544

Millennium:	1st millennium
Centuries:	5th century 6th century 7th century
Decades:	520s 530s 540s 550s 560s
Years:	541 542 543 544 545 546 547

544 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	544 DXLIV
Ab urbe condita	1297
Assyrian calendar	5294
Balinese saka calendar	465–466
Bengali calendar	−49
Berber calendar	1494
Buddhist calendar	1088
Burmese calendar	−94
Byzantine calendar	6052–6053
Chinese calendar	癸亥年 (Water Pig) 3241 or 3034     — to — 甲子年 (Wood Rat) 3242 or 3035
Coptic calendar	260–261
Discordian calendar	1710
Ethiopian calendar	536–537
Hebrew calendar	4304–4305
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	600–601
- Shaka Samvat	465–466
- Kali Yuga	3644–3645
Holocene calendar	10544
Iranian calendar	78 BP – 77 BP
Islamic calendar	80 BH – 79 BH
Javanese calendar	431–432
Julian calendar	544 DXLIV
Korean calendar	2877
Minguo calendar	1368 before ROC 民前1368年
Nanakshahi calendar	−924
Seleucid era	855/856 AG
Thai solar calendar	1086–1087
Tibetan calendar	阴水猪年 (female Water-Pig) 670 or 289 or −483     — to — 阳木鼠年 (male Wood-Rat) 671 or 290 or −482

Otranto seen from the castle (2008)

Year 544 (DXLIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 544 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

the Mediterranean World, Europe, and the Middle East

• Gothic War: Emperor Justinian I sends Belisarius back to the Ostrogothic Kingdom (Italy) with an inadequate Byzantine expeditionary force (4,000 men and 200 ships).
• Belisarius defeats the Gothic army under King Totila, who unsuccessfully besieges the city of Otranto (southern Italy). After their retreat, the Byzantines march towards the city of 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 summon to Constantinople.
• 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.
• Battle of Cillium: A medium-sized 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 (modern Vietnam). His armies repel attacks from the kingdom of Champa.
• October – The Liang dynasty retaliates against Van Xuân, and sends an imperial army (120,000 men) 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.

Births

• Dugu Qieluo, empress of the Sui dynasty (d. 602)
• Jing Di, emperor of the Liang dynasty (d. 558)
• Yuwen Xian, prince of Northern Zhou (d. 578)

Deaths

• October 18 – Wenna, Cornish saint (approximate date)
• Dionysius Exiguus, inventor of the Anno Domini era (approximate date)
• Solomon, Byzantine general and prefect of Africa

Bibliography

• Martindale, John Robert; Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin; Morris, J., eds. (1992). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume III: A.D. 527–641. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-20160-5.
• Bury, John Bagnell (1958). History of the Later Roman Empire: From the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian, Volume 2. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-486-20399-9.
• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.