11th century
Encyclopedia : 1 : 11 : 11T : 11th century
| Centuries: | 10th century - 11th century - 12th century |
| Decades: | 1000s 1010s 1020s 1030s 1040s 1050s 1060s 1070s 1080s 1090s |
As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. In the history of European culture, this period is considered the early part of the High Middle Ages.
Contents
Overview
Events
- 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.
- Circa 1001, Vikings, led by Leif Eriksson, establish small settlements in and around Vinland in North America
- 1040, Duncan I of Scotland slain in battle. Macbeth succeeds him.
- 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.
- 1060, Norman conquest of Sicily
- 1065, independence of the Kingdom of Galicia and Portugal under the rule of Garcia
- 1066, Edward the Confessor dies; Norman conquest of England in the Battle of Hastings
- 1071, Defeat of the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Manzikert, ending 3 centuries of military and economic power
- 1076, Ghana Empire began break-up after capital (Kumbi) sacked
- 1085, Alfonso VI of Castile captures the Muslim city of Toledo.
- 1086, compilation of the Domesday Book
- 1094, El Cid, the great Spanish hero, conquers the Muslim city of Valencia
- ca. 1095-1099, earliest extant manuscript of the Song of Roland
- 1099, First Crusade captures Jerusalem
- 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
- Empress Agnes
- Alexius I Comnenus byzantine Emperor (lived 1048-1118; reigned 1081-1118)
- Alp Arslan
- Archbishop Anno II of Cologne
- Saint Anselm, reputed founder of scholasticism and creator of the ontological argument
- Basil II Byzantine Emperor (lived 958-1025; reigned 976-1025)
- Canute
- El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar)
- Pope Saint Gregory VII (Hildebrand)
- Guido of Arezzo
- Emperor Henry III
- Emperor Henry IV
- Konrad II
- Leif Eriksson
- Macbeth
- Saint Robert, founder of the Cistercians
- Stephen I of Hungary
- Tunka Manin ruler of the Ghana Empire
- William the Conqueror
- Pope Urban II
- Tāriqu l-Ḥakīm bi Amr al-Lāh, Sixth Fātimid Caliph
Inventions, discoveries, introductions
- Troubadours appear in what is now southern France.
- Invention of military rockets by the Chinese
- The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu is one of the first novels in the Japanese language.
- The tittle was created.