544

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Gothic War: Emperor Justinian I sends Belisarius back to the Ostrogothic Kingdom with an inadequate Byzantine expeditionary force.
• Belisarius defeats the Gothic army under King Totila, who unsuccessfully besieges the city of Otranto. After their retreat, the Byzantines march towards Rome.
• Justinian I issues a new edict condemning the Three Chapters. In Western Europe, Pope Vigilius refuses to acknowledge the imperial edict and is ordered to Constantinople.

  Persia

• 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.

  Africa

• Battle of Cillium: A 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.

  Asia

• February - Lý Bí is declared emperor and establishes the empire Van Xuân. His armies repel attacks from the kingdom of Champa.
• October - The Liang dynasty retaliates against Van Xuân, and sends an imperial army under Chen Baxian to re-occupy the region.

  By topic

Religion

• Jacob Baradaeus consecrates Sergius of Tella as patriarch of Antioch, opening a permanent schism between the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.