742

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Events

By Place

Asia

* Chinese poet Li Po is presented before the emperor and given a position in the Imperial court (approximate date).
* Artabasdus is Byzantine Emperor until the capital is stormed by Constantine V, who regains control and resumes the suppression of image-worship.
* Emperor Xuanzong of Tang begins to favor Taoism over Buddhism, adopting the new reign title "Tianbao" ('Heavenly Treasures') to indicate his divine mandate.
* For the municipal census of the Chinese capital city Chang'an and its metropolitan area of Jingzhou Fu (including small towns in the vicinity), the New Book of Tang records that in this year there are 362,921 registered families with 1,960,188 persons.
* In China, the total number of enlisted troops in the Tang armies has risen to about half a million due to Emperor Xuanzong's earlier reforms.
* China's population reaches approximately 50 million.

Africa

* The Arabs suppress a revolt of the Kharajites and the Berbers.

Europe

* Liutprand, King of the Lombards, absorbs the independent duchies of Spoleto and Benevento into his kingdom.

By Topic

Religion

* Saint Sturm establishes the abbey of Fulda. (or 744?)
* After a forty-year vacancy, Stephen becomes Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch at the suggestion of Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik.
* Chrodegang, chancellor of Charles Martel, is appointed bishop of Metz and embarks on a reorganisation of the Frankish church.

Births

* Charlemagne, king and emperor of the Franks (disputed date)
* Emperor Dezong of Tang

Deaths

* Niu Xianke, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
* Itzamnaaj B'alam II, king of Yaxchilan