Wikipedia

550s

Millennium: 1st millennium
Centuries:
Decades:
Years:
  • 550
  • 551
  • 552
  • 553
  • 554
  • 555
  • 556
  • 557
  • 558
  • 559
Categories:

The 550s decade ran from January 1, 550, to December 31, 559.

Events

550

By place

Byzantine Empire
Europe
Persia
Asia
Americas

By topic

Arts and sciences
Religion

551

By place

Byzantine Empire
  • After the death of his cousin Germanus, Justinian I appoints Narses new supreme commander, and returns to Italy. In Salona on the Adriatic coast, he assembles a Byzantine expeditionary force totaling 20,000 or possibly 30,000 men and a contingent of foreign allies, notably Lombards, Heruls and Bulgars.[2]
  • Gothic War: Narses arrives in Venetia and discovers that a powerful Gothic-Frank army (50,000 men), under joint command of the kings Totila and Theudebald, has blocked the principal route to the Po Valley. Not wishing to engage such a formidable force and confident that the Franks would avoid a direct confrontation, Narses skirts the lagoons along the Adriatic shore, by using vessels to leapfrog his army from point to point along the coast. In this way he arrives at the capital Ravenna without encountering any opposition. He attacks and crushes a small Gothic force at Ariminum (modern Rimini).
  • Spring- 551 Malian Gulf earthquake. It took place in the vicinity of the Malian Gulf. It affected the cities of Echinus and Tarphe.[3]
  • July 9 – Beirut is destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami. Its epicenter has an estimated magnitude of about 7.2 or 7.6, and according to reports of Antoninus of Piacenza, Christian pilgrim, some 30,000 people are killed.[4]
  • Autumn – Battle of Sena Gallica: The Byzantine fleet (50 warships) destroys the Gothic naval force under Indulf near Sena Gallica (Senigallia), some 17 miles (27 km) north of Ancona. It marks the end of the Gothic supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea.
Europe
  • Athanagild revolts against the Visigothic king Agila. Their armies meet at Seville (Andalusia), and Agila is defeated.[5]
  • 12,000 Kutrigurs appear in Europe led by Chinialus and others to assist the Gepids.
Persia
  • Spring – Lazic War - Siege of Petra (550–551): The Byzantine army and their Sabir allies (some 6,000 men) under Bessas recapture the strategic Byzantine fortress of Petra, located on the coast of the Black Sea. He orders the city walls razed to the ground.[6][7]
Asia
  • Autumn – Xiao Dong, great-nephew of the rebellious general Hou Jing, succeeds Jianwen Di as emperor of the Liang Dynasty. Xiao Dong has no real power and Hou Jing controls the imperial government at the capital Jiankang.
  • Bumin Qaghan, chieftain of the Göktürks, founds the Turkic Khaganate. He unites the local Turkic tribes and throws off the yoke of the Rouran domination.

By topic

Arts and sciences

552

By place

Byzantine Empire
  • July 1 – Battle of Taginae: Narses crosses the Apennines with a Byzantine army (25,000 men). He is blocked by a Gothic force under king Totila near Taginae (Central Italy). In a narrow mountain valley, Narses deploys his army in a "crescent shaped" formation.[8] He dismounts his Lombard and Heruli cavalry mercenaries, placing them as a phalanx in the centre. On his left flank he sends out a mixed force of foot and horse archers to seize a dominant height. The Goths open the battle with a determined cavalry charge. Halted by enfilading fire from both sides, the attackers are thrown back in confusion on the infantry behind them. The Byzantine cataphracts (Clibanarii) sweep into the milling mass. More than 6,000 Goths, including Totila, are killed. The remnants flee, and Narses proceeds to Rome, where he captures the city after a brief siege.
  • Emperor Justinian I dispatches a small Byzantine force (2,000 men) under Liberius to Hispania, according to the historian Jordanes. He conquers Cartagena and other cities on the southeastern coast.[9]
  • Justinian I receives the first silkworm eggs from two Nestorian monks at Constantinople. They were sent to Central Asia (see 550) and smuggled the precious eggs from China hidden in rods of bamboo.
Europe
Asia

By topic

Religion

553

By place

Byzantine Empire
  • Battle of Mons Lactarius:[11] King Teia secretly marches to join forces with his brother Aligern in Campania, to relieve the siege of Cumae. Meanwhile at Mons Lactarius (modern Monti Lattari), Narses lays an ambush. The combined Gothic force is crushed in a hopeless last stand for two days (south of Naples), and Teia is killed in the fightings. Aligern escapes, but surrenders a few months later.
  • The Ostrogothic Kingdom ends after 60 years of rule in Italy. The Goths are allowed to return to their homes in peace and (re)settle in modern-day Austria. Some 7,000 people retreat to Campsas (Southern Gaul), and resist with minimal help from the Franks against the Byzantines until 554.
  • The Byzantines retreated from Telephis–Ollaria.
Europe
  • Gothic War: Frankish invasion — Two Frankish-Alemanni dukes, brothers Lothair and Buccelin, cross the Alps from Germany with a force of 75,000 men, mostly Frankish infantry. In the Po Valley, they win an easy victory over a much smaller Byzantine force at Parma, and are joined by remnants of the Gothic armies, bringing the total strength of the invaders to about 90,000 men. Narses, gathering his forces as quickly as possible, marches north to harass the Franks, but is not strong enough to engage them in battle. In Samnium (Southern Italy) the brothers divide their forces: Lothaire goes down the east coast, then returns to the north, to winter in the Po Valley. Buccelin follows the west coast into Calabria, where he spends the winter — his army being seriously wasted by attrition and disease.
Asia

By topic

Religion

554

By place

Byzantine Empire
  • August 13 – Byzantine Emperor Justinian I issues a pragmatic sanction reorganizing Italy and rewards the praetorian prefect Liberius for over 60 years of distinguished service, granting him extensive estates in Italy.[12]
  • August 15 – 554 Anatolia earthquake. It took place in the southwest coasts of Anatolia (Asia Minor). It affected the Güllük Gulf (Mandalya Gulf), and the island of Kos.[3]
  • October – Battle of the Volturnus: In the spring Butilinus (Buccelin) has marched north; the Frankish army (infected by an epidemic of dysentery which kills their leader Leutharis (Lothair)) is reduced to about 30,000 men. The Byzantine army, with 18,000 men (including a contingent of Goths under Aligern), marches south to meet them at Casilinum (on the banks of the River Volturno). Byzantine eunuch general Narses sends a cavalry force under Chanaranges to destroy the supply wagons of the Franks. Outmanoeuvring Butilinus, he chooses a disposition similar to that at Taginae. After a frontal assault on the Byzantine centre, the Franks and the Alamanni are annihilated, thus effectively ending the Gothic War (535–554). Narses garrisons in Italy an army of 16,000 men. The recovery of the Italian Peninsula has cost the empire about 300,000 pounds of gold.[13]
Europe
Asia

By topic

Religion

555

By place

Byzantine Empire
Europe
Britain
Persia
Asia

By topic

Arts and sciences
  • Around this time, the historian Jordanes writes several books, among them De origine actibusque Getarum (The origin and deeds of the Goths).
  • Taliesin, British poet, becomes court bard to King Brochwel of Powys (approximate date).
Religion

556

By place

Europe
Britain
Persia

By topic

Religion

557

By place

Europe
  • The Avars arrive in the northern region of the Caucasus, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. They send envoys to the Byzantines in Lazica (modern Georgia). Like the Huns, the Avars are the former elite of a central Asian federation, which has been forced to flee westwards.[23]
Asia
  • December 14 – The 557 Constantinople earthquake occurs.
  • The Western Wei dynasty ends: Yuwen Hu deposes emperor Gong Di, and places Yuwen Tai's son Xiaomin on the throne. Yuwen Hu becomes regent and establishes the Northern Zhou dynasty in China.
  • Ming Di is made emperor, after his younger brother Xiao Min Di is arrested while trying to assume power. Xiao Min Di is deposed and executed by Yuwen Hu.
  • The Liang dynasty ends: Chen Wu Di, a distinguished general, becomes the first emperor of the Chen dynasty in Southern China.
  • The Göktürks under Muqan Qaghan ally with the Persian Empire, and destroy the Hephthalites (White Huns) in Central Asia.

By topic

Religion

558

By place

Byzantine Empire
  • May 7 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses due to an earthquake. Emperor Justinian I orders the dome to be rebuilt.
Europe
Asia

By topic

Religion

559

By place

Byzantine Empire
Britain
Asia

Births

550

  • probable
    • Pope Boniface IV (approximate date)
    • Finbarr of Cork, Irish bishop (approximate date)
    • Gallus, Irish missionary (approximate date)
    • Gaugericus, bishop of Cambrai (approximate date)
    • John Moschus, Byzantine monk (approximate date)
    • Peter III of Callinicum, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch (approximate date)[27]

551

552

553

554

555

  • Basolus, French Benedictine and hermit (approximate date)
  • Fatimah bint Asad, mother of Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 626)
  • Khadija, wife of Islamic prophet Muhammad (approximate date)

556

557

558

559

Deaths

550

551

552

553

554

555

556

557

558

559


References

  1. ^ Imperial Chinese Armies (p. 23). C.J. Peers, 1995. ISBN 978-1-85532-514-2
  2. ^ J.Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries, p. 251
  3. ^ a b Antonopoulos, 1980
  4. ^ Sbeinati, M.R.; Darawcheh R. & Mouty M (2005). "The historical earthquakes of Syria: an analysis of large and moderate earthquakes from 1365 B.C. to 1900 A.D." (PDF). Annals of Geophysics. 48 (3): 347–435. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum, chapter 46. Translation by Guido Donini and Gordon B. Ford, Isidore of Seville's History of the Goths, Vandals, and Suevi, second revised edition (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1970), p. 22
  6. ^ Bury (1958), p. 116
  7. ^ Greatrex & Lieu (2002), p. 118-119
  8. ^ Rance, Philip. "Narses and the Battle of Taginae (Busta Gallorum)". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte Vol. 54, No. 4 (2005), p. 424
  9. ^ Getica, p. 303
  10. ^ Leeds, E.T. (1954). "The Growth of Wessex". Oxoniensia. Oxford Architectural and Historical Society. LIX: 55–56. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  11. ^ Peter Connolly; John Gillingham; John Lazenby (13 May 2016). The Hutchinson Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Warfare. Taylor & Francis. pp. 457–. ISBN 978-1-135-93681-5.
  12. ^ O'Donnell, James. Liberius. p. 69.
  13. ^ Norwich, John Julius. Byzantium: The Early Centuries. p. 233.
  14. ^ "List of Rulers of Korea". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  15. ^ Cohen, Roger. "Return to Bamiyan", The New York Times, October 29, 2007. Accessed October 29, 2007.
  16. ^ Jean Leclerq, "The Love of Learning and the Desire for God", 2nd revised edition (New York: Fordham, Fordham University Press, (1977), p. 25
  17. ^ Robertson, A. H. F.; Parlak, Osman; Ünlügenç, Ulvi Can (2013). Geological Development of Anatolia and the Easternmost Mediterranean Region. Geological Society of London. p. 461. ISBN 9781862393530.
  18. ^ a b Ralph Alan Griffiths (29 June 2004). The Gwent County History: Gwent in prehistory and early history. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-1826-3.
  19. ^ Martindale, Jones & Morris 1992, pp. 560, 841, 1103–1104; Bury 1958, p. 118; Greatrex & Leu 2002, pp. 120–121
  20. ^ Myres, p. 162
  21. ^ Bury 1958, p. 119; Martindale, Jones & Morris 1992, pp. 752, 845–846; Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 121
  22. ^ Martindale, Jones & eMorris (1992), p. 81–82
  23. ^ Rome at War (AD 293–696), p. 59. Michael Whitby, 2002. ISBN 1-84176-359-4
  24. ^ Michael Whitby (2002-11-13). Rome at War AD 293-696. Osprey Publishing Company. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-84176-359-0.
  25. ^ （永定三年）使元黄头与诸囚自金凤台各乘纸鸱以飞，黄头独能至紫陌乃堕，仍付御史中丞毕义云饿杀之。 (Rendering: [In the 3rd year of Yongding, 559], Gao Yang conducted an experiment by having Yuan Huangtou and a few prisoners launch themselves from a tower in Ye, capital of the Northern Qi. Yuan Huangtou was the only one who survived from this flight, as he glided over the city-wall and fell at Zimo [western segment of Ye] safely, but he was later executed.) Zizhi Tongjian 167.
  26. ^ "List of Rulers of Korea". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  27. ^ Wickham, Lionel R. (2011). "Peter of Kallinikos". In Sebastian P. Brock; Aaron M. Butts; George A. Kiraz; Lucas Van Rompay (eds.). Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  28. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc (1998). The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  29. ^ Richard Willing Wentz (1884). Record of the Descendants of Johann Jost Wentz. Binghamton daily republican.
  30. ^ Alban Butler (1956). April, May, June. Burns & Oates.
  31. ^ Bhau Daji (1865). "Brief Notes on the Age and Authenticity of the Works of Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, Bhattotpala, and Bhaskaracharya". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. pp. 392–406. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016.
  32. ^ The Comprehensive Dictionary of Biography: Embracing a Series of Original Memoirs of the Most Distinguished Persons of All Countries, Living and Dead. To which is Added, A Classified List of the Most Distinguished Persons of All Times, Arranged Chronologically. R. Griffin. 1860. pp. 765–.
  33. ^ Warren T. Treadgold (October 1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press. pp. 211–. ISBN 978-0-8047-2630-6.
  34. ^ Glen Warren Bowersock; Peter Brown; Oleg Grabar (1999). Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World. Harvard University Press. pp. 536–. ISBN 978-0-674-51173-6.
  35. ^ Victor Cunrui Xiong (2009). Historical Dictionary of Medieval China. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 643–. ISBN 978-0-8108-6053-7.
  36. ^ Henry Fynes Clinton (1853). An Epitome of the Civil and Literary Chronology of Rome and Constantinople: From the Death of Augustus to the Death of Heraclius. University Press. pp. 235–.
  37. ^ 차용걸; 조순흠; 한국성곽학회 (2008). 삼년산성. 충청북도.
  38. ^ Patrick Amory (16 October 2003). People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489-554. Cambridge University Press. pp. 159–. ISBN 978-0-521-52635-7.
  39. ^ Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature (vol.3 & 4): A Reference Guide, Part Three & Four. BRILL. 22 September 2014. pp. 1541–. ISBN 978-90-04-27185-2.
  40. ^ John Insley Coddington; American Society of Genealogists; Association for the Promotion of Scholarship in Genealogy (1980). A Tribute to John Insley Coddington on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the American Society of Genealogists. Association for the Promotion of Scholarship in Genealogy.
  41. ^ Trish Clark (2010). France, United Kingdom, Ireland. HiddenSpring. pp. 215–. ISBN 978-1-58768-057-1.
  42. ^ Hồng Đức Trần; Anh Thư Hà (2000). A Brief Chronology of Vietnam's History. Thế Giới Publishers.
  43. ^ Parke Godwin (1860). The History of France: (Ancient Gaul). Harper & brothers. pp. 350–.
  44. ^ Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature (vol.3 & 4): A Reference Guide, Part Three & Four. BRILL. 22 September 2014. pp. 1697–. ISBN 978-90-04-27185-2.
  45. ^ Panayiotis Tzamalikos (June 8, 2012). The Real Cassian Revisited: Monastic Life, Greek Paideia, and Origenism in the Sixth Century. BRILL. p. 135. ISBN 90-04-22440-8.
  46. ^ Jinhua Chen (2002). Monks and monarchs, kinship and kingship: Tanqian in Sui Buddhism and politics. Scuola italiana di studi sull'Asia orientale. ISBN 978-4-900793-21-7.
  47. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica 1911 edition Childebert I
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