565.  Death of Belisarius, also of the emperor Justinian.  Justin II succeeds to the throne.

566.[78] Alboin, at the head of the Lombards, and aided by the Avars, destroys the kingdom of the Gepidae in Pannonia.

War in Britain between the kings of Kent and Wessex.

567.  Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy formed by the division of the Frankish kingdom.

568.  Invasion of Italy by the Lombards; Pavia besieged.  Longinus, the successor of Narses, is styled the exarch of Ravenna by the Byzantines.

570.[79] Birth of Mahomet.  See “THE HEGIRA,” iv, 198.  Death of Narses.

571.  Khusrau persecuting the Armenians, they place themselves under the protection of Justin; this leads to war between the Persians and Romans.

Uffa founds the kingdom of East Anglia in Britain.

572.  Marcianus is sent by Rome to conduct the war against the Persians.

Alboin, Lombardy, grants allotments of territory to his chief captains, with titles of princes or dukes, for which they are to render military service.

573.  Alboin, King of the Lombards, is murdered by Rosamond, his wife; she flees to Ravenna with her lover Helmichis, where she poisons him; before he dies he compels her to drain the cup.  Cleoph is elected king of Lombardy.

The Visigoths subjugate the Suevi in Spain.

574.  Tiberius is appointed Caesar at Rome; he concludes a peace with the Persians.  He is defeated by the Avars on the Danube.

Cleoph, the Lombard King, is slain; his son being a child, many of the dukes assume royal power and great anarchy prevails.

575.  Justinian, son of Germanus, defeats the Persians and advances to the Araxes.

576.  Armenia is occupied by the Persians; Justinian arrives too late to prevent it.

578.  Death of Justin.  Accession of the emperor Tiberius Constantinus in the East.

579.  Maurice, commanding the Romans, is victorious over the Persians.

580.  Further successes of Maurice in Mesopotamia.

582.  Death of Tiberius and accession of Maurice, Emperor in the East.

584.  Many native Gauls retire into Armorica, where they preserve their Celtic tongue.

586.  Cridda founds the last Saxon kingdom of Mercia.  The Britons retire to the western side of the island, unite in a general league, and call themselves Cymri.

588.  Northumberland is founded by the union of the kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira, under Ethelric.

589.  Arianism is abandoned by the Visigoths in Spain. 591.  Peace between Persia and the Eastern Empire.

597.  Augustine sent by Gregory the Great to preach Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons.  See “AUGUSTINE’S MISSIONARY WORK IN ENGLAND,” iv, 182.

602.  Revolt in Constantinople; Phocas is proclaimed emperor; flight of Maurice with his family; they are taken and put to death.

603.  Khusrau, the Persian ruler, declares war against Phocas to revenge the death of his benefactor, Maurice.