__NOTOC__
Events
By Place
Byzantine Empire
★
Justinian II succeeds
Constantine IV as
emperor of the
Byzantine Empire.
Europe
★
Sussex attacks
Kent, supporting
Eadric's claim to the throne held by
Hlothhere.
★
Surrey takes
Wessex as its overlord.
★
May 20 —
Battle of Dunnichen ''or''
Nechtansmere:
Picts defeat
Northumbrians.
★
Plague kills almost all the monks in a
Northumbrian
monastery aside from the
abbot and one small boy - future scholar
Bede.
Asia
★
Umayyad caliph Marwan I (
684–685) succeeded by
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (685–
705).
Africa
★
Arabs reach present-day
Morocco.
By Topic
Religion
★
July 23 —
Pope John V succeeds
Pope Benedict II as the 82nd
pope.
★
Cuthbert consecrated
bishop of
Lindisfarne.
Births
Deaths
★
May 20 —
Ecgfrith, king of
Northumbria (killed in battle)
Heads of states
★
Holy See —
Benedict II pope (684–685)
★
Holy See —
John V pope (685–686)
★
Japan —
Emperor Temmu, emperor of Japan (672–686)