Bi Sheng invents moveable type printing
Events
- 1040: Duncan I of Scotland slain in battle. Macbeth succeeds him.
- 1042: the Normans establish Melfi as the capital of southern Italy.
- 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 includes the marriage alliance of Vsevolod I of Kiev to a princess daughter of Constantine IX Monomachos.
- 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.
- The city of Oslo is founded by King Harald Hardrada of Norway
- 1048 or 1066 – End of the Viking Age: Vikings make an unsuccessful raid on the Kingdom of England; The raiders flee to Flanders
Inventions, discoveries, introductions
- 1041–1048 – Artisan Bi Sheng of Song dynasty China invents movable type printing using individual ceramic characters.
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
