Lushan Rebellion. By topic Catastrophe March 9 – A major earthquake strikes Palestine and Syria. Religion April 26 – Pope Stephen II dies at Rome after a 5-year reign, in which he has freed the papacy from Byzantine rule. Stephen allies with Pepin III against the Lombards, and becomes the first temporal sovereign of the Papal States. He is succeeded by his brother Paul I, as the 93rd pope of the Catholic Church. Births April 26 – Hisham I, Muslim emir (d. 796) Gisela, Frankish abbess (d. 810) Liu Ji, general of the Tang Dynasty (d. 810) Yeshe Tsogyal, consort of Trisong Detsen (d. 817) Deaths March 14 – Li Lin, prince of the Tang Dynasty April 26 – Stephen II, pope of the Catholic Church Æthelbald, king of Mercia Alfonso I, king of Asturias An Lushan, Chinese rebel leader Baldred of Tyninghame, Anglo-Saxon abbot Bertha of Bingen, German saint Crimhthann mac Reachtghal, Irish abbot Cummascach mac Flainn, king of Uí Failghe (Ireland) Geshu Han, general of the Tang Dynasty Habib ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, Arab noble Li Tan, prince of the Tang Dynasty Ono no Azumabito, Japanese official Sigeberht, king of Wessex Suibhne of Clonfert, Irish abbot Tachibana no Moroe, Japanese prince (b. 684) Tachibana no Naramaro, Japanese statesman (b. 721) Zhang Xun, general of the Tang Dynasty (b. 709) References