Dr. Shirley's History Pages

Part 10 - Masoretes, Byzantines, the beginnings of Western Europe

AD 400-600

 

AD 400

Age of the Masoretes
Jews dispersed throughout Europe and Russia, develop settled cultures in Spain (Ashkenazi), and Rhine valley (Yiddish); subject to restrictions, persecutions, and pogroms by Christians
Beginning of alchemy - the search for the "Philosophers' Stone" - reputed to turn everything into gold, and the "Elixir of Life" - reputed to give eternal youth

AD 370-425
Rabbi Hillel, formulates the interpretation of the Torah
AD 400
Babylonian Talmud & Jerusalem Talmud - commentaries on the Mishnah
ca. AD 400
The Vulgate, Latin translation of the Bible, by Jerome. The Vulgate Latin text becomes the standard Western Christian Bible;
The Peshitta, Syriac (Aramaic) Bible, produced. The Peshitta becomes the standard Syrian Christian Bible
AD 400-461
Leo I (the Great) of Rome (becomes Pope in 440)
AD 400-600
Egyptian, Syrian and Armenian Christians translated the Bible and the Liturgy into their own languages and rejected traditional Eastern Orthodoxy (They became the Melchite Churches)
AD 401-403
Visigoths (Western Goths) invade Italy
AD 401-417
Pope Innocent I
AD 403
Letters of the Church Fathers Epiphanius of Constantia and John Chrysostom
AD 410
Alaric and the Visigoths sack Rome
AD 410-436
Roman Legions leave Britain to defend Rome. The Dark Age of Britain begins
AD 411
Augustine writes "The City of God" after the Sack of Rome
AD 412-444
Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, expels the Jews and kills the female philosopher Hypatia
AD 416
The Council of Carthage condemns Pelagianism;
Visigoths take Spain
AD 418
Franks take Gaul
AD 422-432
Pope Celestine I, sends Palladius to Ireland as its first bishop
AD 425
Constantinople Univeristy founded;
Barbarians start to invade and settle in former Roman provinces
AD 428
Nestorius becomes Patriarch of Constantinople
AD 428-477
Gaiseric, king of the Vandals, invades northern Africa, and founds a kingdom there
AD 429
Saxons, Angles, and Jutes start to invade southern Britain, drive the Picts and Scots northwards
ca. AD 430-460
St. Patrick in Ireland
AD 431
The Council of Ephesus - condemns Nestorius, and uses the title "Mother of God" for the Virgin Mary;
Syrian Church splits into Eastern (Nestorian, those who disagreed with the Council of Ephesus) and Western (Jacobite) parts
AD 433-453
Attila the Hun, the "Scourge of God"
AD 440-461
Pope Leo I (45th Pope)
AD 442-450
Attila and the Huns of central Asia attack Greek and Roman cities
AD 451
The Ecumenical Council of the Church, at Chalcedon - affirms that Christ is "One Person in two Natures". The Churches in Egypt and Syria break off from the Greek and Roman Churches;
Death of Nestorius of Constantinople. His followers, the Nestorians, said that Mary was not the "Mother of God"
AD 454
Eutyches of Constantinople, founder of the Monophysite sect who said that Jesus was divine but not human
AD 455
The Vandals under Gaiseric sack Rome, Pope Leo I negotiates with them to try to spare the people
AD 457-474
Pope Leo I, 46th Pope, becomes emperor of remaining (eastern) Roman empire
AD 474-491
Zeno, eastern Roman emperor
AD 476
End of the Western Roman Empire - Odoacer of the Germans kills the last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, and makes himself King of Italy
AD 476-491
Emperor Zeno (of the East), commissions the Ostrogoth leader Theodoric to invade Italy and conquer the western Empire
AD 477
Kingdom of Sussex (Southern Saxons) founded in Britain
AD 480-524 (executed
Boëthius, Roman philosopher and theolgian
AD 480-543
Benedict of Nursia - develops a system for Monasticism in the Western Church
AD 481-511
Clovis becomes king of the Franks at the age of 15, and founds the Merovingian dynasty
AD 484-519
First Schism between Eastern and Western Churches - the Acacian schism, over the "Henoticon" which denied that Christ was the Son of God. The Pope of Rome, Felix III, excommunicated the Eastern Patriarch of Constantinople, Acacius. Photinus, deacon of Thessalonica, was of the Greek church and held to the Acacian heresy. Photinus persuaded emperor Anastasius I to accept the Acacian heresy
AD 489
Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, invades and conquers Italy:
Zeno destroys Nestorian school at Edessa, erects Church of St. Simeon
AD 490-583
Cassiodorus, Roman historian and theolgian
AD 491
The Armenian Church cuts ties with Byzantine and Rome Churches
AD 491-518
Anastasius I eastern Roman emperor
AD 492-496
Pope Gelasius I (50th Pope). The term "Vicar of Christ" is introduced as one of the Pope's titles
AD 493
Ostrogoths (eastern Goths) under Theodoric the Great take over the Western Roman Empire;
Clovis I of the Franks marries a Christian princess, Clothilde
AD 495
Kingdom of Wessex (West Saxons) founded in Britain
AD 496
Clovis I of the Franks defeats the Alemanni, and is baptized as a Christian by Remigius (St. Remy), Bishop of Rheims;
Pope Gelasius produces the Gelasian Missal - book of prayers, chants, and instructions for celebrating the Mass
AD 498
Nestorians (heretical Christian sect) driven out of Edessa, settle in Nisibis in Persia
AD 498-506
The Lawrencian schism, caused by the anti-Pope Lawrence
AD 500
The German tribe of the Marcomanni leaves Bohemia and settles in Bavaria;
Czechs move into Bohemia and settle there;
Lombards invade and settle in the region north of the River Danube;
Battle of Badon Hill - Britons defeat the Saxons. The British leader may be the prototype for the legends of King Arthur;
"Dionysius the Areopagite", from Syria (not the man mentioned in the Bible) neo-platonic philosopher;
Incense introduced in Christian church services;
First plans of Vatican
AD 500-560
Dionysius Exiguus - Roman theolgian, wrongly calculated the date for the Birth of Christ as Decmber 23, 753 years after the foundation of Rome
AD 507-711
The Visigoth kingdom in Spain
AD 518-527
Justin I, emperor of Byzantine empire (former eastern Roman empire)
AD 519
End of the First Schism between the Eastern and Western Churches
AD 521
Boëthius introduces Greek muscial notation to the West
AD 524
Boëthius writes "de consolatione philosophia", the Consolation of Philosophy, while in prison awaiting execution on a charge of high treason
AD 525
Dionysius Exiguus sets Christian calendar (AD - Anno Domini, Year of the Lord) and calculates Jesus' birth as having been on December 23, 1AD, (He was probably off by several years)
AD 527-565
Emperor Justinian I, "The Great", became Byzantine emperor in Constantinople. Aided by his wife Theodora (an ex-actress and a Monophysite), his General Belisarius, and the eunuch Narses, he recovers North Africa from the Vandals and Italy from the Goths
AD 529
Emperor Justinian I of Byzantium closes the 1,000-year old School of Philosophy in Athens because it was too pagan. The pagan professors from the School moved to Persia and Syria
AD 529
Justinian's Code of Civil Law, Codex Vetus or Corpus Iuris, a re-organization and updating of Roman law;
Benedict of Nursia founds the Monastery of Monte Cassino and the Benedictine Order, and draws up his monastic rule;
The Council of Orange ends the Pelagian controversy
AD 532-537
Building of the Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) Church in Constantinople, by Justinian
AD 533
Justinian's general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, and makes North Africa a province of the Byzantine Empire
AD 537
Battle of Camlan, Britain - death of king Arthur
AD 537-555
Pope Vigilius, involved in death of Pope Silverius, conspired with Justinian and Theodora, excommunicated by N. African bishops in 550
AD 539-562
War between the Byzantine empire and Persia
AD 540
First Welsh poets - Taliesin, Aneirin, Llywarch Hên
AD 540-594
Gregory of Tours, author of a History of the Franks
AD 540
Bulgars invade the Balkan peninsula, ravage Thrace, Macedonia, and Illyricum, and get as far as Corinth;
Persian King Chosroes sacks Antioch;
Empress Theodora of Byzantium introduces imperial apparel of white robe, purple cloak, gold tiara, pointed red shoes
AD 542
Gildas writes "de excide et conquestu Britanniae" (The Conquest of Britain) - one of the earliest sources of British history
AD 542-594
The Plague of Constantinople, carried by rats on ships from Egypt and Syria, spreads throughout Europe, and kills about half of the total population of Europe
AD 543
Justinian condemns Origen;
A year of disastrous eathquakes all over the known world
AD 544
Justinian condemns the "3 Chapters" of Theodore of Mopsuestia and other writings of "2-natures" Christology of the Council of Chalcedon
AD 547
Pope Vigilius issues "Iudicatum" supporting Justinian's anti-"2-natures" views;
Gildas records the symptoms of the Plague as it reaches Britain
AD 550-1453
Byzantine Greek as spoken in Constantinople (Byzantium) becomes the standard for "good Greek"
AD 550
The Byzantine Greek Text of the Bible becomes the standard Bible of the Eastern Church. There was much smoothing and conflation of the text;
The crucifix becomes a Christian icon;
Procopius writes "de Bellis" (About Wars) about the Persian, Vandal, and Gothic Wars with Byzantium;
St. David brings Christianity to Wales
AD 552
Justinian sends missionaries to China and Ceylon
AD 553
Justinian's missionaries smuggle silkworms out of Asia, and the silk industry becomes a state monopoly in Byzantium;
The Byzantine general Narses takes Rome for Byzantium;
The Fifth Ecumenical Council - the Second Council of Constantinople, called by Justinian;
AD 556-561
Pope Pelagius I, selected by Justinian, endorsed the "Iudicatum" of 547
AD 560
St. Deniol founds the Abbey of Bangor in Wales
AD 563
St Columba leads a mission of twelve monks from Ireland to the Isle of Iona, founds a monastery, and starts his mission to the Picts of Scotland;
Consecration of the Church of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom)in Constantinople
AD 568
Lombards invade Italy. Stay until 774
AD 570-632
Mohammed "The Prophet" of Islam
AD 572-628
Wars between Byzantine empire and Persia
AD 573-594
Gregory, bishop of Tours; writes a History of the Franks "Gesta Francorum"
AD 589
Visigoths of Spain converted to Catholic Christianity;
Lombards of Italy converted to Catholic Christianity
AD 590
Plague hits Rome
ca. AD 590
Colubanus goes as missionary from Ireland to Gaul, founds the monastery at Luxeuil, introduces the usages of the Celtic Church
AD 590-604
Pope Gregory I "The Great" - introduces picture books for illiterate people to learn the Bible, writes a manual on the duties of the clergy, collects Church chants in the "Antiphonar", commanded that a way be found to collect and preserve the singing of the Benedictine monks of Santo Domingo de Silos (Gregorian Chant) and founds the Schola Cantorum - School for Singers - in Rome
AD 596
Gregory the Great sends Augustine of Canterbury as a Missionary to England
AD 597
Augustine of Canterbury lands at Thanet (in Kent, England), preaches to Ethelbert of Kent, and founds a monastery. Augustine offended the Celtic Christian leaders by his imperious manner, so they did not join in his mission to the Saxons;
Ethelbert of Kent and many of his court become Christians. His Queen was already a Christian princess, who had married Ethelbert on the condition that she be allowed to bring a Christian missionary with her;
First English School founded, at Canterbury
AD 600
Smallpox spreads from India into Asia Minor and southern Europe

Main Source : Simsothian Timelines of Ancient History, The Timetables of History (Bernard Grun)

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Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved

Dr. Rollinson

Department of Religion
ENMU
Portales, NM 88130

Last Updated: January 1, 2007

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