By place

Byzantine Empire

• Byzantine–Sassanid War: Emperor Maurice defeats the Persian forces under Bahrām Chobin at Nisibis (modern Turkey), and drives them back into Armenia.
• Comentiolus, commander (magister militum) of the eastern army, receives the legitimate Persian king, Khosrau II, as a refugee in his headquarters at Hierapolis.
• Maurice establishes the Exarchate of Carthage in Africa. He combines the civil authority of a praetorian prefect and the military authority, based at Carthage.
• March 26 – Theodosius, eldest son of Maurice, is proclaimed as co-emperor. He becomes his father's heir to the Byzantine throne.^[1]
• Stephen I succeeds his father Guaram I as king of Iberia (Georgia) (approximate date).

Europe

• The Franks and Burgundians under King Guntram invade Italy. They capture the cities Milan and Verona, but are forced to leave by a plague outbreak in the Po Valley.
• The Franks again invade Italy; they capture Modena and Mantua. Several Lombard dukes defect: Gisulf I, duke of Friuli, is defeated and replaced by his son Gisulf II.
• September 5 – King Authari dies (possibly by poison) after a 6-year reign, and is succeeded by Agilulf, duke (dux) of Turin, who marries his widow Theodelinda.
• Frankish rebellion lead by Basina, daughter of Chilperic I.

Britain

• Æthelberht succeeds his father Eormenric as king (bretwalda) of Kent (according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).
• Siege of Lindisfarne: A Brythonic coalition lays siege to King Hussa of Bernicia at Lindisfarne Castle (Holy Island).
• Owain mab Urien succeeds his father Urien, as Brythonic king of Rheged in Northern England (approximate date).

Persia

• Spring – King Hormizd IV dismisses Bahrām Chobin as commander (Eran spahbed). He revolts and marches with the support of the Persian army towards Ctesiphon.
• February 15 – Hormizd IV is deposed and assassinated by Persian nobles. Having ruled since 579, he is succeeded by his son Khosrau II as king of the Persian Empire.
• September – Bahrām Chobin defeats the inferior forces of Khosrau II near Ctesiphon. He seizes the throne and proclaims himself as king Bahrām IV of Persia.

Asia

• Kadungon becomes king of the Pandyan Kingdom in South India (approximate date).

By topic

Religion

• February 7 – Pope Pelagius II falls victim to the plague that devastated Rome. After an 11-year reign he is succeeded by Gregory I, age 50, as the 64th pope, and the first from a monastic background.
• Egidius, bishop of Reims, is tried at Metz before a council of bishops for a conspiracy against King Childebert II; he is found guilty and exiled to Strasbourg.
• Gregory I begins a vigorous program of rebuilding aqueducts and restoring Rome. He feeds the citizens with doles of grain, as under Roman imperial rule.
• Columbanus, Irish missionary, obtains from King Guntram the Gallo-Roman castle Luxovium (Luxeuil-les-Bains), where he founds the Abbey of Luxeuil.^[2]
• John of Biclaro, Visigoth chronicler, finishes his "Chronicle" before he is appointed bishop of Girona (Catalonia, Spain).