541

Millennium:	1st millennium
Centuries:	5th century – 6th century – 7th century
Decades:	510s  520s  530s  – 540s –  550s  560s  570s
Years:	538 539 540 – 541 – 542 543 544

541 by topic

Politics

State leaders – Sovereign states

Birth and death categories

Births – Deaths

Establishment and disestablishment categories

Establishments – Disestablishments

541 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	541 DXLI
Ab urbe condita	1294
Assyrian calendar	5291
Bengali calendar	−52
Berber calendar	1491
Buddhist calendar	1085
Burmese calendar	−97
Byzantine calendar	6049–6050
Chinese calendar	庚申年 (Metal Monkey) 3237 or 3177     — to — 辛酉年 (Metal Rooster) 3238 or 3178
Coptic calendar	257–258
Discordian calendar	1707
Ethiopian calendar	533–534
Hebrew calendar	4301–4302
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	597–598
- Shaka Samvat	463–464
- Kali Yuga	3642–3643
Holocene calendar	10541
Iranian calendar	81 BP – 80 BP
Islamic calendar	84 BH – 83 BH
Julian calendar	541 DXLI
Korean calendar	2874
Minguo calendar	1371 before ROC 民前1371年
Seleucid era	852/853 AG
Thai solar calendar	1083–1084

Totila, king of the Ostrogoths (541–552)

The Lazic War (541–562)

Year 541 (DXLI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Basilius without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1294 Ab urbe condita). Basilius was the last person to be officially appointed Roman consul, since after this year, the office was permanently merged with the office of Roman/Byzantine emperor. Thus, from the next year forward, the consular year dating was abandoned. The denomination 541 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

• January 1 – Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius is appointed as consul in Constantinople, the last person to hold this office.
• Plague of Justinian: Bubonic plague appears suddenly in the Egyptian port of Pelusium, spreading to Alexandria and, the following year, to Constantinople. This is the beginning of a 200-year-long pandemic that will devastate Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
• Emperor Justinian I recalls Belisarius from Italy to handle the situation in Armenia. He arrives in Upper Mesopotamia and attacks the fortress city of Nisbis. After an unsuccessful siege he ravages the countryside.^[1]
• John the Cappadocian, praetorian prefect of the East, is dismissed by the Byzantine empress Theodora for treason. He is banished to Cyzicus and his estates are confiscated.^[2]

Europe

• Autumn – Totila is elected king by the Ostrogothic nobles after the death of his uncle Ildibad. He wins the support of the lower classes by liberating slaves and distributing land to the peasants.
• Winter – Siege of Verona: Totila defends the city of Verona against a numerically superior Byzantine army. He gains control over the Po Valley and prepares a Gothic offensive in Central Italy.

Persia

• Lazic War: King Khosrau I intervenes in Lazica (modern Georgia) and supports the weakened king Gubazes II against a full-scale uprising. He sends an expeditionary force under Mermeroes and captures the Byzantine stronghold of Petra, located on the coast of the Black Sea, which provides the Persians a strategic port.^[1]

Asia

• The Uyghurs come under the rule of the Hephthalites (approximate date).

By topic

Religion

• Jacob Baradaeus becomes bishop of Edessa (approximate date).

Births

• July 21 – Emperor Wen of Sui, emperor of the Sui Dynasty (d. 604)

Deaths

• Adhurgunbadh, Persian general
• Eraric, king of the Ostrogoths
• Ildibad, king of the Ostrogoths

References

1. Frye Ancient Iran
2. Bury 1923, Volume 2, p. 57–58; Martindale et al. p. 633, 815, 915