1050s

This is a list of events occurring in the 1050s, ordered by year.

1050

• Leofric becomes Bishop of Exeter.
• Hedeby is sacked by King Harald Hardråde of Norway during the course of a conflict with Sweyn II of Denmark.
• Swedish forces attack Finland.
• Upon the death of Anund Jacob, he is succeeded by his brother Emund the Old as king of Sweden.
• King Macbeth of Scotland makes a pilgrimage to Rome.
• The brewery of Weltenburg Abbey is first mentioned, thus making it one of the oldest still operating breweries in the world.

1052

By place

Africa

• Defeat of the Zirid dynasty against the Hilalian invaders at the battle of the jabal Haydaran.^[1]

Europe

• Godwin, Earl of Wessex returns to England from exile.

Asia

• The Seljuk Turks conquer Isfahan, Persia.

1053

• June 18 – Battle of Civitate: 3,000 horsemen of Norman Count Humphrey rout the troops of Pope Leo IX.
• Byodo-in, Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, is built. Heian period (approximate date).
• Jōchō makes Amida Buddha, Byodo-in. Heian period (approximate date).

1054

• Chinese astronomers observe a supernova in the Taurus Nebula ^[2])
• February – Battle of Mortemer: The Normans defeat a French army as it is caught pillaging and plundering. King Henry I of France withdraws his main army from Normandy as a result.
• April 30 – Rosdalla, Kilbeggan Ireland: Earliest known European tornado.
• July 4 – The SN 1054 supernova is recorded by the Chinese, Arab and possibly Native Americans near the star ζ Tauri. For 23 days it remains bright enough to be seen in daylight. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula (NGC 1952).^[3]
• July 16 – Cardinal Humbertus, a representative of Pope Leo IX, and Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople, decree each other's excommunication. Most historians look to this act as the final step in the initiation of the Great Schism between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian Churches. In 1965, those excommunications are rescinded by Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras when they meet in the Second Vatican Council. However, to this day each church claims to be the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and each denies the other's right to that name. (See East-West Schism)
• July 27 – Siward, Earl of Northumbria invades Scotland to support Malcolm Canmore against Macbeth, who usurped the Scottish throne from Malcolm's father, King Duncan. Macbeth is defeated at Dunsinane.
• Lý Nhật Tôn, third king of the Lý Dynasty, begins to rule in Vietnam and changes the country's official name to Đại Việt.

1055

By place

Africa

• The Almoravids conquer Aoudaghost (present-day Mauritania).

Asia

• December 18 – The Seljuk Turks capture Baghdad; Al-Malik al-Rahim is taken prisoner.

Europe

• January 11 – Theodora becomes reigning empress of the Byzantine Empire.
• October 24 – Ralph the Timid is defeated by the Welsh.
• Beginning of the campaign of Ferdinand I of Castile against al-Andalus. The king conquers Seia from the Christian allies of the muslim taifas.^[4] In a drive to consolidate his southern border, he repopulates the city of Zamora with some of his Cantabrian (montañeses) subjects.

By topic

Art

• Construction on the Liaodi Pagoda in Hebei is complete, the tallest pagoda in Chinese history standing at a height of 84 m (275 ft) tall.

Religion

• April 13 – Pope Victor II succeeds Pope Leo IX as the 153rd pope.
• An abbey was set up at Tihany, Hungary by András (Andrew) I. The foundation charter was drawn up on the northern shore of Lake Balaton. This is the earliest written record extant in the Hungarian language.

1056

• Anselm leaves Italy.
• Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, becomes King of Germany.
• Ottokar, Count of Steyr, becomes Margrave of the Karantanian March, later known as Styria.
• The Pagoda of Fugong Temple of Shanxi in northern China is built during the Liao Dynasty. Work begins on the Pizhi Pagoda of Lingyan Temple, Shandong, China, under the opposing Song Dynasty.
• The Muslims expel 300 Christians from Jerusalem, and European Christians are forbidden to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
• Macedonian dynasty ends in Byzantine Empire.

1057

By place

Africa

• The Banu Hilal take Kairouan. The Zirid dynasty has to resettle to Mahdiya.

Asia

• King Anawrahta of Burma captures Thanton in northern Thailand, strengthening Theravada Buddhism in the country.

Europe

• King Macbeth of Scotland is killed in battle against Malcolm III of Scotland. He is succeeded as King of Scotland by his stepson Lulach.
• William the Conqueror defeats a Franco-Angevin army at the mouth of the Dives River, Normandy.
• Ferdinand I of Castile takes Lamego and Viseu from Christian lords allied to the Muslim taifas.^[4]

By topic

Religion

• August 2 – Pope Stephen IX (sometimes referred to as Stephen X) succeeds Pope Victor II as the 154th pope.

1058

• March 17 – King Lulach of Scotland is killed in battle against his cousin and rival Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, who later becomes King as Máel Coluim III.
• September 20 – Agnes de Poitou and Andrew I of Hungary met to negotiate about the border-zone in present-day Burgenland.
• Antipope Benedict X is crowned pope, but later deposed.
• Pope Nicholas II is elected pope in December and installed in the following year.
• The Battle of Varaville is fought.
• Boleslaus II takes office as duke of Poland.
• Construction begins on the Cathedral of Parma, Italy.
• Aldred becomes the first English bishop to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
• The Almoravids conquer the Berghouata.

1059

• January 24 – Pope Nicholas II succeeds Pope Stephen IX as the 155th Pope, installed in opposition to Antipope Benedict X.
• August – Robert Guiscard signs the Treaty of Melfi with Pope Nicholas II.
• Anselm settles at the Benedictine monastery of Le Bec in Normandy.
• The Lateran Council makes the College of Cardinals the sole voters in the election of popes.
• Muhammed ben Da'ud, known as Alp Arslan, becomes second sultan of the Seljuk Turks.
• Peter Krešimir IV is crowned King of Croatia and Dalmatia
• Isaac I Comnenus resigns as Byzantine Emperor, appointing Constantine Ducas as his successor.

Significant people

• Godwin, Earl of Wessex

Births

Deaths

References