6th Century
501 – The Moldboard Plow
“I am a soldier of Christ. I must not fight.” St Martin.
The iron-tipped moldboard plow is invented, helping to make agriculture more efficient.
505 – Hun Invasions
Hun invasion through Caucasus allies Byzantium and Sassanians to fight common threat.
506 – King Alaric the Second
Issue of ‘Breviarium’ (Roman law code) by Visigothic King Alaric the Second.
507 – Clovis, King of the Franks
Frankish conquest of the Visigothic kingdom in south-west Gaul under King Clovis.
511 – Frankish Kingdom Divided
Frankish kingdom divided into four on the death of King Clovis.
522 – Axumite
Axumite occupation of Yemen.
524 – Boethius
Composition of Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius while awaiting execution.
525 – Monte Cassino
Foundation of Monte Cassino monastery by St Benedict and composition of his rule.Priscian writes his grammar.
526 to 565 – Slavs
Gradual penetration of Balkans by Slav tribes.
Death of Theodoric.
Death of Anthimus, Theodoric’s Greek doctor.
527 – Monastery of St Catherine
In a hollow at the foot of Mount Sinai Byzantine emperor Justinian builds a fortified monastery over the site of the legendary burning bush. The monastery was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and later rededicated to Saint Catherine. The siege castle was built over an earlier
church and for security the main gate was walled up making the basket lift the only way in or out for goods and people.
Emperor Justinian temporarily recovers Italy, North Africa and parts of Spain.
529 – Academy of Athens
Emperor Justinian orders the closing of the Academy of Athens which was founded in 387 B.C.E.
Promulgation by Justinian of first edition of the new Roman law code (Codex Iustinianus).
531 – Ethiopia
Byzantine Emperor Justinian sends Christian missionaries to Axum (Ethiopia)
532 – Nika Riot
Serious uprising against Justinian in Constantinople.
532 to 537 – Hagia Sophia
The church of Hagia Sophia (Sacred Wisdom) is built in Constantinople under the direction of Emperor Justinian. It has the world’s largest dome.
533 – Emperor Justinian
Emperor Justinian sends a large army to destroy the Vandals. Byzantine reconquest of Vandal Africa by general Belisarius. The last King of the Vandals, Gelimer, is brought back to Constantinople to be executed.
534 – King Cedric
Death of King Cedric. First king of West Saxons. Founder of British Monarchy.
Byzantines control North Africa after their defeat of Vandal kingdom.
Byzantine occupation of Sicily.
The Franks conquer the Burgundian Kingdom in eastern Gaul.
534 to 560 – King Cynric
English monarch.
535 – Italy
Byzantine invasion of Italian mainland.
537 – Alfred the Great
Alfred, king of the Britons, is killed in the Battle of Camlan.
539 – Byzantine / Sassanian War
Second Byzantine-Sassanian War under Emperor Justinian.
540 – Antioch
Silkworms are secretly brought back to Byzantium hidden in hollow canes by emissaries to China.
Silk production starts in Byzantium.
540 – Silk Worms
Foundation of English Settlements in Britain.
541 – Buddhism
Buddhism reaches Japan.
542 to 594 – Justinian Plague
Named after the Byzantine Emperor the Justinian Plague starting in Constantinople kills a quarter of the population of Europe by 544 and half by 594.
547 – St Benedict
550 – Turk Chief Bumin
Nomadic Turks, led by Bumin, invade Central Asia from the east founding Turkestan. The
displaced Avars push west to the Danube Valley. The Avars push the Slavs south of the
Danube over the Balkan mountains and those who straggle toward the Adriatic Sea are
captured by the very able Venetian sailors who ply their slave trade with Egypt. In a historical
footnote Slav would give us the word slave.
After being fought back by native Britons, Germanic tribes once again begin to invade
England, driving Britons west into Cornwall and the Welsh marches.
551 – Cartagena
Occupation of Cartagena and south-eastern Spain by Byzantines.
554 – Ostrogoths
End of Ostrogothic resistance in Italy.
560 to 591 – King Ceawlin
English monarch.
563 – St Columba
Celtic Christianity
St Columba founds the monastery at Iona after being sentenced to perpetual exile from his
native Ireland. Iona becomes the mother church of Celtic Christians. His missionaries were
responsible for converting the pagan Picts on the mainland of Scotland and even into northern
England.
568 – The Lombards
Pushed westwards by invading Avars the Germanic Lombards (Long-Beards) cross south of the Alps and found a kingdom around the river Po.
The Lombards overrun northern Italy making it their own.
570 August 20 – The Prophet
The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is born in Mecca.
Axumites (Ethiopians) invade Hijaz but fail to take Mecca.
572 to 591 – Byzantine / Persian War
Renewed war between Byzantium and Persia.
573 – King Alboin
From northwestern Germany, Lombard King Alboin, who had murdered his wife’s father and
used his skull as a drinking mug, attacks the peoples of Venice but the skilled horsemen were
not able to navigate the isolated islands of Venice.
The Catholic bishop of Altino made his way to the Venetian island of Torcello to escape the
barbarians bringing with him a large part of the cities population.
574 – Yemen
Sassanian Persian occupation of Yemen.
575 – Cassiodorus
Death of Cassiodorus.
576 – The Orphan
Mohammad (pbuh) is orphaned by age six and is taken under the protection of his uncle, the
chief of the clan.
581 – Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino destroyed.
582 – Sirmium
Fall of Sirmium, leading to invasion of Balkans by Avars and their Slav allies.
585 – King Leovigild
Sueve kingdom in north-west Spain taken over by Visigothic King Leovigild.
587 – King Reccared
Conversion of Visigothic King Reccared to Catholicism.
590 to 604 – Pope Gregory the Great
Shortly after Gregory became a monk he saw some boys being sold as slaves in the
marketplace of Rome. Struck by their white skins and blond hair they were being sold as
Angles (English) to which he replied “Non Angli, sed angeli.” (Not Angles, but angels.) Learning
they were from Deira in northeast England he remarked with conviction “From the wrath (de
ira) of God they must be delivered. He set out for England only to return three days later by
popular demand.
Made Pope in 590 against his will but no task was too small and set about standardizing the
music for services. The haunting melodies becoming Gregorian chants.
Gregory begins the secular power of the papacy in Rome and alienates the Roman Church
from Byzantine influence.
Pope Gregory formally identified Mary Magdalene with the prostitute of Luke 7:37-50.
590 – St Columbanus
Arrival of Columbanus and companions in Gaul.
591 to 597 – King Ceolric
English monarch.
595 – Mohammad Marries
Mohammad (pbuh) marries Hedija.
597 – Saint Augustine the Second
Gregory, the prior of a monastery in Rome, assigned Augustine the task of converting the
English.
Augustine’s mission to England was fraught with trepidation. The reputation of pagan
savages filled his company of forty monks with fear. His mission begins the conversion of the
population of Kent.
Augustine establishes the first archbishopric at the cathedral of Canterbury becoming
England’s first Archbishop of Canterbury and the primate of England’s Mother Church.
597 – 611 – King Coelwulf
English monarch.
600 – Slave Trade
Beginning of extensive slave trade from sub-Saharan Africa to the Mediterranean.
Improvements in yokes and collars allow animals to pull heavier plows and loads. New methods of crop rotation increases production and population.
