Gildo, Comes Africae and Magister utriusque militiae…

Emperor Xiaowu of China’s Eastern Jin Dynasty had seen his empire survive a major attempt by Former Qin to destroy it, but he will be the last Jin emperor to actually exercise imperial power, as his sons Emperor An and Emperor Gong will be controlled by regents and warlords.

He himself died an unusual death—killed in 396 by his concubine Consort Zhang after he had insulted her.

His son Sima Dezong, created crown prince in 387 and ascending the throne in 397 as the fifteen-year-old Emperor An, is described as so developmentally disabled that he is unable to speak, clothe himself, or be able to express whether he is hungry or full.

Because of his disability, the actual power is controlled by his uncle Sima Daozi, the Prince of Kuaiji.

During his reign, regents and warlords will dominate the Jin regime.

Revolts by various governors also will ravage the land.

From 398 for several years, there are to be constant revolts and civil war campaigns.

Japan’s Kofun period, which had begun around 250, is named after the large burial mounds that had appeared at the time.

Illustrated by an animistic culture that exists prior to the introduction of Buddhism, the Kofun period sees the establishment of strong military states centered around powerful clans, and the establishment of a dominant polity centered in the Yamato area from the third century on: the Yamato Court, origin of the Japanese imperial lineage.

The Yamato Court, suppressing the clans and acquiring agricultural lands, maintains a strong influence in the western part of Japan (the Asuka region).

Based upon the Chinese model, they have developed a central administration and an imperial court system and society is organized into occupation groups.

Several proto-state formations rival one another, possibly representing different ethnic backgrounds.

Close relationships between the Three Kingdoms of Korea and Japan begin during the middle of this period, around the end of the fourth century.

(According to the Gwanggaeto Stele, Japan actively participates with large armies on the Korean Peninsula during the late fourth and early fifth centuries.

According to the Book of Song, of the Liu Song Dynasty, the Chinese emperor appointed the king of Yamato to also be ruler of Silla, Baekje, and the Gaya confederacy.

According to the Samguk Sagi (Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms), Baekje and Silla sent their princes as hostages to the Yamato court to ensure military support; King Asin of Baekje sent his son Jeonji in 397.)

Later Yan is under heavy attack by Northern Wei in 397, after its founding emperor Murong Chui had died and been replaced by Murong Bao.

Later Qin refuses to provide aid to Later Yan.

Empress Dowager She dies later in 397, and Yao Xing is described to be in such great mourning that he is unable to handle matters of state for some time.

After the period passes, however, he continues to wear mourning clothes.

The Gupta Dynasty, originating probably in Bengal, had in the beginning of the fourth century established and ruled a few small Hindu kingdoms in Magadha and around modern-day Uttar Pradesh.

Chandragupta, with a dowry of the kingdom of Magadha and an alliance with the Lichchhavis, had set about expanding his power, conquering much of Magadha, Prayaga and Saketa, and by 320 establishing a realm stretching from the Ganges River to Prayaga, modern-day Allahabad.

His successor Samudragupta had taken the kingdoms of Shichchhatra and Padmavati early in his reign, then attacked the tribes in Malwa: the Yaudheyas, the Arjunayanas, the Maduras and the Abhiras.

By his death in 380, he had incorporated over twenty kingdoms into his realm, his rule extending from the Himalayas to the river Narmada and from the Brahmaputra to the Yamuna.

Considered the Napoleon of India, he gave himself the titles King of Kings and World Monarch.

A talented military leader and a great patron of art and literature, he had been succeeded by his son Ramagupta, who had been captured by the Saka Western Satraps ("Kshatrapas") and had soon been succeeded by his brother Chandragupta II, whose greatest victory is over the Shaka-Kshatrapa dynasty and annexation of their kingdom in Gujarat, by defeating their last ruler Rudrasimha III in 395.

The age of classical Sanskrit writings begins under the Guptas; Kalidasa’s dramas and poems epitomize the kavya school’s epic genre.

Known to be an ardent worshiper of Shiva, he writes his plays and poetry largely based around Hindu mythology and philosophy.

His name means, literally, "Kali's servant".

The Vakataka, an Indian dynasty which has ruled parts of today's Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh from the third century, are the most important successor dynasty of the Satavahanas, contemporaneous with the Gupta.

Even Samudragupta (335-380), the great conqueror of the Gupta, seems to have avoided a war with the Vakataka.

The Rudradeva in Samadragupta's victory inscription of Allahabad may be Pravarasena I's son Rudrasena I (330-355).

But from this, Samadragupta would have garnered no lasting success.

Rudrasena I had a son named Prithvisena I (355-380), and Prithvisena I had a son named Rudrasena II.

In the late fourth century, the state seems to have occasionally divided.

Rudrasena II (380-385) had married Prabhavatigupta, the daughter of the Gupta King Chandragupta II (375-413/15) and died after a very short reign in 385 CE, following which Prabhavatigupta rules as a regent on behalf of her two sons, Divakarsena and Damodarsena (Pravarsena II).

During this period the Vakataka realm is practically a part of the Gupta empire, and many historians refer to this period as the Vakataka-Gupta age.

John of Jerusalem, who has been a monk since his early years, had in about 387 succeeded the noted theologian Cyril of Jerusalem as bishop.

He had been attacked in 393 by the Latin biblical scholar Jerome and by the influential Bishop Epiphanius of Constantia (now Salamis, Cyprus) for adhering to the views of Origen of Alexandria.

After Epiphanius incited the Palestinian monks to anti-Origenism, John had retaliated by denying them access to the holy places in Jerusalem and refusing to baptize converts or bury their dead.

Palestine has meanwhile passed under eastern control upon partition of the Roman Empire in 395.

Jerome had published a virulent manifesto denouncing John in the fall of 396.

The consequent scandal has reverberated throughout the Greek and Western churches.

Reconciled with Jerome at Easter in 397 through the mediation of Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, John remains neutral in the continuing Origenist polemic between Jerome and his former theological colleague Tyrannius Rufinus.

Jerome, writing elsewhere, expresses his belief that Mosaic law is a divine trick to destroy the Jews.

He also warns, “Jews are congenital liars who lure Christians to heresy. They should therefore be punished until they confess.”

Ambrose dies in 397, leaving a number of writings, including a treatise on the duties of the clergy, De officiis; commentaries on various books of the Bible; and (possibly) the Athanasian creed.

As the author of a number of hymns, he is regarded as one of the founders of Western church music and is honored as one of the four Latin doctors of the Catholic church.

Augustine, a year after becoming bishop of Hippo in 396, begins recounting his childhood and wild, pre-conversion youth in his Confessions.

The Legacy of Bishop Martin of Tours and the Works of Sulpicius Severus

In 397 CE, Bishop Martin of Tours dies; later canonized, he will become the patron saint of France. His life and deeds inspire Sulpicius Severus, who, having begun his work while Martin was still alive, will produce the earliest and most enduring biography of the saint. This account will remain the most widely read biography of one of the most revered figures in early Western Christianity.

Sulpicius Severus, an Aquitanian aristocrat, was originally destined for an administrative career and received a classical education. However, following the early death of his wife, he renounced public life and embraced monasticism.

In addition to his biography of Martin, Sulpicius undertakes the writing of a world chronicle of sacred history, the Chronicorum Libri Duo (or Historia Sacra). This work, covering the period from the creation of the world to 400 CE, deliberately omits the events of the Gospels and Acts, explaining that their sacred nature should not be reduced to mere historical narrative. His chronicle, blending Christian perspective with classical literary traditions, will influence later medieval historiography, providing one of the earliest continuous historical accounts from a Christian worldview.

Stilicho takes another army to Greece in 397 to blockade the Visigoths in Arcadia, but his strategy is once again undercut by ordering his transfer to Italy, this time to punish the African Moors' refusal to ship grain to Rome.

Stilicho promptly imports grain from Gaul and Spain.