
Eastern Hemisphere in early half of
11th century.

Eastern Hemisphere at the end of the
11th century.
As a means of recording the passage of
time,
the
11th century is the period from
1001 to
1100 in accordance with the
Julian calendar in the
Christian/
Common
Era.
In the history of
European culture, this
period is considered the early part of the
High Middle Ages. There was a sudden
decline of
Byzantine power and rise
of
Norman domination over much of Europe,
along with the prominent role in Europe of notably influential
popes. In what is now
Northern Italy, a growth of population in
urban centers gave rise to early organized capitalism and more
sophisticated, commercialized culture by the late 11th
century.
In
Song Dynasty China
and the
classical Islamic world, this
century marked the high point for both classical Chinese civilization,
science and technology, and classical
Islamic science, philosophy, technology and
literature. There was also a
population explosion in China, doubling to the size of 100 million,
and an economic revolution
in China that spurred manufacture and production rates which
rivaled even Great
Britain
's coal and iron output in the early Industrial Revolution. The
Islamic world experienced a similar
growth with the
Muslim
Agricultural Revolution, which led to greater
mechanization and
economic growth in the
Islamic world.
Rival political factions at the
Song
Dynasty court created strife amongst the leading statesmen and
ministers of the empire.
Chola-era India
and Fatimid-era Egypt
, had reached
their zenith in military might and international influence.
The
Western Chalukya Empire
(the Chola's rival) also rose to power by the end of the century.
In this century the Turkish
Seljuk
dynasty comes to power in the Middle East over the now
fragmented
Abbasid realm, while the
first of the
Crusades
were waged towards the close of the century.
In Japan
, the
Fujiwara clan continued to dominate
the affairs of state. In the Americas, the
Toltec and
Mixtec civilizations
flourished in
central America, along
with the
Huari Culture of
South America and the
Mississippian culture of
North America.
In Ukraine
, there was
the golden age for the principality of
Kievan Rus. In Korea
, the
Goryeo
Kingdom flourished and faced external threats from
the Liao Dynasty (Manchuria). In Vietnam
, the
Lý Dynasty began, while in Myanmar
the Pagan Kingdom
reached its height of political and military
power.
Overview
In European history, the 11th century is regarded as the beginning
of the
High Middle Ages, an age
subsequent to the
Early Middle
Ages. The century began while the
translatio imperii of
962 was still somewhat novel and ended in the midst of
the
Investiture Controversy.
It saw the final Christianisation of
Scandinavia and the emergence of the
Peace and Truce of God movements, the
Gregorian Reforms, and the
Crusades which revitalised a church and a
papacy that had survived tarnished by the tumultuous tenth century.
In
1054, the
Great
Schism rent the church in two, however.
In Germany, the century was marked by the ascendancy of the
Holy Roman Emperors, who hit
their high watermark under the
Salians.
In Italy,
it opened with the integration of the kingdom into the empire and
the royal palace at Pavia
was sacked
in 1024. By the end of the century,
Lombard and
Byzantine rule in the
Mezzogiorno had been usurped by the
Normans and the power of the territorial magnates
was being replaced by that of the citizens of the cities in the
north.
In
Britain, it saw the transformation of Scotland
into a single, more unified and centralised kingdom
and the Norman conquest of
England in 1066. The social
transformations wrought in these lands brought them into the fuller
orbit of European feudal politics.
In France, it saw the nadir of the monarchy and the zenith of the
great magnates, especially the dukes of Aquitaine and Normandy, who
could thus foster such distinctive contributions of their lands as
the pious warrior who conquered Britain, Italy, and the East and
the impious peacelover, the
troubadour,
who crafted out of the European vernacular its first great literary
themes. There were also the first figures of the intellectual
movement known as
Scholasticism, which
emphasized
dialectic arguments in disputes
of
Christian theology as well as
classical philosophy.
In Spain, the century opened with the successes of the last
caliphs of Córdoba and ended
in the successes of the
Almoravids.
In
between was a period of Christian unification under Navarrese
hegemony and success in the Reconquista against the taifa kingdoms that replaced the fallen
caliphate.
In China, there was a triangular affair of continued war and peace
settlements between the
Song Dynasty,
the
Tanguts-led
Western Xia in the northwest, and the
Khitans of the
Liao
Dynasty in the northeast.
Meanwhile, opposing political factions evolved at the Song
imperial court of Kaifeng
. The political reformers at court, called
the New Policies Group (新法, Xin Fa), were led by
Emperor Shenzong of Song and the
Chancellors Fan
Zhongyan and
Wang Anshi, while the
political conservatives were led by Chancellor
Sima Guang and Empress Dowager Gao, regent of the
young
Emperor Zhezong of
Song. Heated political debate and sectarian intrigue followed,
while political enemies were often dismissed from the capital to
govern frontier regions in the deep south where
malaria was known to be very fatal to northern
Chinese people (see
History
of the Song Dynasty). This period also represents a high point
in classical Chinese science and technology, with figures such as
Su Song and
Shen
Kuo, as well as the age where the matured form of the
Chinese pagoda was accomplished in
Chinese architecture.
In India,
the Chola Dynasty reached its height
of naval power under leaders such as Rajaraja Chola I and Rajendra Chola I, dominating southern India
(Tamil
Nadu
), Sri
Lanka
, and regions of South
East Asia. They also sent raids into what is now
modern-day Thailand
.
In Japan, the
Fujiwara clan dominated
central politics by acting as imperial regents, controlling the
actions of the
Emperor of Japan,
who acted merely as a '
puppet
monarch' during the
Heian
period.
In the
Middle East, the Fatimid Empire of Egypt
reached its
zenith only to face steep decline, much like the Byzantine Empire in the first half of the
century. The
Seljuks came to
prominence while the
Abbasid caliphs held
traditional titles without real, tangible authority in state
affairs.
In Korea,
the rulers of the Goryeo
Kingdom were
able to concentrate more central authority into their own hands
than in that of the nobles, and were able to fend off two Khitan invasions with their
armies.
Events
- 1001–1008: Japanese
Lady Murasaki Shikibu writes the
first novel, The Tale of Genji
- 1001 ± 40 years:
Baitoushan
volcano on what would be the Chinese-Korean border,
erupts with a force of 6.5, the fourth largest Holocene blast.
- 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
.
- c. 1001: Vikings,
led by Leif Eriksson, establish small
settlements in and around Vinland in
North America
- 1003: Robert
II of France invades the Duchy of
Burgundy, then ruled by Otto-William, Duke of
Burgundy; the initial invasion is unsuccessful, but Robert II
eventually gained the acceptance of the Roman Catholic Church in 1016 and
annexed Burgundy into his realm.
- 1004: the library and university Dar Al-Hekma is founded in Egypt under the
Fatimids.
- 1005: the Treaty of Shanyuan was signed between the
Chinese
Song Dynasty and the
Khitan Liao
Dynasty.
- 1008: the Fatimid Egyptian sea captain Domiyat travels to the
Buddhist pilgrimage site in Shandong
, China, to seek out the Chinese Emperor Zhenzong of Song with gifts
from his ruling Imam Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, successfully
reopening diplomatic relations between
Egypt and China that had been lost since the collapse of the
Tang Dynasty.
- 1009: Lý Thái Tổ overthrew the
Anterior Lê Dynasty of
Vietnam, establishing the Lý
Dynasty.
- 1010: with the aid of scholars such as
Song Zhun, Lu
Duosun compiles a massive work of cartography in 1566 chapters, including the
mapped topography of each provincial
region in China down to the minute level of small towns and
villages; this was an imperial compendium first issued by Emperor Taizu of Song in 971.
- 1010–1011: the Second
Goryeo-Khitan War; the Korean
king was
forced to flee the capital temporarily, but unable to establish a
foothold and fearing a counterattack, the Khitan forces withdrew.
- 1011–1021: Ibn al-Haytham
(Alhacen), a famous Iraqi
scientist working in Egypt
, feigned madness in fear of angering the
Egyptian caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, and was kept
under house arrest from 1011 to
1021. During this time, he wrote his influential
Book of Optics.
- 1014: the Byzantine armies of Basil II are victorious over Samuil of Bulgaria in the Battle of
Kleidion
.
- 1015: in the Battle of Nesjar in Oslofjord
, Norway, the forces of Olav Haraldsson fought the
forces of Sveinn Hákonarson,
with a victory ofr Olav.
- 1018: the First Bulgarian Empire is conquered
by the Byzantine Empire
- 1018: the Byzantine armies of Basil Boioannes are victorious at the
Battle of Cannae against the
Lombards under Melus of Bari.
- 1018: the Third Goryeo-Khitan War; the
Korean
General Gang Gam-chan
inflicted heavy losses to Khitan
forces at the Battle of
Kwiju. The Khitan withdrew and both sides signed a peace
treaty.
- 1014–1020: The Book of Healing, a vast
philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, is written by Avicenna, Persian
scholar.
- 1020s: The Canon of Medicine, a medical
encyclopedia, is written by Avicenna,
Persian Muslim
scholar.
- 1021: the ruling Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah disappears
suddenly, possibly assassinated by his own sister Sitt al-Mulk, which leads to the open
persecution of the Druze by Ismaili Shia; the Druze
proclaimed that Al-Hakim went into hiding (ghayba), whereupon he
would return as the Mahdi savior.
- 1025: the Chola
Dynasty of India uses its naval powers to conquer the South
East Asian kingdom of Srivijaya, turning
it into a vassal.
- 1025: ruler Rajendra Chola I moves the capital city of
the empire from Thanjavur
to Gangaikonda Cholapuram
- 1028: the King of
Srivijaya appeals to the Song Dynasty Chinese, sending a diplomatic
mission to their capital at Kaifeng
.
- 1030: the Battle of
Stiklestad
(Norway
): Olav Haraldsson loses to his pagan vassals
and is killed in the battle. He is later canonized and
becomes the patron saint of Norway and Rex perpetuum Norvegiae
('the eternal king of Norway').
- 1035: Raoul
Glaber chronicles a devastating three year famine induced by
climatic changes in southern France
- 1035: Canute
the Great dies, and his kingdom of present-day Norway, England,
and Denmark was split amongst three rivals to his throne.
- 1035: William
Iron Arm ventures to the Mezzogiorno
- 1037: Ferdinand I of León conquered the
Kingdom of
Galicia
.
- 1041: Samuel Aba
became King of Hungary.
- 1042: the Normans
establish Melfi
as the
capital of southern Italy.
- 1042: Bhoja, the Indian ruler, philosopher, and polymath of
Malwa, completes the
reconstruction of the temple of Somnath
after its destruction by Mahmud of Ghazni.
- 1041–1048: Chinese
artisan Bi Sheng invents ceramic movable type printing
- 1043: the Byzantine Empire and Kievan Rus engage in a naval confrontation, although a
later treaty is signed between two parties that included the
marriage alliance of Vsevolod I of
Kiev to a princess daughter of Constantine IX Monomachos.
- 1043: the Byzantine
General George Maniaces, who had
served in Sicily back in 1038, was proclaimed emperor by his troops while he was
catepan of Italy; he led an
unsuccessful rebellion against Constantine IX Monomachos and was
killed in battle in Macedonia
during his march towards Constantinople
.
- 1043: the Song Dynasty Chancellor of China, Fan Zhongyan, and prominent official and
historian Ouyang Xiu introduce the
Qingli Reforms, which would be
rescinded by the court in 1045 due to partisan resistance to
reforms.
- 1043: the Kingdom
of Nri of West Africa is said to
have started in this year with Eze Nri
Ìfikuánim
- 1044: the Chinese Wujing Zongyao, written by Zeng
Gongliang and Yang Weide, is the first book to describe gunpowder formulas; it also described their use in
warfare, such as blackpowder-impregnated fuses for flamethrowers. It also described an early form
of the compass, a thermoremanence
compass.
- 1044: Henry III of the Holy Roman Empire defeats the Kingdom of Hungary in the Battle of Ménfő; Peter Urseolo captured Samuel Aba after the battle, executing
him, and restoring his claim to the throne; the Kingdom of Hungary
then briefly becomes a vassal to the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1045: The Zirids, a Berber dynasty
of North Africa, break their allegiance
with the Fatimid court of Egypt
and
recognize the Abbasids of Baghdad
as the true caliphs.
- 1061–1091: Norman conquest of
Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea

- 1065: Seljuks first invasion to Georgia
under leadership of alp
Arslan
- 1065: independence of
the Kingdom of Galicia
and Portugal
under the rule of Garcia
- 1066: in the Battle of
Stamford Bridge
, the last Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson defeated his brother
Tostig Godwinson and Harald III of Norway.
- 1066: Edward the Confessor dies; Harold Godwinson is killed in the Battle of
Hastings
, while the Norman conqueror is crowned William I of England.
- 1066: the Jewish
vizier Joseph
ibn Naghrela and many others are killed in the 1066 Granada massacre.
- 1068–1073: the reign of
Japanese Emperor Go-Sanjō
brings about a brief period where central power is taken out of the
hands of the Fujiwara clan.
- 1068: beginning in this year, Virarajendra Chola sends military raids
into Malaysia and Indonesia.
- 1068: Seljuks destroyed Georgia
for the second time
- 1069–1076: with the
support of Emperor Shenzong of
Song, Chancellor Wang Anshi of the
Chinese Song Dynasty introduces the
'New Policies', including the Baojia
system of societal organization and militias, low-cost loans
for farmers, taxes instead of corvée
labor, government monopolies on tea, salt, and wine, reforming the
land survey system, and eliminating the
poetry requirement in the imperial
examination system to gain bureaucrats of a more practical
bent.
- 1075–1077: the Song Dynasty of
China
and the Lý Dynasty
of Vietnam
fight
a border war, with Vietnamese forces striking first on land and
with their navy, and afterwards Song armies advancing as far as
modern-day Hanoi
, the
capital, but withdraw after Lý makes peace overtures; in 1082, both
sides exchange the territories that they had captured during the
war, and later a border agreement is reached.
- 1076: the Ghana
Empire is
attacked by the Almoravids, who sack the
capital of Koumbi
Saleh
, ending the rule of king Tunka Manin
- 1076: the Chinese Song Dynasty places strict government
monopolies over the production and distribution of sulfur and saltpetre, in
order to curb the possibility of merchants selling gunpowder formula components to enemies such as
the Tanguts and Khitans.
- 1076: the Song Chinese allied with southern
Vietnamese Champa and Cambodian Chenla to conquer the Lý
Dynasty, which was an unsuccessful campaign.
- 1077: the Walk
to Canossa by Henry
IV of the Holy Roman
Empire.
- 1077: Chinese official Su Song is sent on a diplomatic mission to the
Liao Dynasty and discovers that the
Khitan calendar is more mathematically
accurate than the Song calendar;
Emperor Zhezong later
sponsors Su Song's astronomical clock
tower in order to compete with Liao astronomers.
- 1078: Oleg I of Chernigov is defeated in
battle by his brother Vsevolod I of
Kiev; Oleg escaped to Tmutarakan, but
was imprisoned by the Khazars, sent to
Constantinople
as a prisoner, and then exiled to Rhodes
.
- 1078: the revolt of Nikephoros III against Byzantine ruler
Michael VII
- 1079: Malik Shah
I reforms the Iranian
Calendar
- 1080–1081: The Chinese statesman and scientist Shen Kuo is put in command of the campaign against
the Western Xia, and although he
successfully halts their invasion route to Yanzhou (modern Yan'an
), another
officer disobeys imperial orders and the campaign is ultimately a
failure because of it.
- 1084: the enormous Chinese historical work
of the Zizhi Tongjian is
compiled by scholars under Chancellor Sima
Guang, completed in 294 volumes and included 3 million written
Chinese characters
- 1085: Alfonso VI of Castile captures the
Moorish Muslim city of Toledo
, Spain.
- 1085: the Katedralskolan, Lund
school of Sweden is established by Canute IV of Denmark
- 1086: compilation of the Domesday Book by order of William I of England; it was similar to
a modern day government census, as it was
used by William to thoroughly document all the landholdings within
the kingdom that could be properly taxed.
- 1086: the Battle of az-Zallaqah between the
Almoravids and Castilians
- 1087: a new office at
the Chinese international seaport of
Quanzhou
is established to handle and regulate taxes and
tariffs on all mercantile transactions of foreign goods coming from
Africa, Arabia, India, Sri Lanka, Persia, and South East
Asia.
- 1087: the Italian cities
of Genoa
and
Pisa
engage in the African Mahdia campaign
- 1095: Pope Urban II calls upon Western
Europeans to take up the cross and reclaim the Holy Lands,
officially commencing the First Crusade.
- c. 1095–1099: earliest
extant manuscript of the Song of
Roland
- 1096, the Knights Templar are formed during the early
First Crusade in order to protect
European Christian pilgrims traveling to
Jerusalem
.
- 1096: University
of Oxford
in England
holds its first lectures
- 1097: the Siege
of Nicaea during the First
Crusade
- 1097: Diego Rodriguez, a son of El Cid, dies in the Battle of Consuegra, an Almoravid victory
- 1098: the Siege
of Antioch during the First
Crusade
- 1098: Pope Urban
II makes an appearance at the Siege
of Capua
- 1098: the Dongpo Academy of Hainan
, China is
built in honor of the Song Dynasty Chinese official and poet Su Shi, who was exiled there for criticizing reforms
of the
New Policies Group.
- 1098: the birth of Hildegard of Bingen, polymath
- 1099: the Siege of Jerusalem by European
Crusaders.
- 1099: after the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established,
the Al-Aqsa
Mosque
was made into the residential palace for the
kings of Jerusalem.
- 1099: after building considerable strength,
David IV of Georgia discontinues
tribute payments to the Seljuk Turks.
- 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
A
- Abhinavagupta,
Indian philosopher, logician, musician,
poet and dramatist from the Kashmir
region

- Abraham bar
Hiyya, Jewish philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician from
Catalonia

- Abu al-Hasan 'Ali abi Sa'id 'Abd al-Rahman
ibn Ahmad ibn Yunus al-Sadafi al-Misri, Egyptian mathematician and astronomer
- Abū ‘Alī al-Haṣan ibn al-Haytham
(a.k.a. Alhazen or Alhacen), Iraqi polymath: scientist,
physicist, optical researcher,
astronomer, engineer,
inventor,
mathematician, physician, ophthalmologist, Islamic philosopher, psychologist and Islamic
theologian
- Abū ‘Alī al-Husayn ibn Sīnā (a.k.a.
Avicenna), Persian polymath: physician, philosopher, scientist, astronomer, chemist, geologist, Hafiz, logician, mathematician,
physicist, poet, psychologist,
Sheikh, soldier, statesman
and Islamic theologian
- Abu al-Qasim (a.k.a. Abulcasis), Arab
physician and surgeon from Al-Andalus

- Abū
Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī (a.k.a. Arzachel), Arab
mathematician and astronomer from Al-Andalus

- Abu Nasr Mansur, Iraqi
mathematician
- Abū
Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, Persian polymath:
scientist, anthropologist,
historian, sociologist, astronomer, chemist, encyclopedist,
geodesist, geographer, geologist,
Islamic philosopher and theologian, mathematician, physicist,
psychologist, pharmacist, teacher and traveller
- Adalbold II of Utrecht,
Dutch Bishop of Utrecht and
mathematician
- Adémar de Chabannes,
French monk, writer, historian, and musical composer
- Aelgifu of Northampton,
wife of Canute the Great
- Agnes, Empress, regent of the Holy
Roman Empire
- Anawrahta, ruler of the Pagan
Kingdom
- Anselm of Laon, French
theologian
- Al-Ghazali (a.k.a. Algazel),
celebrated Muslim scholar
- Al-Karaji, Persian mathematician and
engineer
- Al-Muqtadi, Abbasid Caliph
- Al-Qadir, Abbasid Caliph
- Al-Qa'im, Abbasid Caliph
- Al-Sijzi, Persian mathematician and
astronomer
- Alexander II, Pope
- Alexios I Komnenos, Byzantine
Emperor
- Alfonso VI of Castile,
ruler of Leon and Castile
- Alī ibn Ahmad
al-Nasawī, Persian mathematician who commented on Greek works
by Archimedes
- Alp Arslan, Seljuk ruler
- Alusian, ruler of
Bulgaria
- Anno II, Archbishop
of Cologne
- Saint Anselm, reputed
founder of scholasticism and creator
of the ontological
argument
- Atisha, influential Buddhist teacher to
Tibet
B
- Bagrat III, king
of Georgia

- Bagrat IV, king of
Georgia

- Bao Zheng, Chinese
judge and mayor of Kaifeng

- Basil II, Byzantine Emperor
- Benedict VIII, Pope
- Benedict IX, Pope
- Berengar of Tours, French
theologian
- Bernard II Tumapaler
of Gascony, Duke of Gascony
- Bhoja, a philosopher king and polymath of Malwa in India
- Bilhana, a Kashmiri language poet from India
- Bohemond I of Antioch,
Crusader commander from Calabria
- Burchard II,
Bishop of Halberstadt
- Byrhtferth, English monk and
philosopher
C-D
- Cai Jing, Chinese chancellor of the
Song Dynasty
- Cai Xiang, Chinese poet, scholar,
calligrapher, structural engineer, and official
- Canute the Great, ruler of
England, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden
- Clement II, Pope
- Clement III, Antipope
- Constantine VIII, Byzantine
Emperor
- Constantine X, Byzantine
Emperor
- Constantine the African, Carthaginian
Christian physician and translator of ancient Greek medicine
- Conrad II, of the
Holy Roman Empire
- Constantine IX
Monomachos, Byzantine Emperor
- Cheng Yi, Chinese
philosopher
- Chongzong
Emperor, ruler of Northwest China (Western Xia)
- Damasus II, Pope
- Daozong Emperor, ruler
of Northeast China (Liao Dynasty)
- Deokjong of Goryeo, king of
Korea
E-F
- Edith of Wessex, Queen of
Wessex
- Edward the Confessor, King
of England
- Eight Deer Jaguar Claw,
ruler of the Mixtecs in Mesoamerica
- Eilmer of Malmesbury, a
Benedictine monk who attempted flight
with mechanical wings
- El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar), Castilian nobleman
- Emma of Normandy, wife of
Canute the Great
- Ephraim of
Pereyaslavl, Eastern Orthodox saint and bishop of Pereyaslav

- Ethelred the Unready, king
of England
- Fan Kuan, Chinese landscape
painter
- Fan Zhongyan, Song Chinese
chancellor
- Ferdinand I of León,
Emperor of All
Hispania
- Fujiwara Michinaga, powerful
regent of Japan
- Fujiwara no Yorimichi,
Japanese court noble and
regent
G
- Gang Gam-chan,
Korean general of the Goryeo Dynasty

- Gang Jo, Korean
general of the Goryeo
Dynasty

- George I,
king of Georgia

- George
II, king of Georgia

- George Maniaces, Greek Byzantine
general
- Gilbert de la Porrée,
French scholastic logician and
theologian
- Giorgi Mtatsmindeli,
Georgian elesiastic figure
- Go-Ichijō, Emperor of
Japan
- Go-Reizei, Emperor of
Japan
- Go-Sanjō, Emperor of
Japan
- Go-Suzaku, Emperor of
Japan
- Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of
Lower Lorraine and a Crusader
- Godfrey III,
Duke of Lower Lorraine
- Godwin, Earl of
Wessex
- Gregory VII, Pope
(Hildebrand)
- Gavril Radomir,
Emperor of Bulgaria
- Guido of Arezzo, Italian music
theorist
- Guo Xi, a literati Chinese landscape
painter
- Guy I of Ponthieu, Count of
Ponthieu
- Gytha Thorkelsdóttir,
wife of Godwin, Earl of
Wessex
- Gytha of Wessex, wife of
Vladimir II Monomakh
H
- Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani,
a Persian missionary da'i to the
Fatimid Caliphate
- Harald Hardrada, king of Norway
and claimnant to the thrones of Denmark and England
- Han Shizhong, Chinese military
general
- Harold Godwinson, King of
England
- Henry I of France, king
- Henry III, Emperor of the Holy
Roman Empire
- Henry IV, Emperor of the Holy
Roman Empire
- Hereward the Wake, English
outlaw
- Heribert of Cologne,
Archbishop of Cologne
- Hermann of Reichenau,
German composer, music theorist, mathematician, and astronomer
- Hilarion of Kiev, first
non-Greek Metropolitan bishop of
Kiev
- Hisham II, Caliph of Córdoba
- Hisham III, Caliph of Córdoba
- Honorius II, Antipope
- Horikawa, Emperor of Japan
- Huang Tingjian, Chinese
calligrapher and painter
- Hugh of Châteauneuf,
French theologian, Bishop of
Grenoble, and partisan of the Gregorian reform
- Hugh of St
Victor, philosopher from Saxony

- Hugh of Vermandois, Count of Vermandois,
Crusader
- Huizong Emperor,
ruler of Northwest China (Western
Xia)
- Hyeonjong of Goryeo, king of
Korea
I-K
- Ichijō, Emperor of
Japan
- Isaac I Komnenos, Byzantine
Emperor
- Isaac ibn Ghiyyat, rabbi from Spain
- Ísleifur Gissurarson,
first Bishop of Iceland
- Ivan VLadislav,
Emperor of Bulgaria
- Jayasimha II, ruler of the Western
Chalukya Empire
- Jeongjong II of Goryeo,
king of Korea
- Jia Xian, Chinese mathematician
- Jingzong
Emperor, ruler of Northwest China (Western Xia)
- Jōchō, famous Japanese
sculptor
- John the Eunuch, chief court
eunuch under Byzantine emperor Romanos
III
- John Doukas, Caesar, younger
brother and counsellor to Constantine
X of Byzantium
- John Italus, Greek Byzantine
philosopher
- John Skylitzes, Byzantine
historian
- Joseph ibn
Naghrela, Jewish vizier of Andalusia

- Kim Bu-sik, Korean
historian of the Goryeo
Dynasty
who compiled the Samguk
Sagi historical text
- Kim Mu-che, Korean
scholar of the Goryeo
Dynasty
who opened up educational facilities which rivaled
the Gukjagam, or National
University
- Kushyar ibn Labban, Persian
mathematician, astronomer, and geographer
L
M
- Ma'ad al-Mustansir
Billah, Fatimid Caliph
- Magnus
Barefoot, king of Norway
1093–1103,
tried to conquer Ireland. Killed during an ambush in
Ulster.
- Magnus the
Good, king of Norway
1035–1047
and Denmark 1042–1047
- Macbeth, ruler of
Scotland
- Malik Shah I, Seljuk ruler
- Mansur ibn Nasir, ruler of the
Hammadid in Algeria
- Mariam of Vaspurakan,
Queen dowager and regent of the
Kingdom of Georgia
- Maslamah Ibn Ahmad
al-Majriti, Arab astronomer, chemist, mathematician, and
scholar
- Matilda of Tuscany, militant
Italian noblewoman
- Mei Yaochen, Chinese poet and
official
- Melus of Bari, Lombard
nobleman
- Mi Fu, Chinese painter, poet, and
calligrapher
- Michael I Cerularius, the
Patriarch of
Constantinople who was involved in the East-West Schism
- Michael IV,
Byzantine Emperor
- Michael V, Byzantine Emperor
- Michael VI, Byzantine Emperor
- Michael VII, Byzantine Emperor
- Michael Psellos, Byzantine
writer, philosopher, official, and historian
- Milarepa, Tibetan poet, yogi, and member of the Kagyu
school of Tibetan Buddhism
- Minamoto no Yorimitsu, a
governor and commander loyal to the Fujiwara clan
- Minamoto no Yorinobu, a
samurai of the Minamoto clan
- Mokjong of Goryeo, king of
Korea
- Moses ibn Ezra, Jewish
philosopher, poet, and linguist from Spain
- Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din
al-Shirazi, Persian theologian serving the Fatimid court
- Muhammad Ibn Abbad Al
Mutamid, last Abbadid ruler
- Munjong of Goryeo, king of
Korea
- Murasaki Shikibu, female
Japanese writer, the first novelist
N-P
- Nasir Khusraw, Persian poet,
theologian, philosopher, and traveler
- Nicholas II, Pope
- Nikephoros III, Byzantine
Emperor
- Notker Labeo,
mathematician, first medieval commentator on Aristotle, and Benedictine monk from St. Gallen
, Switzerland
- Odo of Bayeux, Norman English
bishop and earl
- Olaf II, King of Norway
- Omar Khayyám, Persian poet,
mathematician, philosopher and astronomer
- Otrok, khan of the Kipchaks
- Ouyang Xiu, Chinese statesman,
historian, archaeological
epigapher, essayist, and poet
- Paschal II, Pope
- Peter Abelard, French philosopher
and logician
- Peter Damian, cardinal and Doctor of the Church
- Peter Deylan, leader of a
Bulgarian uprising against the Byzantine Empire
- Peter the Hermit, Crusader
- Peter Urseolo, king of
Hungary
- Philip I of France
R
- Rajaraja Chola
I, ruler of Tamil
Nadu
(southern India) and Sri Lanka
- Rajendra Chola
I, ruler of Tamil
Nadu
(southern India) and Sri Lanka
- Rajadhiraja Chola, ruler of
the Cholas
- Rajendra Chola II, ruler of
the Cholas
- Ramanuja, Chola Indian theologian,
philosopher, and spiritual leader
- Raymond IV of Toulouse,
Duke of Narbonne and a
Crusader
- Renzong Emperor, ruler
of China
- Richard II, Duke of
Normandy
- Rober, Saint, founder of the
Cistercians
- Robert II, Count of
Flanders, Crusader
- Robert II of France,
king
- Robert of Jumièges,
Archbishop of
Canterbury
- Robert Guiscard, Norman
conqueror of Southern Italy and Sicily
- Romanos III, Byzantine Emperor
- Romanos IV, Byzantine Emperor
S
- Samuel Aba, king of
Hungary
- Samuil, Emperor of
Bulgaria
- Sancho III, king of
Navarre
- Sanjō, Emperor of Japan
- Sei Shōnagon, writer, a
Japanese lady of the royal court
- Seonjong of Goryeo, king of
Korea
- Shao Yong, Chinese historian, poet,
and philosopher
- Shen Kuo, Chinese polymath: official, mathematician, astronomer,
encyclopedist, zoologist, geologist, botanist, pharmacologist,
agronomist, ethnographer, inventor, hydraulic engineer,
cartographer, general, diplomat, archaeologist, musician and
poet
- Shengzong Emperor,
ruler of Northeast China (Liao
Dynasty)
- Shenzong Emperor, ruler
of China
- Shirakawa, Emperor of
Japan
- Samuel ibn Naghrela, Jewish
scholar
- Sigrid the Haughty, wife of
Sweyn I of Denmark
- Sima Guang, Song Chinese chancellor
and court historian
- Solomon ibn
Gabirol, Jewish philosopher and poet from Spanish Al-Andalus

- Somesvara I, ruler of the Western
Chalukya Empire
- Somesvara II, ruler of the Western
Chalukya Empire
- Sripati, Indian mathematician and
astronomer
- Stephen I, king of
Hungary
- Stephen IX, Pope
- Su Shi, famous Chinese poet,
calligrapher, painter, travel writer, pharmacologist, and
statesman
- Su Song, Chinese astronomer, horologist,
mechanical engineer, zoologist, botanist, mineralogist, diplomat,
cartographer, etc.
- Sukjong of Goryeo, king of
Korea
- Suleiman II, Caliph
of Córdoba,
- Sveinn Hákonarson, King
of Norway
- Sweyn I of Denmark, king of
Denmark, Norway, and England
- Sylvester II, Pope, a French
astronomer, mathematician, orator, musician, and philosopher.
T-X
- Tāriqu l-Ḥakīm bi Amr
al-Lāh, Sixth Fātimid Caliph
- Empress Theodora,
Byzantine Empress
- Tostig
Godwinson, earl of Northumbria

- Tunka Manin ruler of the Ghana Empire
- Urban II, Pope
- Victor II, Pope
- Victor III, Pope
- Vikramaditya VI, ruler of the
Western Chalukya Empire
- Virarajendra Chola, ruler of
the Cholas
- Vladimir I of Kiev, ruler of
Kievan Rus
- Vladimir II Monomakh, ruler
of Kievan Rus
- Vsevolod I of Kiev, ruler of
Kievan Rus
- Wang Anshi, Song Chinese
chancellor
- Wei Pu, Chinese astronomer and
mathematician
- Wen Tong, Chinese painter
- William of Champeaux,
French philosopher and theologian
- William the Conqueror,
ruler of Normandy and England
- William Iron Arm, prominent
member of the Norman Hauteville
family
- Wulfstan II,
Archbishop of York
- Xingzong Emperor, ruler
of Northeast China (Liao Dynasty)
- Xu Daoning, Chinese landscape
painter
Y-Z
- Yaroslav I the Wise, ruler
of Kievan Rus
- Yingzong Emperor, ruler
of China
- Yizong Emperor,
ruler of Northwest China (Western
Xia)
- Yusuf ibn Tashfin, Berber Almoravid
ruler
- Yusuf Balasaghuni, an Uyghur Turkish scribe
- Zhezong Emperor, ruler
of China
- Zhenzong Emperor, ruler
of China
- Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyat,
wife of Almoravid ruler Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar
- Zeng Gong, Chinese historian, travel
writer, and poet
- Zhang Zeduan, Chinese landscape
painter
- Zhou Dunyi, Chinese philosopher
- Zoe, Empress, Byzantine
Empress
Architecture
- Svetitskhoveli Cathedral
, Georgia, is totally renewed in 1029
- The
St Albans
Cathedral
of Norman-era England is completed in 1089.
- The Al-Hakim Mosque of Fatimid
Egypt is completed in 1013.
- The
Iron Pagoda of Kaifeng
, China is built in 1049.
- The
Phoenix
Hall
of Byōdō-in
, Japan, is completed in 1053.
- The Brihadeeswarar Temple
of India is completed in 1010 during the reign
of Rajaraja Chola I.
- The
Fruttuaria of San Benigno
Canavese
, Italy is completed in 1007.
- The
Kedareshwara Temple of Balligavi
, India, is built in 1060 by
the Western Chalukyas.
- Construction work begins in 1059 on the Parma Cathedral
of Italy.
- The
Martin-du-Canigou
monastery is built by 1009,
in present day southern France.
- The
Saint Sophia Cathedral in
Novgorod
is completed in 1052, the
oldest existent church in Russia.
- Construction begins on the Saint
Sophia Cathedral in Kiev
, Russia, in 1037.
- The
Byzantine Greek Hosios
Loukas
monastery sees the completion of its
Katholikon (main church), the
earliest extant domed-octagon church from 1011–1012.
- The
Lingxiao Pagoda of Zhengding
, Hebei
province,
China, is built in 1045.
- The
Pagoda of Fogong Temple of
Shanxi
province, China, is completed under the
Liao Dynasty in 1056.
- The Nikortsminda
Cathedral of Georgia is completed in 1014.
- The
Speyer
Cathedral
in Speyer
, Germany is completed in 1061.
- The
Chinese official Cai Xiang oversaw the
construction of the Wanan Bridge in Fujian
, and may have been the leading member of an
engineering school due to many other bridges of similar
construction built in Fujian.
- The
Imam Ali
Mosque
in Iraq is rebuilt by Malik Shah I in 1086 after
it was destroyed by fire.
- The
Pizhi Pagoda of Lingyan
Temple
, Shandong
, China is completed in 1063.
- Reconstruction of the San
Liberatore a Maiella in Italy begins in 1080.
- The
Westminister Abbey
of London
, England is completed in 1065.
- The
Ananda
Temple
of the Myanmar ruler King Kyanzittha is completed in 1091.
- The
Văn
Miếu
, or Temple of Literature, in Vietnam is
established in 1070.
- Construction of Richmond Castle
in England begins in 1071.
- The tallest pagoda tower in China's
pre-modern history, the Liaodi Pagoda,
is completed in 1055, standing at a height of
84 m (275 ft).
- The
Tower of
Gonbad-e Qabus
in Iran is built in 1006.
- Construction begins on the Sassovivo Abbey
of Foligno
, Italy, in 1070.
- The
Palace of Aljafería
is built in Zaragoza
, Spain, during the Al-Andalus
period.
- The
Rotonda di San Lorenzo is
built in Mantua
, Lombardy, Italy, during
the late 11th century.
- Construction of the Ponte
della Maddalena
bridge in the Province
of Lucca, Italy begins in 1080.
- The
domes of the Jamé Mosque of Isfahan
, Iran are built in 1086 to
1087.
- 11th–18th
century – Courtyard, Jamé Mosque of Isfahan
, Isfahan
, Persia
(Iran
), is
built.
- The
Chester
Castle
in England was built in 1069.
- Construction begins on the Bagrati
Cathedral
in Georgia in 1003.
- The
St.
Michael's Church, Hildesheim
in Germany is completed in 1031.
- The
Basilica
of Sant'Abbondio
of Lombardy, Italy is
completed in 1095.
- Construction begins on the Great
Zimbabwe National Monument
, sometime in the century.
- Construction begins on the San
Pietro in Vinculis
in Pisa
, Italy, in
1072.
- The
Tower of
London
in England is founded in 1078.
- The
St. Grigor's Church of Kecharis Monastery
in Armenia is built in 1003.
- The
Martin-du-Canigou
monastery on Mount Canigou
in southern France is built in 1009.
- The
St.
Mary's Cathedral, Hildesheim
in Germany is completed in 1020.
- The
One
Pillar Pagoda
in Hanoi
, Vietnam,
is constructed in 1049.
- The
St
Michael at the Northgate
, Oxford
's oldest building, is built in Saxon England in 1040.
- The
Oxford
Castle
in England is built in 1071.
- The
Florence
Baptistry
in Florence
, Italy is founded in 1059.
- The Kandariya Mahadeva
temple in India is built in 1050.
- The
St
Mark's Basilica
in Venice
, Italy is rebuilt in 1063.
- The
Canterbury Cathedral
in Canterbury
, England is completed by 1077.
- Construction begins on the Cathedral of Santiago de
Compostela
in Spain in 1075.
- Late
11th century – Crucifixion, mosaic in the north arm of the east
wall, Church of the Dormition, Daphni,
Greece
, is made.
Inventions, discoveries, introductions
Science and technology
- List of
11th century inventions
- Early 11th century - Fan Kuan paints
Travelers among Mountains and Streams. Northern Song dynasty. It is now kept at
National
Palace Museum
, Taipei
, Taiwan
.
- c. 1000–Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis)
of al-Andalus
, considered a "father of modern surgery", publishes his influential 30-volume
Arabic medical encyclopedia, the
Al-Tasrif, which remains a
standard textbook in the Islamic
world and medieval Europe for
centuries. He describes over 200 surgical instruments, many of which are
his own inventions, including the ligature, adhesive plaster, lithotomy scalpel, curette, retractor, surgical catgut, surgical hook, surgical rod, surgical spoon, Inhalational anaesthetic, oral
anaesthesia, anaesthetic sponge,Sigrid Hunke (1969), Allah Sonne Uber
Abendland, Unser Arabische Erbe, Second Edition, pp.
279–280:
(cf. Prof. Dr. M. Taha Jasser, Anaesthesia in Islamic medicine and its influence on
Western civilization, Conference on Islamic Medicine) and
cotton dressing.
- c. 1000–Ibn Yunus of Egypt
publishes
his astronomical treatise Al-Zij al-Hakimi al-Kabir, and
invents the pendulum.
- c. 1000 – Persian Muslim physicist and
mathematician, Abu Sahl
al-Quhi (Kuhi), discovers that the heaviness of bodies vary with their distance from the
center of the Earth, and solves
equations higher than the second degree.
- c. 1000 – Persian Muslim astronomer and
mathematician, Abu-Mahmud
al-Khujandi, invents the astronomical sextant and first states
a special case of Fermat's last
theorem.
- c. 1000–Law of
sines is discovered by Muslim
mathematicians, but it is uncertain who discovers it first
between Abu-Mahmud
al-Khujandi, Abu Nasr Mansur,
and Abu
al-Wafa.
- c. 1000 – The Iraqi ophthalmologist Ammar
ibn Ali al-Mawsili invents the hypodermic needle and syringe (now used in injections) to carry out the first successful
cataract extraction through
suction.
- 1000–1037 – Avicenna invents the air thermometer, steam
distillation, fragrance extraction,
and essential oil for aromatherapy.
- 1000–1048 – Abū Rayhān
al-Bīrūnī of Persia writes more than a hundred books on many
different topics. He theorizes that India was once covered by the
Indian
Ocean
; and was the first to apply experimental scientific methods to mechanics, especially the fields of statics and dynamics, particularly for determining
specific weights, such as those
based on the theory of balance and weighing. He and other Muslim physicists unified statics and
dynamics into the science of mechanics, and they combined the
fields of hydrostatics with dynamics to
give birth to hydrodynamics. They
applied the mathematical theories of ratios
and infinitesimal techniques, and
introduced algebraic and fine calculation techniques into the field of
statics. They were also generalized the theory of the centre of gravity and applied it to
three-dimensional bodies.
They also founded the theory of the ponderable lever and
created the "science of gravity" which was
later further developed in medieval Europe. Al-Biruni was also the
first to realize that acceleration is
connected with non-uniform motion,
and invents the laboratory flask,
pycnometer, and conical measure.
- 1001–1100 – the demands
of the Chinese iron industry for
charcoal led to a huge amount of deforestation, which was curbed when the
Chinese discovered how to use bituminous
coal in smelting cast iron and
steel, thus sparing thousands of acres of
prime timberland.
- 1003 – Pope
Sylvester II, born Gerbert d'Aurillac, dies; however, his
teaching continued to influence those of the 11th century; his
works included a book on arithmetic, a
study of the Hindu-Arabic
numeral system, a hydraulic-powered
organ, the reintroduction of the
abacus to Europe, and a possible treatise on
the astrolabe that was edited by Hermann of Reichenau five decades
later. The contemporary monk Richer from Rheims
described Gerbert's contributions in
reintroducing the armillary sphere
that was lost to European science after the Greco-Roman era; from Richer's description,
Gerbert's placement of the tropics was
nearly exact and his placement of the equator was exact. He reintroduced the
liberal arts education system of
trivium and quadrivium, which he had borrowed from the
educational institution of Islamic Córdoba
. Gerbert also studied and taught
Islamic medicine.
- 1013 – One of the Four Great Books of Song, the
Prime Tortoise
of the Record Bureau compiled by 1013
was the largest of the Song Chinese encyclopedias. Divided into 1000 volumes, it
consisted of 9.4 million written Chinese characters.
- 1020 – Ibn Samh of
Al-Andalus
invents a geared mechanical
astrolabe, an example of an analog computer.
- 1021 – Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen) of Basra
, Iraq
writes his
influential Book of Optics
from 1011 to 1021 (while he
was under house arrest in Egypt
), which
drastically transforms the understanding of light, optics, vision, psychology, and science in
general. He is considered the father of optics, and the "first scientist" for his development of the scientific method. He also explained
binocular vision and the moon illusion, speculated on the finite speed, rectilinear propagation and electromagnetic aspects of light, first
stated Fermat's principle of
least time, described an early version of Snell's law, and argued that rays of light are streams of energy particles travelling in straight lines. The
book also contains the earliest discussions on experimental psychology, and the
psychology of visual perception.
He is also credited with the discovery of the camera obscura and pinhole camera, His book was later translated
from Arabic into Latin, and had an influence on the use of optical aids
in Renaissance art
and the development of the telescope and
microscope. It has been ranked alongside
Isaac Newton's Philosophiae
Naturalis Principia Mathematica as one of the most
influential books in the history of
physics.
- 1024 – The world's
first paper-printed money can be traced
back to the year 1024, in Sichuan
province of Song
Dynasty China. The Chinese government would step in and
overtake this trend, issuing the central government's official
banknote in the 1120s.
- 1025 – Avicenna of
Persia publishes his influential treatise, The Canon of Medicine, which
remains the most influential medical
text in both Islamic and Christian lands for over six
centuries. It introduces experimentation
and quantification into the study of
physiology, and maintains that medicine
should be known through either experimentation or reasoning. He first describes contagious diseases, the distinction of
mediastinitis from pleurisy, the contagious nature of phthisis, the distribution of diseases by water and soil, the first careful descriptions of skin troubles, sexually transmitted diseases,
perversions and nervous ailments,George Sarton,
Introduction to the History of Science.
(cf. Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq (1997),
Quotations From Famous Historians of Science,
Cyberistan. the use of ice to treat fevers, the separation of medicine from pharmacology (important to the development of
the pharmaceutical
sciences), the introduction of quarantine to limit the spread of contagious
diseases, and the introduction of evidence-based medicine, experimental medicine, clinical trials, randomized controlled trials,
efficacy tests, clinical pharmacology, neuropsychiatry, physiological psychology, risk factor analysis, and the idea of a syndrome in the diagnosis of specific diseases. The
Canon is also considered the first pharmacopoeia.
- 1027 – Avicenna of
Persia publishes The Book of Healing, a scientific
encyclopedia that discusses many
different topics. Its contributions include nine volumes on
Avicennian logic; eight
on the natural sciences; four on the
quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry astronomy, and music; and a number of volumes on early Islamic philosophy, metaphysics and Islamic psychology. It also contains
astronomical theory that Venus is closer to
Earth than the Sun, and a geological hypothesis on two causes of
mountains, introducing the law of superposition and concept of
uniformitarianism in
geology. He also develops the fundamental
concept of momentum in Islamic physics, and his theory of motion
was also consistent with the concept of inertia in classical
mechanics. His work in physics had an influence on the theory of impetus later developed in
Europe.
- 1027 – The Chinese engineer Yan Su
recreates the mechanical compass-vehicle of
the South Pointing Chariot,
first invented by Ma Jun in the 3rd
century.
- 1028–1087 – Abū
Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī (Arzachel) invents the equatorium and universal latitude-independent
astrolabe.
- 1029 – The Arabic chemist Ibn Bakhtawayh
describes one of the earliest purification processes for potassium nitrate in his
Al-Muqaddimat.
- 1031 – Abū Rayhān
al-Bīrūnī observes in his astronomy book Kitab al-qanun
al-Mas’udi that the planets revolve in elliptical orbits rather than circular orbits as
theorized by the ancient Greeks, and rejects theories which cannot
be verified through experimentation.
- 1031–1095 – Chinese
scientist Shen Kuo creates a theory for
land formation, or geomorphology,
theorized that climate change
occurred over time, discovers the concept of true north, improves the design of the
astronomical sighting tube to view the polestar indefinitely, hypothesizes the retrogradation theory of planetary motion, and by observing lunar eclipse and solar eclipse he hypothesized that the
sun and moon were spherical. Shen Kuo also experimented with
camera obscura just decades after Ibn
al-Haitham, although Shen was the first to treat it with quantitative attributes. He also took
an interdisciplinary approach to
studies in archaeology.
- 1038–1075 – Ibn Bassal of Al-Andalus
invents the flywheel,
which he uses to create the first first flywheel-driven chain pump and noria
devices.
- 1041–1048 – Artisan
Bi Sheng of Song
Dynasty China invents movable type
printing using individual ceramic characters.
- Mid 11th century – Harbaville
Triptych, is made. It is now kept at Musée du
Louvre
, Paris
.
- Mid-11th century - Xu Daoning paints
Fishing in a Mountain Stream. Northern Song dynasty. It is now kept at
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
, Kansas City, Missouri
.
- 1068 – First known use of the drydock in China.
- 1070 – With a team of scholars, the Chinese
official Su Song also published the Ben
Cao Tu Jing in 1070, a treatise on pharmacology, botany,
zoology, metallurgy, and mineralogy. Some of the drug concoctions in Su's
book included ephedrine, mica minerals, and linaceae.
- 1075 – the Song Chinese innovate a partial
decarbonization method of repreated forging of cast iron under a
cold blast that Hartwell and Needham consider to be a predecessor
to the 18th century Bessemer
process.
- 1077 – Constantine the African introduces
ancient Greek medicine to the
Schola Medica Salernitana
in Salerno
, Italy.
- c. 1080 – the Liber pantegni, a compendium of Hellenistic and Islamic medicine, is written in Italy by
the Carthaginian Christian Constantine the African,
paraphrasing translated passages from the Kitab al-malaki
of Ali ibn Abbas al-Majusi
as well as other Arabic texts.
- 1087 – Abū
Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī (Arzachel) creates the first almanac, which is later adapted as part of the
Tables of Toledo and
Alfonsine tables in later
centuries.
- 1088 – As written by Shen Kuo in his Dream Pool Essays, the earlier 10th
century invention of the pound lock in
China allows large ships to travel along canals without laborious
hauling, thus allowing smooth travel of government ships holding
cargo of up to 700 tan (49½ tons) and
large privately owned-ships holding cargo of up to 1600
tan (113 tons).
- 1094 – The Chinese
mechanical engineer and astronomer Su Song
incorporates an escapement mechanism and
the world's first known chain drive to
operate the armillary sphere, the
astronomical clock, and the
striking clock jacks of his clock tower in Kaifeng
.
- By the 11th century, every city in the Islamic world had
Bimaristans, the first hospitals in the modern sense, after they began
receiving funds from the Waqf instititions, the
first charitable trusts.
- By
the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had
industrial fulling mills, gristmills, hullers,
paper mills, sawmills, shipmills, stamp
mills, steel mills, sugar mills, tide
mills and windmills in operation, from
al-Andalus
and North Africa to
the Middle East and Central Asia.
- The first stamp mills and steel mills are built in the Islamic world.
- The
shipmill, a unique type of water mill
powered by water wheels mounted on the
sides of ships moored in
midstream, is first employed along the
Tigris
and Euphrates rivers
in 10th century Iraq
, where
shipmills could produce 10 tons of flour every day for the granary
in Baghdad
.
- The
first large factory complexes are built in
Al-Andalus
.
- In Europe, the introduction of the horizontal loom operated by foot-treadles makes weaving faster and more efficient.
- The Islamic Caliphate experiences a
change in its division of labour
during this century, from 63 unique occupations in the primary sector (extractive), 697 unique occupations in the secondary sector (manufacturing) and 736 unique occupations in
the tertiary sector (service), to 35 in the primary sector,
679 in the secondary sector and 1,175 in the tertiary sector,
reflecting increased mechanization and
use of machinery to replace manual labour and the increased standard of living and quality of life for most citizens in the
Caliphate.
- The first mechanical clocks to be driven
by weights and gears are invented by medieval Muslim
engineers. The first geared mechanical clock is
invented by the Arab engineer Ibn Khalaf
al-Muradi in Islamic
Spain
; and the first weight-driven mechanical clocks, employing
a mercury escapement mechanism and a clock
face similar to an astrolabe dial, are
also invented by Muslim engineers in the 11th century.
- Griffin, from the
Islamic Mediterranean
, probably Fatimid
Egypt
, is made. It may have arrived as booty from
Pisan victories over the Egyptian fleet in 1087. C. 1100–1828 – was displayed atop Pisa's cathedral.
It is
now kept at Museo dell'Opera
del Duomo, Pisa
Literature
- 1000 – The Remaining Signs of
Past Centuries is written by Abū Rayhān
al-Bīrūnī.
- c. 1000 – The Al-Tasrif is written by the Andalusian
physician and scientist Abu
al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis).
- c. 1000 – The Zij al-Kabir
al-Hakimi is written by the Egyptian astronomer Ibn Yunus.
- 1000–1037 –
Hayy ibn Yaqdhan is
written by Avicenna.
- 1008 – The Leningrad Codex, one of the oldest full
manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, is
completed.
- c. 1010 – The oldest known copy of the epic
poem Beowulf was written around
this year.
- 1013 – The Prime Tortoise of the Record
Bureau, a Chinese encyclopedia, is completed by a team of
scholars including Wang Qinruo.
- 1020 – The Bamberg Apocalypse commissioned by
Otto III is completed.
- 1021 – Lady Murasaki Shikibu writes her Japanese novel, The Tale of Genji, which is regarded
as the first full-length novel.
- 1021 – The Book of Optics by Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen or Alhacen) is
completed.
- 1025 – The Canon of Medicine by Avicenna (Ibn Sina) is completed.
- 1027 – The Book of Healing is published by
Avicenna.
- 1037 – The Jiyun, a Chinese rime
dictionary, is published by Ding Du and expanded by later
scholars.
- 1037 – Birth of the Chinese poet Su Shi, one of the renowned poets of the Song
Dynasty, who also penned works of travel literature.
- 1044 – The Wujing Zongyao military manuscript is
completed by Chinese scholars Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du, and Yang
Weide.
- 1048–1100 – The
Rubaiyat of Omar
Khayyam is written by Omar
Khayyam sometime after 1048.
- 1049 – The
Record of Tea is written by Chinese official Cai Xiang
- 1052 – The Uji Dainagon Monogatari, a
collection of stories allegedly penned by Minamoto-no-Takakuni, is written
sometime between now and 1077.
- 1053 – The New History of the Five
Dynasties by Chinese official Ouyang
Xiu is completed.
- 1054 – Russian legal
code of the Russkaya Pravda is
created during the reign of Yaroslav
I the Wise.
- 1057 – The Ostromir Gospels of Novgorod are
written.
- 1060 – compilation of the New Book of Tang, edited by Chinese
official Ouyang Xiu, is complete.
- 1060 – the Mugni
Gospels of Armenia are written in illuminated manuscript
form.
- 1068 – The Book of Roads and
Kingdoms is written by Abū 'Ubayd 'Abd
Allāh al-Bakrī.
- 1070 – William I of England commissioned the
Norman monk William of
Jumièges to extend the Gesta Normannorum Ducum
chronicle.
- 1078 – The Proslogion is written by Anselm of Canterbury.
- 1080 – The Chinese poet Su Shi is exiled from court for writing poems criticizing the various reforms
of the
New Policies Group.
- c. 1080 – the Liber pantegni is written by Constantine the African.
- 1084 – The Zizhi Tongjian history is completed by
Chinese official Sima Guang.
- 1086 – The Domesday Book is initiated by William I of England.
- 1088 – The Dream Pool Essays is completed by
Shen Kuo of Song China.
- The roots of European Scholasticism are found in this period, as the
renewed spark of interest in literature and Classicism in Europe would bring about the
Renaissance. In the 11th century, there
were early Scholastic figures such as Anselm of Canterbury, Peter Abelard, Solomon ibn Gabirol, Peter Lombard, and Gilbert de la Porrée.
- The works of Aristotle and some early
Muslim scientists are translated
into Latin from Arabic, shortly before the Latin translations of the
12th century.
- The tittle was created.
- Troubadours
appear in what is now southern France
.
Decades and years
Notes
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- Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 120–124.
- Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 81–84.
- Needham, Volume 4, Part 1, 252.
- Bowman, 599.
- Mohn, 1.
- A. Martin-Araguz, C. Bustamante-Martinez, Ajo V.
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- Ancient surgery
- Zafarul-Islam Khan, At The Threshold (sic) Of A New Millennium – II,
The Milli Gazette.
- Abdul Nasser Kaadan PhD, "Albucasis and Extraction of Bladder
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- Khaled al-Hadidi (1978), "The Role of Muslem Scholars in
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- Patricia Skinner (2001), Unani-tibbi, Encyclopedia of Alternative
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- Abattouy, 109–130.
- Ibrahim B. Syed PhD, "Islamic Medicine: 1000 years ahead of its
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- Darlington, 473.
- Tester, 131–132.
- Darlington, 467–468.
- Tester, 130–131, 156.
- Salhab, 51.
- Darlington, 475.
- Holmes, 646.
- Islam, Knowledge, and Science, University of Southern
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- Richard Power (University of Illinois), Best Idea; Eyes Wide Open, New York Times,
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- Needham, Volume 6, Part 1, 174, 175.
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