June 10 – Emperor Tenji introduces a water clock (clepsydra) called Rokoku. The instrument, which measures time and indicates hours, is placed in the capital of Ōtsu in Japan.[7]
Wamba succeeds Recceswinth as king of the Visigoths. After ascending to the throne he faces a revolt from Hilderic, governor of Nîmes, who has himself aspired to the kingship. He is supported by Gumild, bishop of Maguelone. Wamba sends duxPaulus to Septimania (Southern France) to end the hostilities, but on his arrival at Narbonne, Paulus proclaims himself king.[8]
King Cenwalh of Wessex dies after a 31-year reign, in which he has lost much of his territory to Welsh and Mercian forces. He is succeeded by his widow Seaxburh. His sub-kings divide Wessex amongst themselves (approximate date).
January 7 – Emperor Tenji dies after a 10-year reign, in which he has given the Fujiwara clan its name. Following his death, there ensues a succession dispute between Tenji's 14 children (many by different mothers). He is succeeded by his favorite son Kōbun, age 23, who was the first accorded with the title Daijō-daijin.[9]
August 21 – Kōbun is deposed after 8 months, during a brief but violent battle called the Jinshin War. He is succeeded by his uncle Ōama, who becomes the 40th emperor of Japan with support from the Fujiwara family. He takes the name Tenmu, and begins a reign that will continue until 686.
Cædmon, Anglo-Saxon poet, writes a nine-line hymn on the Creation. A onetime illiterate herdsman, he becomes a monk under the rule of Hilda of Whitby, where he will turn various biblical themes into vernacular poetry (approximate date).
Burgundian nobles, under the leadership of bishop Leodegar and Adalrich, invite Childeric II to become king in Neustria and Burgundy.[10] He invades Theuderic's kingdom and displaces his brother, becoming sole king of the Frankish Kingdom.
September 3 – King Wamba of the Visigoths puts down the revolt by Hilderic, governor of Nîmes and rival for the throne. He captures the rebel leaders, who are brought to trial and, for their crimes, scalped and imprisoned for life.
April – A Muslim expeditionary force disembarks on the Thracian shore (near Hebdomon), and lays siege to the massive Theodosian Walls, on the landward side to the west.
Winter – Arab forces under Yazid (son of caliph Muawiyah I) retire to Cyzicus (Turkey). For the next 4 years the Arab fleet installs a loose blockade around Constantinople.
King Childeric II is murdered by a band of dissatisfied Neustrians, along with his wife Bilichild and 5-year-old son Dagobert, while hunting in the forest of Livry (modern-day Lognes) near Chelles.
March 16 – Emperor Tenmu decrees the end of serfdom. He also orders an end to granting lands to Princes of the Blood, to Princes and to Ministers and Temples.
May 8 – Tenmu issues a decree to distribute the tax-rice for peasants in poverty, as well as a decree regulating fishing and hunting, and ordering a halt to eating the flesh of cattle, horses, dogs, monkeys and barn-yard fowl, a prohibition which lasts until 1872.
Some Japanese ministers who oppose Tenmu are banished to an isolated island. A man climbs the hill east of the Palace, curses the emperor and kills himself.
Emperor Tenmu of Japan promulgates a decree about taxes from fiefs, and the employment of persons for the service from the outer provinces. Men of distinguished ability are allowed to enter the service, even though they are of the common people, regardless of their ranks.
The broad-based peninsular effort under Silla's leadership, to prevent Chinese domination of Korea, succeeds in forcing Chinese troops to withdraw into Manchuria, in northeast China.
King Æthelred of Mercia defeats the Northumbrian forces under King Ecgfrith, in a battle near the River Trent. Archbishop Theodore helps to resolve differences between the two, Æthelred agreeing to pay a weregild to avoid any resumption of hostilities (approximate date).
Wilfrid, bishop of York, is at the height of his power and owns vast estates throughout Northumbria. After his refusal to agree to a division of his see, Ecgfrith and Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, have him banished from Northumbria.
April 11 – Pope Donus dies at Rome, after a reign of 1 year and 160 days. He is succeeded by Agatho I, who becomes the 79th pope. He is the first pope to stop paying tribute to Emperor Constantine IV upon election.
In Japan, the national worshiping to the Gods of Heaven and Earth is planned. Tenmu tries to select his daughter Tōchi as a Saiō to make her serve the Gods. However, Tōchi suddenly takes ill and dies.
^Wickham, Chris (2005). Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean 400-800. OUP Oxford. p. 96.
^Ponsonby-Fane, Richard (1959). "The Imperial House of Japan", p. 53
^Patrick J. Geary, "Before France & Germany, The Creation & Transformation of the Merovingian World". New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1988), pp. 189–90
^Spencer C. Tucker (2010). A Global Chronology of Conflict: "From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East", p. 205. ISBN978-1-85109-672-5