Year 526 (DXXVI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Olybrius without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1279 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 526 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.

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• Wang Lin, general of the Liang Dynasty and Northern Wei (d. 573)
• Yuan Zhao ("the young lord"), emperor of Northern Wei (d. 528)

• May 18 – Pope John I^[1]
• August 30 – Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths (b. 454)^[2]
• October 30 – Paul of Edessa, Syriac Orthodox bishop of Edessa
• Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus, Roman politician