Directory

599 CE

Summer – Balkan Campaign: The Byzantine generals Priscus and Comentiolus join their forces at Singidunum (modern Belgrade), and move downstream to the fortress city of Viminacium (Serbia). The Byzantines cross the Danube River and invade Upper Moesia, where they defeat the Avars in open battle. Venantius Fortunatus, Latin poet and hymnodist in the Merovingian court, is appointed bishop of Poitiers. Rædwald becomes king (bretwalda) of East Anglia (East of England), under the overlordship of Æthelberht of Kent (according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • Tardu declares himself to be ruler (khagan) of the united Turkic Khaganate (east and west). His new status is not recognised widely in the empire.source
  • Rædwald becomes king (bretwalda) of East Anglia (East of England), under the overlordship of Æthelberht of Kent (according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).source

Conflict & Security

  • Emperor Maurice refuses to pay ransom for 12,000 Byzantine soldiers taken prisoner by the Avars. Their leader Bayan I orders the execution of the prisoners, and slaughters them all. His failure to buy back the captives destroys Maurice's popularity with the Byzantine troops in the Balkan Peninsula.source
  • Priscus pursues the fleeing Avar tribes and invades their homeland in Pannonia. He devastates the land east of the Tisza River, deciding the war for the Byzantines and ending the Avar and Slavic incursions across the Danube.source
  • Summer – Balkan Campaign: The Byzantine generals Priscus and Comentiolus join their forces at Singidunum (modern Belgrade), and move downstream to the fortress city of Viminacium (Serbia). The Byzantines cross the Danube River and invade Upper Moesia, where they defeat the Avars in open battle.source
  • Beop becomes king of the Korean kingdom of Baekje.source
  • Callinicus, governor (exarch) of Ravenna, repulses attacks of the South Slavs in Istria (Croatia). The region is pillaged, but the Byzantines drive them all out.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • Autumn – Comentiolus reopens the Gate of Trajan pass, near Ihtiman (Bulgaria). This strategic mountain pass, whose fortress "Stipon" defends the border between the provinces Thrace and Macedonia, is not used for decades.source
  • King Khosrau II sends a Persian expedition to South Arabia and conquers Yemen. He establishes a military base to control the sea trade with the East (approximate date).source

Religion & Belief

  • Venantius Fortunatus, Latin poet and hymnodist in the Merovingian court, is appointed bishop of Poitiers.source

Crime & Justice

  • Callinicus breaks the truce by kidnapping the Lombard daughter of King Agilulf, beginning a war with the Exarchate of Ravenna (approximate date).source
  • The Maya city of Palenque (southern Mexico) is plundered by King Scroll Serpent of Calakmul (approximate date).source

Births

  • January 23 – Tai Zong, emperor of the Tang dynasty (d. 649)source

Deaths

  • Taliesin, Brythonic poet (approximate date)source
  • Anastasius I, patriarch of Antiochsource
  • Tulan Qaghan, ruler (khagan) of the Göktürkssource