604

By place

Byzantine Empire

• The Avars regroup after they are almost destroyed; together with the Slavs they start pillaging through the Byzantine provinces, west and south of the Danube. Due to the new Persian war, Emperor Phocas has few imperial troops available to defend the Balkan Peninsula.
• Byzantine–Persian War: King Khosrau II captures the Byzantine positions east of the Euphrates; the Persians destroy many cities in the Levant region, after prolonged sieges such as the Byzantine fortress of Dara.

  Europe

• Queen Brunhilda of Austrasia conspires to have Berthoald, Mayor of the Palace, assassinated. She convinces King Theuderic II to send him to inspect the royal villae along the Seine. Brunhilda then has the noblemen who actually carried out the murder arrested and killed.
• December 25 - Battle of Ėtampes: Theuderic II, with the aid of Berthoald, defeats the Frankish forces under King Chlothar II of Neustria, at Étampes.

  Britain

• Æthelfrith of Northumbria invades Deira and kills its king, Æthelric. Prince Edwin, son of the late king Ælla of Deira, flees to the court of King Iago of Gwynedd.
• Sæbert succeeds his father Sledd as king of Essex. He is persuaded to convert to Christianity through the intervention of his uncle, King Æthelberht of Kent.

  Asia

• August 13 - Emperor Wéndi, age 63, is assassinated by his son Yángdi, after a 23-year reign in which he has attacked hereditary privilege and reduced the power of the military aristocracy. He is succeeded by Yángdi, who becomes the second emperor of the Sui Dynasty.
• Prince Shotoku, imperial regent of Empress Suiko, issues a Seventeen-article constitution, based on both Confucian and Buddhist principles in Japan.

  By topic

Religion

• March 12 - Pope Gregory I dies at Rome, after a 14-year reign. He has laid the foundations which claim papal absolutism, pioneered the conversion of Britain to Roman Catholicism and enunciated what will come to be known as the "seven deadly sins". Gregory is succeeded by Sabinian as the 65th pope of the Catholic Church.
• May 26 - Augustine, Archbishop of Canterbury, is succeeded by Laurence. He is a member of the Gregorian mission.
• Æthelberht of Kent founds St. Paul's Cathedral. Mellitus is appointed the first Saxon bishop of London.
• The See of Rochester is established, and Justus is appointed as bishop. He founds Rochester Cathedral.