Crime & Justice in the 6th century

31 sourced entries, 501 CE to 599 CE, oldest first. Also see Crime & Justice across every century or everything else in the 6th century.

• 501Burgundian Civil War: King Gundobad breaks his promise of tribute and regains his military power. He besieges his brother Godegisel at the city of Vienne (Burgundy), and murders him in an Arian church along with the bishop.source
• 507The town of Guilin, China, is renamed Guizhou.source
• 507Wooden coffins and wooden tools are used in the burial places of the Alemanni.source
• 514Vitalian accepts the receipt of ransom money and gifts worth 5,000 pounds of gold for the release of Hypatius, a nephew of Anastasius I who has been a prisoner since the attack at Acris (see 513). Vitalian retreats back to Lower Moesia.source
• 518Justin I founds the Justinian dynasty and makes his nephew Flavius Petrus Sabbatius (later Justinian I) his trusted advisor. He becomes the emperor's close confidant and possibly acts as regent. Theocritus, candidate to the throne, is accused of a conspiracy and executed.source
• 520July – Byzantine general Vitalian becomes consul, and is shortly later murdered, probably on the orders of Justinian, the nephew and heir-apparent of Emperor Justin I.source
• 522Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, Roman philosopher, is arrested on charges of having conspired against Theodoric the Great. He is imprisoned at Pavia (Lombardy).source
• 524Date unknown – Queen Guntheuc, widow of Chlodomer, is forced into marrying his brother, Chlothar I. Her two children are murdered by him, but the eldest son Clodoald survives by escaping to Provence.source
• 525Frankish tribesmen, under the command of King Chlothar I, plunder Burgundy.source
• 530Emperor Xiao Zhuang Di is arrested and imprisoned in a Buddhist temple at Jinyang (Shanxi). He is succeeded by Chang Guang Wang, who becomes the new ruler of Northern Wei.source
• 531Some members of the Blue and Green chariot racing factions in Constantinople are imprisoned for murder, precipitating the Nika riots the next year.source
• 535April 30 – King Theodahad revenges himself upon Queen Amalasuintha. He has her taken from the capital of Ravenna to a small island on Lake Bolsena, where she is strangled in her bath.source
• 538Sittas, Byzantine general, suppresses a revolt in Armenia in protest against heavy taxation. During the campaign he is killed by Artabanes, leader of the revolt.source
• 539Walthari murders his uncle Wacho and becomes king of the Lombards.source
• 541John 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.source
• 546Audoin murders and succeeds Walthari as king of the Lombards.source
• 548April 13 – Emperor Lý Nam Đế of Vietnam is killed by Laotian tribesmen, while on retreat from the Hong River Plain. He is succeeded by his elder brother Lý Thiên Bảo.source
• 549Agila I succeeds Theudigisel as king of the Visigoths, after he is murdered by a group of conspirators during a banquet in Seville.source
• 557Ming Di is made emperor, after his younger brother Xiao Min Di is arrested while trying to assume power. Xiao Min Di is deposed and executed by Yuwen Hu.source
• 562Belisarius stands trial for corruption in Constantinople, possibly with Procopius acting as praefectus urbi. He is found guilty and sent to prison.source
• 563Emperor Justinian I pardons Belisarius; he orders his release from prison, and restores his properties and honours. He permits the general to live in obscurity, and gives him a veterans' pension.source
• 565Justin II recalls his cousin Justin (pretender to the throne) to Constantinople; after accusations against him, he is placed under house arrest.source
• 566Justin II sends his cousin Justin to exile in Alexandria, where he is installed as Augustal prefect of Egypt. There he is murdered in his sleep, and his head is cut off and brought to Constantinople (most likely by assignment of Empress Sophia).source
• 572June 28 – Alboin, king of the Lombards, is murdered at Verona in his palace, at the instigation of his wife Rosamund (daughter of the Gepid king Cunimund), and her henchman, Helmechis (the king's squire); both flee to seek Byzantine protection in Ravenna. Alboin is succeeded as king by Cleph, who is not related by blood.source
• 573The Lombards again raid Southern Gaul, but are defeated by the Franks under Mummolus, patricius and son of the Gallo-Roman count of Auxerre, and are driven out.source
• 574King Cleph is murdered after an 18-month reign by a guard, a slave who he has mistreated. For the next decade, the Lombard Kingdom is governed by independent duchies (Rule of the Dukes).source
• 581Maurice accuses Mundhir III of treason, and brings him to Constantinople to face trial. Emperor Tiberius II Constantine treats him well, and allows Mundhir with his family a comfortable residence.source
• 582The Visigoths under King Liuvigild capture the city of Mérida (western central Spain), which is under the political control of its popular bishop Masona. He is arrested and exiled for 3 years.source
• 592December 8 – Emperor Sushun of Japan is murdered after 5 years on the throne by agents of his rival Umako Soga, who is jealous of the emperor's power. He is succeeded by Suiko, widow of the late emperor Bidatsu.source
• 599Callinicus breaks the truce by kidnapping the Lombard daughter of King Agilulf, beginning a war with the Exarchate of Ravenna (approximate date).source
• 599The Maya city of Palenque (southern Mexico) is plundered by King Scroll Serpent of Calakmul (approximate date).source