1067

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political events

Poland's Boleslav II takes Kiev, whose empire has been wracked by civil war since the death of Jaroslav I in 1054.

The Byzantine emperor Constantine X Dukas dies at age 60, and his widow, Eudoxia Macrembolitissa, marries one of her late husband's generals; he will reign jointly with her until 1071 as Romanus IV Diogenes.

Egypt has civil war as famine brings conflict between Turkish and Sudanese mercenaries, who have been draining the nation's treasury in lieu of regular pay (see 1062). The Turks enlist Berber allies who ravage the southern part of the country and try to starve out neighboring districts; hostilities will continue until 1073, by which time one Turkish general will have bought emeralds valued at 300,000 dinars for 500 dinars and articles valued at 30 million dinars have been sold off to pay the mercenaries.

commerce

A Chinese edict aimed at keeping gunpowder a state monopoly forbids export of sulfur or saltpeter (see 222; 1234).

medicine

The world's first leprosarium is founded by the Castilian soldier Ruy Diaz de Bivar, 27, who will become known as El Cid (or as-sid, Arabic for "the Lord").

religion

Scotland's Malcolm III MacDuncan marries Margaret, 22, sister of the Saxon Edgar the Aetheling; she brings the Black Rood to Scotland, thus beginning that country's transition from Celtic culture and Columban religious rites to the Anglicized feudal system and Roman Catholic ritual.

communications, media

Turkish mercenaries at Cairo throw out books from the city's library or tear them up and use the papyri to light fires.

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