The University of Bologna is founded

William the Red king of England

Venice receives the Golden Bull from the Byzantine Emperor Alexius, granting it commercial privileges and exemption from duties.

Alexius Comnenus revives the fortunes of the Byzantine Empire, which regains a leading role in European and Mediterranean politics, after having suffered the heavy blow of the loss of southern Italy (to the Normans) and Anatolia (to the Seljuk Turks).

The Norman prince Robert, known as Guiscard (the Cunning), master of Bari, Amalfi, Salerno, and all of Sicily, also coveted Greece and the Byzantine Empire itself. In Albania, he besieged Durazzo. The Venetian war fleet, commanded by the Doge himself, arrived to aid the city. This was the first Venetian naval battle for which we have a detailed written account, in this case by Anna Comnena, the gifted daughter of Emperor Alexius. The battle began with stones and insults being thrown, containers of mud to blind and soap to slip, as well as arrows and pieces of wood launched from catapults. The final outcome of the battle depended on hand-to-hand combat. Venice was victorious, but the victory only served to delay Robert’s conquest of Durazzo. Robert died a few years later. In exchange for support for Durazzo and later for Corfu, the Byzantine emperor Alexios issued the Golden Bull in 1082, granting trade privileges and duty exemption to Venice.

The dispute between Matilda of Canossa and Henry IV dragged on until, on 2 July 1084, the coalition favouring the papacy, swelled by the Bolognese militia, managed to defeat the imperials at Sorbara near Modena.

Strengthened by his renewed credibility, Henry IV undertook a new expedition to Italy in 1081 to reassert his rule. One of his first acts was the decree deposing Matilda, who was banished from the empire. However, the Grand Countess did not give up, and while Gregory VII was forced into exile, Matilda exploited the network of castles, fortresses, and fortified villages in her Apennine possessions to wear down the opposing forces.

Imperial retaliation for Matilda’s outrage was not long in coming: Henry IV convened a council in Bressanone, obtaining the Pope’s deposition.

Now completely at odds with imperial policy, Matilda donated her lands to the Pope. A dangerous outrage, given the sovereign’s rights to them, both as a feudal lord and as a close relative.

In the winter of 1076-1077, Henry and his mother-in-law, Countess Adelaide of Susa, began their penitential procession to Canossa to obtain the revocation of their excommunication by Pope Gregory VII. They were accompanied by their brother-in-law Amadeus II of Savoy and the Marquis Azzorre d’Este. For three days and three nights, from January 25 to 27, 1077, Henry was forced to humiliate himself, having to wait in front of the entrance gate of the castle of the Marchioness Matilda of Canossa to be admitted before the pope. The wait took place while a blizzard raged, and Henry lay kneeling, completely barefoot, dressed only in a habit, his head smeared with ashes, in front of the closed gate. Only thanks to the intercession of his godfather, Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, and the Marchioness Matilda, was he able to be received by the Pope on January 28th. On that occasion, the emperor, to obtain the lifting of his excommunication, was forced to wait for three days and three nights, kneeling with his head covered in ashes, before the castle’s entrance gate. The confrontation was resolved with a compromise: Gregory lifted Henry’s excommunication, but not the declaration of his forfeiture from the throne.

Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, disguised as a pilgrim, obtains the pardon of Pope Gregory VII beneath the walls of Canossa Castle. Indeed, at the Diet of Worms, Pope Gregory VII was deposed and slandered; subsequently, the German princes, seeking to reduce the emperor’s power, sided with the Pope. After excommunicating the emperor, the Pope set out for Germany. The emperor’s arrival prompts him to seek refuge in the castle of his trusted Countess Matilda of Canossa, where the emperor will ask for forgiveness. Thus, the brief harmony that had united Otto III and Sylvester II in the year 1000 is shattered.

Muslims are expelled from Sicily

Poland. Bolesław the Bold is crowned king of Poland in Gniezno. He will be the last.

The Norman prince Robert, known as Guiscard (the Cunning), after Bari and Amalfi, also conquers Salerno, while his brother seizes Sicily. He covets Greece and the Byzantine Empire, but is stopped by the rising power of Venice.

The Investiture Controversy with the Papacy breaks out. Many cities side with the latter, rejecting the authority of the Holy Roman Empire. The Empire gradually loses control over Italy’s cities, and the authority of the communes increasingly asserts itself. The commune experience is based on the idea of liberty and equality of citizens: communities of free men, in which power emanates from the bottom, from popular consensus towards rulers, usually elected annually, with the participation of the entire population.

The monk Hildebrand is acclaimed pope with the name of Gregory VII

Manzikert, Eastern Anatolia, near Lake Van. European historian Michael Attaleiates documents, as an eyewitness, the Crusaders’ defeat against the Seljuk Turks. They went so far as to conquer Jerusalem, which prompted Pope Urban II’s call for the Crusade of 1096.

The Norman prince Robert, known as Guiscard (the Cunning), conquers Bari and Amalfi. In 1076, he conquers Salerno while his brother seizes Sicily. He covets Greece and the Byzantine Empire, but is stopped by the rising power of Venice.

Le Mans, France. The inhabitants rebel against William the Bastard (or William the Conqueror), who is busy conquering England across the Channel.

England. The House of Normandy reigns, with 5 sovereigns: William I the Bastard or the Conquerer, William II Rufus, Henry I Beauclerc, Stephen of Blois, Empress Matilda

William the Conquerer (also called the Bastard) crowned King in England and the Scottish clans ally (Scoti) England thus moves from the Scandinavian orbit to that of chaotic Western Europe

The Normans conquer England. Claiming his right to the English throne, William, Duke of Normandy, begins his invasion of England at Pevensey. William was the cousin of Edward the Confessor, the English king who died childless in 1066. Fifteen years earlier, Edward had supposedly nominated William to succeed him, but upon the king’s death, the royal council chose the powerful nobleman Harold Godwin. On October 14, 1066, William clashed with Harold at the Battle of Hastings: the king was killed and his army defeated. On Christmas Day, William the Conqueror was crowned the first Norman king of England. The period of Norman rule would significantly change the English language and culture.

King Edward the Confessor of England (who succeeded Harencut, son of Cnut, son of King Svein Forkbeard of Denmark) dies without an heir; he is succeeded by Harold Godwinson who has to face the invasion of the Norwegians and the Normans; he first defeats King Harald of Hardrada of Norway, but is then defeated and killed at the Battle of Hastings by William the Conquerer, who becomes King of England.

Documented transit of the comet that would later be named Halley’s Comet centuries later. Its passage is immortalized in the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the Battle of Hastings, which occurred a few months later.

England is part of the great Northern Community which includes Norway, Sweden, Novgorod, Kiev, Russia, Denmark, Iceland, Scotland, Orkney, Greenland, Vinland

William the Conquerer rules in Normandy

Spain, progressive Christian Reconquest over the Arabs

The Normans conquer Arab Sicily.

The Seljuk Turks take over Baghdad, leaving the Abbasid caliphs with only nominal power.

Schism between the Catholic Church of Rome and the Byzantine Greek Orthodox Church.

North America. In present-day East St. Louis, the city of Cahokia flourishes, the capital of a sort of Native American grain-growing state. It reaches a peak population of 15,000 before suddenly fading into oblivion in 1350. To the south, still along the Mississippi, other similar kingdoms emerge, which will similarly crumble. This scenario is called “Mississippian culture” and views the self-conscious ability to engage in political and organizational debate as one of the highest human values, along with a love of individual freedom and skeptical rationalism.

Persia, the Persian poet Omar Khayyam sings an ode to the joys of wine. The early Persian Renaissance coincides with the obscurantism of medieval Europe, where witches and heretics were burned at the stake.

Modena (then Modona) became a free municipality, with ten thousand inhabitants. The city was governed by the feudal lords, and trade flourished, even with distant destinations, thanks to the Naviglio-Panaro-Po canal.

Poland. Popular uprising in favor of paganism.

Canute the Great, king of Denmark, invades all of England and reigns for twenty years, until then Norwegian kings had ruled York

Basil II, Byzantine Emperor, defeats the Bulgarians again, captures 20,000 of them, all are blinded except one in 100 who is left with one good eye so he can bring the others home.

England. Reign of Sweyn Forkbeard of the House of Denmark.

England. Four sovereigns of the House of Denmark reign, alternating with five sovereigns of the House of Wessex, the penultimate of whom is Harold, killed in battle at Hastings, and the last, Edgar the Aetherling, who reigned for only two months.

Lower Adriatic. The Doge of Venice, Pietro II Orseolo, saves Bari, the capital of Puglia, from Ottoman conquest.

Abdul Ibn Sina (Aviconna for the Latins) began writing the 5 books of the Qanun which for 7 centuries remained the most authoritative treatise on medicine.

The Indian technique of Wootz steel reached the Middle East, where it was refined and used to make the swords used to fight the Crusaders; the result was Damascus steel, in which the carbon was absorbed especially at the edges of the sword, leaving the central core soft and flexible; the technique used to achieve this result is completely unknown: it was completely forgotten by 1300.

There are 320 million people in the world

First Crusades

Christianity extends northward with Tryggvason’s Norway and Olaf Skotkonung’s Sweden.