561
| Years: 557 558 559 560 - 561 - 562 563 564 565 | |
| Decades: 530s 540s 550s - 560s - 570s 580s 590s | |
| Centuries: 5th century - 6th century - 7th century | |
Events
- Clotaire I dies, and the Frankish kingdom is divided; Sigebert I becomes king of Austrasia, Chilperic I becomes king of Neustria, Charibert becomes king of Paris, and Guntram becomes king of Burgundy.
- John succeeds Pelagius as Pope.
- Northern Qi Wu Cheng Di succeeds Northern Qi Xiao Zhao Di as ruler of the Chinese Northern Qi Dynasty
- Battle of Cúl Drebene between the Northern and Southern Ui Neill.
- According to tradition, a pitched battle erupts after a dispute between Saint Columba and Saint Finnian over authorship of a psalter. As penance for these deaths, Columba was ordered to make the same number of new converts as had been killed.
- Jnanagupta begins translating Buddhist texts into Chinese.
Births
Deaths
- March 4 - Pelagius, Pope
- Clotaire I, king of the Franks