Year 524 (DXXIV) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) on the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Iustinus and Opilio (or, less frequently, year 1277 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 524 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.

• January 1 – Venantius Opilio is appointed by Byzantium's Emperor Justin to administer the Western Roman Empire as the Roman consul, replacing Anicius Maximus. The Emperor Justin appoints himself as consul for the West, an office vacant since 522, but has Theodorus Filoxenus administering the west.
• May 1 – King Sigismund of Burgundy is executed at Orléans after an 8-year reign, and is succeeded by his brother Godomar. He rallies the Burgundian army and begins plundering Frankish territory.
• June 25 – Battle of Vézeronce: The Franks under Chlodomer, Childebert I and Chlothar I are defeated by the Burgundians and allied Ostrogoths near Isère (France), averting the Frankish advance into Burgundy. During the fighting Chlodomer is killed. Later Childebert annexes the cities of Chartres and Orléans.
• October 23 – Anicius Manlius Boethius, one of Rome's most prolific writers and philosophers, is beaten to death at the prison at Pavia, where he has been imprisoned for treason. During his prison sentence, he has written his final work, The Consolation of Philosophy. ^[1] The date of the death of St. Boethius is later celebrated as his feast day on the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints.^[2]
• Date unknown – Queen Guntheuc, widow of Chlodomer, is forced into marrying his brother, Chlothar I. Her two children are murdered by him, but the eldest son Clodoald survives by escaping to Provence.

• November 29 – Ahkal Moʼ Nahb I, ruler of the Maya city of Palenque in what is now the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, dies after a reign of 23 years. The city enters an interregnum which lasts a little over four years.

• September 18 – Kan Bahlam I, ruler of Palenque (d. 583)
• He Shikai, high official of Northern Qi (d. 571)
• Xiao Daqi, crown prince of Northern Qi (d. 551)
• Xiao Jing Di, emperor of Eastern Wei (d. 552)

• June 25 – Chlodomer, king of the Franks
• July 12 – Viventiolus, Archbishop of Lyon (b. 460)
• November 29 – Ahkal Moʼ Nahb I, ruler of Palenque (Mexico) (b. 465)
• Boethius, Roman philosopher and writer (b. 480)^[3]
• Brigit of Kildare, Irish patron saint^[4]
• Sigismund, king of the Burgundians
• Zhou She, high official of Southern Liang (b. 469)