The First Millenium

[Vince]

Let's see what happens in 549.

Agila I becomes king of the Visigoths in Spain. He isn't too successful. His subjects don't like the Visigothic kingdom, and they welcome the Byzantine invaders as liberators. During his six-year reign, the Byzantines capture much of southern Spain.

Jealous and suspicious, Emperor Justinian I had recalled General Belisarius to Constantinople, replacing him with Narses. A devout Catholic, Narses was a military expert who managed to stop the Ostrogoths from re-taking all of Italy. But a jealous Justinian I recalls him as well.

 

[Vince]

A lot of things happen in the year 550.


The Sun (Soga) dynasty ascends to the throne of Japan and the capital is moved to their homeland, the Asuka valley in the central Yamato plain. The Soga clan becomes the first family of nobility to take control of the government, ruling into the seventh century. They pass laws allowing the Japanese to practice Buddhism.

And the term "Shinto" is introduced to differentiate the native Japanese religion from Buddhism and Confucianism. Shinto practices will not be recorded for another two centuries, but it is a blend of various native religions and folklore that deal with the creation of Japan and the rule of the gods over Japan. Even today, many Japanese practice some form of Shinto in addition to their main religion.

Bounded by water on three sides, Wales becomes a separate British kingdom about this time. Its people are a mixture of Germans, Romans, Britons, and local natives. It had kings before this, but various small kingdoms are now united into one.

About this time, the crucifix is introduced for religious purposes, but they do not become common for another five centuries.

Jewish scholars complete the Babylonian Talmud, although revisions will be made for another 200 years.


In the United States, native peoples in southwest Colorado began building pit houses. Found the world over, these are rooms dug in the ground with roofs of mud and logs. To get in or out, people used a ladder through a hole in the roof that doubled as a smoke vent-unpleasant for humans but a good way to keep animals out. Generally, cultures that built pit houses only lived in them during emergencies. They were used mainly to store food.

 

[Vince]

So much happened in the year 550 that we're giving it another day.

Christian missionaries smuggle silkworm larvae from China to Constantinople, and the silk industry now appears in Byzantia.

Hindu mathematicians give "zero" its own numeral digit.

In northern China, the Northern Qi Dynasty begins. China is still divided into two nations.

In India, the once-mighty Gupta Empire had been reduced to a small kingdom and finally disappears.

In Central America, Quirigua was a small city located at the junction of several trade routes. This year, the Mayans begins building up the city. Never very important, it contains many statues, including the tallest statues ever found in the Americas.

The Suevi were a small Germanic tribe that had mostly blended in with other Germans. Their king converts to Catholicism this year.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to 551.

Vince breaks his arm and doesn't post for two days.

Beirut, Lebanon, on the eastern Mediterranean shore, is devastated by an earthquake and tidal wave. Overall, about 30,000 people are killed in Beirut alone.

The victorious Byzantine Empire reaches southern Spain. Except for parts of Italy, the entire Mediterranean is once again enclosed.

"The Origin and History of the Goths" is published. A summary of other books that have disappeared, it is the only contemporary Goth history to survive.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to 552.

The Lombards, on Italy's northern border, are forced to provide troops for the Byzantines. They defeat what's left of the Gepids, killing their king in battle.

In Britain, the kingdom of Wessex captures the still-powerful Roman fort at Old Sarum from the Britons.

The Gokturks enter our history. A confederation of nomads in central Asia, they form the first Turkish nation. A small, unimportant state. it expands rapidly for the next two centuries north of modern Turkey. But they absorb other tribes who eventually become the Turkish people. After helping the Chinese defeat a common enemy, their leader was told by the Chinese that he was only their "blacksmith slave," which still confounds historians. His successful revolt and expansion eventually dominated central Asia.

 

[Vince]

And now it is 553.

The Ostrogoth kingdom of Italy is conquered by the Byzantines. The Byzantines had defeated the Ostrogoths in northern Italy and then besieged Rome. The Ostrogoths in southern Italy send an army, but the Byzantines defeat them near Mount Vesuvius. Learning this, the Franks quickly invade Italy, but they are defeated, and Italy is now part of the Byzantine Empire.

Most Ostrogoths had already blended in and become Italians. Others fled to Austria, France and Spain, where they blended in and disappeared.

In Korea, the three kingdoms go to war with each other over possession of central Korea.

Emperor Justinian calls the Fifth Ecumenical Council in Constantinople. Presided over by the Patriarch, only 16 western bishops attend. Viciously persecuting dissenters, the Council actually got parts of northern Italy to break communion with Rome for the next century and a half.

Moon-Jaguar, the tenth Mayan ruler of Copan, becomes king. Copan is located in modern Honduras, in Central America. At its height, the kingdom only included about 20,000 people, but it exerted control all the way into southern Mexico.

 

[Vince]

Things really roar in 554.


The Church of Armenia officially breaks with the West. A few decades earlier it had broken with the Eastern Church, and it still exists today.

The victorious Byzantine army seizes more territory in Spain from the Visigoths. With help from the Byzantines, Athanagild assassinates the Visigoth king and seizes the throne. Although an Arian, he immediately ends all persecution of Catholics, winning their loyalty. But the Byzantines betray him, holding on to captured territory, He eventually builds a splendid court, but spends his reign at war with neighbors who want to seize more of Spain.

Afghanistan completes the second of two Buddhas of Bamiyan. These two standing Buddhas were carved out of the side of a cliff. In 2001, the Taliban dynamited both of them.

 

[Vince]

And now it is 555.

Latakia, the chief port city of Syria, is devastated by an earthquake.

Around this time, Taliesin is the greatest of the English bards. He serves in different British courts as a story-teller, poet, singer, and historian.

 

[Vince]

It is already 556.

Pelagius I was Pope from 556 to March 4, 561. He was the second pope of the Byzantine Papacy, and like his predecessor, was not made a saint by the Catholic Church. He served as the Pope’s representative while the Pope was in Constantinople, and when Rome had fallen to the Goths in 546, he had persuaded them not to massacre the citizens.

As Pope, Pelagius I tried hard to reconcile factions in France and western Europe, changing his position often enough that after his death, the Popes after him had a hard time restoring control in those areas.

Cynricm king of Wessex, defeats the Britains at Barbury Castle. It isn't really a castle; it is an ancient fort formed by hilly terrain that had been used as a military site for centuries.

 

[Vince]

557 is a very quiet year.

Cyriacus the Hermit dies at the age of 109. An extreme ascetic who once had gone ten years without speaking, he amazed even his fellow monks by his voluntary hardships.

In France, the Abbey of St. Medard is founded. Six centuries later it was so wealthy that it minted its own coins. Six centuries after that, it was abolished in the French Revolution.

 

[Vince]

History gets interesting in 558.

Chlothar the Old, the last surviving son of Clovis, finally re-unites the entire Frankish kingdom. By murder and conquest, he had seized the parts of the kingdom Clovis had willed to others. And now he starts wars with the Germans, eventually seizing much of Germany and even collecting tribute from the Saxons in England.

Conall mac Comgaill becomes king of Dál Riata. His sixteen-year reign over northwest Scotland and northeast Ireland is peaceful, and later kings were able to bring in a Golden Age.

The Turks are on their way up. They unite with the Persians to defeat the White Huns.

In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses. Justinian I orders the dome rebuilt.

 

[Vince]

It's 559, and General Belisarus is back in the news. Recalled to Constantinople by a jealous Emperor Justinian, he faces an invasion by the Huns. With their Bulgarian allies, the Huns invade northern Byzantia and are soundly defeated.

Forget the Wright Brothers! The Chinese successfully launch Yuan Huangtou into the sky and bring him back safely--on a kite. The poor fellow was a prisoner who was forced to participate. Later, he was executed.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to 560!

Emperor Justinian about this time returned the treasure of Jerusalem, plundered by the Romans in 70 AD, to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Folks, I can’t find much information on this, except that most of this treasure was gone long before the year 560.

Conflicting records say that about this time, Æthelberht of Kent becomes king of southeastern England. Married to a Frankish princess, he quickly gains control of various other German kingdoms in southern England, and is sometimes considered the first king of England. He later converts to Catholicism and enthusiastically helps spread Catholicism in England.

In the extreme southwestern part of England, Dumnonia finds itself isolated by rival kingdoms, Their king retires to a monastery where he is murdered, and his son takes over. But the doomed kingdom only survives a few more decades.

After making a copy of the Psalms by hand, Saint Columba is informed that he cannot keep it. A pitched battle follows, with an unknown number of men killed, and a synod places he blame on Columba. He exiles himself from Ireland to Scotland, where he spreads Christianity.

 

[Vince]

And now it is 561.

Clotaire I dies, and once again the kingdom of the Franks is divided up among the dead king's sons.

John III was Pope from 561 to July 13, 574. The third Pope in a row not to be declared a saint, it might not have been his fault. The Lombards conquered Rome during this time and destroyed almost all mention of him.

Pope John III made the mistake of restoring two condemned bishops and backing a general who was later deposed by the Emperor. However, sparce records indicate that he was a generous and honest man.

 

[Vince]

562

Tikal in Guatemala is conquered by a coalition of Mayans. The Maya Empire actually consisted of a multitude of small kingdoms separated by jungle, and usually with sparse populations. Calakmul, in Mexico, was probably involved in the attack. At this time, Calakmul is one of the largest of Mayan cities with more than 6,000 structures.

General Belisarius, who had returned Italy to the Byzantine Empire and defeated a Hun invasion of Byzantium, is put on trial for corruption. Almost certainly innocent, he is imprisoned but pardoned shortly afterwards.

In Korea, the kingdom of Silla conquers the kingdom of Gaya.

 

[Vince]

563

Having led a bloody battle against fellow monks, Columba, an Irish monk, is exiled to Scotland. There he conducts successful missionary work among the Picts, founds several successful monasteries, and strengthens the influence of monasticism.

A bizarre weather pattern begins thirty years of flooding in northern Peru.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to 564, which is a very slow year.

Tudwal, an Irish monk, had founded a large monastery in northern France. Childebert I, King of the Franks, had successfully demanded that Tudwal be made a bishop. Tudwal dies this year of natural causes.

 

[Vince]

565 is an exciting year!

565

In Scotland, Saint Columba reports seeing the Loch Ness Monster. Scientists today agree that if it ever existed, it is now extinct. The number of sightings has never been high, and the possibility that a family of large sea creatures used to inhabit Loch Ness is not taken seriously by scientists. Winds, waves, fog, and imagination are the best explanation.

But Columba was firm in his report, although it was not recorded for another century. Biologists suggest that the creature Columba described was a walrus. The walrus population back then was much higher than today, and they might actually have migrated that far south and then some remained trapped there.

On the death of his uncle, Justin II begins his thirteen-year reign as Byzantine Emperor. Faced with a bankrupt treasury and surrounded by enemy nations, he presides over the loss of the Roman territory that Byzantia had regained. Growing steadily more insane, he eventually abdicates.

The sixth century's newest ethnic group is on the move! The Turks conquer the Uyghurs, a blend of Chinese and Russian nomads. But the Uyghurs are never absorbed by the Turks, and today they live in China and Mongolia, not Turkey.

 

[Vince]

Get ready for 566!

You might remember that the Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt was called "pope" long before the bishop of Rome. Pope Theodosius I of Alexandria had split the Eastern Orthodox Church when he decided that Jesus only had one Nature, and that split remains unhealed to this day. As a result, he spent the last 28 years of his life in prison. His successor, Pope Peter IV of Alexandria, agrees with him, so he spends his entire term outside of Alexandria, so the Emperor can't arrest him.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to 567!

It's a big year for Athanagild, king of the Visigoths in Spain. You might remember that with the help of the Byzantines, he had assassinated the Visigothic king and seized the throne, but the Byzantines had then kept territory in southern Spain while expanding farther into Spain. But Athanagild had kept a splendid court, and this year one of his daughters marries Chilperic I, a Frankish king. Another daughter marries Sigebert I, another Frankish king. Incredibly, Athanagild dies peacefully in his sleep, and his two brothers take over the Visigothic kingdom.

Meanwhile, the Avars are expanding through eastern and central Europe. They conquer the Gepids, a minor Germanic tribe, although the Gepids will survive for another century.

In France, the Second Council of Tours decrees that any cleric found in bed with his wife would be excommunicated for a year and reduced to the lay state; nor might monks sleep two to a bed.