530s

Millennium:	1st millennium
Centuries:	5th century – 6th century – 7th century
Decades:	500s 510s 520s – 530s – 540s 550s 560s
Years:	530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments

530s: events by year

Contents: 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539

530

By place

Eastern Roman Empire

• December 15 – Justinian I selects a second commission to excerpt and codify the writings of the jurists on Roman Law. This becomes the Pandects (Digest).
• Tribonian becomes quaestor sacri palatii.

Europe

• Hilderic, king of the Vandals and Alans, is deposed by his cousin Gelimer.
• St. Brendan climbs to the top of Mount Brandon, to look for The Americas.

Asia

• Wei Chang Guang Wang succeeds Xiao Zhuang Di as ruler of the Chinese Northern Wei Dynasty.
• Battle of Dara: Belisarius and Hermogenes defeat the Sassanid Persians in a major battle which blunts a Persian offensive into Roman Mesopotamia.
• Battle of Satala: The Eastern Romans under Sittas defeat a major Persian invasion into Roman Armenia.

By topic

Art

• Mosaic synagogue floor, from Maon (Menois) is made. It is now kept at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (approximate date).
• Vishnu Temple at Deogarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, is built. Post-Gupta period (approximate date).

Religion

• September 22 – Pope Boniface II succeeds Pope Felix IV as the 55th pope.

531

By place

Eastern Roman Empire

• April 19 – Belisarius is defeated at the Battle of Callinicum; Mundus briefly takes command of the army.
• Some members of the Blue and Green chariot racing factions in Constantinople are imprisoned for murder, precipitating the Nika riots the next year.
• The building of St. Sophia Basilica, Constantinople, is begun, and is completed in 537.

Europe

• Theudis succeeds Amalaric as king of the Visigoths.
• The Franks and Saxons defeat the Kingdom of Thuringia.

Asia

• The reign of Chang Guang Wang, ruler of the Chinese Northern Wei Dynasty, ends.
• Khosrau I succeeds Kavadh I as king of Persia.

532

By place

Eastern Roman Empire

• January 11 – Nika riots in Constantinople: The cathedral is destroyed. They are put down a week later by Belisarius and Mundus; up to 30,000 people are killed in the Hippodrome.
• February 23 – Justinian I orders the building of a new cathedral in Constantinople – the Hagia Sophia.
• Justinian signs a peace treaty, the "Eternal Peace", with the Sassanian shah Chosroes I, ending the Iberian War.

Europe

• The Franks invade the kingdom of Burgundy.

Asia

• Xiao Wu Di succeeds An Ding Wang in Northern China.
• Silla conquers Geumgwan Gaya on the Korean peninsula.

By topic

Arts and sciences

• First year in which the Anno Domini calendar is used for numbering the years.

533

By place

Eastern Roman Empire

• June 21 – Belisarius sails from Constantinople to attack the Vandals in North Africa.
• September 13 – Battle of Ad Decimum: Belisarius defeats the Vandals under Gelimer. Gelimer, forced to flee, leaves Carthage unprotected.
• December 15 – The Battle of Tricamarum begins, and Belisarius defeats a new Vandal force under Gelimer and Tzazo. Tzazo is killed in an all-cavalry fight, and Gelimer flees to the mountains of Numidia.
• December 16 – The Digesta or Pandectae, a collection of jurist writings and other sources, is completed (see Corpus Juris Civilis).

Europe

• Theodebert I becomes king of Austrasia.

By topic

Religion

• January 2 – Pope John II succeeds Pope Boniface II, who had died in 532, as the 56th pope.

534

By place

Eastern Roman Empire

• January 1 – Decimus Theodorius Paulinus is appointed consul (the last to hold this office in the West).
• November 16 – A second and final revision of the Codex Justinianus is published.
• Gelimer surrenders to Byzantine general Belisarius, after spending a miserable winter in the mountains of Numidia. The Vandal kingdom of North Africa ends, and the provinces return to the Byzantine Empire.
• Malta becomes a Byzantine province (until 870).

Europe

• Toledo becomes the capital of the Visigoths in Spain.
• The Frankish kings Cothar I and Childebert I overthrow Godomar, king of the Burgundians, and end the Kingdom of Burgundy.
• Cynric becomes the King of Wessex.
• Theodahad becomes king of the Ostrogoths.

535

By place

Eastern Roman Empire

• Justinian I orders Belisarius to start the reconquest of Italy; Mundus simultaneously invades Dalmatia.
• Solomon scores two victories over the Moorish rebels in Africa, at Mount Mammes and Mount Bourgaon, clearing Byzacena of them
• December 31 – Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year.

Asia

China

• The Western Wei Dynasty begins in China; the first ruler is Wen Di.
• Significant to the history of agriculture, the Chinese author Jia Sixia writes the treatise Chi Min Yao Shu in this year, and although it quotes 160 previous Chinese agronomy books, it is the oldest existent Chinese agriculture treatise. In over 100,000 written Chinese characters, the book covers land preparation, seeding, cultivation, orchard management, forestry, animal husbandry, trade, and culinary uses for crops.

Java

• Reports of the eruption of Krakatoa, which possibly lead to several years of climate change (see Climate changes of 535–536), are recorded in the Javanese Book of Kings.

By topic

Religion

• May 13 – Pope Agapetus I succeeds Pope John II as the 57th pope.
• Anthimus becomes Patriarch of Constantinople.
• The Christian basilica at Leptis Magna is built in North Africa.

Meteorology

• The weather is reported to be unusually cold and dark in multiple parts of the world; see climate changes of 535–536.

536

By place

Eastern Roman Empire

• A major mutiny breaks out in the army in Africa against its commander Solomon. The fall of Carthage to the rebels is prevented through the intervention of Belisarius, and Solomon is replaced by Germanus
• April – Belisarius lands in mainland Italy
• Belisarius takes Naples.
• December 9 – Belisarius enters Rome.
• The Hagia Sophia basilica in Constantinople (begun in 532) is completed.

Europe

• The Ostrogoths cede Provence and upper Alamannia to the Franks for gaining their support in the war against the Byzantines.
• Witiges succeeds Theodahad as ruler of the Ostrogoths.

By topic

Religion

• June 1 or June 8 – Pope Silverius succeeds Pope Agapetus I.
• Synod of Constantinople: Bishops acknowledge the supremacy of the emperor in church matters.
• Anthimus is deposed as Patriarch of Constantinople in favour of Mennas.

537

By place

Eastern Roman Empire

• Spring – At the Battle of Scalae Veteres in Africa, Germanus defeats the rebel leader Stotzas.
• December 27 – The construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is completed.

Europe

• The Battle of Camlann is fought between Arthur and Mordred (historical accuracy highly questionable).

By topic

Religion

• March 29 – Pope Vigilius succeeds Pope Silverius as the 59th pope, when the latter is deposed by Belisarius at the order of Justinian.

538

By place

Europe

• March 12 – Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths, ends his siege of Rome, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Byzantine general Belisarius. The king lays siege to the city of Rimini but is forced to end the siege and retreat to Ravenna.
• Gabrán mac Domangairt becomes king of Dál Riata.
• Arthur, war leader of the Britons, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Camlann. According to legend he is carried to Avalon where he dies.
• The Third Council of Orléans takes place and prohibits rural labor on Sunday.
• The Persians led by Khosrau I sack the city of Antioch.

Asia

• The Kofun era ends and the Asuka period, the second part of the Yamato period in Japan, begins.
• Buddhism is introduced formally into Japan (by some accounts; see also 552).

539

By place

Eastern Roman Empire

• Ravenna becomes an exarchate of the Byzantine Empire.
• November 29 – Antioch is struck by an earthquake.

Europe

• Waltari kills his uncle Wacho and becomes king of the Lombards.

Japan

• Emperor Kimmei ascends the throne of Japan.

Significant people

Births

Deaths

References