The Picts in the seventh century recognize…

An Umayyad attempt to recover Iraq under former governor Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad is defeated by pro-Alid forces under al-Mukhtar near Mosul in August 686.

Justinian II, at the beginning of his reign, had made a treaty with the Arabs whereby they pay increased tribute and …

…in 687, as part of Justinian’s agreements with the Caliphate, he removes from their native Lebanon twelve thousand Christian Maronites, who have continually resisted the Muslims.

Justinian takes advantage of the peace in the East to regain possession of the Balkans, which have until now been almost totally under the heel of Slavic tribes.

In 687, Justinian transfers cavalry troops from Anatolia to Thrace.

'Abd al-Malik, restricting himself to securing his own position, has made no further attempt to interfere in Iraq but has bided his time for three years as the various groups in Iraq exhaust themselves in internecine warfare.

The retreat of the Umayyad army had left Ibn al-Zubayr in undisputed control of Mecca.

With the collapse of Umayyad authority, he is soon acknowledged as the rightful Caliph across most of the Muslim world, including northern Syria.

The Umayyads, however, under the leadership of Marwan ibn al-Hakam, had managed to consolidate their position in Syria in the Battle of Marj Rahit, and even reclaim Egypt.

Ibn al-Zubayr's brother Mus'ab defeats al-Mukhtar and gains control of all of Iraq in 687.

The Sixth Ecumenical Council, the major event of Agathos’ pontificate, ends the Monothelite heresy that had been tolerated by previous popes, Honorius among them.

The council had begun when Emperor Constantine IV, desiring to heal the schism, had written to Pope Donus suggesting a conference on the matter, but Donus was dead by the time the letter arrived.

However, Agatho had been quick to seize the opportunity for reconciliation, ordering councils held throughout the West so that legates can present the universal tradition of the Western Church, then sends a large delegation to meet the Easterners at Constantinople.

Leo II, a Sicilian by birth, who had been elected to succeed Pope Agatho a few days after his death on January 10, 681, had not been consecrated as Pope until after the lapse of a year and seven months.

Known as an eloquent preacher who was interested in music, Leo had been noted for his charity to the poor.

Benedict II, a member of the Roman Savelli family, had been chosen in 683 to succeed Leo II but had not been ordained until 684, because the permission of Emperor Constantine IV had not been obtained until some months after the election.

According to Liber Diurnus Romanorum Pontificum, he had obtained from the Emperor a decree which had either abolished imperial confirmations altogether or made them obtainable from the Exarch of Ravenna.

This has given the power of confirmations of papal nominations directly to the Church and the people of Rome.

His successor, Pope John V, a Syrian by birth, had in 680 been named papal legate to the Sixth Ecumenical Council at Constantinople because of his knowledge of Greek; he had passes his pontificate of little more than a year chiefly in bed.

Conon, his successor in 686, dies in 687.

Sergius succeeds him, but Theodore II opposes him as anitipope.

The reign of antipope Paschal follows Theodore’s brief tenure as self-consecrated Bishop of Rome.

Monkwearmouth-Jarrow is a twin-foundation English monastery, located on the River Wear, at Monkwearmouth, and the River Tyne, at Jarrow, respectively, in the Kingdom of Northumbria (now in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear).

The monastery had been founded in 674 by Benedict Biscop, first with the establishment of the monastery of St. Peter's, Monkwearmouth on land given by Egfrid, King of Northumbria.

His idea had been to build a model monastery for England, sharing his knowledge of the experience of the Roman traditions in an area previously more influenced by Celtic Christianity stemming from missionaries of Melrose and Iona.

A papal letter in 678 had exempted the monastery from external control, and in 682 the king had been so delighted at the success of St. Peter's, he had given Benedict more land in Jarrow and urged him to build a second monastery.

Benedict had erected a sister foundation (St Paul) at Jarrow, appointing Ceolfrith as its superior, who had left Monkwearmouth with twenty monks (including his protégé the young Bede) to start the foundation in Jarrow.

Benedict had brought workmen from Francia to build these churches, the first ecclesiastical structures in Britain built of stone, and furnished it with glass windows, pictures, service books and the library he had collected on his travels.

Window glass being unusual in England at this time, Benedict had imported glassmakers from Francia, who had established a workshop at the Monkwearmouth site, which stands on a nearby site on the river Wear.

The library Benedict had created on his travels to Rome and then given to the monastery makes it the cradle not only of English art but of English literature—Jarrow is where the Venerable Bede receives his early education under Ceolfrith's patronage and will live, write and die as a monk.