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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.
In Song Dynasty China and the classical Islamic world, this century marked the high point for both classical Chinese civilization, science and technology, and classical Islamic science, philosophy, technology and literature.
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Encyclopedia
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.
In Song Dynasty China and the classical Islamic world, this century marked the high point for both classical Chinese civilization, science and technology, and classical Islamic science, philosophy, technology and literature. There was also a population explosion in China, doubling to the size of 100 million, and an economic revolution in China that spurred manufacture and production rates which rivaled even Great Britain's coal and iron output in the early Industrial Revolution. The Islamic world experienced a similar growth with the Muslim Agricultural Revolution, which led to greater mechanization and economic growth in the Islamic world.
Rival political factions at the Song Dynasty court created strife amongst the leading statesmen and ministers of the empire. Chola-era India and Fatimid-era Egypt, had reached their zenith in military might and international influence. The Western Chalukya Empire (the Chola's rival) also rose to power by the end of the century. In this century the Turkish Seljuk dynasty comes to power in the Middle East over the now fragmented Abbasid realm, while the first of the Crusades were waged towards the close of the century. In Japan, the Fujiwara clan continued to dominate the affairs of state. In the Americas, the Toltec and Mixtec civilizations flourished in central America, along with the Huari Culture of South America and the Mississippian culture of North America. In Ukraine, there was the golden age for the principality of Kievan Rus. In Korea, the Goryeo Kingdom flourished and faced external threats from the Liao Dynasty (Manchuria). In Vietnam, the Lę Dynasty began, while in Myanmar the Pagan Kingdom reached its height of political and military power.
Overview
In European history, the 11th century is regarded as the beginning of the High Middle Ages, an age subsequent to the Early Middle Ages. The century began while the translatio imperii of 962 was still somewhat novel and ended in the midst of the Investiture Controversy. It saw the final Christianisation of Scandinavia and the emergence of the Peace and Truce of God movements, the Gregorian Reforms, and the Crusades which revitalised a church and a papacy that had survived tarnished by the tumultuous tenth century. In 1054, the Great Schism rent the church in two, however.
In Germany, the century was marked by the ascendancy of the Holy Roman Emperors, who hit their high watermark under the Salians.
In Italy, it opened with the integration of the kingdom into the empire and the royal palace at Pavia was sacked in 1024. By the end of the century, Lombard and Byzantine rule in the Mezzogiorno had been usurped by the Normans and the power of the territorial magnates was being replaced by that of the citizens of the cities in the north.
In Britain, it saw the transformation of Scotland into a single, more unified and centralised kingdom and the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The social transformations wrought in these lands brought them into the fuller orbit of European feudal politics.
In France, it saw the nadir of the monarchy and the zenith of the great magnates, especially the dukes of Aquitaine and Normandy, who could thus foster such distinctive contributions of their lands as the pious warrior who conquered Britain, Italy, and the East and the impious peacelover, the troubadour, who crafted out of the European vernacular its first great literary themes. There were also the first figures of the intellectual movement known as Scholasticism, which emphasized dialectic arguments in disputes of Christian theology as well as classical philosophy.
In Spain, the century opened with the successes of the last caliphs of Córdoba and ended in the successes of the Almoravids. In between was a period of Christian unification under Navarrese hegemony and success in the Reconquista against the taifa kingdoms that replaced the fallen caliphate.
In China, there was a triangular affair of continued war and peace settlements between the Song Dynasty, the Tanguts-led Western Xia in the northwest, and the Khitans of the Liao Dynasty in the northeast. Meanwhile, opposing political factions evolved at the Song imperial court of Kaifeng. The political reformers at court, called the New Policies Group (??, Xin Fa), were led by Emperor Shenzong of Song and the Chancellors Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi, while the political conservatives were led by Chancellor Sima Guang and Empress Dowager Gao, regent of the young Emperor Zhezong of Song. Heated political debate and sectarian intrigue followed, while political enemies were often dismissed from the capital to govern frontier regions in the deep south where malaria was known to be very fatal to northern Chinese people (see History of the Song Dynasty). This period also represents a high point in classical Chinese science and technology, with figures such as Su Song and Shen Kuo, as well as the age where the matured form of the Chinese pagoda was accomplished in Chinese architecture.
In India, the Chola Dynasty reached its height of naval power under leaders such as Rajaraja Chola I and Rajendra Chola I, dominating southern India (Tamil Nadu), Sri Lanka, and regions of South East Asia. They also sent raids into what is now modern-day Thailand.
In Japan, the Fujiwara clan dominated central politics by acting as imperial regents, controlling the actions of the Emperor of Japan, who acted merely as a 'puppet monarch' during the Heian period.
In the Middle East, the Fatimid Empire of Egypt reached its zenith only to face steep decline, much like the Byzantine Empire in the first half of the century. The Seljuks came to prominence while the Abbasid caliphs held traditional titles without real, tangible authority in state affairs.
In Korea, the rulers of the Goryeo Kingdom were able to concentrate more central authority into their own hands than in that of the nobles, and were able to fend off two Khitan invasions with their armies.
Events
- 1001-1008 - Japanese Lady Murasaki Shikibu writes the first novel, 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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, Lę Thái T? overthrew the Anterior Lê Dynasty of Vietnam, establishing the Lę Dynasty.
- 10091010, 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.
- 1010, with the aid of scholars such as Song Zhun, Lu Duosun compiles a massive work of cartography in 1566 chapters, including the mapped topography of each provincial region in China down to the minute level of small towns and villages; this was an imperial compendium first issued by Emperor Taizu of Song in 971.
- 10101011, 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.
- 1015, in the Battle of Nesjar in Oslofjord, Norway, the forces of Olav Haraldsson fought the forces of Sveinn Hákonarson, with a victory ofr 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.
- 1014-1020 The Book of Healing, a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, 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
- 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').
- 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.
- 1040, Duncan I of Scotland slain in battle. Macbeth succeeds him.
- 1041, Samuel Aba became King of Hungary.
- 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.
- 10411048, 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 Ménfo; 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.
- 1052, Fujiwara no Yorimichi converts the rural villa at Byodo-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.
 - 10611091, Norman conquest of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea
- 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 Harald III of Norway.
- 1066, Edward the Confessor dies; Harold Godwinson is killed in the Battle of Hastings, while the Norman conqueror is crowned William I of England.
- 1066, the Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and many others are killed in the 1066 Granada massacre.
- 10681073, the reign of Japanese Emperor Go-Sanjo brings about a brief period where central power is taken out of the hands of the Fujiwara clan.
- 1068, beginning in this year, Virarajendra Chola sends military raids into Malaysia and Indonesia.
- 10691076, 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.
- 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 3 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.
- 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.
- 10751076, 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 Lę 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 Lę 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 Lę 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
- 10801081, 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
- 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, Chinaengineered by the official Su Songis 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.
- ca. 10951099, earliest extant manuscript of the Song of Roland
- 1096, the Knights Templar are formed during the early First Crusade in order to protect European Christian pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem.
- 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.
Significant people
A
- Abhinavagupta, Indian philosopher, logician, musician, poet and dramatist from the Kashmir region
- Abraham bar Hiyya, Jewish philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician from Catalonia
- Abu al-Hasan 'Ali abi Sa'id 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn Yunus al-Sadafi al-Misri, Egyptian mathematician and astronomer
- Abu Ali al-Ha?an ibn al-Haytham (a.k.a. Alhazen or Alhacen), Iraqi polymath: scientist, physicist, optical researcher, astronomer, engineer, inventor, mathematician, physician, ophthalmologist, Islamic philosopher, psychologist and Islamic theologian
- Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Sina (a.k.a. Avicenna), Persian polymath: physician, philosopher, scientist, astronomer, chemist, geologist, Hafiz, logician, mathematician, physicist, poet, psychologist, Sheikh, soldier, statesman and Islamic theologian
- Abu al-Qasim (a.k.a. Abulcasis), Arab physician and surgeon from Al-Andalus
- Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Zarqali (a.k.a. Arzachel), Arab mathematician and astronomer from Al-Andalus
- Abu Nasr Mansur, Iraqi mathematician
- Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, Persian polymath: scientist, anthropologist, historian, sociologist, astronomer, chemist, encyclopedist, geodesist, geographer, geologist, Islamic philosopher and theologian, mathematician, physicist, psychologist, pharmacist, teacher and traveller
- Adalbold II of Utrecht, Dutch Bishop of Utrecht and mathematician
- Adémar de Chabannes, French monk, writer, historian, and musical composer
- Aelgifu of Northampton, wife of Canute the Great
- Agnes, Empress, regent of the Holy Roman Empire
- Anawrahta, ruler of the Pagan Kingdom
- Anselm of Laon, French theologian
- Al-Ghazali (a.k.a. Algazel), celebrated Muslim scholar
- Al-Karaji, Persian mathematician and engineer
- Al-Muqtadi, Abbasid Caliph
- Al-Qadir, Abbasid Caliph
- Al-Qa'im, Abbasid Caliph
- Al-Sijzi, Persian mathematician and astronomer
- Alexander II, Pope
- Alexios I Komnenos, Byzantine Emperor
- Alfonso VI of Castile, ruler of Leon and Castile
- Ali ibn Ahmad al-Nasawi, Persian mathematician who commented on Greek works by Archimedes
- Alp Arslan, Seljuk ruler
- Alusian, ruler of Bulgaria
- Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne
- Saint Anselm, reputed founder of scholasticism and creator of the ontological argument
- Atisha, influential Buddhist teacher to Tibet
B
- Bao Zheng, Chinese judge and mayor of Kaifeng
- Basil II, Byzantine Emperor
- Benedict VIII, Pope
- Benedict IX, Pope
- Berengar of Tours, French theologian
- Bernard II Tumapaler of Gascony, Duke of Gascony
- Bhoja, a philosopher king and polymath of Malwa in India
- Bilhana, a Kashmiri language poet from India
- Bohemond I of Antioch, Crusader commander from Calabria
- Burchard II, Bishop of Halberstadt
- Byrhtferth, English monk and philosopher
C-D
- Cai Jing, Chinese chancellor of the Song Dynasty
- Cai Xiang, Chinese poet, scholar, calligrapher, structural engineer, and official
- Canute the Great, ruler of England, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden
- Clement II, Pope
- Clement III, Antipope
- Constantine VIII, Byzantine Emperor
- Constantine X, Byzantine Emperor
- Constantine the African, Carthaginian Christian physician and translator of ancient Greek medicine
- Conrad II, of the Holy Roman Empire
- Constantine IX Monomachos, Byzantine Emperor
- Cheng Yi, Chinese philosopher
- Chongzong Emperor, ruler of Northwest China (Western Xia)
- Damasus II, Pope
- Daozong Emperor, ruler of Northeast China (Liao Dynasty)
- Deokjong of Goryeo, king of Korea
E-F
- Edith of Wessex, Queen of Wessex
- Edward the Confessor, King of England
- Eight Deer Jaguar Claw, ruler of the Mixtecs in Mesoamerica
- Eilmer of Malmesbury, a Benedictine monk who attempted flight with mechanical wings
- El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar), Castilian nobleman
- Emma of Normandy, wife of Canute the Great
- Ephraim of Pereyaslavl, Eastern Orthodox saint and bishop of Pereyaslav
- Ethelred the Unready, king of England
- Fan Kuan, Chinese landscape painter
- Fan Zhongyan, Song Chinese chancellor
- Ferdinand I of León, Emperor of All Hispania
- Fujiwara Michinaga, powerful regent of Japan
- Fujiwara no Yorimichi, Japanese court noble and regent
G
- Gang Gam-chan, Korean general of the Goryeo Dynasty
- Gang Jo, Korean general of the Goryeo Dynasty
- George Maniaces, Greek Byzantine general
- Gilbert de la Porrée, French scholastic logician and theologian
- Go-Ichijo, Emperor of Japan
- Go-Reizei, Emperor of Japan
- Go-Sanjo, Emperor of Japan
- Go-Suzaku, Emperor of Japan
- Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine and a Crusader
- Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine
- Godwin, Earl of Wessex
- Gregory VII, Pope (Hildebrand)
- Gavril Radomir, Emperor of Bulgaria
- Guido of Arezzo, Italian music theorist
- Guo Xi, a literati Chinese landscape painter
- Guy I of Ponthieu, Count of Ponthieu
- Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, wife of Godwin, Earl of Wessex
- Gytha of Wessex, wife of Vladimir II Monomakh
H
- Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani, a Persian missionary da'i to the Fatimid Caliphate
- Harald Hardrada, king of Norway and claimnant to the thrones of Denmark and England
- Han Shizhong, Chinese military general
- Harold Godwinson, King of England
- Henry I of France, king
- Henry III, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
- Henry IV, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
- Hereward the Wake, English outlaw
- Heribert of Cologne, Archbishop of Cologne
- Hermann of Reichenau, German composer, music theorist, mathematician, and astronomer
- Hilarion of Kiev, first non-Greek Metropolitan bishop of Kiev
- Hisham II, Caliph of Córdoba
- Hisham III, Caliph of Córdoba
- Honorius II, Antipope
- Horikawa, Emperor of Japan
- Huang Tingjian, Chinese calligrapher and painter
- Hugh of Châteauneuf, French theologian, Bishop of Grenoble, and partisan of the Gregorian reform
- Hugh of St Victor, philosopher from Saxony
- Hugh of Vermandois, Count of Vermandois, Crusader
- Huizong Emperor, ruler of Northwest China (Western Xia)
- Hyeonjong of Goryeo, king of Korea
I-K
- Ichijo, Emperor of Japan
- Isaac I Komnenos, Byzantine Emperor
- Isaac ibn Ghiyyat, Jewish rabbi from Spain
- Ísleifur Gissurarson, first Bishop of Iceland
- Ivan VLadislav, Emperor of Bulgaria
- Jayasimha II, ruler of the Western Chalukya Empire
- Jeongjong II of Goryeo, king of Korea
- Jia Xian, Chinese mathematician
- Jingzong Emperor, ruler of Northwest China (Western Xia)
- Jocho, famous Japanese sculptor
- John the Eunuch, chief court eunuch under Byzantine emperor Romanos III
- John Doukas, Caesar, younger brother and counsellor to Constantine X of Byzantium
- John Italus, Greek Byzantine philosopher
- John Skylitzes, Byzantine historian
- Joseph ibn Naghrela, Jewish vizier of Andalusia
- Kim Bu-sik, Korean historian of the Goryeo Dynasty who compiled the Samguk Sagi historical text
- Kim Mu-che, Korean scholar of the Goryeo Dynasty who opened up educational facilities which rivaled the Gukjagam, or National University
- Kushyar ibn Labban, Persian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer
L
* Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury
M
- Ma'ad al-Mustansir Billah, Fatimid Caliph
- Magnus Barefoot, king of Norway 1093-1103, tried to conquer Ireland. Killed during an ambush in Ulster.
- Magnus the Good, king of Norway 1035-1047 and Denmark 1042-1047
- Macbeth, ruler of Scotland
- Malik Shah I, Seljuk ruler
- Mansur ibn Nasir, ruler of the Hammadid in Algeria
- Mariam of Vaspurakan, Queen dowager and regent of the Kingdom of Georgia
- Maslamah Ibn Ahmad al-Majriti, Arab astronomer, chemist, mathematician, and scholar
- Matilda of Tuscany, militant Italian noblewoman
- Mei Yaochen, Chinese poet and official
- Melus of Bari, Lombard nobleman
- Mi Fu, Chinese painter, poet, and calligrapher
- Michael I Cerularius, the Patriarch of Constantinople who was involved in the East-West Schism
- Michael IV, Byzantine Emperor
- Michael V, Byzantine Emperor
- Michael VI, Byzantine Emperor
- Michael VII, Byzantine Emperor
- Michael Psellos, Byzantine writer, philosopher, official, and historian
- Milarepa, Tibetan poet, yogi, and member of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism
- Minamoto no Yorimitsu, a governor and commander loyal to the Fujiwara clan
- Minamoto no Yorinobu, a samurai of the Minamoto clan
- Mokjong of Goryeo, king of Korea
- Moses ibn Ezra, Jewish philosopher, poet, and linguist from Spain
- Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi, Persian theologian serving the Fatimid court
- Muhammad Ibn Abbad Al Mutamid, last Abbadid ruler
- Munjong of Goryeo, king of Korea
- Murasaki Shikibu, female Japanese writer, the first novelist
N-P
* Nasir Khusraw, Persian poet, theologian, philosopher, and traveler
- Nicholas II, Pope
- Nikephoros III, Byzantine Emperor
- Notker Labeo, mathematician, first medieval commentator on Aristotle, and Benedictine monk from St. Gallen, Switzerland
- Odo of Bayeux, Norman English bishop and earl
- Olaf II, King of Norway
- Omar Khayyám, Persian poet, mathematician, philosopher and astronomer
- Otrok, khan of the Kipchaks
- Ouyang Xiu, Chinese statesman, historian, archaeological epigapher, essayist, and poet
- Paschal II, Pope
- Peter Abelard, French philosopher and logician
- Peter Damian, cardinal and Doctor of the Church
- Peter Deylan, leader of a Bulgarian uprising against the Byzantine Empire
- Peter the Hermit, Crusader
- Peter Urseolo, king of Hungary
- Philip I of France
R
- Rajaraja Chola I, ruler of Tamil Nadu (southern India) and Sri Lanka
- Rajendra Chola I, ruler of Tamil Nadu (southern India) and Sri Lanka
- Rajadhiraja Chola, ruler of the Cholas
- Rajendra Chola II, ruler of the Cholas
- Ramanuja, Chola Indian theologian, philosopher, and spiritual leader
- Raymond IV of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne and a Crusader
- Renzong Emperor, ruler of China
- Richard II, Duke of Normandy
- Rober, Saint, founder of the Cistercians
- Robert II, Count of Flanders, Crusader
- Robert II of France, king
- Robert of Jumièges, Archbishop of Canterbury
- Robert Guiscard, Norman conqueror of Southern Italy and Sicily
- Romanos III, Byzantine Emperor
- Romanos IV, Byzantine Emperor
S
- Samuel Aba, king of Hungary
- Samuil, Emperor of Bulgaria
- Sancho III, king of Navarre
- Sanjo, Emperor of Japan
- Sei Shonagon, writer, a Japanese lady of the royal court
- Seonjong of Goryeo, king of Korea
- Shao Yong, Chinese historian, poet, and philosopher
- Shen Kuo, Chinese polymath: official, mathematician, astronomer, encyclopedist, zoologist, geologist, botanist, pharmacologist, agronomist, ethnographer, inventor, hydraulic engineer, cartographer, general, diplomat, archaeologist, musician and poet
- Shengzong Emperor, ruler of Northeast China (Liao Dynasty)
- Shenzong Emperor, ruler of China
- Shirakawa, Emperor of Japan
- Samuel ibn Naghrela, Jewish scholar
- Sigrid the Haughty, wife of Sweyn I of Denmark
- Sima Guang, Song Chinese chancellor
- Solomon ibn Gabirol, Jewish philosopher and poet from Spanish Al-Andalus
- Somesvara I, ruler of the Western Chalukya Empire
- Somesvara II, ruler of the Western Chalukya Empire
- Sripati, Indian mathematician and astronomer
- Stephen I, king of Hungary
- Stephen IX, Pope
- Su Shi, famous Chinese poet, calligrapher, painter, travel writer, pharmacologist, and statesman
- Su Song, Chinese astronomer, horologist, mechanical engineer, zoologist, botanist, mineralogist, diplomat, cartographer, etc.
- Sukjong of Goryeo, king of Korea
- Suleiman II, Caliph of Córdoba,
- Sveinn Hákonarson, King of Norway
- Sweyn I of Denmark, king of Denmark, Norway, and England
- Sylvester II, Pope, a French astronomer, mathematician, orator, musician, and philosopher.
T-X
- Tariqu l-?akim bi Amr al-Lah, Sixth Fatimid Caliph
- Empress Theodora, Byzantine Empress
- Tostig Godwinson, earl of Northumbria
- Tunka Manin ruler of the Ghana Empire
- Urban II, Pope
- Victor II, Pope
- Victor III, Pope
- Vikramaditya VI, ruler of the Western Chalukya Empire
- Virarajendra Chola, ruler of the Cholas
- Vladimir I of Kiev, ruler of Kievan Rus
- Vladimir II Monomakh, ruler of Kievan Rus
- Vsevolod I of Kiev, ruler of Kievan Rus
- Wang Anshi, Song Chinese chancellor
- Wei Pu, Chinese astronomer and mathematician
- Wen Tong, Chinese painter
- William of Champeaux, French philosopher and theologian
- William the Conqueror, ruler of Normandy and England
- William Iron Arm, prominent member of the Norman Hauteville family
- Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York
- Xingzong Emperor, ruler of Northeast China (Liao Dynasty)
- Xu Daoning, Chinese landscape painter
Y-Z
- Yaroslav I the Wise, ruler of Kievan Rus
- Yingzong Emperor, ruler of China
- Yizong Emperor, ruler of Northwest China (Western Xia)
- Yusuf ibn Tashfin, Berber Almoravid ruler
- Yusuf Balasaghuni, an Uyghur Turkish scribe
- Zhezong Emperor, ruler of China
- Zhenzong Emperor, ruler of China
- Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyat, wife of Almoravid ruler Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar
- Zeng Gong, Chinese historian, travel writer, and poet
- Zhang Zeduan, Chinese landscape painter
- Zhou Dunyi, Chinese philosopher
- Zoe, Empress, Byzantine Empress
Architecture
 - The St Albans Cathedral of Norman-era England is completed in 1089.
- The Al-Hakim Mosque of Fatimid Egypt is completed in 1013.
- The Iron Pagoda of Kaifeng, China is built in 1049.
- The Phoenix Hall of Byodo-in, Japan, is completed in 1053.
- The Brihadeeswarar Temple of India is completed in 1010 during the reign of Rajaraja Chola I.
- The Fruttuaria of San Benigno Canavese, Italy is completed in 1007.
- The Kedareshwara Temple of Balligavi, India, is built in 1060 by the Western Chalukyas.
- Construction work begins in 1059 on the Parma Cathedral of Italy.
- The Martin-du-Canigou monastery is built by 1009, in present day southern France.
- The Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod is completed in 1052, the oldest existent church in Russia.
- Construction begins on the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Russia, in 1037.
- The Byzantine Greek Hosios Loukas monastery sees the completion of its Katholikon (main church), the earliest extant domed-octagon church from 1011-1012.
- The Lingxiao Pagoda of Zhengding, Hebei province, China, is built in 1045.
- The Pagoda of Fogong Temple of Shanxi province, China, is completed under the Liao Dynasty in 1056.
- The Nikortsminda Cathedral of Georgia is completed in 1014.
- The Speyer Cathedral in Speyer, Germany is completed in 1061.
- The Chinese official Cai Xiang oversaw the construction of the Wanan Bridge in Fujian, and may have been the leading member of an engineering school due to many other bridges of similar construction built in Fujian.
- The Imam Ali Mosque in Iraq is rebuilt by Malik Shah I in 1086 after it was destroyed by fire.
- The Pizhi Pagoda of Lingyan Temple, Shandong, China is completed in 1063.
- Reconstruction of the San Liberatore a Maiella in Italy begins in 1080.
- The Westminister Abbey of London, England is completed in 1065.
- The Ananda Temple of the Myanmar ruler King Kyanzittha is completed in 1091.
- The Van Mi?u, or Temple of Literature, in Vietnam is established in 1070.
- Construction of Richmond Castle in England begins in 1071.
- The tallest pagoda tower in China's pre-modern history, the Liaodi Pagoda, is completed in 1055, standing at a height of 84 m (275 ft).
- The Tower of Gonbad-e Qabus in Iran is built in 1006.
- Construction begins on the Sassovivo Abbey of Foligno, Italy, in 1070.
- The Palace of Aljafería is built in Zaragoza, Spain, during the Al-Andalus period.
- The Rotonda di San Lorenzo is built in Mantua, Lombardy, Italy, during the late 11th century.
- Construction of the Ponte della Maddalena bridge in the Province of Lucca, Italy begins in 1080.
- The domes of the Jamé Mosque of Isfahan, Iran are built in 1086 to 1087.
- The Chester Castle in England was built in 1069.
- Construction begins on the Bagrati Cathedral in Georgia in 1003.
- The St. Michael's Church, Hildesheim in Germany is completed in 1031.
- The Basilica of Sant'Abbondio of Lombardy, Italy is completed in 1095.
- Construction begins on the Great Zimbabwe National Monument, sometime in the century.
- Construction begins on the San Pietro in Vinculis in Pisa, Italy, in 1072.
- The Tower of London in England is founded in 1078.
- The St. Grigor's Church of Kecharis Monastery in Armenia is built in 1003.
- The Martin-du-Canigou monastery on Mount Canigou in southern France is built in 1009.
- The St. Mary's Cathedral, Hildesheim in Germany is completed in 1020.
- The One Pillar Pagoda in Hanoi, Vietnam, is constructed in 1049.
- The St Michael at the Northgate, Oxford's oldest building, is built in Saxon England in 1040.
- The Oxford Castle in England is built in 1071.
- The Florence Baptistry in Florence, Italy is founded in 1059.
- The Kandariya Mahadeva temple in India is built in 1050.
- The St Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy is rebuilt in 1063.
- The Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England is completed by 1077.
- Construction begins on the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain in 1075.
Inventions, discoveries, introductions
Science and technology
- List of 11th century inventions
- c. 1000 - Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) of al-Andalus, considered a "father of modern surgery", publishes his influential 30-volume Arabic medical encyclopedia, the Al-Tasrif, which remains a standard textbook in the Islamic world and medieval Europe for centuries. He describes over 200 surgical instruments, many of which are his own inventions, including the ligature, adhesive plaster, lithotomy scalpel, curette, retractor, surgical catgut, surgical hook, surgical rod, surgical spoon, Inhalational anaesthetic, oral anaesthesia, anaesthetic sponge, and cotton dressing.
- c. 1000 - Ibn Yunus of Egypt publishes his astronomical treatise Al-Zij al-Hakimi al-Kabir, and invents the pendulum.
- c. 1000 - Persian Muslim physicist and mathematician, Abu Sahl al-Quhi (Kuhi), discovers that the heaviness of bodies vary with their distance from the center of the Earth, and solves equations higher than the second degree.
- c. 1000 - Persian Muslim astronomer and mathematician, Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi, invents the astronomical sextant and first states a special case of Fermat's last theorem.
- c. 1000 - Law of sines is discovered by Muslim mathematicians, but it is uncertain who discovers it first between Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi, Abu Nasr Mansur, and Abu al-Wafa.
- c. 1000 - The Iraqi ophthalmologist Ammar ibn Ali al-Mawsili invents the hypodermic needle and syringe (now used in injections) to carry out the first successful cataract extraction through suction.
- 1000-1037 - Avicenna invents the air thermometer, steam distillation, fragrance extraction, and essential oil for aromatherapy.
- 1000-1048 - Abu Rayhan al-Biruni of Persia writes more than a hundred books on many different topics. He theorizes that India was once covered by the Indian Ocean; and was the first to apply experimental scientific methods to mechanics, especially the fields of statics and dynamics, particularly for determining specific weights, such as those based on the theory of balances and weighing. He and other Muslim physicists unified statics and dynamics into the science of mechanics, and they combined the fields of hydrostatics with dynamics to give birth to hydrodynamics. They applied the mathematical theories of ratios and infinitesimal techniques, and introduced algebraic and fine calculation techniques into the field of statics. They were also generalized the theory of the centre of gravity and applied it to three-dimensional bodies. They also founded the theory of the ponderable lever and created the "science of gravity" which was later further developed in medieval Europe. Al-Biruni was also the first to realize that acceleration is connected with non-uniform motion, and invents the laboratory flask, pycnometer, and conical measure.
- 1001-1100 - the demands of the Chinese iron industry for charcoal led to a huge amount of deforestation, which was curbed when the Chinese discovered how to use bituminous coal in smelting cast iron and steel, thus sparing thousands of acres of prime timberland.
- 1003 - Pope Sylvester II, born Gerbert d'Aurillac, dies; however, his teaching continued to influence those of the 11th century; his works included a book on arithmetic, a study of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, a hydraulic-powered organ, the reintroduction of the abacus to Europe, and a possible treatise on the astrolabe that was edited by Hermann of Reichenau five decades later. The contemporary monk Richer from Rheims described Gerbert's contributions in reintroducing the armillary sphere that was lost to European science after the Greco-Roman era; from Richer's description, Gerbert's placement of the tropics was nearly exact and his placement of the equator was exact. He reintroduced the liberal arts education system of trivium and quadrivium, which he had borrowed from the educational institution of Islamic Córdoba. Gerbert also studied and taught Islamic medicine.
- 1013 - One of the Four Great Books of Song, the Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau compiled by 1013 was the largest of the Song Chinese encyclopedias. Divided into 1000 volumes, it consisted of 9.4 million written Chinese characters.
- 1020 - Ibn Samh of Al-Andalus invents a geared mechanical astrolabe, an example of an analog computer.
- 1021 - Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen) of Basra, Iraq writes his influential Book of Optics from 1011 to 1021 (while he was under house arrest in Egypt), which drastically transforms the understanding of light,
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