King Cynegils of Wessex dies after a…

Chinese prefectural government officials travel to Chang'an in 643 to give the annual report of the affairs in their districts.

Emperor Taizong discovers that many have no proper quarters to rest in, and are renting rooms with merchants.

Therefore, Taizong orders the government agencies in charge of municipal construction to build every visiting official his own private mansion in the capital.

In this year also, Taizong commissions artist Yan Liben to paint in the Lingyan Pavilion the life-size portraits of 24 government officials to commemorate their service and contributions to the founding of the Tang Dynasty.

Prince Yamashiro and his family commit suicide when their home is attacked by Soga no Iruka, the son of the powerful court noble Soga no Emish, in 643.

Some scholars believe Yamashiro to have been the famous poet-scholar Sarumaru no Taifu, about whom nearly nothing is known.

The horde that Kurt's son Asparukh leads into Bessarabia (between the Dniester and Prut rivers) is the fifth product of the breakup of Great Bulgaria.

Theodor Rshtuni had been unable to prevent the Arab pillage of Dvin, Armenia’s principal town, in 642, but in 643, he gains a victory over another Arab army.

Constans II recognizes Rshtuni as ruler of Armenia after his successful campaign against the Muslims.

He names him commander (nakharar) of the Armenian army.

Xuanzang, after crossing the Karatoya, goes east to the ancient city of Pragjyotishpur (modern Guwahati) in the kingdom of Kamarupa (modern Assam) at the invitation of its king Kumar Bhaskara Varman, who, though he is a Hindu of the Brahmin caste, nevertheless patronizes Buddhism.

The people of Kamarupa worship the Devas and do not believe in Buddhism.

The Deva-temples are some hundreds in number and the various systems have some myriads of professed adherents.

The few Buddhists in the country perform their acts of devotion in secret.

The pilgrim-monk learns from the people that to the east of the country is a series of hills that reach as far as the borders of China.

The inhabitants of these hills are akin to the "Man of the Lao".

Later, the king escorts Xuanzang back to ...

...Kannauj, at the request of king Harshavardhana, who is an ally of Kumar Bhaskara Varman, to attend a great Buddhist council here that is attended by both the kings, as well as eighteen other monarchs and thousands of pilgrims.

A Chinese embassy attends on the invitation of Emperor Harsha.

Xuanzang turns southward and travels to Andhradesa to visit the famous viharas at Nagarjunakonda and …

…Amaravathi, where he stays to study 'Abhidhammapitakam'.

He observes that there are many viharas at Amaravati and some of them are deserted.

The inquisitive Xuanzang, after spending years in North India, proceeds in 643 to Kanchi, the imperial capital of the Pallavas and a strong center of Buddhism.

Rothari, King of the Lombards, promulgates a collection of Lombard laws—closely related to those of the Saxons, Anglo-Saxons, and North Germans—in his Edict of 643, notable for its clear systematization and exactness of expression.

The first codification of Lombard law (written in Latin), the edict guarantees rights only for Lombard subjects.