1000s (decade)

This is a list of events occurring in the 1000s, ordered by year.

1000

Muslim world

The Islamic World was in its Golden Age; still organised in Caliphates, it was still dominated by the Abbasid Caliphate, with the Caliphate of Córdoba to the west, and ongoing campaigns in Africa and in India. Persia was a period of instability, with various polities seceding from Abassid rule, among whom the Ghaznavids would emerge as the most powerful.

The Islamic world was reaching the peak of its historical scientific achievements. Important scholars and scientists who flourished in the year 1000 include Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen), Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, Avicenna, Abu al-Qasim (Abulcasis), Ibn Yunus (publishes his astronomical treatise Al-Zij al-Hakimi al-Kabir in Cairo in c. 1000), Abu Sahl al-Quhi (Kuhi), Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi, Abu Nasr Mansur, Abu al-Wafa, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, Al-Muqaddasi, Ali Ibn Isa, and al-Karaji (al-Karkhi). Ibn al-Haytham (Book of Optics), Avicenna, Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, and Abu al-Qasim (Al-Tasrif), who all flourished around the year 1000, are considered to be among the greatest scientists of the Middle Ages altogether.

The Turkic migration by this time had reached Eastern Europe, and most of the Turkic tribes (Khazars, Bulghars, Pechenegs etc.) had been Islamized.

Christendom

Europe in 1000

In continental Europe, the Holy Roman Empire established itself as the most powerful state. Otto III made a pilgrimage from Rome to Aachen and Gniezno (Gnesen), stopping at Regensburg, Meissen, Magdeburg, and Gniezno. The Congress of Gniezno (with Bolesław I Chrobry) was part of his pilgrimage. In Rome, he built the basilica of San Bartolomeo all'Isola, to host the relics of St. Bartholomew.

In France, Robert II, the son of Hugh Capet, was the first of the Capetian kings.

The Byzantine Empire under the Macedonian dynasty was engaged in a long and hard war with the First Bulgarian Empire. In the year 1000, the Byzantine generals Theodorokanos and Nikephoros Xiphias captured the former Bulgarian capitals of Pliska and Great Preslav, along with Little Preslav, extending Byzantine control over the northeastern portion of the Bulgarian state (Mysia and Scythia Minor). At the same time, Byzantium was instrumental in the Christianization of the Kievan Rus' and of other medieval Slavic states.

In Great Britain, a unified kingdom of England had developed out of the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In Scandinavia, Christianization was in its early stages, with the Althingi of the Icelandic Commonwealth embracing Christianity in the year 1000.

On September 9, King Olaf Tryggvason was defeated by an alliance of his enemies in the Battle of Svolder. Sweyn I established Danish control over part of Norway. Oslo, Norway, was founded (the exact year is debatable, but the 1,000 year anniversary was held in the year 2000).

The Papacy during this time was in a period of decline, in retrospect known as the saeculum obscurum ("Dark Age") or "pornocracy" ("rule of harlots"), a state of affairs that would result in the Great Schism later in the 11th century.

Hungary was established in 1000 as a Christian state. In the next centuries, the Kingdom of Hungary became the pre-eminent cultural power in the Central European region. On December 25, Stephen I was crowned as the first King of Hungary in Esztergom.

Sancho III of Navarre became King of Aragon and Navarre. The Reconquista was gaining some ground, but the southern Iberian peninsula would still be dominated by Islam for centuries to come; Córdoba at this time was the world's largest city with 450,000 inhabitants.

It is believed that in or around this year, Norse explorer Leif Ericson became the first European to land in the Americas, at L'Anse aux Meadows, probably in modern-day Newfoundland.

• The Château de Goulaine vineyard was founded in France.
• The Diocese of Kołobrzeg was founded.
• The archdiocese in Gniezno was founded; the first archbishop was Gaudentius (Radim), from Slavník's dynasty.
• The Bell foundry was founded in Italy by Pontificia Fonderia Marinelli.

1001

By place

Asia

• March 17 – The Buddhist ruler of Butuan in the Philippines (P’u-tuan in the Sung Dynasty records), Sari Bata Shaja, makes the first tributary mission to China.
• Baitoushan volcano, located on the present-day Chinese-Korean border, erupts with a force of 6.5, the fourth largest Holocene blast (approximate date).
• Tao/Tayk region is annexed by the Byzantines as the theme of Iberia
• Mahmud of Ghazni, Muslim leader of Ghazni, begins a series of raids into Northern India. His conquest ended in 1027 with the destruction of Somnath.
• Jayapala suffers defeat from Ghaznavid Empire near Peshawar.
• Rebellion Cửu Long in Thanh Hoa province
• Khmer King Jayavarman V is succeeded by Udayadityavarman I and/or Suryavarman I.
• Construction begins on the Liaodi Pagoda, the tallest pagoda in Chinese history (completed in 1055).
• Oqropiri (Ioane I), Svimeon III and Melkisedek I are Catholicoi of Iberia within one year.

Europe

• February 6 – After leading the revolt against Emperor Otto III and expelling the Crescentii, Gregory I, Count of Tusculum is named "Head of the Republic"
• July 31 – Emperor Otto III confirms possessions of Ulric Manfred II of Turin and grants him privileges.
• July – Sergius II becomes Patriarch of Constantinople
• Byzantine Emperor Basil II attempts to reconquer Bulgaria.
• Robert II, King of France marries for the third time, with Constance Taillefer d'Arles.
• Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor has Charlemagne's vault opened (see Aachen Cathedral).
• The First Battle of Alton: Danish invaders defeat the English.
• Battle of Pinhoe: Vikings defeat Anglo-Saxons in Devon.
• Boleslaw I of Poland begins ruling parts of Slovakia
• Vseslav Izyaslavich of Polotsk begins ruling Polotsk.
• Werner I, Bishop of Strasbourg begins ruling Archbishopric of Strasbourg.
• Second voyage of Ermengol I of Urgell to Rome.
• Þorgeirr Ljósvetningagoði ends being a lawspeaker in Iceland's Althing.
• Ælfgar, bishop of Elmham, is consecrated.
• Æthelred is a bishop of Cornwall and dies shortly after that.
• Founding of the town of Lloret de Mar in Catalonia.
• First reference to Khotyn, Ukrainian town ^[1] and to Nyalka, Hungarian village, as to Chimudi.

Africa

• Khazrun ben Falful from Maghrawa family Banu Khazrun begins ruling Tripoli.

North America

• Vikings, led by Leif Eriksson, establish small settlements in and around Vinland in North America (approximate)

By topic

Religion

• King Edward the Martyr of England is canonized.
• A tomb of saint Ivo (possibly) is uncovered in Huntingdonshire.

1002

By place

Europe

• January 8 – Wulfsige III, Bishop of Sherborne, dies and is succeeded by Æthelric.
• January 23 – Henry II succeeds Otto III as King of Germany.
• June – Frederick is sent as an imperial legate to the Synod of Pöhlde to mediate between the claims of Bernard, Bishop of Hildesheim, and Willigis, Archbishop of Mainz, concerning the control of Gandersheim Abbey.
• July – Battle of Calatañazor: superior Christian armies of Castille led by Count Sancho García and León led by Alfonso V defeat invading Muslim forces under Almanzor.
• August 8 – Abd al-Malik succeeds Almanzor, chief minister of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba, Spain
• November 13 – St. Brice's Day massacre: English king Æthelred the Unready orders all Danes in England killed.
• November – Frederick is elected Archbishop of Ravenna.
• Vladivoj succeeds Boleslaus III, Duke of Bohemia.
• Otto of Worms withdraws his nomination for the title of Holy Roman Emperor and receives the Duchy of Carinthia in return.
• King Æthelred the Unready of England marries (as his second wife) Emma, daughter of Richard I, Duke of Normandy.
• Brian Boru, King of Leinster and Munster, becomes High King of Ireland, breaking the Uí Néill monopoly on the title. Not satisfied with the submission of Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, Brian Boru makes an expedition to the north to take hostages from the northern states.
• John IV of Naples is probably released from German captivity by Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor.
• With a new group of colonists, an epidemic hits the Viking colony in Greenland.
• Danegeld is paid by Æthelred the Unready to prevent Viking raids against England.

Middle East

• December – Khalaf I of Sistan surrenders to Ghaznavids in Taq.

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Rafael of Makuria constructs a red brick building in Old Dongola.

1003

By place

Europe

• January 25 – Werner, Margrave of the Nordmark succeeds Lothair.
• February 9 – Boleslaus III of Bohemia is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland. In the following months Boleslav's brothers Jaromir and Oldrich flee to Germany and place themselves under the protection of Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, while Boleslaus III of Bohemia orders massacre of his leading nobles at Vyšehrad.
• May 4 – Herman III, Duke of Swabia succeeds Herman II.
• Vladivoj of Bohemia succeeds Boleslaus III
• Boleslaus IV succeeds Vladivoj of Bohemia.
• Bolesław I of Poland annexes parts of present-day Slovakia (possible date).
• Wilfred succeeds Abbot Oliva as count of Berga.
• Sweyn I of Denmark begins his first invasion of England.
• Humbert I becomes the first count of Savoy.
• King Robert II of France invades Burgundy, but fails.
• Robert II of France marries Constance of Arles.
• Boleslaus I of Poland becomes duke of Bohemia and Moravia.
• Stephen I of Hungary invades Transylvania and organises the Diocese of Transylvania (possible date).
• Deutz Abbey is founded at Deutz by Heribert of Cologne.
• The troops of the Caliphate of Cordoba defeats the northern Christian armies at the battle of Albesa.^[2]

Middle East

• Zacharias succeeds Philotheos as Patriarch of Alexandria.

Eastern Asia

• The Zubu khan surrenders to the Liao Dynasty.

America

• October 9 – Leif Erikson lands in L'Anse aux Meadows, Canada.

By topic

Art

• The construction of Brihadeeswarar temple, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India, starts. Chola Dynasty, Early Medieval period.

Religion

• May 16 – Pope John XVII succeeds Pope Silvester II as the 140th pope.
• December 25 – Pope John XVIII succeeds Pope John XVII as the 141st pope.

1004

By place

Africa

• Plague and famine episode in North Africa.^[3]

Asia

• December – The Samanid dynasty ends in Bokhara.
• The Liao dynasty launches a major offensive against the Song dynasty. They meet near Shanyang, north of the Song capital of Kaifeng.
• Battle of Shanzhou: The Liao dynasty general Xiao Talin is picked off by an elite Song Chinese crossbow sniper.

Europe

• May 14 – Henry II is crowned Holy Roman Emperor at Pavia. A quarrel between his German companions and the Pavese erupts into a full-scale battle.
• Henry II launches war against Bolesław of Poland. It lasts until 1018.
• Boleslaus I of Poland loses Bohemia after having become duke the previous year. He is succeeded as duke of Bohemia by Jaromir.
• Sancho III becomes king of Navarre, Aragon and Castille.
• Sweyn I of Denmark destroys Norwich.
• Aberdeen becomes a bishopric.
• Arabs sack Pisa.
• The troops of the vizir Al-Mansur sack the Catalan city of Manresa.^[2]
• Pope John XVIII (1004–1009).

1005

By place

Europe

• March 25 – Malcolm II succeeds Cináed III as king of Scotland, killing him and his son Giric II of Scotland in the battle of Monzievard.
• Brian Boru makes a second expedition to the north to take hostages from the northern states: during this expedition, he visited Armagh, making an offering of twenty ounces of gold to the church and confirming to the apostolic see of Saint Patrick, ecclesiastical supremacy over the whole of Ireland (as recorded in the Book of Armagh).^[4]
• Continued Danish raids on southern England.^[5]
• Ælfric of Abingdon leaves ships to the people of Wiltshire and Kent in his will, with his best one, equipped for sixty men, going to King Æthelred II.
• Aeddan ap Blegywryd, prince of Gwynedd succeeds Cynan ap Hywel.
• Pomerania revolts against the church.
• Schaffhausen starts minting its own coins.
• Pisan offensive against the Muslim strongholds on the coast of Calabria.^[6]

Eastern Asia

• January 13–January 18 – The Shanyuan Treaty is negotiated between the Liao dynasty and the Song dynasty. The Song agrees to pay an annual tribute to the Liao.
• Lê Trung Tông succeeds Lê Hoàn as the emperor of Vietnam, preceding anarchy and 8 months succession war with Long Ngân and other princes.
• October – Defeat of Long Ngân and his death in Thạch Hà by hands of natives.
• Lê Ngoạ Triều succeeds Lê Trung Tông, killing him after just three days of reign, beginning tyrannical executions.
• Shūi Wakashū is compiled (earliest possible date).

1006

By place

Oceania

• A major eruption of Mount Merapi volcano covers all of central Java with volcanic ash, caused devastation throughout central Java, and destroyed a Hindu kingdom on the island of Java.^[7]

Europe

• Holmgang (dueling) is declared illegal in Iceland.

Asia

• Granaries for famine relief are set up across China.

By topic

Religion

• Aelfheah (St. Alphege) goes to Pope John XVIII at Rome for his pallium and becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.

Astronomy

• May 1 – The brightest supernova ever recorded, SN 1006, occurs in the constellation of Lupus. It is observed and described in China, Japan, the Middle East, Europe, and elsewhere. The records of the event were suppressed in some western countries. The Supernova provided enough light to read by on a night with a dark moon.

1007

By place

Europe

• Aethelred buys two years of peace with the Danes for 36,000 pounds of silver.
• One of Mt. Vesuvius's many eruptions.

Asia

• Songjiang County, the later city of Shanghai, is founded (approximate date).
• Snow falls in the city of Baghdad.

By topic

Religion

• Henry II of Germany founds the Diocese of Bamberg.

1008

By place

Europe

• Oldest known mention of the city of Gundelfingen.
• Olav Haraldsson, the future king of Norway, lands on Saaremaa Island in Estonia, wins a battle there and forces the inhabitants to pay tribute.
• Georgia is unified under King Bagrat III.
• Mohammed II succeeds Hisham II as Caliph of Cordoba.

Asia

• The Egyptian Fatimid Empire under Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah sends the sea captain Domiyat on a tributary mission to Emperor Zhenzong of the Song dynasty, in order to reestablish trade relations between Egypt and China.
• Battle of Peshawar: The Turkic Ghaznavid armies defeat a Hindu confederacy.

By topic

Religion

• Olof, king of Sweden, is baptized by Saint Sigfrid.
• Bruno of Querfurt and others try to establish a mission among the Prussians.

1009

By place

Europe

• February 14 or March 9 – First known mention of the name of Lithuania in connection with the murder of Saint Bruno of Querfurt.
• August 29 – Mainz Cathedral suffers extensive damage from a fire on the day of its inauguration.^[8]
• Suleiman II succeeds Mohammed II as Caliph of Córdoba.
• The Vikings repeatedly attack England.

Asia

• The Lý dynasty, Vietnam's first independent dynasty, is proclaimed.
• The provinces of Goryeo (modern-day Korea) are redistributed.

By topic

Religion

• October 18 – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is destroyed by Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.
• July 31 – Pope Sergius IV succeeds Pope John XVIII as the 142nd pope.

Science and technology

• The scientific achievements of the Islamic civilization reach their zenith. Major works from this decade include Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen)'s Book of Optics, Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis)'s 30-volume medical encyclopedia, the Al-Tasrif.
• Other significant contributions to scientific and mathematical understanding were made by Avicenna, who would later publish influential works on medicine, Persian Muslim polymath and scientist Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, Arab Egyptian Muslim mathematician and astronomer Ibn Yunus, Persian Muslim physicist and mathematician Abu Sahl al-Quhi (Kuhi) and Persian Muslim astronomer and mathematician, Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi.
• The Law of sines is discovered by Muslim mathematicians.
• Bell foundry is founded in Italy.
• Gunpowder is invented in China.

Significant people

• Abd al-Rahman Ibn Yunus
• Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis)
• Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi
• Abu Nasr Mansur
• Abu Rayhan al-Biruni
• Alhacen (Ibn al-Haytham)
• Avicenna (Ibn Sina)
• Basil II
• Boleslaus I of Poland
• Brian Boru
• Bruno of Querfurt
• Robert II of France
• Robert Guiscard
• Roger I of Sicily
• Sancho III of Navarre
• Stephen I of Hungary
• Sweyn I of Denmark
• Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria

References