11th Century

Events 1040s – invention moveable type printing

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 […]

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Events 1090s – El Cid conquers Valencia

1094 El Cid conquers Muslim city of Valencia  Events 1091: Normans from the Duchy of Normandy take control of Malta and surrounding islands. 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 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 The People’s Crusade, under Peter the Hermit, arrives at Sopron. Coloman, King of Hungary (“the Learned”) […]

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Events 1080s – The Domesday Book

1086 The Domesday Book  Events 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. 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. King William the Conqueror calls for a meeting at Old Sarum, where he invites his major vassals and tenants-in-chief to swear allegiance to him. This […]

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Events 1050s – The real Macbeth dies in battle

1057 The real Macbeth dies in battle  Events 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. Edward the Confessor invites William of Normandy to England. It is at this point that it is thought that Edward promises the English throne to William in the event of his death Battle of Mortemer: The Normans, led by Duke William the Conqueror, defeat a French army (near Mortemer), as it is caught pillaging and plundering. 1054: the Great Schism, in which the Western (Roman Catholic) and Eastern Orthodox churches separated from each […]

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Events 1020s – The Tale of Genji

1021 The Tale of Genji  Events The Chinese capital city of Kaifeng has some half a million residents by this year. Including all those present in the nine designated suburbs, the population is over a million people. Vikings known to be occupying L’Anse aux Meadows on Newfoundland (island) The Chinese military has one million registered soldiers during the Song Dynasty, an increase since the turn of the 11th century After the Council of Orléans, King Robert II of France burns thirteen heretics at Orléans. These are the first burning victims for heresy. Japanese Kampaku (Regent) Fujiwara no Yorimichi holds horse racing at his mansion; the emperor attends. Cnut the Great sails from England to Norway with a fleet of 50 […]

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Events 1010s – Sweyn Forkbeard conquers England

Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard conquers England.  Events Viking explorer Thorfinn Karlsefni attempts to found a settlement in North America 1013: Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard conquers England. Inventions, discoveries, introductions 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. Literature 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. 1014–1020: The Book of Healing, a vast […]

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1079 Building Winchester Cathedral starts

The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun,[3] commonly known as Winchester Cathedral, is the cathedral of the city of Winchester, England, and is among the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and is the mother church for the ancient Diocese of Winchester. It is run by a dean and chapter, under the Dean of Winchester.  The cathedral as it stands today was built from 1079 to 1532 and is dedicated to numerous saints, most notably Swithun of Winchester. It has a very long and very wide nave in the Perpendicular Gothic style, an Early […]

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1066 The Norman Conquest

Even 950 years after the battle of Hastings, 1066 remains the most famous date in English history. It invariably marks the start or end of books about the Middle Ages, and even serves as a shorthand for English history as a whole, as in the parody book 1066 and All That. But why does this date enjoy such unrivalled celebrity? Hastings was certainly a decisive battle, and is imprinted firmly in our collective consciousness from an early age thanks to the miraculous survival of the Bayeux tapestry. Yet those who part with their money this year in exchange for a […]

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1033 Guido of Arezzo & His Impact on Music

Guido of Arezzo was a monk who lived during the Middle Ages, and may be considered as one of the most influential figures in the history of modern music. During the Middle Ages, the monastery was one of the most important European institutions. The worship of God was of paramount importance in the life of a medieval monk, and one of the ways this worship was rendered was through the chanting of sacred music. Guido of Arezzo sought to rectify one of the problems that plagued these chants, and it was because of this contribution that he has made such […]

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