Arabs leaving a mosque in Tunis (image credit to the Detroit Publishing Company)
The 7th century is a time of great turmoil. The rise of Islamic power drastically changes much of the Western Hemisphere, with the Byzantine Empire unable to prevent the new enemy from taking much of their land.The spread of Islam and the Muslim conquests begin with the unification of Arabia by Muhammad starting in 622. In the Iberian Peninsula, the 7th century was known as the Siglo de Concilios (century of councils), and in England, Northumbria established dominance in the British Isles from Mercia.
The decades of the 7th century: 600s - 610s - 620s - 630s - 640s-650s - 660s - 670s - 680s - 690s. These will have links as soon as they have their own post. Until then, individual years treated below. Naturally, exact dates are rarity, and even the years are sometimes in doubt, but we attempt to give here an aprproximation of events and the people born during this century.
614-xxca Hilda of Whitby* Christian Saint – Deira, England (680)
618 Tang Dynasty of China begins
626 Gertrude of Nivelles* canonized abbess who with her mother Itta founded the Abbey of Nivelles located in present-day Belgium - Landen, Kingdom of Austrasia (659/c.33)
627 The rising Arabic power brings about the end to the Roman-Persian wars.
632 The Muslim conquests begin.
In the year 650, the Mercians under King Penda move on East Anglia, destroy the monastery at Burgh Castle and expel King Anna, the first Chinese paper money is issued, Jamaica is settled by the Ostinoid people, ancestors of the Taíno, and St. Martin’s Church is built in Canterbury, England.
In the year 651, Œthelwald succeeds his uncle Oswine as king of Deira (Aug 20,) bishop Aidan of Lindisfarne dies (Aug 31), the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris is founded, and becomes the first major hospital in Paris. The Quran is compiled by Caliph Uthman ibn Affan in its modern-day form, the text becoming the model from which copies are made and promulgated throughout the urban centers of the Arab world.
In the year 655, Byzantine Emperor Constans II sets off to challenge the Arab navy, sailing to Lycia in the southern region of Asia Minor, but is defeated, King Oswiu of Bernicia defeats his rival, King Penda of Mercia, marking the defeat of the last credible pagan force in England (Nov 15)
660-xxca Yamanoue no Okura* 山上憶良 poet/tutor/Governor – Japan (ca733)
In the year 666, Chinese Buddhist monks craft more south-pointing chariot vehicles for Emperor Tenji of Japan, as recorded in the Nihon Shoki.
In the year 670, the Arab fleet dominates the Aegean Sea and conquers the strategic islands, Rhodes, Cos and Chios, while Arab forces invade the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa.
674–678 The Arabs siege Constantinople.
In the year 680, King Erwig becomes ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom, and King Cædwalla of Wessex, in a power-struggle with his rival King Centwine for Wessex overlordship, is banished - and all these fine people were born:
680-xxca Fujiwara no Muchimaro* 藤原 武智麻呂 courtier and politician of the early-Nara period – Japan (737/c.57)
680-xxa Oda of Scotland* holy recluse in the Netherlands - Scotland (726/c. 46)
In the year 681, Armenians, Albanians, and Iberians rise in rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate, the Islamic prophet Muhammad, after being warned of a plot to assassinate him, secretly leaves his home in Mecca for Yathrib (later renamed by him Medina), along with his companion Abu Bakr.
In the year 685, Aldfrith, illegitimate half-brother of Ecgfrith, becomes king of Northumbria.
In the year 691, Buddhism is made the state religion of China
In the year 690, Wu Zetian becomes the first and only female emperor in 5000 years of Chinese history, and elevates during her reign the status of Buddhism above Taoism (Oct 16).
690-xxca Ashot III Bagratuni* Աշոտ Կուրացյալ – Armenia (762/c.72)
In the year 691, the Dome of the Rock is completed in Jerusalem, becoming the first work of Islamic architecture.
691 Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, the tenth Umayyad caliph - Damascus, Syria, Umayyad Caliphate (743/52)
In the year 699, En no Ozunu, Japanese ascetic - later regarded as the founder of a folk religion called Shugendō - is banished to the island of Izu, accused of confusing the mind of the people with magic (June 26)
699 Dagobert III* Merovingian king of the Franks/ruler in name only of Neustria, Austrasia and Burgundy - (715/c.15)
Updated 14.4.2023