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The 410s

109 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 5th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

410 CE18 entries

  • The city of Aléria on the island of Corsica is devastated by a huge fire, destroying its port and most of its inhabitants.
  • Spring – Constantine III crosses the Alps into Liguria (Northern Italy), but retreats to Gaul after Gerontius revolts in Spain against his son Constans II.
  • Raiders from Ireland, such as the Uí Liatháin and Laigin, harry the coasts of Wales. They plunder towns and capture slaves but later colonise large areas of what is called Gwynedd, in particular Llŷn, the coasts of Arllechwedd, Arfon and the Isle of Mona (approximate date).

411 CE13 entries

  • Following the defeat of Constantine III, the Burgundians and the Gallic nobility proclaim Jovinus, Gallo-Roman senator, emperor of the Western Roman Empire at Mogontiacum (modern Mainz).
  • Battle of Vienne: Emperor Constantine III sends his son Constans II to stop the advance of Gerontius. Constans is defeated and killed.
  • Ingyo succeeds his brother Hanzei, and becomes the 19th emperor of Japan.

412 CE16 entries

  • Heraclianus, governor (Comes Africae), revolts against Honorius and proclaims himself Augustus. He interrupts the grain supply to Rome. Honorius condemns him and his supporters to death with an edict at Ravenna.
  • Lazarus, bishop of Aix-en-Provence, and Heros, bishop of Arles, are expelled from their sees on a charge of Manichaeism.
  • Winter – Olympiodorus, historical writer, is sent on an embassy by Honorius, and sails in stormy weather around Greece up the Black Sea, to meet the Huns who are located on the middle Danube (modern Bulgaria).

413 CE13 entries

  • May 8 – Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.
  • Augustine of Hippo, age 59, begins to write his spiritual book De Civitate Dei (City of God), as a reply to the charge that Christianity was responsible for the decline of the Roman Empire.
  • Kumaragupta I succeeds his father Chandragupta II as emperor of the Gupta Empire (India).

414 CE9 entries

  • January 1 – Galla Placidia, half-sister of emperor Honorius, is married to the Visigothic king Ataulf at Narbonne. The wedding is celebrated with Roman festivities and magnificent gifts from the Gothic booty.
  • July 4 – Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigns as regent and proclaims herself empress (Augusta) of the Eastern Roman Empire.
  • Abdas, bishop of Susa, burns down a Zoroastrian temple; in retaliation, King Yazdegerd I of Persia orders the destruction of churches.

415 CE13 entries

  • March – Hypatia of Alexandria, Neoplatonist philosopher, is murdered by a Christian mob of Nitrian monks at the church (former temple conceived by Cleopatra VII) called Caesareum. Having driven out the Jews, Alexandria's new patriarch, Cyril, has instigated the mob after taking offense at Hypatia's scientific rationalism (approximate date).
  • John Cassian, Christian theologian, settles at a monastery in Marseille (Gaul); he organizes monastic communities after an eastern model.
  • Constantius, Roman general (magister militum), drives the Visigoths out of Gaul. He captures the usurper Priscus Attalus, and sends him under military escort to Ravenna.

416 CE7 entries

  • Rutilius Claudius Namatianus begins his journey home from Rome to Gaul. This becomes the subject of his unfinished poem, De Reditu Suo.
  • Priscus Attalus, Roman usurper, is forced to participate in a triumph celebrated by Emperor Honorius, in the streets of Rome. After the festivities, he is exiled to the Lipari Islands (north of Sicily).
  • The Visigoths continue their invasion of Hispania, and take control of Tarraconensis. King Wallia occupies the gold mines at Las Médulas, and forces Jewish citizens to convert to Christianity.

417 CE10 entries

  • January 1 – Emperor Honorius forces his half-sister Galla Placidia into marriage to Constantius, his general (magister militum). He is appointed patricius and becomes a prominent member of the House of Theodosius.
  • January – Pope Innocent I condemns Pelagianism, and excommunicates the ascetic Pelagius.
  • March 12 – Innocent I dies after a 16-year reign in which he has restored relations between the sees of Rome and Antioch, enforced celibacy of the clergy, and maintained the right of the bishop of Rome to judge appeals from other churches. Innocent is succeeded by Zosimus as the 41st pope.

418 CE6 entries

  • December 28 – Pope Boniface I succeeds Zosimus as the 42nd pope.
  • Theodoric I becomes king of the Visigoths. He completes the settlements in Gallia Aquitania and expands his military power to the south.
  • Eulalius is elected antipope of Rome. He claims in a letter to Honorius his recognition as pope.

419 CE4 entries

  • Jin Gongdi, age 33, succeeds his developmentally disabled brother Jin Andi as emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Andi is strangled by orders of the warlord Liu Yu.
  • A law is passed, prohibiting the act of instructing barbarians on shipbuilding in the Western and Eastern Roman Empires.