1081 1082 1083 1084 1085 1086 1087 1088 1089 1090
Contents: political eventscommerce |
The Oath of Salisbury makes English vassals responsible directly to the crown. Some 170 great tenants-in-chief and numerous lesser tenants have emerged to replace England's earls, and the oath is exacted from all such vassals, prohibiting them from making private wars.
Denmark's Canute IV abandons plans to invade England to deal with a revolt by his brother Erik and other aristocrats who oppose his tax policy. Taking refuge from the rebels in the St. Alban's Church at Odense, he is assassinated with his entire royal party July 10 at age 43 (approximate) and is buried in the church, which will be renamed St. Canute's Cathedral (Canute will be canonized in 1101). His brother Erik will reign until 1103 as Erik I (Ejegod, or Evergood).
A Berber army from North Africa crosses the Straits of Gibraltar and defeats the Christian forces of León and Castile's Alfonso VI October 23 at the Battle of al-Zallaka, near Badajoz (see 1085). Having temporarily halted the Christian reconquest of Spain, the Almoravid sultan Yusuf ibn Tashufin then returns home to what later will be Morocco after sending cartloads of Christian heads to the chief cities of the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa's Magrib as evidence of his victory (see 1088).
The Japanese emperor Shirakawa abdicates at age 33 in favor of his 8-year-old son Taruhito, who will reign until his death in 1107 as the emperor Horikawa. Japan's emperor is not permitted to have private property, and Shirakawa's move begins a long era of voluntary abdications in which the ex-emperor will retain power.
China's sixth Song (Sung) dynasty emperor Shen Zong (Shen Tsung) dies at age 38 (approximate) after an 18-year reign in which he and his prime minister Wang An-shi have carried out radical economic and social programs. But the regents who will rule during the minority of Shen's son are reactionaries who will try to revoke all the reforms.
Chinese scholar-poet statesman Sima Guang (Ssu-ma Kuang) dies at Pian Liang (Pien Lian) in Henan (Hunan) Province at age 67 (approximate) after a career in which he has compiled the monumental Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government (Zi Zhi Tong Jian, or Tzu-chih tung-chien), a chronicle of Chinese history from 403 B.C. to 959 A.D.. Advancing the cause of good government through moral leadership and improved functioning of established institutions rather than by drastic changes, Sima had been the leading minister in a new government that is trying (without great success) to repeal most of the reforms instituted by Wang An-shi.
The Domesday Book presented to England's William I at Old Sarum (Lammas Day) is based partly on Saxon sources and partly on first-hand reports from priests and villeins (serfs). Compiled on orders from the king to provide a basis for taxation and administration, it lists the properties and assets of landowners who have been obliged by the royal commissioners to give information under oath of the size of every piece of land, its resources, and its ownership, past and present. The assests include more than 25,000 slaves and 110,000 villeins.
1081 1082 1083 1084 1085 1086 1087 1088 1089 1090
