Directory

585 CE

Gundoald, Merovingian usurper king, and his followers are defeated during the siege of Saint-Bertrand. He is executed and Guntram stages a triumphal entry into Orléans. Emperor Bidatsu, age 47, dies of smallpox after a 13-year reign, and is succeeded by his brother Yōmei as the 31st emperor of Japan. The Visigoths under King Liuvigild devastate the Suevic Kingdom in Gallaecia (northwest Spain).

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • Creoda becomes king of Mercia (according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).source

Conflict & Security

  • July – Gundoald, Merovingian usurper king, and his followers are defeated during the siege of Saint-Bertrand. He is executed and Guntram stages a triumphal entry into Orléans.source
  • The Visigoths under King Liuvigild devastate the Suevic Kingdom in Gallaecia (northwest Spain).source
  • The Persian commander, Kardarigan ("black hawk"), begins an unsuccessful siege of Monokarton (modern Turkey).source
  • Hussa succeeds his brother Frithuwald as king of Bernicia (approximate date).source
  • Emperor Xiao Jing Di succeeds his father Xiao Ming Di as ruler of the Liang dynasty (China).source
  • King Childebert II, age 15, takes up his sole rule of Austrasia. A Frankish army under King Guntram marches to Comminges (Pyrenees), and besieges the citadel of Saint-Bertrand.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • Columbanus, Irish missionary, gathers 12 companions for his journey to Britain, probably to the Scottish coast. After a short time, he crosses the English Channel and lands in Brittany (France).source

Religion & Belief

  • Zhiyi, Chinese monk, returns to the city of Jinling, where he completes his commentarial works on the Lotus Sutra.source
  • The Armenian bishop Kardutsat goes with 7 priests, on a missionary trip to the steppes north of the Caucasus. He succeeds in baptizing many Huns and in translating books into their language.source

Culture & Society

  • King Wideok of Baekje (Korea) sends an official escort (bearing tribute), along with a master of Buddhist meditation, a reciter of Buddhist magic spells, a temple architect, and a sculptor of Buddhist images, to the Chinese court of the Sui dynasty (approximate date).source

Births

  • Edwin of Northumbria, king of Deira and Bernicia (d. 633)source
  • Du Ruhui, chancellor of the Tang dynasty (d. 630)source
  • Yang Jian, imperial prince of the Sui dynasty (d. 618)source
  • Goar of Aquitaine, priest and hermit (approximate date)source
  • Yuchi Gong, general of the Tang dynasty (d. 658)source
  • Khalid Ibn Al-Walid, general of the rashidun Caliphate (d. 642)source

Deaths

  • April 13 – Hermenegild, Visigothic prince (or 586)source
  • September 14 – Bidatsu, emperor of Japan (b. 538)source
  • September 15 – Emperor Bidatsu, age 47, dies of smallpox after a 13-year reign, and is succeeded by his brother Yōmei as the 31st emperor of Japan.source
  • Gundoald, Merovingian usurper king (approximate date)source
  • Rigunth, daughter of Chilperic I (b. 570)source
  • Xiao Ming Di, emperor of the Liang dynasty (b. 542)source
  • John of Ephesus, Armenian bishop (approximate date)source
  • Cassiodorus, Roman statesman and writer (approximate date)source
  • Frithuwald, king of Bernicia (approximate date)source