Sabin, deserted by his supporters, flees to Mesembria (Nesebăr) in 766, whence he goes to …

…Constantinople, where he is received by the emperor, who arranges for the transfer of Sabin's family from Bulgaria.

Kamacha, a strategically important border fortress in the border wars between the Empire and the Ummayads and Abbasids, had first fallen to the Muslims in 679 and has since changed hands frequently.

It is besieged unsuccessfully by the Abbasids in 767.

Waifer’s Pleas for Peace and the Bavarian Distraction (760–765)

As Pepin the Short's relentless war of conquest devastates Aquitaine, Duke Waifer seeks to end hostilities and retain his rule, offering peace terms at least twice, in 760 and again in 765. However, Pepin, determined to achieve total victory, refuses to negotiate, pressing forward with his systematic campaign to eliminate Aquitanian autonomy.

Despite his aggressive strategy, Pepin’s conquest of Aquitaine is temporarily delayed by events in the east. In 765, Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria, a nominal Frankish vassal, rebels against Frankish overlordship, forcing Pepin to shift his focus toward the rebellious Bavarians. This distraction allows Waifer to remain in power, though his position is increasingly precarious.

While the Bavarian revolt diverts Pepin’s attention, it does not permanently halt the war in Aquitaine. With Waifer’s resources dwindling and Frankish control expanding, it is only a matter of time before Pepin resumes his campaign to crush the last pockets of Aquitanian resistance.

Toktu is assumed to have been a member of that faction of the Bulgarian nobility which advocates a hostile policy towards the Empire.

However, before Toktu managed to implement any recorded policy, he is faced with a rebellion and attempts to flee the country.

Unlike his predecessor Sabin, Toktu tries to flee northwards, but is caught and killed together with his brother Bayan and their supporters near the Danube.

Pagan, Toktu’s successor, has been identified as a member of that faction of the Bulgarian aristocracy that seeks to establish peaceful relations with the Empire.

Aba Hanafa is one of the leaders of the eighth-century movement toward systematizing the “Sharia,” the name of the sacred law of Islam.

The Sharia (from an Arabic word meaning "path") is based on divine will as revealed in the Koran and the “sunna” (sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad).

It also incorporates laws derived from ancient Arabian custom as well as those of the peoples conquered during the first century of Islam.

Aba Hanafa dies in 767 in the Arabic city of Kufa in Mesopotamia.

A navigable canal existed between Old Cairo and the Red Sea by the eighth century, but accounts vary as to who ordered its construction—either Trajan or 'Amr ibn al-'As, or Omar the Great.

This canal reportedly linked to the River Nile at Old Cairo and …

…ended near modern Suez.

A geography treatise by Dicuil reports a conversation with an English monk, Fidelis, who had sailed on the canal from the Nile to the Red Sea during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the first half of the eighth century.

The Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur is said to have ordered this canal closed in 767 to prevent supplies from reaching Arabian detractors.

Toto and his armed men, hearing that Pope Paul is on the verge of dying, force their way into Rome through the Gate of St. Pancratius on June 28.

With Paul’s death, Toto makes his way to the Basilica of the Apostles where the other members of the papal court and Roman nobility are gathering, and here Christophorus has everyone swear that they would all uphold each other’s rights during the upcoming election.

However, as soon as the meeting breaks up, Toto’s armed retainers assemble in his house at Rome and elect his brother Constantine as pope.

Since Constantine is still a layperson, he needs to be ordained deacon and priest and then consecrated as bishop in rapid succession.

Although frowned upon by canon law, this approach is far from unknown at this time.

Therefore, accompanied by a group of armed men, he is escorted to the Lateran Palace, where they attempt to force George, the Bishop of Praeneste, to ordain Constantine as a monk.

George throws himself at Constantine’s feet, begging Constantine not to make him do this.

However, Constantine and his supporters make it clear that he will be forced to, one way or another.

George therefore performs the ceremony, ordaining Constantine as a monk.

The next day, June 29, Bishop George makes Constantine a subdeacon followed immediately by his elevation to deacon.

This contravenes canon law, which requires an interval between the giving of the major orders of at least one day.

The Roman people are now required to take an oath of fidelity to Constantine, who again forces George of Praeneste, together with bishops Eustratius of Albano and Citonatus of Porto, to consecrate him as Bishop of Rome on July 5, 767.

In the meantime, opposition to the antipope is being led by Christophorus, the Primicerius, and his son Sergius, the treasurer of the Roman church.

Noting, however, that their lives are in danger, they flee for sanctuary to St. Peter’s Basilica, where they will remain until April 768.

One of Constantine’s first acts is to give notice to the Frankish King, Pepin the Short, of his election, to secure the king’s approval of his actions.

Constantine’s letter to Pepin declares that, against his wishes, he had been raised to the Apostolic See by "the people of Rome and the cities adjoining it", and that he hoped for the continuation of the friendship Pepin had shown to both his predecessors, Paul I and Stephen II.

Pepin ignores this letter, forcing Constantine to write another one, in which he declares that it was only due to the actions of the people which had forced him to take on the burdensome office of pope.

He begs Pepin to bestow his friendship, promising that he would be even more in his debt than his predecessors were, and for the king not to pay any attention to any slanderous accusations that were being said about him and his election as pope.

Pepin refuses to reply to either letter.

On August 12, Constantine receives a letter, addressed to his predecessor Paul, from all the Eastern patriarchs apart from the Patriarch of Constantinople.

It is a synodical letter of faith, sent by Theodore, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and endorsed by Theodore, Patriarch of Antioch, and Cosmas, Patriarch of Alexandria.

It is also endorsed by a large number of the eastern Metropolitan bishops.

In it, it describes their support of the veneration of Icons, and their opposition to the iconoclasm being enforced by Emperor Constantine V. Constantine has the letter read before the Roman people, after which he forwards it to King Pepin.

Constantine, born into a noble Roman family in Nepi near Viterbo, is one of four brothers, of which the most prominent is Toto of Nepi.

Toto, the papal governor and self-styled "Duke" of Nepi, had begun to position himself to take advantage of the expected death of Pope Paul I, and elevate his own candidate onto the papal throne.

Forced by Christophorus, the Primicerius of the notaries, to take an oath to respect the traditional clerical method of papal elections, Toto has retired to his estates in Nepi.

Here, with the help of Constantine and his brothers, they collect troops from his duchy and other parts of Tuscany, in addition to arming a group of peasants to swell his numbers.