584

By place

Europe

• September - King Chilperic I dies after a 23-year reign over a territory extending from Aquitaine to the northern seacoast of what later will be France. He is stabbed to death while returning from a hunt near Chelles. His wife Fredegund, who has paid for his assassination, seizes his wealth, flees to Paris with her son Chlothar II, and persuades the nobles to accept him as legitimate heir while she serves as regent, continuing her power struggles with Guntram, king of Burgundy, and her sister Brunhilda, queen mother of Austrasia.
• The Lombards re-establish a unified monarchy after a 10-year interregnum. Threatened by a Frankish invasion that the dukes have provoked, they elect Authari as their king and give him the capital of Pavia.
• The Visigoths under King Liuvigild capture the city of Seville, after a siege of nearly 2 years. His rebellious son Hermenegild seeks refuge in a church at Córdoba, but is arrested and banished to Tarragona. His wife Inguld flees with her son to Africa.
• The Exarchate of Ravenna is founded, and organised into a group of duchies, mainly coastal cities on the Italian Peninsula. The civil and military head of these Byzantine territories is the exarch in Ravenna.
• The Slavs push south on the Balkan Peninsula — partly in conjunction with the Avars under their ruler Bayan I — ravaging the cities Athens and Corinth, and threatening the Long Walls of Constantinople.
• King Eboric is deposed by his mother who becomes the new ruler of the Kingdom of Galicia and the Suevi.
• Gundoald, illegitimate son of Chlothar I, tries to expend his territory from Brive-la-Gaillarde and proclaims himself king.

  Britain

• : King Ceawlin of Wessex is defeated by the Britons. He ravages the surrounding countryside in revenge.

  Asia

• Emperor Wéndi of the Sui Dynasty organises the Grand Canal. He builds ships for transportation and grain stores are located at strategic points.