520 Explained

Year 520 (DXX) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rusticus and Vitalianus (or, less frequently, year 1273 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 520 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Priscian, Latin grammarian, writes the Institutiones Grammaticae ("Grammatical Foundations"). In Constantinople, he codifies this manuscript in 18 volumes, which will be widely used through the Middle Ages. It provides the raw material for the field of speculative grammar.
• July  - Byzantine general Vitalian becomes consul, and is shortly later murdered, probably on the orders of Justinian, the nephew and heir-apparent of Emperor Justin I.^[1]

Britannia

• King Pabo Post Prydain of the Pennines (Northern England) abdicates his throne, and divides the kingdom between his two sons. He retires, as a hermit, to Anglesey.^[2]
• The Kingdom of East Anglia is formed, by the merging of the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and perhaps the eastern part of The Fens (approximate date).
• King Budic II returns to Cornouaille (Brittany), to claim the Breton throne (approximate date).

Europe

• Ostrogothic ruler Theodoric the Great builds the Mausoleum of Theodoric as his future tomb in Ravenna (Italy).^[3]

Asia

• Bodhidharma, Buddhist monk, arrives in Luoyang. He spreads Buddhism and travels to the northern Chinese kingdom of Wei, to the Shaolin Monastery.

By topic

Religion

• February 25  - Epiphanius is elected patriarch of Constantinople by Byzantine Emperor Justin I.
• The construction of the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, is started (approximate date).

• The monastery of Seridus, where Barsanuphius and John the Prophet lived as hermits, is founded in the region of Gaza.^[4]

Births

• Hou Andu, general of the Chen dynasty (d. 563)
• Justin II, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (d. 578)
• Malo, Welsh bishop (approximate date)
• Martin of Braga, missionary and archbishop (d. 580)
• Pope Pelagius II of Rome (d. 589)
• Radegund, Frankish princess (approx.)
• Zuhayr bin Abi Sulma, Arabian poet (approx.)

Deaths

• January 19  - John of Cappadocia, patriarch of Constantinople
• July  - Vitalian, Byzantine general, consul
• Abbán, Irish cult leader and saint (approx.)
• Ardgal mac Conaill, king of Uisneach (Ireland)
• Isidore of Alexandria, Neoplatonist philosopher (approximate date)
• Maximinus, Frankish abbot and saint (approximate date)
• Zu Gengzhi, Chinese mathematician (approx.)

Notes and References

1. Cameron . Alan . The Death of Vitalian (520 A.D.) . Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik . 48 . 1982 . 93–94 . Bonn . Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH . 20183637. The month of Vitalian's death is taken from the chronicle of Marcellinus Comes, sub anno 520. Alan Cameron discussed the supporting evidence, concluding that Marcellinus is correct.
2. Book: Kinross, John . Discovering the Smallest Churches in Wales . The History Press . 2007 . 978-0-7524-4101-6 . 21–22 . Anglesey . https://archive.org/details/discoveringsmall0000kinr/page/21.
3. Book: Bean . Rachel . Italy, Malta, and San Marino . Bruno . Stefano . Doe . Helen . Marshall Cavendish . 2010 . 753. 978-0-7614-7893-5 .
4. Book: Kofsky . Arieh . Bitton-Ashkelony . Bruria . Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity . 2004 . Brill . 9789004138681 . 76–77 . 12 November 2023.