The 540s decade ran from January 1, 540, to December 31, 549.
Events
540
By placeedit
Byzantine Empireedit
Emperor Justinian I offers to make peace with Vitiges, but Belisarius refuses to transmit the message. The Ostrogoths then offer to support Belisarius as emperor of the West.
Belisarius consolidates Italy and begins mopping-up operations, capturing the Gothic fortifications. The cities Ticinum and Verona north of River Po remain in Gothic hands.
King Khosrau I, jealous of Justinian's victories in the West, receives an embassy from the Ostrogoths at Ctesiphon, urging him to act before the Byzantines become too powerful.
Khosrau I captures Antioch after a fierce siege; he systematically plunders the city to the extent that marble statues and mosaics are transported to Persia.[2]
Cassiodorus, former Roman statesman, establishes a monastery at his estate in Italy. The Vivarium "monastery school" is for highly educated and sophisticated men, who copy sacred and secular manuscripts, intending for this to be their sole occupation (approximate date).
Autumn – Totila is elected king by the Ostrogothic nobles after the death of his uncle Ildibad. He wins the support of the lower classes by liberating slaves and distributing land to the peasants.
Lazic War: King Khosrau I intervenes in Lazica (modern Georgia), and supports the weakened king Gubazes II against a full-scale uprising. He sends an expeditionary force under Mermeroes and captures the Byzantine stronghold of Petra, located on the coast of the Black Sea, which provides the Persians a strategic port.[10][full citation needed]
Lazic War – Justinian I sends a Byzantine army (30,000 men) to Armenia. The Persians, severely outnumbered, are forced to retreat, but at Dvin the Byzantines are defeated by a force of 4,000 men in an ambush, and are completely routed.[13]
Battle of Mucellium: Totila marches down into Tuscany and defeats the Byzantines at Florence, in the valley of Mugello. He treats his prisoners well, and many are induced to join his banner.
Spring – Siege of Naples (542–543): The Byzantine garrison (1,000 men) in Naples surrenders to the Ostrogoths, pressed by famine and demoralized by the failure of two relief efforts. The defenders are well treated by King Totila, and the garrison is allowed safe departure, but the city walls are partly razed.[16]
Africaedit
The fortress city of Old Dongola (modern Sudan) along the River Nile becomes the capital of the Kingdom of Makuria. Several churches are built, including the "Old Church" (approximate date).
King Khosrau I unsuccessfully attacks the Byzantine fortress city of Dara. The siege of Edessa is repulsed, and the Persians are forced into a stalemate.
Battle of Cillium: A medium-sized Byzantine army under Solomon is defeated by the Moors on the border of Numidia. Solomon and his bodyguard are forced to retreat and are later killed.[19][20][21]
Asiaedit
February – Lý Bí is declared emperor and establishes the empire Van Xuân (modern Vietnam). His armies repel attacks from the kingdom of Champa.
October – The Liang dynasty retaliates against Van Xuân, and sends an imperial army (120,000 men) under Chen Baxian to re-occupy the region.
Winter – Pope Vigilius arrives in Constantinople, to meet with Emperor Justinian I. The future Pope Pelagius is sent by Totila to negotiate with Justinian.
Lazic War: King Gubazes II revolts against the Persians, and requests aid from Justinian I. He sends a Byzantine expeditionary force (8,000 men) to Lazica (modern Georgia).
Gubazes II besieges the fortress of Petra, located on the Black Sea. The Persian army under Mermeroes defeats a small Byzantine force guarding the mountain passes, and relieves Petra.
Mermeroes stations a garrison of 3,000 men in the stronghold of Petra, and marches to Armenia. The Persians, lacking sufficient supplies, secure the supply routes and plunder Lazica.
Totila conquers the city of Perugia (Central Italy) and stations a Gothic garrison. He takes bishop Herculanus prisoner, and orders him to be completely flayed. The Ostrogoth soldier asked to perform this gruesome execution shows pity, and decapitates Herculanus before the skin on every part of his body is removed.[27]
March 21, death of twin brother of St Scholastica, Saint Benedict, famous for building the Monastery of Mt Cassino and for his Benedictine Monastic Rule, Patron Saint of Europe, dies
^Herwig Wolfram, History of the Goths (University of California Press), 1990
^Rome at War (p. 56). Michael Whitby, 2002. ISBN 1-84176-359-4
^ Graham, Alexander (2002) [1902]. Roman Africa. North Stratford, New Hampshire: Ayer Publishing, Incorporated. ISBN 0-8369-8807-8.
^"List of Rulers of Korea". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
^"In 1986 I discovered that a series of Irish oaks exhibited their narrowest rings in the immediate vicinity of." 080205 aryabhata.de
^Baillie, M.G.L. (2007). Tree-Rings Indicate Global Environmental Downturns that could have been Caused by Comet Debris, Chap. 5 in Bobrowsky, Peter T. and Hans Rickman (eds.), Comet/Asteroid Impacts and Human Society: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Springer-Verlag, Berlin. ISBN 3-540-32709-6, pp. 105–122.
^Highfield, Roger; Uhlig, Robert; Derbyshire, David (9 Sep 2000). "Comet caused Dark Ages, says tree ring expert". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
^"El Chichon eruption implicated in Mayan upheaval - BBC News". BBC News. April 20, 2016. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
^Gibbons, Ann (November 15, 2018). "Why 536 was 'the worst year to be alive'". Science | AAAS. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
^Bauer, Susan Wise (2010). The History of the Medieval World: "From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade". ISBN 978-0-393-05975-5 p. 231.
^Saint of the Day, November 7: Herculanus of Perugia, archived by Wayback Machine
^O'Donnell, James (2008). The Ruin of the Roman Empire. New York: HarperCollins. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-06-078737-0.
^ abT. M. Charles-Edwards (2006). The Chronicle of Ireland: Introduction, text. Liverpool University Press. pp. 99–. ISBN 978-0-85323-959-8.
^Isidore of Seville, Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum, chapter 44. 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.21
^ ab"Famous People Born in 540 - #1 is Pope Gregory I". Playback.fm. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
^Chryssavgis, John (March 2017). John Climacus From the Egyptian Desert to the Sinaite Mountain. Taylor & Francis. p. 159. ISBN 9781351925211. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
^Chryssavgis, John (March 2017). John Climacus From the Egyptian Desert to the Sinaite Mountain. Taylor & Francis. p. 160. ISBN 9781351925211. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
^P.W. Joyce (22 March 2018). A Concise History of Ireland. Charles River Editors. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-61430-701-3.[permanent dead link]
^Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature (vol.3 & 4): A Reference Guide, Part Three & Four. BRILL. 22 September 2014. p. 1697. ISBN 978-90-04-27185-2.
^Anna Welch (15 October 2015). Liturgy, Books and Franciscan Identity in Medieval Umbria. BRILL. p. 188. ISBN 978-90-04-30467-3.
^Kenneth Baxter Wolf (1999). Conquerors and Chroniclers of Early Medieval Spain. Liverpool University Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-85323-554-5.
^Pádraig Ó Riain (1985). Corpus genealogiarum sanctorum Hiberniae. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. ISBN 9780901282804.
^Peter Connolly; John Gillingham; John Lazenby (13 May 2016). The Hutchinson Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Warfare. Routledge. p. 191. ISBN 978-1-135-93674-7.
^Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature (vol.3 & 4): A Reference Guide, Part Three & Four. BRILL. 22 September 2014. p. 1552. ISBN 978-90-04-27185-2.
^Wanton Women in Late-Imperial Chinese Literature: Models, Genres, Subversions and Traditions. BRILL. 27 March 2017. p. 36. ISBN 978-90-04-34062-6.
Bibliography
Bury, John Bagnell (1923) [1889]. History of the Later Roman Empire: From Arcadius to Irene (395 A.D. to 800 A.D.). Vol. II. New York, New York and London, United Kingdom: Macmillan & Company Limited.
Bury, John Bagnell (1958). History of the Later Roman Empire: From the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian, Volume 2. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-486-20399-9.
Martindale, John Robert; Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin; Morris, J., eds. (1992). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume III: A.D. 527–641. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-20160-5.
Pringle, Denys (1981). The Defence of Byzantine Africa from Justinian to the Arab Conquest: An Account of the Military History and Archaeology of the African Provinces in the Sixth and Seventh Century. Oxford, United Kingdom: British Archaeological Reports. ISBN 0-86054-119-3.