Nara’s Horyu-ji burns in 670; soon rebuilt,…

The Chinese general, Xue Rengui, commands a huge army of allegedly one hundred thousand men.

He leaves his slower-moving baggage train and twenty thousand soldiers under Guo Daifeng behind and advances with the rest to Kokonur Lake.

The Tibetans attack and capture the Chinese baggage train, and proceed to destroy Xue's own army at the Dafei River.

Chinese control over the Tarim basin collapses in the aftermath of the battle.

The last Hephthalite King, Yudhishthira, rules until about 670, when he is replaced by the Kabul Shahi dynasty.

Hephthalites are believed to be among the ancestors of modern-day Pashtuns and in particular of the Abdali Pashtun tribe.

The Hephthalites could also have been ancestors of the Abdal tribe, which has assimilated into the Turkmens and Kazakhs.

In India, the Rajputs form as a result of merging of the Hephthalites and the Gurjars with population from northwestern India.

The Muslims had raided Tunisia several times after 647, but do not attempt to establish Arab rule there until the Umayyads consolidate their caliphal dynasty in the 660s and come to view the conquest of the Maghrib in the context of their confrontation with the Empire.

'Uqbah ibn Nafi' (Sidi Okba) commands the Arab army that occupies Tunisia in 670.

The Arabs, unlike previous invaders of Tunisia, who settled along the coast, move inland, and in the Low Steppes establish the garrison of Al-Qayraw'n (Kairouan) as the capital seat of Ifriqiya (Africa) province, the first center of Arab administration in the Maghreb.

The Capture of Ebroin by Leodegar (670 CE): A Struggle for Power in Neustria

In 670 CE, Ebroin, the Mayor of the Palace of Neustria, is captured by Leodegar (Leger), Bishop of Autun, amid the ongoing power struggles between Neustrian and Austrasian factions. As a strong proponent of a single mayorship controlling the entire Frankish realm, Ebroin’s capture represents a temporary victory for his rivals, particularly the Austrasian-aligned aristocracy.

1. Ebroin’s Political Vision: A Centralized Mayorship

• Ebroin was a fierce advocate for Neustrian dominance, seeking to unite all Frankish lands under a single mayoral rule.
• His policies opposed Austrasian autonomy, bringing him into conflict with Leodegar and the powerful Burgundian and Austrasian nobility.
• His rule was marked by ruthless suppression of aristocratic opposition, fueling resentment among the nobles.

2. The Capture of Ebroin by Leodegar (670 CE)

• In 670 CE, Leodegar, Bishop of Autun, one of Ebroin’s leading opponents, successfully captures him, significantly weakening Neustrian political control.
• The capture is part of a broader conflict between the Austrasian and Neustrian factions, as Austrasia seeks to check Neustrian expansionism.
• With Ebroin removed, Leodegar and his allies attempt to take control of the Neustrian court.

3. The Temporary Decline of Neustrian Power

• Ebroin’s capture allows his rivals to install a more favorable mayor, effectively ending his first period of dominance.
• However, his removal does not bring lasting peace—instead, it sets the stage for further conflicts between Neustrian and Austrasian factions.
• The Neustrian court remains unstable, as different aristocratic factions compete for control in Ebroin’s absence.

4. The Aftermath: Ebroin’s Return to Power

• Despite his capture, Ebroin is not permanently removed.
• He later escapes or is released, reclaiming power in Neustria and orchestrating a brutal retaliation against his enemies, including Leodegar.
• His eventual return to power underscores the fragility of noble coalitions and the increasing role of military force in Frankish politics.

Conclusion: A Temporary Victory for the Aristocracy

The capture of Ebroin in 670 CE by Leodegar, Bishop of Autun, is a major but temporary victory for the Austrasian-aligned nobility seeking to curb Neustrian dominance. However, it fails to permanently remove Ebroin, as he will later return to power and exact revenge on his enemies, continuing the violent struggle for control over the Frankish kingdom.

Caedmon (later identified in Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica as an uneducated herdsman who, being unable to improvise verse, is divinely inspired), composes his nine-line hymn in praise of God the Creator around 670, and becomes known as the first English (Northumbrian) poet whose name is known.

Zhang Wen Ming, who had become a monk at age fourteen, is an admirer of Faxian and Xuanzang, both famed monks of his childhood.

Renamed Yijing and provided with funding by an otherwise unknown benefactor named Fong, he had decided to visit the renowned Buddhist university of Nālandā, in Bihar, India, to further study Buddhism.

Traveling by a Persian boat out of Guangzhou, he arrives in the capital of the partly Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya (today's Palembang of Sumatra) after twenty-two days, where he spends the next six months learning Sanskrit grammar and Malay language.

He reports over a thousand Buddhist monks in residence.

He goes on to record visits to the nations of Melayu and Kiteh (Kedah), and in 673 after ten days additional travel reaches the "naked kingdom" (south west of Shu).

Yijing records his impression of the "Kunlun peoples", using an ancient Chinese word for Malay peoples.

"Kunlun people have curly hair, dark bodies, bare feet and wear sarongs."

Silla seizes control in 671 of the former Baekje capital of Sabi from the Tang Protectorate General to Pacify the East.

Naka-no-Oe takes over the Japanese government and in 668 becomes Emperor Tenji (Tenchi).

Upon his death in 671, his elder brother, Prince Otomo, is placed on the imperial throne by the aristocratic Nakatomi and Soga clans, who had opposed Tenji’s attempts to centralize the government.

Otomo, on his installation as emperor, is challenged by Tenji’s son Prince Oama who, to avoid assassination by supporters of the Otomo, had escaped to a temple in the Yoshino Mountains two years earlier and become a Buddhist priest.

Cuthbert becomes prior of a monastery at Melrose, Scotland, that he had entered in 651 as a teenager.

He moves in 664 to Lindisfarne, an island off England’s northeast coast, and becomes prior at the abbey there.

After some years here, he elects to live as a hermit on the nearby island of Farne.

Emperor Kōbun reigns briefly as emperor of Japan, followed by his uncle Emperor Temmu who overthrows his nephew in a brief but violent conflict called the Jinshin War.