Middle Ages
Vandalic War (533-534): Belisarius Reconquers North Africa
Byzantine victory: the Vandal kingdom was destroyed, Gelimer surrendered and North Africa was restored to the Roman Empire.
Era · c. 500 – 1500
Middle Ages
Kingdoms, crusades and plagues: the medieval world from the end of the Western Roman Empire to the fall of Constantinople.
Middle Ages
Gothic War (535-554): Justinian's Reconquest of Italy
Byzantine victory: the Ostrogothic kingdom was destroyed and Italy returned to Roman rule, but the peninsula was ruined and largely lost to the Lombards after 568.
Middle Ages
Plague of Justinian (541): The First Recorded Plague Pandemic
The first known pandemic of bubonic plague killed a large but disputed share of the Mediterranean population and recurred in waves for about two centuries.
Middle Ages
Christianisation of Nubia (543): Nobadia, Makuria and Alodia
The three Nubian kingdoms adopted Christianity as their official religion, beginning a Christian Nubian civilisation that lasted until the 15th century.
Middle Ages
Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna: Justinian and Theodora Mosaics
An outstanding monument of early Byzantine architecture and mosaic art, listed by UNESCO in 1996 as part of the Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna.
Middle Ages
Debre Damo: Ethiopia's Clifftop Monastery Reached by Rope
A monastery reached only by rope that preserves one of the oldest standing churches in Ethiopia and a long monastic tradition.
Middle Ages
Silkworm Smuggling (c. 552): How Byzantium Got the Secret of Silk
Silkworms reached the Byzantine Empire, allowing local silk production that slowly reduced dependence on imports through Persia.
Middle Ages
St Columba Founds Iona (563): Monastery of the Hebrides
Iona became the head of a network of monasteries in Ireland and Britain and the base for missions to the Picts and to Anglo-Saxon Northumbria.
Middle Ages
Lombard Invasion of Italy (568): Alboin and a Divided Peninsula
The Lombards conquered much of Italy, ending its unity under Byzantium; the peninsula stayed divided between Lombard and Byzantine territory until 774 and beyond.
Middle Ages
Gregory of Tours and the History of the Franks (c. 576-594)
Gregory's Histories became the chief narrative source for the Franks from Clovis to the late sixth century.
Middle Ages
Tomb of Queen Arnegonde (c. 580): A Merovingian Royal Burial
The discovery gave historians a rare, closely identified royal grave and the most complete picture of Merovingian queenly dress.
Middle Ages
Chang'an: The Tang Capital and Greatest City of Its Age
A walled grid city of about 84 square km that served as the capital of the Sui and Tang and, at its height, was probably the largest city in the world.