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The 440s

108 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.

440 CE22 entries

  • September 29 – Leo I begins to formulate Orthodoxy and condemns Eutychianism, an extreme form of monophysitism which holds that the human nature of Christ is absorbed by His divine nature.
  • A center of Buddhist studies is established at Nalanda in Bihar on the plains of the Ganges River (India).
  • The Hephthalites (White Huns) move south from the Altai Mountains region into Transoxiana, Bactria, Khorasan and eastern Persia.

441 CE11 entries

  • November 8 – The first Council of Orange is convened under the guidance of Hilary of Arles in Orange (France).
  • King Hermeric dies after a two-year illness; he is succeeded by his son Rechila, who becomes sole ruler over the Suebic Kingdom of Galicia.
  • The Huns, led by Attila, attack Constanţa (modern Romania), one of the few remaining Roman forts on the northern bank of the Danube, and designated as a secure trading post. On a crowded market day, the Huns take the town by surprise and slaughter the garrison.

442 CE8 entries

  • The Monastery of St. Shenouda the Archimandrite (White Monastery) near Sohag (Egypt) is built.
  • End of the Vandal War (439-442): Emperor Valentinian III signs a peace treaty with King Genseric, and recognises the Vandal Kingdom. He grants him sovereignty over most of Africa. Genseric gives back Sicily and Mauretania (Algeria and Morocco). This marks the end of the Vandal migrations; they settle in North Africa, with Carthage as their capital.
  • The Huns, on a military campaign along the Danube and the Great Morava, destroy the city of Naissus (modern Serbia). They have mastered siege technology and are able to capture fortified cities. The Roman Senate agrees to pay Attila a tribute of 700 pounds of gold per year.

443 CE4 entries

  • Period of civil war and famine in Britain, caused by rival kingdoms and Pictish invasions; the situation aggravates tensions between Pelagian and Roman factions. Pro-Roman citizens migrate towards Gaul.
  • The Burgundians sign a peace treaty with Rome, agreeing to serve as foederati in the Roman army. They begin to move from the Upper Rhine and Flavius Aetius, commander-in-chief (magister militum), gives them land in the Geneva area (Maxima Sequanorum).
  • Gunabhadra, Indian Buddhist monk, is an invited honored guest by emperor Wen of Liu Song (Liu Song dynasty). He translates the Lankavatara Sutra from Sanskrit into the Chinese language.

444 CE9 entries

  • Dioscorus I becomes Patriarch of Alexandria.
  • Attila the Hun establishes his residence along the Tisza River (modern Hungary), and plans the coming campaign in the Balkans.
  • Pope Leo I extinguishes the Gallican vicariate.

445 CE10 entries

  • Roman emperor Valentinian III issues Novel 18 (Novella XVIII) on June 19, an imperial edict against Manichaeism. Heavy penalties are decreed against those who do not denounce the religion, and retain Manichaean books.
  • Domnus II, Patriarch of Antioch, summons a synod of Syrian bishops to confirm the deposition of Athanasius of Perrha.
  • Ireland: The Diocese of Armagh is created.

446 CE9 entries

  • The Cor Tewdws (College of Theodosius), Llantwit Major (Wales), is supposedly burned down by Irish pirates.
  • Bishop Germanus of Auxerre visits Ravenna, seeking to soften imperial hostility towards the Bagaudae. On his arrival at the capital, empress-mother Galla Placidia sends him a silver dish with a choice selection of prepared dainties—all vegetarian, out of respect for the bishop's strict diet. Germanus petitions the Senate for leniency for the citizens of Armorica (Brittany).
  • Three Disasters of Wu: The Northern Wei dynasty begins persecuting Buddhists, having heretofore encouraged them. The drain of manpower and tax money to temples and monasteries has threatened the secular government, and the reaction is fierce: monks and nuns are murdered, temples and icons destroyed. All men under age 50 are prohibited from joining any monastic order in a program that will continue until 450, helping the Confucianist philosophy of the Han dynasty to gain dominance over Buddhism.

447 CE12 entries

  • November 6 – The Walls of Constantinople are severely damaged by an earthquake, which destroys large parts of the structure, including 57 towers. The population is threatened by a plague. Emperor Theodosius II orders Constantine, praetorian prefect of the East, to supervise the repairs. He employs the city's demoi ("Circus factions") in the work, and rebuilds the walls within 60 days.
  • The Synod of Toledo (Spain) tries to add the filioque clause to the Nicene Creed. The Eastern Orthodox Church refuses to go along with this idea.
  • Battle of the Utus: Attila defeats the Roman army near the river Utus (Vit, Bulgaria). The Huns are forced to abandon the siege of Constantinople. They march north and plunder the defenseless Balkan provinces (including Thrace, Scythia, Moesia, Dacia and Illyricum).

448 CE10 entries

  • Attila demands in the treaty the evacuation of the territory running from Singidunum (Belgrade, in Serbia) 300 mi km east along the Danube to Novae (Svishtov, in Bulgaria). This depopulated buffer zone deprives the Romans of their natural defensive advantages.
  • Rechiar succeeds his father Rechila as king of the Suebi in Galicia (Northern Spain). He marries a daughter of the Visigoth king Theodoric I and converts to Catholicism.
  • Kou Qianzhi, Chinese Daoist reformer, dies after having converted emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei and having established Daoism as the country's dominant religion. His death presages a revival of Buddhism as China's dominant faith.

449 CE13 entries

  • August 3 – The Second Council of Ephesus opens, chaired by Dioscorus, patriarch of Alexandria. Flavian, patriarch of Constantinople, and Domnus II, patriarch of Antioch, are deposed on August 8.
  • Traditional date – Hengist and Horsa, by tradition chieftains of the Jutes, land at Isle of Thanet, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle at the invitation of Vortigern. The Britons form a military alliance with them against the Picts and Scoti. Bede considers this the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain.
  • Emperor Valentinian III sends an emissary to Attila the Hun. The purpose of the meeting is a long-running dispute over spoils of war during the Danube offensive (441–442). Attila claims his lost property, but Valentinian and Flavius Aetius (magister militum) refuse this request.