eclectic content (encyclopedia): the 6th century

the 6^th Century A.D.

449 Angles, Saxons and Jutes begin conquest of Britian
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c. 520	Rise of mathematics in Inda: Aryabhata and Varamihara invent decimal system
529	Rule of St. Benedict regulates Western monasticism
533	Justinian restores Roman power in North Africa and Italy (552)
538	S. Sophia, Constantinople, consecrated
c. 542	Bubonic plague ravages Europe
c. 550	Buddhism introduced into Japan by way of Korea (see Japan, below)
554	[Agriculture] Italian lands taken from the Ostrogoths are restored to their original owners by Justinian's Pragmatic Sanction, but the landowners have become serfs and the depopulated farmlands revert to wilderness.
563	St. Columba founds monastery of Iona: beginning of Irish mission to Anglo-Saxons
568	Lombard conquest of north Italy begins. (see Italy & the Balkans)
589	China reunified by Sui dynasty
590	Gregory I becomes the 64th pope (the first monk to be elected to the papacy).
597	Pope Gregory sends the monk Augustine with 40 other monks to convert the Jutes in the British Isles to Christianity. Augustine lands in Thanet, baptizes Ethelbert of Kent, and founds a Benedictine monastery at Canterbury.
598	- A population explosion begins in northern and western Europe as the new agriculture (see 598, below) increases the availability of food. - The first English school is founded at Canterbury.

Italy & the Balkans
590
- Gregory I becomes the 64th pope- the first monk to be elected to the papacy- and at age 50 begins a 14-year administration of rigorous discipline during which Rome's aqueducts will be repaired, her courts reformed, and her people fed with doles of grain as they were under the old imperial rule.
- A plague strikes Rome but subsides, allegedly after Pope Gregory recieves a vision of the Destroying Angel sheathing his sword atop the mausoleum of emperor Hadrian (built 139 A.D.; thereafter renamed the Castel Sant' Angelo).
- The Lombard king Authari dies after a 6-year reign and is succeeded by Turin's Thuringian Duke Agilulf, who marries the widow of the late king Alboin's grandson, founds a Roman Catholic Lombard state, and will reign until 615.
591
- The Byzantine emperor Maurice restores Persia's Chosroes II to his throne, and receives territorial concessions for his help.
- Lombard forces under Agilulf extend their advances in northern Italy
592
- The Byzantine emperor Maurice sends troops against the Avars and Slavs who have been threatening the Balkans and Constantinople.
598
- The Byzantine emperor Maurice makes peace with the Lombard king Agilulf, conceding northern Italy.
Japan
592
-The Japanese emperor Sushun is murdered after 5 years on the throne by agents of his uncle Umako Soga, who is jealous of the emperor's power.
593
- Sushun is succeeded by the widow of the late emperor Bintas; now 38, she will reign for 35 years as the empress Suiko.
- The empress Suiko is the first Japanese emperor to receive official recognition from China. Her 35-year reign will be a pivotal period in which Buddhism will take firm root and Japanese culture will be sinoized (made more Chinese).
- Suiko's son, Crown Prince Shotoku, 19, is made prime minister and (with strongman Umako Soga) will hold power for 30 years.
- Construction begins at Osaka of the Temple of Four Heavenly Kings (Shitenno-ji), a buddhist monastery, by order of Crown Prince Shotoku.
594
- Empress Suiko announces that she will support Buddhism.
598 [Agriculture] Food production increases in northern and western Europe as a result of agricultural technology introduced by the Slavs, who have made it possible to farm virgin lands whose heavy clay has discouraged agriculture. The Slavs employ a new, lightweight plow with a knife blade (coulter) that cuts vertically, deep into the soil, and a plowshare that cuts horizontally at grassroots level, together with a shaped board, or moldboard, that moves the cut soil or turf neatly to one side.