780s

Millennium:	1st millennium
Centuries:	7th century – 8th century – 9th century
Decades:	750s 760s 770s – 780s – 790s 800s 810s
Years:	780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments

This is a list of events occurring in the 780s, ordered by year.

By place

Byzantine Empire

• September - Constantine VI becomes Byzantine Emperor with Irene as guardian.

Asia

• Borobudur, a Buddhist temple complex, is begun (approximate date).
• The king of Silla is killed in a revolt.

Europe

• Drest III succeeds Alpin II as king of the Picts.
• The city of Osnabrück is founded by Charlemagne (approximate date).

By place

Asia

• July 31 – The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781).
• Emperor Kammu succeeds Emperor Kōnin as emperor of Japan.

Europe

• Charlemagne defines the Papal territory (see Papal States).
• Talorcan II succeeds Drest III as king of the Picts.
• Alcuin becomes Charlemagne's chief adviser on religious and educational matters.

By place

Europe

• Charlemagne summons the monk and scholar Alcuin of York to head the palace school at Aachen in order to inspire the revival of education in Europe.
• The Massacre of Verden is ordered by Charlemagne against the Saxons.

Asia

• Harun al-Rashid invades Byzantine Anatolia and advances to within sight of Constantinople. Trapped on his return march, he is rescued by the defection of the Byzantine general Tatzates, which allows him to impose a harsh truce on Empress Irene of Athens.

By topic

Art

• Nanchan Temple, Wutaishan, Shanxi, is built. Tang dynasty.

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Campaigns of the Byzantine general Staurakios against the Sclaviniae of Greece.

By place

Asia

• The Japanese capital moves away from Nara, ending the Nara period.
• The Chinese engineer and prince Li Gao invents a successful model of a paddle-wheel ship.

By topic

Religion

• August 31 – Paul IV abdicates as Patriarch of Constantinople.
• December 25 – Tarasius is elected Patriarch of Constantinople.

By place

Europe

• Widukind and many other Saxons are baptized.
• The Frankish empire conquers Girona from the Moors.
• Talorgen succeeds Talorcan II as king of the Picts.
• Višeslav becomes ruler of Croatian Dalmatia.

Asia

• al-Hadi becomes caliph.

By topic

Art

• 785–786 – The construction of the Prayer hall, Great Mosque of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain, is started.

Religion

• Cologne becomes an archbishopric.
• Council of Paderborn.

By place

Byzantine Empire

• A council is organized in Constantinople, but is disturbed by soldiers.

Middle East

• September 14 – Harun al-Rashid becomes the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad upon the death of his brother al-Hadi, and appoints Salim Yunisi as the Abbasid governor of Sindh and the Indus Valley. Harun al-Rashid rules until 809.

By topic

Religion

• Beatus of Liébana, Spanish monk, publishes his Commentary on the Apocalypse.

By place

Europe

• Conall succeeds Drest as king of the Picts.

Africa

• After over 25 years of bloody conflict, the Abbasid army reconquers the whole of Maghrib.

By topic

Religion

• The Second Council of Nicaea ends the first iconoclastic period in the Byzantine Empire.

By place

Europe

• Charlemagne conquers Bavaria.
• Bermudo I succeeds Mauregato as king of Asturias.

Asia

• September – The Byzantines are defeated by an Abbasid army in the Battle of Kopidnados.

By topic

Religion

• Start of the period covered in Adam of Bremen's history of the archbishopry of Hamburg.

By place

Asia

• An uprising in Japan leads to a major defeat for Emperor Kammu, alongside a severe drought and famine.
• Fes, Morocco is founded by Idris I.
• Al-Khayzuran dies, leaving more of the effective power in the hands of Harun al-Rashid, the caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Europe

• Caustantín becomes king of the Picts.
• Herford is founded by Charlemagne.
• The Admonitio Generalis is passed by Charlemagne.
• Eadburh marries Beorhtric of Wessex.
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the first appearance of Vikings in England.

Significant people

• Charlemagne
• Alcuin