538

Year 538 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Iohannes without colleague. The denomination 538 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

March 12 - Siege of Rome: King Vitiges of the Ostrogoths ends his siege and abandons Rome. He retreats with his Gothic army northeast along the Via Flaminia.
Belisarius attacks the Goths when they have crossed the Milvian Bridge. After fierce resistance, Vitiges routs in panic, and many are slain or drowned in the river.
Gothic War: Vitiges strengthens the garrisons of various towns and besieges Ariminum. Byzantine forces under the Armenian general Narses arrive at Picenum.
April - Belisarius secures Liguria, Mediolanum and Ariminum, but disagreements, especially with Narses, leads to disunity in the Byzantine army.
Summer - King Theudebert I sends a small Frankish force across the Alps, and defeats the Goths and Byzantines at the River Po. Belisarius retreats to Tuscany.
Sittas, Byzantine general, suppresses a revolt in Armenia in protest against heavy taxation. During the campaign he is killed by Artabanes, leader of the revolt.
Britain
King Cuneglas of Rhos abandons his wife in favour of his sister-in-law, a nun who he drags from her convent.
Gabrán mac Domangairt becomes king of Dál Riata.
Asia
King Seong of Paekche moves the capital from Ungjin further south to Sabi, on the Geum River. He sends a diplomatic mission that formally introduces Buddhism to the Japanese imperial court.
The Kofun period ends and the Asuka period, the second part of the Yamato period in Japan, begins.
By topic

As a result of persecutions by the Byzantine Empire, Monophysite Christians establish the Coptic Church in Alexandria.
The Third Council of Orléans takes place, and prohibits rural labor on Sunday.
The first time since the Emperor Justinian's decree of 533, making John Chief Bishop of all the churches, that the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome over the Church can actually be implemented by Pope Vigilius.
Society
Third year of worldwide famine, a consequence of the Extreme weather events of 535–536.