11th century  

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As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century is the period from 1001 to 1100 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era.
In the history of European culture, this period is considered the early part of the High Middle Ages. There was a sudden decline of Byzantine power and rise of Norman domination over much of Europe, along with the prominent role in Europe of notably influential popes. In what is now Northern Italy, a growth of population in urban centers gave rise to early organized capitalism and more sophisticated, commercialized culture by the late 11th century.

Literature

• 1000 – The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries is written by Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī.
• c. 1000 – The Al-Tasrif is written by the Andalusian physician and scientist Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis).
• c. 1000 – The Zij al-Kabir al-Hakimi is written by the Egyptian astronomer Ibn Yunus.
• 1000–1037 – Hayy ibn Yaqdhan is written by Avicenna.
• 1008 – The Leningrad Codex, one of the oldest full manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, is completed.
• c. 1010 – The oldest known copy of the epic poem Beowulf was written around this year.
• 1013 – The Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau, a Chinese encyclopedia, is completed by a team of scholars including Wang Qinruo.
• 1020 – The Bamberg Apocalypse commissioned by Otto III is completed.
• 1021 – Lady Murasaki Shikibu writes her Japanese novel, The Tale of Genji.
• 1021 – The Book of Optics by Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen or Alhacen) is completed.
• 1025 – The Canon of Medicine by Avicenna (Ibn Sina) is completed.
• 1027 – The Book of Healing is published by Avicenna.
• 1037 – The Jiyun, a Chinese rime dictionary, is published by Ding Du and expanded by later scholars.
• 1037 – Birth of the Chinese poet Su Shi, one of the renowned poets of the Song Dynasty, who also penned works of travel literature.
• 1044 – The Wujing Zongyao military manuscript is completed by Chinese scholars Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du, and Yang Weide.
• 1048–1100 – The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is written by Omar Khayyam sometime after 1048.
• 1049 – The Record of Tea is written by Chinese official Cai Xiang
• 1052 – The Uji Dainagon Monogatari, a collection of stories allegedly penned by Minamoto-no-Takakuni, is written sometime between now and 1077.
• 1053 – The New History of the Five Dynasties by Chinese official Ouyang Xiu is completed.
• 1054 – Russian legal code of the Russkaya Pravda is created during the reign of Yaroslav I the Wise.
• 1057 – The Ostromir Gospels of Novgorod are written.
• 1060 – compilation of the New Book of Tang, edited by Chinese official Ouyang Xiu, is complete.
• 1060 – the Mugni Gospels of Armenia are written in illuminated manuscript form.
• 1068 – The Book of Roads and Kingdoms is written by Abū 'Ubayd 'Abd Allāh al-Bakrī.
• 1070 – William I of England commissioned the Norman monk William of Jumièges to extend the Gesta Normannorum Ducum chronicle.
• 1078 – The Proslogion is written by Anselm of Canterbury.
• 1080 – The Chinese poet Su Shi is exiled from court for writing poems criticizing the various reforms of the New Policies Group.
• c. 1080 – the Liber pantegni is written by Constantine the African.
• 1084 – The Zizhi Tongjian history is completed by Chinese official Sima Guang.
• 1086 – The Domesday Book is initiated by William I of England.
• 1088 – The Dream Pool Essays is completed by Shen Kuo of Song China.
• The roots of European Scholasticism are found in this period, as the renewed spark of interest in literature and Classicism in Europe would bring about the Renaissance. In the 11th century, there were early Scholastic figures such as Anselm of Canterbury, Peter Abelard, Solomon ibn Gabirol, Peter Lombard, and Gilbert de la Porrée.
• The works of Aristotle and some early Muslim scientists are translated into Latin from Arabic, shortly before the Latin translations of the 12th century.
• Troubadours appear in what is now southern France.

Events

1000s

• 1001: Mahmud of Ghazni, Muslim leader of Ghazni, begins a series of raids into Northern India; he finishes in 1027 with the destruction of Somnath.
• c. 1001: Vikings, led by Leif Eriksson, establish small settlements in and around Vinland in North America
• 1001–1008: Japanese Lady Murasaki Shikibu writes The Tale of Genji
• 1001 ± 40 years: Baitoushan volcano on what would be the Chinese-Korean border, erupts with a force of 6.5, the fourth largest Holocene blast.
• 1003: Robert II of France invades the Duchy of Burgundy, then ruled by Otto-William, Duke of Burgundy; the initial invasion is unsuccessful, but Robert II eventually gained the acceptance of the Roman Catholic Church in 1016 and annexed Burgundy into his realm.
• 1004: the library and university Dar Al-Hekma is founded in Egypt under the Fatimids.
• 1005: the Treaty of Shanyuan was signed between the Chinese Song Dynasty and the Khitan Liao Dynasty.
• 1006: King Dharmawangsa's Medang kingdom falls under invasion of King Wurawari from Lwaram (highly possible Srivijayan ally in Java).
• 1008: the Fatimid Egyptian sea captain Domiyat travels to the Buddhist pilgrimage site in Shandong, China, to seek out the Chinese Emperor Zhenzong of Song with gifts from his ruling Imam Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, successfully reopening diplomatic relations between Egypt and China that had been lost since the collapse of the Tang Dynasty.
• 1009: Lý Thái Tổ overthrew the Anterior Lê Dynasty of Vietnam, establishing the Lý Dynasty.
• 1009–1010: the Lombard known as Melus of Bari led an insurrection against the Byzantine Catepan of Italy, John Curcuas, as the latter was killed in battle and replaced by Basil Mesardonites, who brought Byzantine reinforcements.

1010s

• 1010–1011: the Second Goryeo-Khitan War; the Korean king was forced to flee the capital temporarily, but unable to establish a foothold and fearing a counterattack, the Khitan forces withdrew.
• 1011–1021: Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen), a famous Iraqi scientist working in Egypt, feigned madness in fear of angering the Egyptian caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, and was kept under house arrest from 1011 to 1021. During this time, he wrote his influential Book of Optics.
• 1014: the Byzantine armies of Basil II are victorious over Samuil of Bulgaria in the Battle of Kleidion.
• 1014: the Gaelic forces of Munster and most other Irish kingdoms under High King Brian Boru defeat a combined Leinster-Viking force in the Battle of Clontarf but Brian Boru is killed at the end of the battle.
• 1014–1020: The Book of Healing, a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, is written by Avicenna, Persian scholar.
• 1015: in the Battle of Nesjar in Oslofjord, Norway, the forces of Olav Haraldsson fought the forces of Sveinn Hákonarson, with a victory for Olav.
• 1018: the First Bulgarian Empire is conquered by the Byzantine Empire
• 1018: the Byzantine armies of Basil Boioannes are victorious at the Battle of Cannae against the Lombards under Melus of Bari.
• 1018: the Third Goryeo-Khitan War; the Korean General Gang Gam-chan inflicted heavy losses to Khitan forces at the Battle of Kwiju. The Khitan withdrew and both sides signed a peace treaty.
• 1019: Airlangga establishes the Kingdom of Kahuripan.

1020s–1030s

• 1020s: The Canon of Medicine, a medical encyclopedia, is written by Avicenna, Persian Muslim scholar.
• 1021: the ruling Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah disappears suddenly, possibly assassinated by his own sister Sitt al-Mulk, which leads to the open persecution of the Druze by Ismaili Shia; the Druze proclaimed that Al-Hakim went into hiding (ghayba), whereupon he would return as the Mahdi savior.
• 1025: the Chola Dynasty of India uses its naval powers to conquer the South East Asian kingdom of Srivijaya, turning it into a vassal.
• 1025: ruler Rajendra Chola I moves the capital city of the empire from Thanjavur to Gangaikonda Cholapuram
• 1025: Rajendra Chola, the Chola king from Cholamandala in South India, conquered Pannai and Kadaram from Srivijaya and occupied it for some time. The Cholas continued a series of raids and conquests of parts Srivijayan empire in Sumatra and Malay Peninsula.
• 1028: the King of Srivijaya appeals to the Song Dynasty Chinese, sending a diplomatic mission to their capital at Kaifeng.
• 1030: the Battle of Stiklestad (Norway): Olav Haraldsson loses to his pagan vassals and is killed in the battle. He is later canonized and becomes the patron saint of Norway and Rex perpetuum Norvegiae ('the eternal king of Norway').
• 1030: Sanghyang Tapak inscription in the Cicatih River bank in Cibadak, Sukabumi, West Java, mentioned about the establishment of sacred forest and Kingdom of Sunda. (to 1579)
• 1035: Raoul Glaber chronicles a devastating three-year famine induced by climatic changes in southern France
• 1035: Canute the Great dies, and his kingdom of present-day Norway, England, and Denmark was split amongst three rivals to his throne.
• 1035: William Iron Arm ventures to the Mezzogiorno
• 1037: Ferdinand I of León conquered the Kingdom of Galicia.

1040s

• 1040: Duncan I of Scotland slain in battle. Macbeth succeeds him.
• 1041: Samuel Aba became King of Hungary.
• 1041: Airlangga divided Kahuripan into two kingdoms Janggala and Kadiri and abdicated in favour of his successors.
• 1042: the Normans establish Melfi as the capital of southern Italy.
• 1042: Bhoja, the Indian ruler, philosopher, and polymath of Malwa, completes the reconstruction of the temple of Somnath after its destruction by Mahmud of Ghazni.
• 1041–1048: Chinese artisan Bi Sheng invents ceramic movable type printing
• 1043: the Byzantine Empire and Kievan Rus engage in a naval confrontation, although a later treaty is signed between two parties that included the marriage alliance of Vsevolod I of Kiev to a princess daughter of Constantine IX Monomachos.
• 1043: the Byzantine General George Maniaces, who had served in Sicily back in 1038, was proclaimed emperor by his troops while he was catepan of Italy; he led an unsuccessful rebellion against Constantine IX Monomachos and was killed in battle in Macedonia during his march towards Constantinople.
• 1043: the Song Dynasty Chancellor of China, Fan Zhongyan, and prominent official and historian Ouyang Xiu introduce the Qingli Reforms, which would be rescinded by the court in 1045 due to partisan resistance to reforms.
• 1043: the Kingdom of Nri of West Africa is said to have started in this year with Eze Nri Ìfikuánim
• 1044: the Chinese Wujing Zongyao, written by Zeng Gongliang and Yang Weide, is the first book to describe gunpowder formulas; it also described their use in warfare, such as blackpowder-impregnated fuses for flamethrowers. It also described an early form of the compass, a thermoremanence compass.
• 1044: Henry III of the Holy Roman Empire defeats the Kingdom of Hungary in the Battle of Ménfő; Peter Urseolo captured Samuel Aba after the battle, executing him, and restoring his claim to the throne; the Kingdom of Hungary then briefly becomes a vassal to the Holy Roman Empire.
• 1045: The Zirids, a Berber dynasty of North Africa, break their allegiance with the Fatimid court of Egypt and recognize the Abbasids of Baghdad as the true caliphs.

1050s

• 1052: Fujiwara no Yorimichi converts the rural villa at Byōdō-in into a famous Japanese Buddhist temple.
• 1053: the Norman commander Humphrey of Hauteville is victorious in the Battle of Civitate against the Lombards and the papal coalition led by Rudolf of Benevento; Pope Leo IX himself is captured by the Normans.
• 1054: the Great Schism, in which the Western (Roman Catholic) and Eastern Orthodox churches separated from each other. Similar schisms in the past had been later repaired, but this one continues after nearly 1000 years.
• 1054: a large supernova is observed by astronomers, the remnants of which would form the Crab Nebula.
• 1054: the Battle of Atapuerca is fought between García V of Navarre and Ferdinand I of León
• 1055: the Seljuk Turks capture Baghdad, taking the Buyid Emir Al-Malik al-Rahim prisoner.
• 1056: Ferdinand I of León, King of Castile and King of León, is crowned Imperator totius Hispaniae (Emperor of All Hispania).
• 1057: Anawrahta, ruler of the Pagan Kingdom, defeated the Mon city of Thaton, thus unifying all of Myanmar.

1060s

• 1061–1091: Norman conquest of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea
• 1065: Seljuks first invasion to Georgia under leadership of Alp Arslan
• 1065: independence of the Kingdom of Galicia and Portugal under the rule of Garcia
• 1066: in the Battle of Stamford Bridge, the last Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson defeated his brother Tostig Godwinson and Harold III of Norway.
• 1066: Edward the Confessor dies; Harold Godwinson is killed in the Battle of Hastings, while the Norman William the Conqueror is crowned king of England.
• 1066: the Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and many others are killed in the 1066 Granada massacre.
• 1068–1073: the reign of Japanese Emperor Go-Sanjō brings about a brief period where central power is taken out of the hands of the Fujiwara clan.
• 1068: Virarajendra Chola begins sending military raids into Malaysia and Indonesia.
• 1068: Seljuks destroyed Georgia for the second time
• 1069–1076: with the support of Emperor Shenzong of Song, Chancellor Wang Anshi of the Chinese Song Dynasty introduces the 'New Policies', including the Baojia system of societal organization and militias, low-cost loans for farmers, taxes instead of corvée labor, government monopolies on tea, salt, and wine, reforming the land survey system, and eliminating the poetry requirement in the imperial examination system to gain bureaucrats of a more practical bent.

1070s

• 1070: the death of Athirajendra Chola and the ascension of Kulothunga Chola I marks the transition between the Medieval Cholas and the Chalukya Cholas.
• 1071: Defeat of the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Manzikert by the Seljuk army of Alp Arslan, ending three centuries of a Byzantine military and economic Golden Age.
• 1072: the Battle of Golpejera is fought between Sancho II of Castile and Alfonso VI of Castile
• 1073: the Seljuk Turks capture Ankara from the Byzantines.
• 1074: the Seljuk Turks capture Jerusalem from the Byzantines, and cut pilgrim transit.
• 1075: Henry IV suppresses the rebellion of Saxony in the First Battle of Langensalza.
• 1075: the Investiture Controversy is sparked when Pope Gregory VII asserted in the Dictatus papae extended rights granted to the pope (disturbing the balance of power) and new interpretation of God's role in founding the Church itself.
• 1075: Chinese official and diplomat Shen Kuo asserts the Song Dynasty's rightful border lines by using court archives against the bold bluff of Emperor Daozong of Liao, who had asserted that Liao Dynasty territory exceeded its earlier-accepted bounds.
• 1075–1076: a civil war in the Western Chalukya Empire of India; the Western Chalukya monarch Somesvara II plans to defeat his own ambitious brother Vikramaditya VI by allying with a traditional enemy, Kulothunga Chola I of the Chola Empire; Somesvara's forces suffered heavy defeat, and was eventually captured and imprisoned by Vikramaditya, who proclaimed himself king.
• 1075–1077: the Song Dynasty of China and the Lý Dynasty of Vietnam fight a border war, with Vietnamese forces striking first on land and with their navy, and afterwards Song armies advancing as far as modern-day Hanoi, the capital, but withdraw after Lý makes peace overtures; in 1082, both sides exchange the territories that they had captured during the war, and later a border agreement is reached.
• 1076: the Ghana Empire is attacked by the Almoravids, who sack the capital of Koumbi Saleh, ending the rule of king Tunka Manin
• 1076: the Chinese Song Dynasty places strict government monopolies over the production and distribution of sulfur and saltpetre, in order to curb the possibility of merchants selling gunpowder formula components to enemies such as the Tanguts and Khitans.
• 1076: the Song Chinese allied with southern Vietnamese Champa and Cambodian Chenla to conquer the Lý Dynasty, which was an unsuccessful campaign.
• 1077: the Walk to Canossa by Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire.
• 1077: Chinese official Su Song is sent on a diplomatic mission to the Liao Dynasty and discovers that the Khitan calendar is more mathematically accurate than the Song calendar; Emperor Zhezong later sponsors Su Song's astronomical clock tower in order to compete with Liao astronomers.
• 1078: Oleg I of Chernigov is defeated in battle by his brother Vsevolod I of Kiev; Oleg escaped to Tmutarakan, but was imprisoned by the Khazars, sent to Constantinople as a prisoner, and then exiled to Rhodes.
• 1078: the revolt of Nikephoros III against Byzantine ruler Michael VII
• 1079: Malik Shah I reforms the Iranian Calendar.
• 1079: Franks start to settle around the Way of Saint James (Today, modern North Spain)

1080s

• the Hashshashin are founded by Hassan-i Sabbah
• 1080–1081: The Chinese statesman and scientist Shen Kuo is put in command of the campaign against the Western Xia, and although he successfully halts their invasion route to Yanzhou (modern Yan'an), another officer disobeys imperial orders and the campaign is ultimately a failure because of it.
• 1084: the enormous Chinese historical work of the Zizhi Tongjian is compiled by scholars under Chancellor Sima Guang, completed in 294 volumes and included 3 million written Chinese characters
• 1085: Alfonso VI of Castile captures the Moorish Muslim city of Toledo, Spain.
• 1085: the Katedralskolan, Lund school of Sweden is established by Canute IV of Denmark
• 1086: compilation of the Domesday Book by order of William I of England; it was similar to a modern day government census, as it was used by William to thoroughly document all the landholdings within the kingdom that could be properly taxed.
• 1086: the Battle of az-Zallaqah between the Almoravids and Castilians
• 1087: a new office at the Chinese international seaport of Quanzhou is established to handle and regulate taxes and tariffs on all mercantile transactions of foreign goods coming from Africa, Arabia, India, Sri Lanka, Persia, and South East Asia.
• 1087: the Italian cities of Genoa and Pisa engage in the African Mahdia campaign
• 1088: the renowned polymath Chinese scientist and official Shen Kuo made the world's first reference to the magnetic compass in his book Dream Pool Essays, along with encyclopedic documentation and inquiry into scientific discoveries.
• 1088: The University of Bologna is established.
• 1088: Rebellion of 1088 against William II of England led by Odo of Bayeux.

1090s

• 1091: Normans from the Duchy of Normandy take control of Malta and surrounding islands.
• 1091: the Byzantine Empire under Alexios I Komnenos and his Cuman allies defeat Pechenegs at the Battle of Levounion
• 1093: Vikramaditya VI, ruler of the Western Chalukya Empire, defeats the army of Kulothunga Chola I in the Battle of Vengi.
• 1093: when the Chinese Empress Dowager Gao dies, the conservative faction that had followed Sima Guang is ousted from court, the liberal reforms of Wang Anshi reinstated, and Emperor Zhezong of Song halted all negotiations with the Tanguts of the Western Xia, resuming in armed conflict with them.
• 1093: the Kypchaks defeat princes of Kievan Rus at the Battle of the Stugna River
• 1093: Battle of Alnwick: Malcolm III of Scotland is killed by the forces of William II of England.
• 1094: the astronomical clock tower of Kaifeng, China—engineered by the official Su Song—is completed.
• 1094: El Cid, the great Spanish hero, conquers the Muslim city of Valencia
• 1094: a succession crisis following the reign of the Fatimid Caliph Ma'ad al-Mustansir Billah sparks a rebellion which leads to the split of Ismaili Shia into the new Nizari religious branch.
• 1095: Pope Urban II calls upon Western Europeans to take up the cross and reclaim the Holy Lands, officially commencing the First Crusade.
• c. 1095–1099: earliest extant manuscript of the Song of Roland
• 1096: University of Oxford in England holds its first lectures
• 1097: the Siege of Nicaea during the First Crusade
• 1097: Diego Rodriguez, a son of El Cid, dies in the Battle of Consuegra, an Almoravid victory
• 1098: the Siege of Antioch during the First Crusade
• 1098: Pope Urban II makes an appearance at the Siege of Capua
• 1098: the Dongpo Academy of Hainan, China is built in honor of the Song Dynasty Chinese official and poet Su Shi, who was exiled there for criticizing reforms of the New Policies Group.
• 1098: the birth of Hildegard of Bingen, polymath
• 1099: the Siege of Jerusalem by European Crusaders.
• 1099: after the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established, the Al-Aqsa Mosque was made into the residential palace for the kings of Jerusalem.
• 1099: after building considerable strength, David IV of Georgia discontinues tribute payments to the Seljuk Turks.
• King Anawrahta of Myanmar made a pilgrimage to Ceylon, returning to convert his country to Theravada Buddhism.
• The Tuareg migrate to the Aïr region.
• Kanem-Bornu expands southward into modern Nigeria.
• The first of seven Hausa city-states are founded in Nigeria.
• The Hodh region of Mauritania becomes desert.