The Rise of the Kingdom of Asturias…

The Japanese ritsuryo system, the governmental structure defined by ritsu, the criminal code, and ryo, the administrative and civil codes, is an imitation of the lü-ling log in force in T'ang China and incorporates many of its original articles.

Where different local conditions call for amendment, however, they are made without hesitation; it is a good early example of the skill of the Japanese in adapting foreign culture.

The features had first been delineated in rough form in the Taika edicts, but then had been refined—perhaps first by Tenji in the Omi Code and then by Temmu—and certainly given final form in the Taiho Code of 701 and its successor, the Yoro Code of 718.

Under the ritsuryo system, the Japanese emperor, for example, is in some respects an absolute monarch who rules over the whole country as the head of a bureaucracy in the same manner as the emperor of China.

Yet at the same time, he is also the traditional high priest who maintains peace for the land and people by paying tribute to the deities and sounding out their will.

The people are divided into two main classes, freemen and slaves.

The slaves are the possession of the government, the aristocracy, and the shrines and temples; as such, they are obliged to provide unlimited labor, but their total number accounts for less than one-tenth of the population.

The majority of the free population are farmers.

All land is, in principle, the property of the state.

Most of the land is distributed equally among the people, but, apart from this, land of a certain annual yield is given to bureaucrats and other high-ranking persons as stipends and to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples as sources of revenue.

The present Quanzhou, situated on the north bank of the Hsi River at the head of Chin River, facing the Taiwan Strait and founded in 700 as Wu-jung-chou, had changed its name to Quanzhou in 711, and was established as a county seat; it becomes a convenient administrative center for the scattered Chinese settlements in the area, under the name Chin-chiang, from 718.

Tervel, making common cause with the empire against the caliphate, provides Constantinople with timely support by marching a Bulgar force into Thrace and crushing a Muslim army encamped near Adrianople.

The Arabs renew their attack in the spring but lose a series of encounters with imperial land and sea forces.

Greek fire, a severe winter, desertions from the Arab fleet, and the Bulgarian assault upon those Arabs who had encamped in Thrace aids Leo's skillful defense and in mid-August of 718 compels Maslama to abandon the siege, the second and supreme Arab effort to capture Constantinople.

The Arabs begin retreating through Asia Minor, pursued by imperial troops.

The Muslim fleet, departing with large troop contingents, is destroyed by a storm.

Leo's victory marks an important check to Arab expansionism, preventing their establishment of a bridgehead in southeastern Europe.

His complicated negotiations with the Arabs, as well as those earlier with the Alani, bring him a contemporary reputation for cleverness.

He now turns his military attentions to expelling the Arabs from Anatolia.

Patriarch Germanus has composed a tract delineating the orthodox teaching of the two natures (human and divine) in Christ and directed it to the Armenian church in order to convert it from the errors of the Monophysites, who hold that Christ had only one nature.

Unsuccessful in this endeavor, he now institutes a liturgical service of thanksgiving to the Virgin Mary for the deliverance of Constantinople from the Persian siege of 626 and the Arab Muslim attack of 718.

The Hashimiyah movement, also called Rawandiyah, had appeared in the Iraqi city of Kufah in the early 700s among the Shi'ites, who believe that succession to 'Ali's position of imam, or leader, of the Muslim community had devolved on Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyah (d. c. 700), one of his sons, and Abu Hashim, a grandson.

The Hashimiyah thus do not recognize, for religious reasons, the legitimacy of Umayyad rule, and when Abu Hashim died in 716, without heirs, a majority of the sect had acknowledged Muhammad ibn 'Ali (died between 731 and 743) of the 'Abbasid family as imam.

Among Sunnites, imam is synonymous with caliph (khalifah), designating the successor of Muhammad, who assumes his administrative and political, but not religious, functions.

In Shi'ite Islam, 'Ali and the successive imams, who are believed by Shi'ism to be the sole possessors of secret insights into the Qur'an given them by Muhammad, have become figures of absolute spiritual authority and fundamental importance.

The 'Abbasid name is derived from that of the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad, al-'Abbas (died c. 653), of the Hashimite clan of the Quraysh tribe in Mecca.

Members of his family work from about 718 to gain control of the empire.

Saracen raiders take advantage of the confusion in Constantinople to briefly occupy Rhodes in 717–718.

The Moors attempt to push north of the Pyrenees, raiding Aquitaine and southern France in 718.

Odo appears in this year as the ally of Chilperic II of Neustria and the Mayor of the Palace Ragenfrid, who may have offered recognition of his kingship over Aquitaine.

The Muslims, having defeated the Visigoths in a seven-year campaign, are by 718 masters of almost the entire Iberian peninsula, having pushed the Spanish Christians and Visigoths into the mountains of the north and west and advanced as far north as the Pyrenees.

Muslims of different nationalities—Arabs, Syrians, Berbers—begin to settle in Spain, particularly in the rich southern lands, which they call al-Andalus (Vandalusia), after the region's former Vandal rulers.

During the wars between Christians and Muslims, Jewish courtiers will be valued as diplomats, translators, and advisors to both sides.

The Defeat of the Neustrian-Aquitanian Alliance at Soissons (718)

Following their defeat at Vincy (717) and Charles Martel’s growing dominance over the Frankish realm, Chilperic IIand Ragenfrid seek to challenge his ascendancy by forging an alliance with Odo the Great (also known as Eudes), the Duke of Aquitaine. Odo had taken advantage of the Frankish civil war (715) to establish Aquitaine’s independence, resisting both Neustrian and Austrasian influence.

In 718, the allied forces of Neustria and Aquitaine march on Soissons, hoping to reverse their fortunes. However, Charles, anticipating the move, positions his forces strategically. By now, his army includes a battle-hardened core of veterans, many of whom will serve him loyally throughout their lives. This well-trained and disciplined force once again proves superior on the battlefield.

Charles Martel’s Decisive Victory

The confrontation near Soissons ends in a decisive victory for Charles Martel. The Neustrian-Aquitanian alliance is shattered, forcing Chilperic and Ragenfrid into retreat. This marks another turning point in the civil war, further isolating Neustria and demonstrating that no rival—whether Merovingian loyalist or regional duke—can match Charles’s growing military and political might.

With this victory, Charles Martel firmly establishes himself as the undisputed master of Francia, paving the way for his complete consolidation of power in the years to come.