloman.		• 771: On Carloman II's death Charlemagne becomes sole ruler of the Franks. • 774: Charlemagne removes the Lombard king and takes its crown.		• 777: Saxony is now part of Charlemagne's kingdom, but remains rebellious. • 778:The ballad The Song of Roland tells of an incident in Spain in which Charlemagne's rearguard is attacked and his nephew, Roland, is killed.		• 781: The Byzantine regent, Irene, renounces claims to the Papal State in Italy. • 782: Alcuin, the English monk and scholar taught at the cathedral church at York, becomes master of Charlemagne's court school.		• 785: Charlemagne puts an end, finally, to the Saxon uprisings.				• 795: Charlemagne seizes land west of the Pyrenees in northeast Spain. • 796: Alcuin retires from Charlemagne's court school and becomes Abbot at Tours. • 799: Pope Leo III is forced into a monastery but escapes and asks for help from Charlemagne, who restores him. • 799: Alcuin records a fleet of Viking ships sailing off the coast of Aquitaine.		• 800, 25 Dec: Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III. • 800: Charlemagne establishes a fleet to guard against pirate/Viking attacks in the Channel. • 802: Vikings sack the monastery at Iona. • 804, 19 May: Alcuin dies while abbot of St Martins, Tours. 300 of his letters survive.		• 805: Charlemagne extends his kingdom to include Corsica, Venetia and , Dalmatia. • 807: Vikings raid Ireland for the first time. • 808: Charlemagne establishes Hamburg and the county of Brandenburg.		• 813: The tomb of St. James the Greater is 'discovered' at Santiago de Compostela. The town becomes one of the great centres of pilgrimage in western Europe. • 814: Charlemagne dies and is succeeded by his son Louis the Pious.		• 817: Louis the Pious confirms the political existence of the Papal States.		• 821: Vikings sack the Isle of Rhé, Brittany. • 821: The Chinese conquer Tibet. • 822: St Peter's, Fulda, dates from this time.		• 825: Lock-gates on Chinese canals date from about this time.		• 830:Two of Louis the Pious' sons rebel against him but he maintains his control. • 832: Louis' sons, Louis the German and Pepin, rebel again. • 833, 24 June; ‘The Field of Lies’ (near Colmar): Pope Gregory's mediates between Louis the Pious and his sons. • 833, 1 Oct; Louis the Pious is imprisoned, only to be restored (1 Mar 834).		• c835: Vikings raid Frisia on several occasions at this time. • c835: in China, printed books date from about this time. • 838: Saracens sack Marseille and gain a foothold in southern Italy. • 839, 30 May: Louis again divides his kingdom amongst his sons.		• 840: Saracens capture Bari in Italy. • 840, 20 June; Louis the Pious dies and is succeeded by his son Lothar. • c841-3: Vikings establish bases at Dublin and Noirmoutier, on the River Loire. • 841: Rouen is sacked by Vikings. • 841, 25 June: Lothar is defeated by his brothers Louis and Charles and forced to make peace(15 June 842). • 843, August: Treaty of Verdun; Lothar keeps the 'Middle Kingdom' but loses Germany (Louis) and France and the Spanish March (Charles).		• 845: Vikings sack Paris; they are paid off by Charles the Bald. • 846, 26 August: Saracens get to the walls of Rome and attack St Peter's basilica. • 846: Charles the Bald acknowledges Breton independence. • 847: Pope Leo IV orders that a wall be placed around St Peter's; the area of Rome becomes known as the 'Leonine City'. • 847: The Viking colony of Iceland dates from about this time.
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