In the first quarter of the 11th century, 1001-1025, future king of England Edward the
Confessor was born, as were St. Peter Damian and the future Pope St. Leo IX.
King Ethelred the Unready died, and so did the Persian epic poet Ferdowsi.
In politics, fortunes rose and fell for Islamic forces at opposite ends of the Mediterranean.
In Iberia, the Caliphate of Cordoba began to fall, while in Jersusalem in 1009 the Fatimid
Caliph al-Hakim ordered the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Norsemen led by Leif Erickson established short-lived settlements on the coast of North
America.
China was ruled by the Liao dynasty in the north and the Song dynasty in the south.
The century began during the reign of the first French pope, Sylvester II.
In culture, the great physician and philosopher Avicenna composed his works The Book of Healing
and The Canon of Medicine.
Construction began on Strasbourg Cathedral, and in the 1020’s one of the earliest outbreaks
of St. Vitus’ Dance occurred in Saxony.
In the second quarter of the 11th century, 1026-1050, St. Anselm of Canterbury and the
Spanish national hero El Cid, Rodrigo Diaz, were born.
King Canute died, and his lands in England, Denmark, and Norway were split between his heirs.
Avicenna died in 1037.
Byzantine power began to decline during this time.
The Nri Kingdom, in Igboland (modern Nigeria) was founded, and after the fall of Castille,
the Caliphate of Cordoba was abolished.
In religion, Rome suffered the scandalous reign of Pope Benedict IX.
First elected in 1032 at the age of 20, in part through bribery and family intrigue,
he provoked many with his dissolute lifestyle and was driven from office in September 1044.
Six months later he returned to Rome with an army and retook the papal throne.
Fearing for his security and wanting to marry, he soon resigned, selling the papacy to his
godfather, who became Pope Gregory VI.
He returned to Rome the following year to reassert his claim to the papacy for a third time.
Several years of confusion, scandal, and multiple popes followed, until German troops deposed
both popes and Damasus II was universally recognized as the sole pope in 1048.
Benedict was excommunicated and died in obscurity.
In Song dynasty China, the formula for gunpowder was first written down, and the compass was
adapted for navigation use.
In the third quarter of the 11th century, 1051-1075, the philosopher and theologian
Al-Ghazali was born, in what is modern day Iran.
King Edward the Confessor died.
Six year old Henry IV became King of the Germans in 1056.
The Battle of Hastings was won by William the Conqueror, who became King of England.
The Byzantine army was defeated at the Battle of Manzikert, heralding the end of their empire’s
golden age.
The Great Schism of 1054 separated the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches.
Most popes of this period reigned for only 2 or 3 years.
In 1074 the Seljuk Turks took Jerusalem, cutting off Christian pilgrims’ access to the city.
Around this time began the Third Pueblo period in southwestern North America, featuring large
cliff-dwelling villages.
Construction began on Westminster Abbey.
Astronomers recorded a large supernova in 1054, the remnants of which are now the Crab Nebula.
They also observed in 1066 the large comet now known as Halley’s Comet.
In the fourth quarter of the 11th century, 1076-1100, were born the abbess and polymath
Hildegard of Bingen, and the philosopher Peter Abelard.
William the Conqueror and El Cid died.
In Spain, Toledo fell to Alfonso VI of Castile, and Valencia to El Cid.
In 1076 the investiture controversy blew up.
Pope Gregory VII dethroned and excommunicated the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, who repented
the following year in the snow at Canossa.
After being excommunicated a second time in 1080, he raised an army and invaded Rome,
holding Gregory captive and appointing his own rival pope.
The situation was not resolved until the election of Pope Urban II in 1088.
Pope Urban proclaimed the First Crusade to retake the Holy Land, and in 1100 Baldwin
of Bouillon was crowned the first King of Jersualem.
It was likely around this time that the first colonists arrived in Polynesia from the west
coast of South America.
The Universities of Bologna and of Oxford were founded, and construction began on the
Tower of London.
The Domesday Book and the Song of Roland were composed.
The first water-driven mechanical clock was invented in Beijing, and gondolas came into
use in Venice.
By the end of the 11th century, Middle English began to supersede Old English, and Gothic
architecture and secular music began to spread in Europe.