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Events
By Place
Europe
★
August 5 — In the
Battle of Maserfield,
Penda king of
Mercia defeats and kills
Oswald, king of
Bernicia.
★
Batbayan succeeds
Kubrat as ruler of the
Bulgars (approximate date).
Africa
★
Arabs invade
Nubia for the first time; they will do so again in
652.
★ Arabs conquers
Alexandria.
Asia
★ Battle of
Nehawand: Arabs conquer
Persia.
★
Empress KÅgyoku ascends to the throne of
Japan.
★
Yeon Gaesomun seizes power over the
Goguryeo kingdom and places
King Bojang on the throne.
★
Emperor Taizong of Tang issues a decree throughout
China that increased the punishment for men who deliberately inflict injuries upon themselves (most commonly breaking their own legs) in order to avoid military
conscription. This decree was an effort to eradicate this practice that had grown as a trend since the time of the rebellion against the
Sui Dynasty.
By Topic
Arts and Sciences
★ Earliest surviving dated
Arabic papyrus,
PERF 558, and earliest known Arabic text with
diacritical marks is written.
Religion
★
November 24 —
Pope Theodore I succeeds
Pope John IV as the 73rd
pope.
★ Monastic settlement founded in
Hampshire, England, which later becomes
Winchester Cathedral.
Births
★
Deaths
★
August 5 —
Oswald, king of
Bernicia and
Bretwalda
★
October 12 —
Pope John IV
★
Khalid bin Walid,
Muslim general, conqueror of
Damascus and
Syria
★
Yeongnyu of Goguryeo
★
Yuwen Shiji, Chinese statesman