istoryworld
Events relating to europe
Vladimir, the prince of Kiev, decides that Greek Orthodoxy is the most suitable religion for the Russian people
New waves of Danes, raiding into the English territory of Danelaw, are bought off by Ethelred with Danegeld
Iceland's parliament, the althing, passes a resolution that everyone on the island is to be baptized
The first illustrated manual of surgery is written by Abul Kasim, an Arab physician in Cordoba
The feudal knight of northern Europe, wearing armour of chain mail on a sturdy horse, becomes the fighting machine of the Middle Ages
Japanese author Murasaki Shibubi produces, in The Tale of Genji, a book which can be considered the world's first novel
Pope Sylvester II, according to tradition, sends a sacred crown for the coronation of Hungary's first king, St Stephen
Brian Boru, aged 73, achieves a major victory over the Vikings at Clontarf but is killed in his tent after the battle
Canute, joint king of Denmark, is accepted also as king of England after subduing the country and marrying Ethelred's widow
Yaroslav builds up his Russian kingdom and turns his capital, Kiev, into a spectacular Christian city
Yaroslav commissions Russkaya Pravda ('Russian truth'), a code of Russia's laws
In a battle near Elgin Macbeth kills his cousin Duncan, a rival claimant to the Scottish throne
Edward the Confessor, the rightful heir in the Anglo-Saxon royal line, becomes king of England
The heavier and more dense style of calligraphy, known as 'black letter', becomes the fashion in manuscripts written in northern Europe
A Russian chronicle makes the first mention of the marauding Polovtsy, who persistently raid Russian cities from the steppes
Duncan's son, Malcolm, kills Macbeth in battle at Lumphanan - and in the following year is himself crowned at Scone
On his death bed in Westminster, Edward the Confessor designates Harold - foremost among England's barons - as his successor
Halley's comet, appearing in the Normans' annus mirabilis, is later depicted in the Bayeux tapestry
Harold defeats at Stamford Bridge the joint army of his brother Tostig and of the Norwegian king, Harald Hardraade
The Normans, as seen in the Bayeux tapestry, invade England in Viking longships with fortified platforms for archers
Harold, hurrying south to confront the Normans after his victory at Stamford Bridge, is defeated and killed at Hastings
William the Conqueror (William I) is crowned on Christmas Day at Westminster - giving the new abbey church two coronations and a royal funeral in its first year
Pope Gregory VII decrees that only the church may make ecclesiastical appointments, thus initiating the investiture controversy between pope and emperor
The emperor Henry IV stands as a penitent outside the pope's castle at Canossa, so as to be released from excommunication.
Anselm includes in his Proslogion his famous 'ontological proof' of the existence of God
