An emporium on the Maghribi coast at…

Al-Mansur, following the establishment of the Abbasid Caliphate, had abolished the subsidies paid to the various Armenian princes (nakharar) and in addition imposed heavy tax duties on them.

Coupled with instances of religious persecution against the majority Christian Armenian population, these measures had prompted the outbreak of a major anti-Abbasid revolt in 774.

The revolt is led by Artavazd Mamikonian, but has gathered the direct or tacit support of most nakharar families, most notably the hitherto pro-Arab Bagratuni, while the Artsruni and Siwni families remain neutral.

The rebellion spreads through Armenia, including attacks against Arab tax-collectors, and the local Arab governor, al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba, is unable to contain it.

The Caliph sends thirty thousand Khurasanis under Amir ibn Isma'il into the province, and at the Battle of Bagrevand on April 25, 775, the nakharars suffer a decisive defeat, losing their leaders, Smbat VII Bagratuni and Musel VI Mamikonian.

After the battle, the revolt is brutally suppressed by the Abbasids Muslim control over Transcaucasia is solidified, while several major Armenian nakharar families lose power and flee to the Empire.

The Saxons continue their raids into Austrasia.

Charles, mobilizing a large army for a full-scale invasion of Saxony in 775, marches through Westphalia, conquering the fort of Sigiburg, and crosses Engria, where he defeats the Saxons again.

Finally, in Eastphalia, he defeats them, and their leader Hessi converts to Christianity.

He returns through Westphalia, leaving encampments at Sigiburg and Eresburg.

All of Saxony, except for Nordalbingia, is under his control, but the recalcitrant Saxons will not submit for long.

Charles conquers the Angrivarii lands during the Saxon Wars; according to the Royal Frankish Annals, the Angrian commanders in 775 concluded a separate peace agreement with the Carolingian Empire near Bückeburg.

Constantine, in no fewer than nine campaigns in from 756 to 775, has undermined Bulgarian strength so thoroughly that the northern enemy seems permanently weakened, if not crushed.

The expected imperial retaliation for the slaying of its agents in Bulgaria fails to materialize as Constantine V dies in the Balkans on September 14, 775, while on a campaign against the Bulgarian kingdom.

The folk of Constantinople will in later centuries stand by the tomb of Constantine V, seeking his aid against whatever enemy imperils the city's defenses.

Constantine's contemporaries will remember him for his persecution of monks who opposed his iconoclastic position.

However, even the venom used by the iconodule chroniclers of Constantine's reign cannot disguise the enormous popularity of his military achievements, which will be appreciated by later historians.

Constantine's son, known as Leo the Khazar, succeeds him as Leo IV.

Al-Mansur, by his political and military measures, has firmly established the 'Abbasid caliphate.

Furthermore, he had arranged the succession in favor of his son, al-Mahdi, who at the former’s death in October 775 becomes the third 'Abbasid caliph.

Al-Mahdi has two sons, al-Hadi and Harun.

Harun, four years younger than al-Hadi, has as tutor Yahya ibn Khalid (the Barmakid), a loyal supporter of his mother al-Khayzuran, a formerly enslaved girl from Yemen and a woman of strong personality who greatly influences affairs of state in the reigns of her husband.

Al-Muqanna‘, an ethnic Persian from Merv named Hashim ibn Hakim, originally a clothes pleater, had become a commander for Abū Muslim of Khorasan.

After Abū Muslim's murder in 755, al-Muqanna‘ had claimed to be an incarnation of God, a role, he insisted, passed to him from Abū Muslim, who had received it via ‘Alī from the Muhammad.

Al-Muqanna‘ is reputed to wear a veil in order to cover up his beauty; however, the Abbasid Caliphate claims that he wears it to hide his ugliness, being one-eyed and bald.

His followers wear white clothes in opposition to Abbasid black.

He is reputed to have engaged in magic to impress his followers as a maker of miracles.

Al-Muqanna‘ is instrumental to the formation of the Khurramiyya, a sect that claims Abū Muslim to be the Mahdi and denies his death.

When Al-Muqanna‘'s followers starts raiding towns and mosques of other Muslims and looting their possessions, the Abbasids send several commanders to crush the rebellion.

Following the ascension of caliph al-Mahdi, the Shiite-dominated Persian province of Khorasan rejects the Abbasids’ basis for rule over Islam and, led by Al-Muqanna, rises against the caliphate in 775.

Leo IV had in 768 married an Athenian-born sixteen-year-old named Irene, who two years later had presented him with a son.

At the request of the army and with the support of the Senate and the citizens, Leo now crowns him coemperor as Constantine VI, passing over the caesar Nicephorus, a stepbrother of Leo.

The resulting conspiracy in favor of Nicephorus is suppressed, and the conspirators exiled.

Charles spends Easter in Treviso after putting down a revolt by Friuli and Spoleto, removing Hrodgaud, the Duke of Friuli, from power, and signing a treaty with Hildeprand, the Duke of Spoleto.

Co-conspirators in the revolt are Arechis Adelchis.

Arechis is not defeated in this action by Charles, and Adalghis never leaves Constantinople to provide any support to the revolt.

The fierce and successful Saxon resistance obliges Charles to change tactics.

He begins gradually annexing slices of Saxon territory, establishing forts, and dispatching missionaries, with the objective of subjugation and forcible conversion to Christianity.

The stubborn Saxons, led by Widukind and supported by Danes and Slavs continually harass Charles’ forces, who annually attack one or another region of Saxon territory.

Charles dispenses generous rewards to those Saxons who submit.

The lot of those who resist is deportation in some instances and mass executions in others.

When a rebellion in 776 destroys the fortress at Eresburg, Charles, warring in Italy, returns very rapidly for the third time to Saxony (making it to Lippe before the Saxons knew he left Italy).

The Saxons are once again brought to heel; Widukind escapes to the Danes.