In Spain - The Eighth Church Council of Toledo demands that converted Jews sign a written promise not to marry within the forbidden degrees of family relations and that they themselves inflict the death penalty on any person who disobeys the observance of the Catholic faith.

Caliph ALI IBN ABU TALEB (MOHAMMAD's cousin and son-in-law) rules Islam.

Caliph MU'AWIYA (first Umayyad) rules the Islamic world and settles Jews whom he considers faithful allies in Tripoli and in Syria.
This begins a period of prosperity for Jews and Christians in Palestine.

In Spain - The Eleventh Council of Toledo is called upon to destroy "the Jewish pest", prohibits Jewish festivals, and institutes a surveillance of converted Jews.

In Jerusalem - Tenth caliph, 'ABD AL-MALIK IBN MARWAN, commissions the rebuilding of the shrine on the Rock as Islam's answer to the monumental churches of the city that surround the rocks and caves of Christian significance.
Qur'anic verses are laid into its walls that refute the deity of Jesus in the mistaken belief of it protecting the holiness of God (i.e. that calling Jesus 'Son of God' implies God had sex with Mary).

In 'Christian' Spain - Jews are accused of treason and reduced to slavery.

In Jerusalem - Caliph AL-WALID I repairs and extends Temple Mount's retaining walls upward with smaller rocks, and constructs many other buildings in the vicinity, including a mosque on the southwest corner of the Haram (Temple Mount).

In Spain - The Muslim invasion under TARIK brings respite to the Jews and leads to a golden era for Spanish Jewry.

In Palestine - Caliph SULEIMAN IBN ABD AL-MALIK builds Ramleh; a quarter of the town is reserved for dyers, a distinctly Jewish industry.

Caliph 'UMAR (II) AL-AZIZ orders all Jews and Christians (so-called dhimmis) across the Muslim empire to wear distinctive clothing. Jewish women are required to wear tinted shoes with bells. He is reported to have excluded Jews from Temple Mount and restricted them to praying at only one gate.

Byzantine Emperor LEO III begins the iconoclast movement (destruction of venerated/worshipped images). (Probably influenced by its offensiveness to the Islamic world).
He is opposed by Pope GREGORY II. Beginning of the rift between Byzantine and Roman Christianity.

The Franks under CHARLES MARTEL defeat Moorish (Islamic) invaders at the battle of Tours (or Poitiers).

In southern Russia - The Khazar rulers convert to Judaism. (The Khazars were a Turkic-speaking people of Central Eurasia).

September 11: An earthquake wrecks Jerusalem, collapsing the eastern and western sides of the Dome of the Rock. The 'Nea' church complex is also destroyed and not rebuilt. (see 527)

The 'ABBASID dynasty of caliphs destroy the last UMAYYADs and, in 762 AD/CE, move their capital to Baghdad, with serious economic consequences for Jerusalem. Islam begins to move away from Qur'anic inclusivity of Jews and Christians and proclaim Islam as the one and only true faith.

King PEPIN of the Franks promises central  Italy to the Pope. The beginning of the temporal power of the papacy.

King PEPIN III, in overcoming the last stronghold of the Moors in his Frankish empire, gives half of this city, Narbonne, to the Jews in recognition of their help.

ANAN BEN DAVID founds the Kairite movement in Judaism as a protest against rabbinic law and to assert the unique authority of Holy Scripture.

Caliph AL-MAHDI commissions the rebuilding of the Temple Mount (Haram) Mosque on a larger scale than ever before with a beautiful dome. It is now called al-masjid al-aqsã - the Remote Mosque - identifying it with MOHAMMAD's Night Journey with Gabriel.

In Jewish communities, it now becomes increasingly popular to date the year from the "creation of the world" (anno mundi, AM) as calculated by the rabbis, in a range 3762-3758 BC/BCE. However, Jewish communities in the East still continue to use the Hellenistic dating (Minyan Shetarot, Era of Contracts) until about the 16th century AD/CE. Year-date equivalents are -

Jews in northern France and northern Italy migrate into the German Rhineland.
Jewish pamphleteer, HIWI AL-BALKHI, scandalizes Jewish communities by openly attacking the morality of Scripture and issuing an expurgated version for use in schools that omits "offensive" materials.

December 23: In Rome - In a secret meeting at the Lateran Palace Pope LEO III humiliates himself before CHARLES the Frank in denying accusations against himself of various crimes and vices, in the presence of Frankish, Lombard and Roman clergy and generals, and two representatives of abbot ALCUIN of Yorkshire (senior adviser to CHARLES).
CHARLES eventually accepts his pleas of innocence after the Pope swears a series of oaths that he is guiltless.
December 25: In Rome, St Peter's Basilica - Pope LEO III, without warning insists on performing a Roman ritual in which he places a crown on CHARLES' head and prostrates himself before him as his emperor, as the Frank celebrates Christmas in the church.

In Bethlehem - riots break out in the Nativity Church between Eastern (Greek) and Western (Latin) Christians over doctrinal differences.

In Jerusalem - an earthquake seriously damages the dome of the Anastasis, and a locust plague devastates the countryside which leads to severe famine in Palestine. The repairs to the Christian Anastasis increased the size of its dome and lead friction with local Muslims. Also, the ceremony of Holy Fire in the Anastasis that now begins to be practiced appears to supernaturally produce fire to prove the superiority of Christianity to the extreme irritation of Muslims.
The Muslim name for Jerusalem is now al-Quds - "the Holy."

In Khazaria - King Bulan of the (Turkic) Khazars converts to Judaism and is followed by his people. Khazaria becomes a place of refuge to many oppressed Jewish communities under Byzantine and Persian rule.

The Jewish Exilarch of (Islamic) Babylonia demands financial support from the Jewish communities of (Islamic) North Africa and Spain.

Virtually the whole population of Jerusalem (Jews, Christians, Muslims) flee in panic from a peasants revolt led by TAMIM ABU HARB. The city is plundered, including mosques and churches. The Anastasis escapes destruction by a large bribe paid by the Christian Patriarch.

The Gaon (sage/principal) of the Talmudic academy at Sura in Babylonia, NATRONAI II, teaches that to vocalize the scrolls of the Pentateuch (Torah) in use in the synagogue is a violation of the law of lo toseph: "thou shalt not add thereto" (Deut.13:1).
However, within fifty years the 'antiquity theory' of the vowel-signs used in reading the Torah is becoming accepted.

Under DANIEL AL-QUMUSI the Kairite settlement in Palestine prospers and spreads to north-western Africa and non-Muslim Spain. A barrage of Kairite treatises stimulates renewed study of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Hebrew language, resulting in the development of vocalization systems and eventually the Massoretic text acceptable to both Kairites and Rabbinites in the 10th cent. by BEN NAFTALI and BEN ASHER.

CYRIL, who together with METHODIUS, is known as a Christian apostle to the Slavs, and who invented the Cyrillic Alphabet for their language, dies.

In Tiberius, Palestine - MOSES BEN ASHER copies and vocalizes a manuscript of the Prophets (It is kept today in the Kairite synagogue in Cairo).

The Rabbinite Jewish community of Babylonia is in a state of chaos and dissolution.

The Palestine rabbinic academy is headed by the Meir family of gaon MEIR, his son AARON, and his grandson ABRAHAM.

In Babylonia - Exilarch DAVID BEN ZAKKAI (reigns 916/917-940) appoints SA'ADIA BEN JOSEPH to head the Sura rabbinic academy. SA'ADIA's translation of the Jewish Bible (Tenach) into Arabic and his Arabic commentaries make the rabbinic (Pharisaic) understanding of the Tenach accessible to masses of Jews.

Islamic Qarmatian sect (founded by HAMDAN QARMAT in Bahrain) attacks Mecca and seizes the Black Stone of the Ka'bah, taking it to their Bahraini homeland (Bildad al-Qadim). It is returned after a ransom is paid. (See 1076).

In Palestine - Shi'ah caliphs of Egypt (Fatimids) take control of Jerusalem.

Europe enjoys 300 years of warmer weather that increases harvests and allows wheat to be cultivated much further north and at higher elevations.

In Hungary - (St.) STEPHEN is crowned king with a crown sent by the Pope.

November 13: In England - King AETHELRED authorises the massacre of all Danish settlers in an attempt to exterminate them.

In Jerusalem: The 6th Fatimid caliph, AL-HAKIM, orders the destruction of all Christian shrines, and persecutes Sunni Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

In Spain - in the caliphate of Cordova, the Jew 'AVICEBRON' (SALOMON IBN GEBIROL), poet, moralist and philosopher, writes 'Fountain of Life' (a mixture of Aristotelian, Neoplatonic and Jewish thought) which significantly influences the development of medieval thought.

In Palestine - Bedouin revolts ('second war of the sons of Jarrah') continue badly affecting Jewish communities in Ramleh and Jerusalem.

An earthquake disturbs the surface area of Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The subsidence around 'Solomon's Stables' is filled up with archaeologically rich debris.

In Britain - Jews (from Rouen) enter, in the wake of the Norman invasion authorized by the Pope.
In Egypt - a seven year famine begins during which the Nile does not rise. (1066-1073) see 1876 BC

In Palestine - Seljuq Turks displace Egyptian rule and cut off Christian pilgrim routes to Jerusalem, which stimulates the Crusade movements to Palestine.

GREGORY VII is elected Pope: beginning the conflict between Empire and papacy.

In Bahrain - Local tribesmen massacre the Qarmatians. (See 930).

In Italy - Pope GREGORY VII issues a bull banning Jews from holding any official positions in Christian countries.

The Bishop Rüdiger of Speyer grants privileges to the Jews according to the model of the protection letters of LOUIS the Pious.

Trier, France - the first pogrom against the Jews by the Catholic Crusaders.
Jews murdered in various other towns en route -

Pope URBAN II calls for the 'reconquest' of the Holy Land from the Muslims.
Crusader Latin kingdom of Jerusalem is set up, and the Dome of the Rock becomes the Christian 'Templum Domini' church.

In England: a separate exchequer and special justices are set up at Westminster to deal with the extensive activities of the Jewish community.

In England: interest rates of Jewish money-lenders averages 50%, rising to a high of 66 2/3 %.
Norwich monk, THOMAS of Monmouth, accuses Jews of the ritual murder of a child (WILLIAM of Norwich), encouraged by monks of monasteries heavily indebted to Jewish money-lenders, causes anti-Jewish riots and murders. THOMAS' book on the subject launches the 'blood libel' against Jews across Europe.

In England: HENRY II's re-establishment of law and order allows Jewish communities to flourish again.

GENGHIS (CHINGIS) KHAN, founder of the Mongol Empire, is born.

A group of 20 Christian evangelists arrive in England from the Continent, and are publicly branded as heretics, chained and left to die by the established church (Danziger & Gillingham, 2003 p.201).

In England: the rumour of the crucifixion of the boy (HAROLD of Gloucester) causes a massacre of Jews.

In Egypt: MAIMONIDES (MOSES BEN MAIMON or RAMBAM) becomes the foremost intellectual figure of medieval Judaism. His greatest work, 'Guide for the Perplexed' is an attempt to accommodate philosophy to revealed religion.

In England: Jews receive permission to create cemeteries outside the walls of the city in which they reside rather than having to bring their dead to London for burial.

MAIMONIDES completes his Mishneh Torah (Code of the Torah) in 14 systematic volumes. Unfortunately it contains inflammatory statements such as -

In England - the rumour of the crucifixion of the boy (ROBERT of Edmonsbury) causes a massacre of Jews.

In France - King PHILIP AUGUSTUS, using the pretext that Jews had crucified a Christian child, expelled all Jews from his realm and confiscated their goods.

AARON of Lincoln (a Jew), dies, who financed the building of Lincoln Cathedral, Peterborough and St Albans Abbeys, and at least nine Cistercian convents. The Crown sets up a special exchequer, the Scaccarium Aaronis, to collect his debts, a process which takes 20 years.

October 2: SALADIN conquers Jerusalem. He closes all 12 entrances to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher but one door is only sealed off, and the key to this remaining entrance is entrusted to a Muslim family. The key has stayed in the same family ever since.

In England - RICHARD I's cruel treatment of Jews after his coronation sparks a massacre of Jews in London, Norwich, Lincoln, Stamford, and York, where 500, shut up in the castle, commit suicide with their wives and children in utter despair.

In England - the Jewish community of York is massacred, but HUGH of Lincoln provides protection.
In Scotland - Bishop of Glasgow forbids his churchmen to "ledge their benefices for money borrowed from Jews".

In Jerusalem - SALADIN removes the cross from the top of the Dome of the Rock .

December 13: MAIMONIDES (Moses ben Maimon), Jewish philosopher and physician to Sultan SALADIN, dies.

In England - King John brutally extorts £44 000 from Jews, using mass arrests and other means.
Christian 'heretics' arriving from the continent are arrested and burnt at the stake.l88

Pope INNOCENT III writes to ALFONSO of Castile that like Cain the murderer Jews are to wander the earth in slavery by their guilt till the time shall come in the last days for their conversion.

In England - Archbishop LANGTON assists in engineering the Magna Carta and helps insert three anti-Jewish clauses.
November: The Fourth Lateran Council (12th Ecumenical Council) under Pope INNOCENT III decrees that Jews are to wear different clothing to others for easy identification, be banned from holding civil office or owning land, and are to be confined indoors during passion week.

In England - The Synod of Oxford at the request of Archbishop STEPHEN LANGTON prescribes that all Jews must wear a distinctive woolen patch on their clothing.

In France - The Council of Narbonne orders Jews to wear a distinguishing badge.

Crusader troops gain control of Jerusalem. Emperor FREDERICK II is crowned king of Jerusalem. He sentences all Jews to perpetual slavery for the crucifixion of CHRIST, yet is reported as saying that, CHRIST, MOSES and MOHAMMED were all self-deceived impostors.

Rabbi SOLOMON of Montpellier, in southern France, instigates the church authorities to burn MAIMONIDES' "Guide for the Perplexed" as a dangerously heretical book.