Marwan, taking Homs in early 746 after a bitter ten-month siege, razes the walls of the city, then …

Internal disorder in the Muslim world during the late 740s plays into Constantine's hands as the 'Abbasid house fights to seize the caliphate from the Umayyads.

Constantine’s navy defeats a caliphate fleet near Cyprus, enabling the imperial forces to drive a Muslim garrison from the island.

The Stabilization of Frankish Rule and Carloman’s Retirement (746)

By 746, the Frankish armies remain active, ensuring the continued consolidation of Pepin the Short and Carloman’s rule. However, a significant shift in power is underway as Carloman prepares to retire from political life, choosing to enter the monastery of Mount Soracte, near Rome.

With Carloman’s withdrawal from secular affairs, Pepin’s position is further stabilized, as he emerges as the uncontested ruler of the Frankish realm. This transition lays the groundwork for Pepin’s eventual assumption of the crown in 751, when he will formally depose the last Merovingian king, Childeric III, marking the end of the Merovingian dynasty and the rise of the Carolingians.

The Council of Cannstatt, also referred to as the blood court at Cannstatt (Blutgericht zu Cannstatt), is a council meeting at Cannstatt in 746 that takes place as a result of an invitation by the Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, Carloman, the eldest son of Charles Martel, to all nobles of the Alemanni.

According to the annals of Metz, the annales Petaviani and an account by Childebrand, Carloman arrested several thousand noblemen attendees, accusing them of taking part in the uprising of Theudebald, Duke of Alamannia, and Odilo, Duke of Bavaria, and summarily executed them all for high treason.

The action eliminates virtually the entire tribal leadership of the Alemanni and ends the independence of the duchy of Alamannia, after which it is ruled by Frankish dukes.

Only the emperor has the authority to sentence criminals to execution at this time in China.

Under Xuanzong, capital punishment has been relatively infrequent, with only twenty-four executions in the year 730 and fifty-eight executions in the year 736.

The death penalty is abolished in China in the year 747, enacted by Xuangzong, who orders his officials to refer to the nearest regulation by analogy when sentencing those found guilty of crimes for which the prescribed punishment had been execution.

Thus, depending on the severity of the crime, a punishment of severe scourging with the thick rod or of exile to the remote Lingnan region might take the place of capital punishment. (Only twelve years later, in 759, the death penalty will be restored in response to the An Lushan Rebellion.)

Marwan and his lieutenant Yazid ibn Hubayra pursue Shayban and Sulayman to Mosul in 747 and besiege them there for six months until the reinforced caliphal army drives out the Kharijite remnants and consolidates Umayyad control of Iraq.

The surviving prominent rebels flee east: Shayban flees to Bahrain, where he is killed; Sulayman sails to India along with Mansur ibn Jumhur, where he will later die.

Carloman renounces his position as majordomo on August 15, 747, and withdraws to a monastic life, being tonsured in Rome by Pope Zachary.

All sources from the period indicate that Carloman's renunciation of the world was volitional, although some have speculated that he went to Rome for other, unspecified reasons and was "encouraged" to remain in Rome by the pope, acting on a request from Pepin to keep Carloman in Italy.

Carloman soon founds a monastery on Monte Soratte, then goes to Monte Cassino.

Carloman believes his calling is the Church, as indicated by all sources from the period.

After withdrawing to Monte Cassino, he will spend most of the remainder of his life here, presumably in meditation and prayer.

His son, Drogo, demands from Pepin the Short his father's share of the family patrimony, but is swiftly neutralized.

The Suppression of Revolts and the Sole Rule of Pepin (747)

By 747, Carloman and Pepin the Short have successfully suppressed a half-dozen major revolts across the Frankish realm, reinforcing their dominance over the kingdom’s fractious regions. These uprisings, occurring in Bavaria, Alemannia, Saxony, and Aquitaine, reflect the persistent resistance of regional rulers against Frankish centralization.

With Carloman’s decision to enter a monastery in Italy, Pepin becomes the sole ruler of the Frankish realm, consolidating all military and political authority under his leadership. The Merovingian dynasty, though still nominally in place, remains in an entirely ceremonial role, with the Frankish monarchy now functioning under Pepin’s de facto rule.

This shift sets the stage for Pepin’s next decisive move: his formal assumption of the Frankish crown in 751, when he will depose the last Merovingian king, Childeric III, and establish the Carolingian dynasty.

The Taruma and Sunda kingdoms of western Java had appeared in the fourth and seventh centuries respectively.

However, the first major principality is the Indianized Medang Kingdom, founded in central Java in the mid-eighth century.

Medang's religion centers on the Hindu god Shiva, and the kingdom produces some of Java's earliest Hindu temples on the Dieng Plateau.