568

Year 568 (DLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 568 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.

Millennium:	1st millennium
Centuries:	5th century 6th century 7th century
Decades:	540s 550s 560s 570s 580s
Years:	565 566 567 568 569 570 571

568 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	568 DLXVIII
Ab urbe condita	1321
Armenian calendar	17 ԹՎ ԺԷ
Assyrian calendar	5318
Balinese saka calendar	489–490
Bengali calendar	−25
Berber calendar	1518
Buddhist calendar	1112
Burmese calendar	−70
Byzantine calendar	6076–6077
Chinese calendar	丁亥年 (Fire Pig) 3264 or 3204     — to — 戊子年 (Earth Rat) 3265 or 3205
Coptic calendar	284–285
Discordian calendar	1734
Ethiopian calendar	560–561
Hebrew calendar	4328–4329
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	624–625
- Shaka Samvat	489–490
- Kali Yuga	3668–3669
Holocene calendar	10568
Iranian calendar	54 BP – 53 BP
Islamic calendar	56 BH – 55 BH
Javanese calendar	456–457
Julian calendar	568 DLXVIII
Korean calendar	2901
Minguo calendar	1344 before ROC 民前1344年
Nanakshahi calendar	−900
Seleucid era	879/880 AG
Thai solar calendar	1110–1111
Tibetan calendar	阴火猪年 (female Fire-Pig) 694 or 313 or −459     — to — 阳土鼠年 (male Earth-Rat) 695 or 314 or −458

Events

Europe

• Spring – The Lombards, led by King Alboin, cross the Julian Alps. Their invasion of Northern Italy is almost unopposed; withered Byzantine forces, that remain in the Po Valley and are based at Ravenna, are no match for the overwhelming Lombard incursion. Residents of the Italian countryside flee at the Lombards' approach. Some retreat to the barrier islands along the shore of the Northern Adriatic Sea, where they establish permanent settlements: the nascent city of Venice.[1]
• The Byzantines abandon present-day Lombardy and Tuscany, to establish a frontier march in the hills south of Ravenna (still known as Le Marche). Bavarians, Sarmatians, Saxons and Taifali, join the invasion en route. As they advance, the vacuum left behind them on the Balkan Peninsula is filled by Avars, Bulgars and Slavs.
• Sigebert I, king of Austrasia, repels a second attack from the Avars. His half brother Chilperic I strangles his wife Galswintha at the instigation of his mistress Fredegund.
• Liuvigild is declared co-king and heir after the second year of reign of his brother Liuva I. He becomes ruler over the Visigoths in Hispania Citerior (Eastern Spain).[2]
• Mummolus, Gallo-Roman prefect, defeats the Lombards at Embrun and expels them from Provence (Southern Gaul).
• Avar Khaganate attempts to expel Kutrigurs who had fled the Göktürks, ordering them to go south of the Sava River; those who leave generally fall under rule of the Turks.

Britain

• Æthelric succeeds his brother Adda as king of Bernicia (modern Scotland). He rules from 568–572 (approximate date).
• Battle of Wibbandun: Ceawlin of Wessex defeats Æthelberht of Kent (according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).

Asia

• The Turks and Sassanids succeed in destroying the Hepthalites on the eastern frontier (approximate date).
• A Turkish khan sends emissaries to the Byzantine Empire (approximate date).

Religion

• Emperor Justin II and his wife Sophia send the Cross of Justin II ("Vatican Cross") to Rome, to improve the relations with the Byzantine Empire.[3]
• Paulinus I, patriarch of Aquileia, flees with the treasures of his church and transfers them to the island of Grado.

Births

• Feng Deyi, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 627)
• Ingund, princess, spouse of Visigoth prince Hermenegild (d. 584)
• Liu Wenjing, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 619)

Deaths

• Adda, king of Bernicia (approximate date)
• Galswintha, queen consort of Neustria, married to Chilperic I (b. 540)

References

1. Traditional date as given in William J. Langer, ed. An Encyclopedia of World History
2. John of Biclaro, Chronicle 10. Translated by Kenneth Baxter Wolf, Conquerors and Chroniclers of Early Medieval Spain, second edition (Liverpool: University Press, 1990), p. 60
3. McClanan, p. 167