Middle Ages
Death of Edward the Confessor (1066) and the Succession Crisis
Harold Godwinson was crowned king on 6 January 1066, but his right to the throne was challenged by William of Normandy and Harald Hardrada of Norway.
Era · c. 500 – 1500
Middle Ages
Kingdoms, crusades and plagues: the medieval world from the end of the Western Roman Empire to the fall of Constantinople.
Middle Ages
Battle of Stamford Bridge (1066): End of the Viking Age
Decisive English victory; Harald Hardrada and Tostig were killed and the Norwegian survivors sailed home in 24 ships.
Middle Ages
Al-Bakri's Account of Ghana (1068): Africa in Arabic Geography
Al-Bakri's Book of Routes and Realms became the most detailed written source for the Ghana Empire at its height.
Middle Ages
Wang Anshi's New Policies (1069): Reform in Song China
The New Policies raised state revenue and strengthened the army but split the Song elite into hostile factions whose struggles weakened the dynasty.
Middle Ages
Temple of Literature, Hanoi (1070): Vietnam's First University
The temple and its Imperial Academy became the centre of Confucian learning and examination culture in Vietnam for some seven centuries.
Middle Ages
Bayeux Tapestry: The Embroidered Story of the Norman Conquest
A unique embroidered narrative of the events of 1064-1066 that survived more than 900 years and is now displayed in Bayeux.
Middle Ages
Battle of Manzikert (1071): Byzantium's Defeat by the Seljuks
Seljuk victory and capture of Romanos IV; the Byzantine civil war that followed opened Anatolia to Turkish settlement.
Middle Ages
Kingdom of Mapungubwe: Southern Africa's First State (c. 1075)
A wealthy trading kingdom with a ruling elite on Mapungubwe Hill flourished and then declined, foreshadowing the rise of Great Zimbabwe.
Middle Ages
Santiago de Compostela Cathedral and the Medieval Camino
A great Romanesque pilgrimage church was built over the shrine of St James, making Santiago one of the three chief pilgrimage goals of medieval Christendom.
Middle Ages
Almoravids and Ghana (1076): Conquest of Koumbi Saleh Debated
Ghana's rulers and many subjects adopted Islam around 1076-77, but whether this followed a military conquest by the Almoravids is disputed.
Middle Ages
Sultanate of Rum (1077-1308): The Seljuks of Anatolia
The sultanate made central Anatolia a Turkish and Muslim land, then broke up under Mongol overlordship into the beyliks from which the Ottomans emerged.
Middle Ages
Walk to Canossa (1077): Henry IV Humbled Before Pope Gregory
Gregory VII absolved Henry IV of excommunication, but the conflict between empire and papacy soon resumed and lasted until the Concordat of Worms in 1122.