Clovis I, unifier of the Franks, converts to Catholic Christianity; traditionally dated to around 496 at Reims.
Approximate date.
Odoacer deposes Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman emperor, a conventional end of antiquity in Europe.
Emperor Justinian I has Roman law codified as the Corpus Juris Civilis, the foundation of many modern civil-law systems.
The Hagia Sophia, rebuilt by Justinian I in Constantinople, is consecrated, crowned by a dome unprecedented in its time.
A Roman and Visigothic coalition under Aetius halts the invasion of Gaul by Attila and the Huns.
The first recorded pandemic of bubonic plague sweeps the Mediterranean, devastating the Byzantine Empire and killing vast numbers.
Visigoths under Alaric I enter and sack Rome, the first time in about 800 years the city had fallen to a foreign enemy.