627 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar 627
DCXXVII
Ab urbe condita 1380
Armenian calendar 76
ԹՎ ՀԶ
Assyrian calendar 5377
Balinese saka calendar 548–549
Bengali calendar 33–34
Berber calendar 1577
Buddhist calendar 1171
Burmese calendar −11
Byzantine calendar 6135–6136
Chinese calendar 丙戌年 (Fire Dog)
3324 or 3117
    — to —
丁亥年 (Fire Pig)
3325 or 3118
Coptic calendar 343–344
Discordian calendar 1793
Ethiopian calendar 619–620
Hebrew calendar 4387–4388
Hindu calendars
 - Vikram Samvat 683–684
 - Shaka Samvat 548–549
 - Kali Yuga 3727–3728
Holocene calendar 10627
Iranian calendar 5–6
Islamic calendar 5–6
Japanese calendar N/A
Javanese calendar 517–518
Julian calendar 627
DCXXVII
Korean calendar 2960
Minguo calendar 1285 before ROC
民前1285年
Nanakshahi calendar −841
Seleucid era 938/939 AG
Thai solar calendar 1169–1170
Tibetan calendar མེ་ཕོ་ཁྱི་ལོ་
(male Fire-Dog)
753 or 372 or −400
    — to —
མེ་མོ་ཕག་ལོ་
(female Fire-Boar)
754 or 373 or −399
Maneuvers during the Battle of Nineveh (Iraq)

Year 627 (DCXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 627 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.

Events

By place

Byzantine Empire

  • Spring – Byzantine–Sasanian War: Emperor Heraclius sweeps through southern Armenia with a 50,000-man expeditionary force, recapturing most of the Byzantine fortresses lost to the Persians ten and fifteen years earlier. The army of Shahrbaraz, still in Anatolia, is now cut off completely. Hearing from Byzantine agents (showing him letters) that King Khosrau II, dissatisfied with his failure to capture Constantinople, is planning to have him executed, he surrenders to Heraclius, refusing to join the Byzantine army against his ungrateful sovereign.
  • Third Perso-Turkic War: The Göktürks and their Khazar allies (40,000 men) approach the Caspian Gates, and capture the Persian fortress at Derbent (modern Dagestan). Heraclius marches to the upper Tigris and invades the Persian heartland, leaving the Khazars under Tong Yabghu Qaghan to continue the siege of Tblilisi.[1]
  • December 12Battle of Nineveh: Heraclius crosses the Great Zab river and, in a feigned retreat, defeats the Persian army (12,000 men) under Rhahzadh, near the ruins of Nineveh (Iraq). Although wounded, Heraclius refuses to leave the battlefield, and in a final cavalry charge personally kills the Persian general.[2]
  • Winter – Heraclius plunders the city palace of Dastgerd (Iran) and gains tremendous riches (also recovering 300 captured Byzantine flags).[3] He turns northeastward to Caucasian Albania to rest his army. Khosrau II flees to the mountains of Susiana, to rally support for the defense of the Persian capital Ctesiphon.[4][5]

Britain

  • King Eorpwald of East Anglia is murdered, and succeeded by Ricberht. He is a member of the East Anglian elite; during his rule paganism is re-established.
  • April 12 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Bishop Paulinus of York, who previously saved his life.

Arabia

  • March 31Battle of the Trench: Muhammad successfully withstands a siege for 27 days at Medina, by Meccan forces (10,000 men) under Abu Sufyan, whose allies, the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza, ultimately surrender to Muhammad.[6]

By topic

Religion

  • April 12Paulinus, last of the missionaries sent by Pope Gregory I, builds a wooden church in the old Roman legionary headquarters in York, and baptises Edwin of Northumbria as the first Christian king in northern England.[7]
  • Fourth Council of Mâcon: A council of Christian bishops approves the Monastic Rule of Saint Columbanus in the city of Mâcon (Burgundy).[8]
  • Cunibert is elected bishop of Cologne. Throughout his episcopacy, monasticism flourishes in Austrasia (approximate date).

Education

  • St Peter's School, York, is founded by Paulinus.


Births

  • Cui Zhiwen, Tang dynasty official (d. 683)

Deaths

  • Amatus, Benedictine abbot and hermit
  • Bonus, Byzantine general and regent
  • Cathal mac Áedo, king of Cashel (Ireland)
  • King Eorpwald of East Anglia (approximate date)
  • Feng Deyi, chancellor of the Tang dynasty (b. 568)
  • Luo Yi, official of the Sui dynasty
  • Pei Ju, official of the Tang dynasty
  • Rhahzadh, Persian general
  • Sichilde, Frankish queen
  • King Stephen I of Iberia (Georgia)
  • Zaynab bint Khuzayma, wife of Muhammad (b. 595)

References

  1. ^ Kaegi 2003, p. 144.
  2. ^ Kaegi 2003, p. 167.
  3. ^ Kaegi 2003, p. 173.
  4. ^ Oman, Charles (1893), Europe, 476–918, Volume 1 (p. 211)
  5. ^ Norwich, John Julius (1997), A Short History of Byzantium, Vintage Books, p. 93. ISBN 0-679-77269-3
  6. ^ Watt, Muhammad at Medina, p. 36
  7. ^ Bede Book II, Chapter XIV.
  8. ^ "St. Columbanus". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company (1913)

Sources

  • Bede. "Book II". Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Internet History Sourcebooks Project.
  • Kaegi, Walter E. (2003). Heraclius: emperor of Byzantium. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81459-6.