The Roman consulship suppressed by Justinian 542 A great plague, which arose in Africa, and desolated Asia and Europe 543 The beginning of the Turkish empire in Asia 545 Rome taken and pillaged by Totila 547 The manufacture of silk introduced from India into Europe by monks 551 Defeat and death of Totila the Gothic king of Italy 553 A dreadful plague over Africa, Asia, and Europe, which continues for 50 years 558 Justin II., son of Vigilantia the sister of Justinian, succeeds 565 Part of Italy conquered by the Lombards from Pannonia, who form a kingdom there 568 Tiberius II., an officer of the imperial guards, is adopted, and soon after succeeds 578 Latin ceases to be the language of Italy about this time 581 Maurice the Cappadocian, son-in-law of Tiberius, succeeds 582 Gregory I., surnamed the Great, fills St. Peter’s chair at Rome. The few men of learning who flourished the latter end of this century were Gildas, Agathias, Gregory of Tours the father of French history, Evagrius, and St. Augustin the monk 590 Augustin the monk, with 40 others, comes to preach christianity in England 597 About this time the Saxon heptarchy began in England 600 Phocas, a simple centurion, is elected emperor after the revolt of the soldiers, and the murder of Maurice and of his children 602 The power of the popes begins to be established by the concessions of Phocas 606 Heraclius, an officer in Africa, succeeds, after the murder of the usurper Phocas 610 The conquests of Chosroes king of Persia, in Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, and afterwards his siege of Rome 611 The Persians take Jerusalem with the slaughter of 90,000 men, and the next year they overrun Africa 614 Mahomet, in his 53rd year, flies from Mecca to Medina, on Friday, July 16th, which forms the first year of the Hegira, the era of the Mahometans 622 Constantinople is besieged by the Persians and Arabs 626 Death of Mahomet 632 Jerusalem taken by the Saracens, and three years after Alexandria and its famous library destroyed 637