600s (decade)

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Millennium: 1st millennium
Centuries:
Decades:
Years:
  • 600
  • 601
  • 602
  • 603
  • 604
  • 605
  • 606
  • 607
  • 608
  • 609
Categories:
  • Births
  • Deaths
  • Establishments
  • Disestablishments

The 600s decade ran from January 1, 600, to December 31, 609.

Events

600

This section is transcluded from AD 600. ( | )

By place[]

Europe[]
  • King Chlothar II of Neustria is defeated by his nephews, Theudebert II and Theuderic II, at Dormelles (approximate date).
  • Germanic and Slavic peoples have tremendous population growth, with the Slavs colonizing the Balkan Peninsula.[1]
  • Rome continues as part of the Byzantine Empire. The Italian mainland is divided into independent cities and duchies.[2]
  • Venice continues as an independent realm, having been built up from fishing villages and settled by fugitives.[3]
  • Dorestad, lying in a fork between two branches of the Rhine, is established by the Franks as a trade center.[4]
  • King Agilulf of the Lombards and Queen Theodelinda build a palace complex at Monza, northeast of Milan.
  • Moravians gain independence, by holding off the attacks from the Avars and the Franks who try to invade.
  • According to Ynglinga saga, king Ingvar of Sweden invades Adalsysla (present day Lääne County in Estonia), but is killed by the locals (approximate date).[5]
  • Smallpox arrives in Western Europe for the first time (approximate date).
Britain[]
  • The Welsh bard, Prince Aneirin of the Pennines (North West of England), writes the poem, "Y Gododdin", recording the events of the Battle of Catraeth.
  • The Britons of Strathclyde (Scotland), Wales and Cornwall are all separated by the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.[6]
Asia[]
  • The first of the Japanese embassies to Imperial China is sent (approximate date).[citation needed]
  • The Persians begin to use windmills for irrigation (approximate date).
  • Namri Songtsen becomes the new king of Tibet (approximate date).
  • Chaturanga is played in its current form in India (approximate date).
  • Yangdi, a Sui emperor, extends the Grand Canal. He reportedly assumes power by poisoning his father. Ma Shu-mou, aka Mahu, was one of the canal overseers and was said to have eaten a steamed 2-year-old child each day he worked on the canal. On completion the canal extended for 1,100 miles. 5.5 million people were pressed into service to complete the 1,550 mile canal.
  • Quill pens, made from the outer feathers of crows and other large birds, became popular. The first books are printed in China.
  • The oldest inscription in Mon language dated from 600 AD. later found at Wat Phorang, Thailand.
  • Mu becomes king of the Korean kingdom of Baekje.[7]
Mesoamerica[]
  • Loma Caldera (El Salvador) erupts, burying the Maya village of Joya de Cerén (approximate date).
  • The Hopewell tradition (North America) ceases to be the dominant culture (approximate date).
  • The city of Teotihuacan (Central Mexico) begins to grow unstable, as they exhaust their resources until their inevitable collapse (possibly caused by the Toltec) circa 700.
  • Moche culture ends in the Andes (approximate date).
  • Nazca culture ends in the Andes (approximate date).
  • The Wari Empire is established in The Andes (approximate date)
  • The Middle Horizon period starts in the Andes.
Pacific Ocean[]
  • Early settlers from the Marquesas build the and on Kauai, Hawaii.

By topic[]

Arts and sciences[]
  • The Germanic peoples, due to the more abundant food supply available, use the "moldboard" plow, introduced by the Slavs in Eastern Europe. The plow works the land with horses and oxen.[8]
  • The earliest references to chess are made in the Persian work Karnamak-i-Artakhshatr-i-Papakan, and the Indian works of Subandhu's Vasavadatta and Banabhatta's Harsha Charitha.
  • 600-750 - Maguey Bloodletting Ritual, fragment of a fresco from Teotihuacan, Mexico, is made. Teotihuacan culture. It is now kept at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
  • 600-900 - Palace and Temple of the Inscriptions (tomb-pyramid of K'inich Janaab' Pakal), Palenque, Mexico, are built. Maya culture.
  • 600-900 - Cylindrical vessel is made. Maya culture. It is now kept at the Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey.
  • (Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbott) recounts a 7-year trip to a land across the sea by the Irish saint and a band of acolytes about this time.
Religion[]
  • Feb 16 – Pope Gregory the Great decrees "God bless You" as the religiously correct response to a sneeze.
  • Pope Gregory I codifies what comes to be known as the Gregorian chant.
  • Construction on the monastery of St. Catherine is begun on Mount Sinai.
  • Irish missionaries preach in Scotland and Germany (approximate date).
  • Chinese-influenced sculptures of Buddha begin to be created in Japan.
  • Sumatra, Java, and the surrounding islands are converted to Buddhism.
  • Augustine of Canterbury converts Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity (approximate date).
  • Nubian rulers become Christian (approximate date).
World[]
  • The population of the Earth rises to about 208 million people (approximate date).

601

This section is transcluded from AD 601. ( | )

By place[]

Byzantine Empire[]
Europe[]
  • The Franks, Merovingians and Carolingians successively control most of Europe, while strong feudal lords rise in power to gain the allegiance of the people.
  • The Lombards under King Agilulf expand into Northern Italy, establishing a settlement with the Franks and maintaining intermittent relationships with Rome.
  • Liuva II, age 18,[9] succeeds his father Reccared I as king of the Visigoths. Reccared dies a natural death at the capital in Toledo[10] after a 15-year reign.

By topic[]

Arts and sciences[]
  • The Qieyun, a Chinese character rhyme dictionary, is published.
Agriculture[]
  • Food production increases in northern and Western Europe as a result of agricultural technology introduced by the Slavs, who employ a lightweight plow with a knife blade (coulter), that cuts deep into the soil at grassroots level, together with a shaped board, or "moldboard", that moves the cut soil to one side.
Religion[]
  • The future Archbishops of Canterbury (Mellitus, Justus, and Honorius), and the future Archbishop of York Paulinus, are sent to England by Pope Gregory I to aid Augustine in his missionary work. Gregory writes the decretal Libellus responsionum to Augustine.

602

This section is transcluded from AD 602. ( | )

By place[]

Byzantine Empire[]
  • Emperor Maurice succeeds in winning over the Avars to Byzantine rule, but his campaigns against the Avars, Lombards, Persians and Slavs drain the imperial treasury, requiring an increase in taxes. He orders the troops to stay for winter beyond the Danube, but a mutiny breaks out under Phocas. He brings the Byzantine forces back over the Danube and marches on to Constantinople.[11]
  • November 27 – A civil war breaks out and Phocas enters Constantinople. Maurice is captured trying to escape; he is forced to witness the slaughter of his five sons and all his supporters, and is then executed (beheaded) after a 20-year reign. His wife, Constantina, and his three daughters are spared, and sent to a monastery. Phocas is proclaimed the new emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
  • Byzantine–Persian War: King Khosrau II launches an offensive against Constantinople, to avenge Maurice's death, his "friend and father", and tries to reconquer Byzantine territory. Narses, governor of Upper Mesopotamia, rebels against Phocas at the city of Edessa and requests aid from the Persians. Khosrau sends an expeditionary force to Armenia and crosses the Euphrates.
Europe[]
  • Spring – Witteric is appointed commander-in-chief of the Visigoth army, and receives orders from King Liuva II to expel the Byzantines from Hispania.
Persia[]
  • Khosrau II annexes the Lakhmid Kingdom (Southern Iraq), and puts king Nu'man III to death.
Asia[]

By topic[]

Religion[]
  • Augustine of Canterbury meets with the Welsh bishops at Aust near Chepstow. He accuses them of not adopting the Roman Christian way of dating Easter, and persuades them to accept the teaching of baptism (according to the Roman Rite).[13]
  • Muawiyah bin Abi-Sufyan Caliph of Syria born in 602 A.D

603

This section is transcluded from AD 603. ( | )

By place[]

Europe[]
  • Spring – Witteric, counting on the support of the nobles, attacks the royal palace in Toledo, and overthrows King Liuva II. He cuts off his right hand, and has him executed. Witteric becomes the new king of the Visigoths.[14]
  • King Agilulf besieges Cremona, and with the assistance of the Slavs the city is destroyed. He captures Padua and Mantua (Northern Italy); its territory is divided between the Lombard duchies of Brescia and Bergamo.
  • Agilulf, under the influence of his wife Theodelinda, abandons Arianism for Catholicism, and is (with his son Adaloald) baptised in the Cathedral of Monza, where later the Iron Crown of Lombardy is installed.
  • The last mention of the Roman Senate is made (according to the Gregorian register). It mentions that the Senate has acclaimed new statues of Emperor Phocas and Empress Leontia.[15]
Britain[]
Asia[]

By topic[]

Religion[]
  • Schuttern Abbey (Germany) is founded by the wandering Irish monk Offo.
  • The future Pope Boniface III is appointed papal legate to Constantinople.

604

This section is transcluded from AD 604. ( | )

By place[]

Byzantine Empire[]
  • The Avars regroup after they are almost destroyed; together with the Slavs they start pillaging through the Byzantine provinces, west and south of the Danube. Due to the new Persian war, Emperor Phocas has few imperial troops available to defend the Balkan Peninsula.[16]
  • Byzantine–Persian War: King Khosrau II captures the Byzantine positions east of the Euphrates; the Persians destroy many cities in the Levant region, after prolonged sieges such as the Byzantine fortress of Dara (modern Turkey).[17]
Europe[]
  • Queen Brunhilda of Austrasia conspires to have Berthoald, Mayor of the Palace, assassinated. She convinces King Theuderic II to send him to inspect the royal villae along the Seine. Brunhilda then has the noblemen who actually carried out the murder arrested and killed.
  • December 25 – Battle of Ėtampes: Theuderic II, with the aid of Berthoald, defeats the Frankish forces under King Chlothar II of Neustria, at Étampes (near Paris).
Britain[]
Asia[]
  • August 13 – Emperor Wéndi, age 63, is assassinated by his son Yángdi, after a 23-year reign in which he has attacked hereditary privilege and reduced the power of the military aristocracy. He is succeeded by Yángdi, who becomes the second emperor of the Sui Dynasty.
  • Prince Shotoku, imperial regent of Empress Suiko, issues a Seventeen-article constitution, based on both Confucian and Buddhist principles in Japan.[20]

By topic[]

Religion[]
  • March 12 – Pope Gregory I (the Great) dies at Rome, after a 14-year reign. He has laid the foundations which claim papal absolutism, pioneered the conversion of Britain to Roman Catholicism and enunciated what will come to be known as the "seven deadly sins". Gregory is succeeded by Sabinian as the 65th pope of the Catholic Church.
  • May 26 – Augustine, Archbishop of Canterbury, is succeeded by Laurence. He is a member of the Gregorian mission (see 596).
  • Æthelberht of Kent founds St. Paul's Cathedral. Mellitus is appointed the first Saxon bishop of London (and Essex).
  • The See of Rochester is established, and Justus is appointed as bishop. He founds Rochester Cathedral (Kent).

605

This section is transcluded from AD 605. ( | )

By place[]

Byzantine Empire[]
  • Emperor Phocas recognizes Agilulf as king of the Lombards, and signs a peace treaty. He pays a tribute and cedes Orvieto (Central Italy), among other towns. The Byzantine army is withdrawn from the Balkan Peninsula.
  • Phocas has Constantina, empress consort of Maurice, and her three daughters arrested. He accuses her of conspiracy, and has them executed at Chalcedon (Bithynia).
Britain[]
  • King Æthelfrith annexes the neighboring kingdom of Deira (Northern England). The region between the Forth and Humber rivers will hereafter be known as Northumbria, the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
Persia[]
  • As a result of a quarrel between the Lakhmids (Southern Iraq) and King Khosrau II, the Persian frontier with Arabia is no longer guarded (approximate date).
Asia[]
  • Emperor Yángdi orders the capital to be transferred from Chang'an to Luoyang. He begins the construction of the Grand Canal, that will link existing waterways to the new Chinese capital; it will be built by a million laborers.
  • Yángdi introduces an imperial examination, designed to select the best administrative officials (after they receive the jinshi) for the state; this begins a long bureaucratic tradition of scholar-officialdom in China.
  • The Zhaozhou Bridge is completed under the Sui Dynasty, the earliest known fully stone open-spandrel segmental arch bridge in the world (although the earlier Roman Trajan's Bridge featured segmental arches).
  • Amshuvarma becomes king of the Licchavi in Nepal. He is credited for opening trade routes to Tibet. His ruling period is known as the "Golden Period".
Mesoamerica[]

606

This section is transcluded from AD 606. ( | )

By place[]

Europe[]
  • Queen Brunhilda pressures her grandson Theuderic II to go to war against his brother, Theudebert II of Austrasia. She puts Protadius, Mayor of the Palace, in charge of the Burgundian army. At the palace of Quierzy (Picardy), Theuderic assembles his army. The soldiers under Uncelen, Duke of Alemannia, refuse to fight against their countrymen, and declare that the king orders Protadius' death. He is killed by the Frankish warriors, and Theuderic is forced to sign a peace treaty.
Britain[]
  • Cearl succeeds Pybba as king of Mercia (English Midlands).
Asia[]
  • King Harsha of Thanesar establishes a northern Indian Empire, and unites the small monarchical states, from Punjab to the Indus Valley (modern Pakistan).[23]
  • Shashanka is the first recorded independent king of Bengal. He establishes his capital in modern-day Murshidabad (approximate date).

By topic[]

Religion[]
  • February 22 – Sabinian dies at Rome after a two-year reign, and will not be replaced until 607.
  • The diocese of Aquileia becomes a patriarchate (approximate date).

607

This section is transcluded from AD 607. ( | )

By place[]

Europe[]
  • Visigoths, Austrasians, Neustrians and Lombards form an alliance against King Theuderic II of Burgundy, whose grandmother and sister have murdered Theuderic's wife Ermenberga, daughter of Witteric, king of the Visigoths. Fighting takes place around Narbonne, but little is known of the details or outcome (approximate date).
  • Queen Brunhilda has Uncelen, Duke of Alemannia, removed from office after his foot is cut off as revenge for Protadius' death (according to the Lex Alamannorum).
Britain[]
Asia[]
  • August 1 – Empress Suiko appoints Ono no Imoko as official envoy to the Sui Court (Japanese missions to Imperial China). She sends him to pay tribute to Emperor Yángdi, and let him deliver the famous letter from prince-regent Shōtoku which begins: "The Son of Heaven where the sun rises (Japan), to the Son of Heaven where the sun sets (China), may good health be with you." (Traditional Japanese date: July 3, 607).
  • Yángdi is offended by his general Gao Jiong, who makes several comments critical of the emperor's policies, against Tujue submissive Yami Qaghan. He is executed (beheaded), and Gao's sons are exiled to the border provinces (Northern China).

By topic[]

Religion[]
  • February 19 – The vacancy (sede vacante) that has existed on the papal throne, since the death last year of Sabinian, ends with the election of a Rome-born deacon of the Catholic Church. Pope Boniface III is appointed as the 66th pope, but dies the same year.
  • Emperor Phocas bestows the title "Universal Bishop" upon Boniface III, in an effort to improve relations with Rome.
  • October 11 – Thomas I is appointed as the 60th patriarch of Constantinople.
  • The Hōryū-ji Buddhist temple in Ikaruga, near Nara (Japan), is constructed.

608

This section is transcluded from AD 608. ( | )

By place[]

Byzantine Empire[]
Europe[]
  • August 1 – The Column of Phocas at Rome is dedicated in honour of Phocas. The Corinthian column has a height of 13.6 m (44 ft).
Britain[]
Asia[]
  • Sui Dynasty Emperor Yang of Sui expresses the desire to control routes to the West, leading to two and a half centuries of Chinese military and trading activities in Central Asia.

By topic[]

Religion[]
  • September 25 – Pope Boniface IV succeeds Boniface III, as the 67th pope of Rome.
  • The observance of Halloween in the Roman Catholic Church is first recorded.
  • The Georgian Orthodox Church returns to Chalcedonism (approximate date).

609

This section is transcluded from AD 609. ( | )

By place[]

Byzantine Empire[]
  • Nicetas, cousin of future emperor Heraclius, launches an overland invasion in Egypt. He defeats a Byzantine army under Bonus (comes Orientis) outside Alexandria, sent from Constantinople.
Persia[]
Asia[]
  • Emperor Yángdi completes the Grand Canal; it provides an unbroken inland ship transport between the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. The canal network is 1,776 km (1,400 miles) long—linking five river systems—and extends from Beijing to the city of Hangzhou.
  • The Sui Dynasty government records a tax census of roughly 9 million registered households in the Chinese Empire, a population size of roughly 50 million people.
  • Shibi Khan becomes the ninth ruler (khagan) of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate (approximate date).

By topic[]

Religion[]
  • May 13 – The Pantheon in Rome is consecrated as "St. Mary and the Martyrs" (informally known as "Santa Maria Rotonda") by Pope Boniface IV (or 610).[27]

Significant people[]

Births[]

Transcluding articles: 600, 601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, 607, 608, and 609

600

  • September 11 – Yuknoom the Great a Maya ruler of Calakmul
  • Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muslim caliph and Shī‘ah imām (approximate date)
  • Audomar, bishop of Thérouanne (approximate date)
  • Bhāskara I, Indian mathematician (approximate date)
  • Birinus, bishop of Dorchester (approximate date)
  • Candrakīrti, Indian Madhyamaka philosopher
  • Cunibert, bishop of Cologne (approximate date)
  • Judoc, Breton noble and Catholic saint (d. 668)
  • Li Shimin, son of Chinese General Li Yuan (the )
  • Remaclus, bishop of Maastricht (approximate date)
  • Wandregisel, Frankish monk and abbot (approximate date)
  • Yan Liben, Chinese painter (approximate date)

601

  • September 13 – Ali, central figure in Shia Islam (d. 661)
  • Hongren, Chán (Buddhist) patriarch of the Tang Dynasty (d. 674)
  • Ma Zhou, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 648)
  • Sigebert II, king of Austrasia and Burgundy (d. 613)
  • Zhangsun, empress of the Tang Dynasty (d. 636)

602

  • Adaloald, king of the Lombards (d. 626)
  • Li Chunfeng, Chinese mathematician and historian (d. 670)
  • Liu Rengui, general and official of the Tang dynasty (d. 685)
  • Muawiyah I, founder of the Umayyad Caliphate (d. 680)
  • Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury (d. 690)
  • Xuanzang, Chinese Buddhist monk and traveler (d. 664)
  • Zhiyan, Chinese (Buddhist) patriarch (d. 668)

603

604

  • Oswald, king (bretwalda) of Northumbria (approximate date)

605

  • Chlodulf, bishop of Metz
  • Colmán, bishop of Lindisfarne (approximate date)
  • Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad (approximate date)
  • Yang You, puppet emperor of the Sui Dynasty (d. 619)
  • Sisenand, king of the Visigoths (approximate date)
  • Yang Tong, puppet emperor of the Sui Dynasty (d. 619)

606

  • Hafsa bint Umar, daughter of Umar and wife of Muhammad
  • Han Yuan, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 659)

607

608

609

  • Audoin, bishop of Rouen (d. 686)
  • Hafsa bint Umar, wife of Muhammad (approximate date)

Deaths[]

Transcluding articles: 600, 601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, 607, 608, and 609

600

601

  • March 13 or 600 – Leander, bishop of Seville
  • Agilulf, bishop of Metz
  • Reccared I, king of the Visigoths (b. 559)
  • Sophia, Byzantine Empress (approximate date)

602

603

604

605

606

607

  • November 12 – Pope Boniface III
  • Desiderius, archbishop of Vienne (approximate date)
  • Gao Jiong, general of the Sui Dynasty
  • Trudpert, Irish missionary (or 644)

608

609

References[]

  1. ^ McNeill, William H, "Plagues and Peoples". (Anchor Press/Doubleday, Garden City, New York 1977)
  2. ^ McEvedy, Colin, "The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History". (Rupert Hart-Davis and Crowell-Collier, U.S.A. 1978)
  3. ^ Trager, James, "The Peoples Chronology". (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, 1979)
  4. ^ Sawyer P.H., "Kings & Vikings A.D, 600–1100". (Methuen, London & New York, 1982)
  5. ^ Tvauri, Andres (2012). The Migration Period, Pre-Viking Age, and Viking Age in Estonia. p. 29. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  6. ^ McVedy, Colin, "The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History". (Fletcher & Son Ltd., Norwich, England 1967)
  7. ^ a b "List of Rulers of Korea". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  8. ^ Tannahill, Reay, "Food in History". (Stein & Day, New York 1973)
  9. ^ Roger Collins, "Visigothic Spain 409–711", (Blackwell Publishing,2004, p.73
  10. ^ Ann Christys, "Christians in Al-Andalus, 711–1000", p. 37 (Curzon Press, 2002). ISBN 0-7007-1564-9
  11. ^ Fine, John V. A. Jr. (1991) [1983]. The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. p. 33. ISBN 0-472-08149-7.
  12. ^ Guidoboni, Traina, 1995, p. 118
  13. ^ The "Latin Library". Ad Fontes Academy, (2008)
  14. ^ Roger Collins, "Visigothic Spain 409–711", p. 73
  15. ^ Jeffrey Richards. The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages, 476–752, p. 246
  16. ^ Fine, John V. A. Jr. (1991) [1983]. The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. p. 33. ISBN 0-472-08149-7.
  17. ^ Essential Histories: Rome at War AD 293–696 (2002), Michael Whitby, p. 60. ISBN 1-84176-359-4
  18. ^ Bede, "Historia Ecclesiastica", I.34, III.6; "Historia Brittonum", chapter 61
  19. ^ Geoffrey Hindley, A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: "The beginnings of the English nation" New York: Carrol & Graf Publishers (2006), p. 33–36. ISBN 978-0-7867-1738-5
  20. ^ W.G. Aston, trans., Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697, 2 vols. in 1 (London: Keagan and Co., 1896), vol. 2, p. 128–133
  21. ^ Ajen Yohl Mat
  22. ^ "Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens" by Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube
  23. ^ "Harsha | Indian emperor". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-05-16.
  24. ^ ASC Parker MS. AD 607
  25. ^ Essential Histories: Rome at War AD 293–696 (2002), Michael Whitby, p. 60. ISBN 1-84176-359-4
  26. ^ Kaegi 2003, p. 41
  27. ^ MacDonald 1976, p. 18
  28. ^ Wade, Geoff (2014). Asian Expansions: The Historical Experiences of Polity Expansion in Asia. Routledge. p. 77. ISBN 9781135043537.
  29. ^ The Oxford companion to Scottish history. Oxford University Press. p. 5. ISBN 9780199693054.
  30. ^ Wilmshurst, David (2019). "West Syrian patriarchs and maphrians". In Daniel King (ed.). The Syriac World. Routledge. pp. 806–813.

Bibliography[]

  • MacDonald, William L. (1976). The Pantheon : design, meaning, and progeny. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01019-1.
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