597

This article is about the year 597. For the number, see 597 (number).

Millennium:	1st millennium
Centuries:	5th century – 6th century – 7th century
Decades:	560s  570s  580s  – 590s –  600s  610s  620s
Years:	594 595 596 – 597 – 598 599 600

597 by topic

Politics

State leaders – Sovereign states

Birth and death categories

Births – Deaths

Establishment and disestablishment categories

Establishments – Disestablishments

597 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	597 DXCVII
Ab urbe condita	1350
Armenian calendar	46 ԹՎ ԽԶ
Assyrian calendar	5347
Bengali calendar	4
Berber calendar	1547
Buddhist calendar	1141
Burmese calendar	−41
Byzantine calendar	6105–6106
Chinese calendar	丙辰年 (Fire Dragon) 3293 or 3233     — to — 丁巳年 (Fire Snake) 3294 or 3234
Coptic calendar	313–314
Discordian calendar	1763
Ethiopian calendar	589–590
Hebrew calendar	4357–4358
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	653–654
- Shaka Samvat	519–520
- Kali Yuga	3698–3699
Holocene calendar	10597
Iranian calendar	25 BP – 24 BP
Islamic calendar	26 BH – 25 BH
Julian calendar	597 DXCVII
Korean calendar	2930
Minguo calendar	1315 before ROC 民前1315年
Seleucid era	908/909 AG
Thai solar calendar	1139–1140

The King's School, Canterbury (England)

Year 597 (DXCVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 597 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

• Emperor Maurice writes his last will, in which he describes his ideas of governing the Byzantine Empire. His eldest son, Theodosius, would rule the East from Constantinople and his second son, Tiberius, the West from Rome.
• Autumn – Balkan Campaign: The Avars, strengthened by the tribute of the Franks, resume their campaign along the Danube River and besiege the Byzantine fortress city of Tomis (modern Romania) on the Black Sea coast.

Europe

• Queen Fredegund defeats her old rival Brunhilda of Austrasia, who supports the claims of her grandsons Theudebert II and Theuderic II to the Frankish throne against those of Fredegund's son Chlothar II. She dies a few months later at Paris and is buried in the Basilica of Saint Denis.
• Chlothar II, age 13, becomes sole ruler of Neustria and continues his mother's feud with Brunhilda. He is advised to prepare a war against Austrasia, the eastern part of the Frankish Kingdom.

Britain

• Ceolwulf succeeds his brother Ceol as king of Wessex. He becomes regent of Ceol's son Cynegils who is too young to inherit the throne.

Asia

• Mangalesha becomes king of the Chalukya Dynasty after his brother Kirtivarman I has died. He rules as regent of Kirtivarman's son Pulakeshin II, and invades the territory of Khandesh and Gujarat (northwestern India).

By topic

Religion

• Gregorian Mission: Augustine of Canterbury lands with a group of missionaries on the Isle of Thanet (South East England). He is welcomed by king Æthelberht of Kent, who accepts baptism along with the rest of his court at the behest of his Christian Frankish wife, Bertha. Æthelbert assigns Augustine and his 40 monks a residence at Canterbury, where they found a Benedictine monastery that will make the town a centre of Christianity (or 596).
• June 9 – Columba, Irish missionary, dies in Iona (Inner Hebrides) and is buried by his monks in the abbey he has created. He works successfully towards the conversion of northern Britain.
• December 25 – At Christmas, Christianity spreads rapidly in Kent, Augustine and his fellow-labourers baptises more than 10,000 Anglo-Saxons.

Human rights

• England gets her first written code of laws from Æthelbert. The code is concerned with preserving social order, through compensation and punishment for personal injury (approximate date).

Education

• The King's School is founded by Augustine in Canterbury. He builds an abbey where the Benedictine teaching take place.

Births

• Brahmagupta, Indian mathematician and astronomer (d. 668)
• Chu Suiliang, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 658)
• Fursey, Irish missionary (approximate date)

Deaths

• Brenainn mac Cairbre, king of Uí Maine (or 601)
• Ceol, king of Wessex (England)
• June 9 – Columba, Gaelic Irish missionary (b. 521)
• Fredegund, queen and regent of Neustria
• Kirtivarman I, king of the Chalukya Dynasty (India)
• Zhiyi, de facto founder of Tiantai Buddhism (b. 538)