1010s

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	10th century – 11th century – 12th century
Decades:	980s 990s 1000s – 1010s – 1020s 1030s 1040s
Years:	1010 1011 1012 1013 1014 1015 1016 1017 1018 1019
1010s-related categories:	Births – Deaths – By country Establishments – Disestablishments

This is a list of events occurring in the 1010s, ordered by year.

By place

Europe

• The city of Yaroslavl is said to have been founded.
• Hisham II the Nephast is restored as Umayyad caliph of Córdoba, succeeding Muhammad II al-Mahdi.
• Allied to Muslim rebels, Ramon Borrell, Count of Barcelona sacks Córdoba.

Egypt

• The Nile freezes over.

Asia

• March 8 – Persian poet Ferdowsi finishes writing the Shahnameh (Book of Kings) which will be regarded as the national epic of the greater Iranian culture.
• The Lý dynasty is established in Vietnam (or 1009) and moves the capital to Thăng Long (currently Hanoi).
• The Goryeo king is unseated in a revolt, resulting in an invasion by the Liao dynasty and the burning of the Korean capital Gaegyeong in the Second conflict in the Goryeo–Khitan War.
• Song Zhun of Song dynasty China completes the work of the earlier geographer Lu Duosun, an enormous atlas of China that is written and illustrated in 1,556 chapters, showing maps of each region, city, town, and village. The atlas took 39 years to complete.

Americas

• Viking explorer Þorfinnr "Karlsefni" Þórðarson attempted to found a settlement in North America (approximate date).

By topic

Art

• The construction of Brihadeeswarar Temple, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India, ends. Chola dynasty, Early Medieval period.
• Rajaraja I and His Teacher, detail of a wall painting in the Brihadeeswarar temple, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India, is made. Chola dynasty. Early Medieval period (approximate date).

Literature

• Lady Murasaki writes The Tale of Genji in Japanese] (approximate date).
• Beowulf is written anonymously (approximate date).

Technology

• Eilmer of Malmesbury attempts flight in a glider of his own construction.

By place

Europe

• June 11 – The Byzantine army under the catapan Basil Mesardonites takes Bari from the rebellious Lombard lord Melus.
• September 29 – Danes capture Canterbury after a siege, taking Ælfheah, Archbishop of Canterbury, as a prisoner.
• Ermengol II succeeds Ermengol I as Count of Urgell
• Albert II, Count of Namur succeeds Albert I
• The German king Henry II enfeoffes Adalbero, Duke of Carinthia with the Carinthian duchy, including the rule over the March of Verona (or in 1012).
• Byrhtferth of Ramsey Abbey in England writes his Manual (Enchiridion) on the divine order of the universe and time.

Middle East

• Baghdad Manifesto: Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah's descent from Ali ibn Abi Talib is disputed.
• Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), a famous Persian scientist working in Egypt, feigns madness in fear of angering Al-Hakim, and is kept under house arrest until 1021. During this time he begins writing his influential Book of Optics.
• In Georgia, Bagrat III dispossesses Sumbat III of Klarjeti, who dies thereafter.

Eastern Asia

• The Chinese Guangyun rime dictionary is compiled under Emperor Zhenzong of Song.
• Emperor Sanjō ascends to the throne of Japan.

By place

Asia

• July–September: Climax of the bedouin anti-Fatimid rebellion in Palestine. Abu'l-Futuh al-Hasan ibn Ja'far is proclaimed as anti-Caliph.

Europe

• Mael Morda starts a rebellion against Brian Boru in Ireland, which eventually ends in 1014 at the Battle of Clontarf.
• King Máel Coluim mac Cináeda of Alba reputedly defeats a Danish army at Cruden Bay in Buchan.
• King Aethelred of England pays tribute to Viking raiders (Danegeld).
• Oldrich succeeds Jaromir as duke of Bohemia.

By topic

Religion

• Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim orders the destruction of all Jewish and Christian places of worship.
• April 19 – Archbishop Alphege of Canterbury is murdered by his Danish captors.
• May 18 – Pope Benedict VIII succeeds Pope Sergius IV as the 143rd pope.
• Gregory VI becomes antipope.

By place

Europe

• July – Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark, having invaded England, is proclaimed as King within the Danelaw.
• December 25 – Sweyn is proclaimed King of all England in London, forcing Æthelred the Unready to flee to Normandy.
• Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a peace treaty at Merseburg with Duke Bolesław I Chrobry of Poland who recognizes him as overlord.
• Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, gathers an army at Augsburg to begin his second Italian military campaign.
• The Jews are expelled from the caliphate of Córdoba.
• The Poles withdraw from Pomerania (approximate date).

Asia

• Estimation: Kaifeng, capital of China becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Córdoba in Al-Andalus.
• The largest of the Four Great Books of Song, the Song Dynasty Chinese encyclopedia Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau (which had been compiled since 1005), is completed in 1,000 volumes of 9.4 million written Chinese characters.

By topic

Religion

• Lyfing is appointed by Æthelred the Unready as Archbishop of Canterbury.
• The Al-Hakim Mosque is completed in Cairo.
• Beauvais changes from a county to a bishopric (approximate date).

By place

Europe

• February 3 – Sweyn Forkbeard, Danish King of all England since December 25 last, dies at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, and his son Cnut is proclaimed King of England by the Vikings.
• February 14 – Pope Benedict VIII recognizes and crowns Henry of Bavaria (who has ruled since 1003) as King of Germany.
• March – Æthelred the Unready returns from exile in Normandy to reclaim the throne of England at the invitation of English nobles.
• April – Cnut returns to Denmark to enforce his rule there.
• April 23 – Battle of Clontarf: Gaelic Irish forces under Brian Boru defeat several allied Viking forces in Ireland. However, Brian is killed in the battle.
• July – Battle of Thessalonica fought in Greece: forces of the Byzantine Empire under Theophylact Botaneiates defeat those of the First Bulgarian Empire.
• July 29 – Battle of Kleidion: Basil II, leading forces of the Byzantine Empire, inflicts not only a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, but his subsequent blinding of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of shock, and earns Basil II the sobriquet Boulgaroktonos ("Bulgar-slayer").
• Holmgang is declared illegal in Norway.

Asia

• In Kashmir, Abhinavagupta, the teacher of the poet Ksemendra, circulates his Greater commentary on the Pratyabhijna Darshana.

Africa

• Hammad ibn Buluggin recognises the Abbasid Caliphate, beginning the split of the Hammadids from the Zirids.

By topic

Religion

• The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Symbol of the Faith is used for the first time during the Roman Mass after Henry II, the newly crowned Holy Roman Emperor, asks the Pope to add it together with the filioque clause. Prior to this date, the Creed has not been used at all during the liturgy.
• In England, Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York preaches his Latin homily Sermo Lupi ad Anglos ("Wulf's Address to the English"), describing the Danes as "God's judgement on England".

By place

Europe

• July 15 – Vladimir the Great dies and is succeeded as Grand prince of Kievan Rus' by Sviatopolk.
• August – Cnut the Great of Denmark launches an invasion of England.
• Earl Eric Haakonsson outlaws berserkers in Norway.
• Olaf Haraldsson declares himself king of Norway.

Asia

• The Ghaznavid army invades Kashmir, but is defeated.

By place

Asia

• March 10 – Emperor Sanjō abdicates the throne of Japan and soon afterwards is succeeded by his cousin Emperor Go-Ichijō, aged about 8.
• Earthquakes partly destroy the Dome of the Rock in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Europe

• March 25 – Battle of Nesjar (off the coast of Norway): Olaf Haraldsson is victorious over former co-regent Sweyn Haakonsson confirming his status as King of Norway.
• April 23 – Æthelred, King of England, dies, and is succeeded by his son Edmund Ironside.
• c. May – Battle of Brentford (near London): King Edmund defeats the Danes under Cnut, Prince of Denmark.
• October 18 – Battle of Assandun: Cnut defeats Edmund, leaving the latter as king of Wessex only.
• November 30 – King Edmund dies and Cnut takes control of the whole of the Kingdom of England.
• The Pisan and the Genoese republics launch a naval offensive against the Muslim strongholds of Sardinia, in particular Porto Torres, and defeat the fleet of the taifa king of Dénia, Mujāhid al-‘Āmirī.
• Melus of Bari makes a second attempt against Byzantine-held Southern Italy. To support his cause, he hires Norman mercenaries, unwittingly triggering the rise of Norman rule over southern Italy.
• Georgius Tzul, ruler of Khazaria, is captured by a combined Byzantine Empire–Kievan Rus' force, which effectively ends Khazaria's existence.

By place

Europe

• c. May – Melus of Bari begins a rebellion, supported by Norman mercenaries. His Lombard forces are victorious in three pitched battles against the Byzantine Empire.
• c. July – Cnut the Great, King of England, marries Emma of Normandy, widow of the penultimate monarch, Æthelred.
• Cnut divides England into the four Earldoms of Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria.
• Kiev burns. Possible date at which construction of Saint Sophia's Cathedral, Kiev, is started.
• Abd ar-Rahman IV succeeds Sulayman as Umayyad caliph.

Asia

• Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad publicly declares the founding of the Druze religion. During the reign of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.
• Rajendra Chola annexed the island of Sri Lanka.

Africa

• Sunni revolt of Kairouan against the Shi'ite Zirid dynasty. The city is quickly retaken and sacked.

By place

Asia

• December – Third conflict in the Goryeo–Khitan War: The Liao Dynasty (Khitan Empire) invades Goryeo.
• A Chola dynasty army invades Lanka with 150,000 troops, the largest amphibious invasion force in history to this date.

Europe

• January 30 – The Peace of Bautzen is signed between Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Bolesław I Chrobry, Duke of Poland, ending the German–Polish War (1002–1018).
• July 22–23 – Bolesław I Chrobry, Duke of Poland, defeats Yaroslav the Wise in the Battle of the River Bug. Yaroslav retreats to Novogrod, abandoning Kiev.
• July 29 – Dirk III, Count of Holland, defeats an army sent by Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, in the Battle of Vlaardingen.
• August – Leader of the remaining Bulgarian resistance, Ivats, is treacherously blinded and captured by strategos Eustathios Daphnomeles, confirming Bulgaria's position as part of the Byzantine Empire.
• August 14 – Bolesław accepts the surrender of Kiev by the Pechenegs. He reinstates Sviatopolk as Grand Prince of Kiev.
• c. October? – In Southern Italy, at the second battle of Cannae, the Lombard adventurer Melus of Bari and his Norman mercenaries are decisively defeated by the Byzantine army led by the Catepan Basil Boioannes.
• Probable date
  • Battle of Carham: Malcolm II of Scotland and Owen the Bald of Strathclyde are victorious over Eadwulf Cudel, Earl of Bamburgh, confirming Scottish dominance over Lothian.
  • Cnut succeeds his brother Harald II of Denmark on the Danish throne.

By topic

Religion

• Buckfast Abbey is founded.
• The city of Koblenz is given to the archbishop of Trier.

By place

Africa

• The Azdâji conquest puts an end to the Kingdom of Nekor in Morocco.

Asia

• March 10 – Battle of Guju: Korean General Gang Gam-chan gains a decisive victory over Liao Dynasty forces, ending the Third Goryeo-Khitan War.
• Toi invasion: Jurchen pirates from the Khitan Liao Dynasty in Manchuria invade Kyūshū of Heian-era Japan.
• Japanese regent and statesman Fujiwara no Michinaga retires from public life, installing his son Yorimichi as regent. Michinaga, however, continues to direct affairs of state from his retirement, and remains the de facto ruler of Japan until his death in 1028.
• Mahmud founds the Great Mosque at Ghazni, capital of the Ghaznavid Empire.

Europe

• Moravia becomes part of Bohemia.
• Yaroslav the Wise becomes prince of Kievan Rus', succeeding Sviatopolk I.
• A treaty between Sweden and Norway is conducted at Kungälv.
• Saracens attack the French port of Narbonne.

Significant people

• Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis)
• Abu Nasr Mansur
• Abu Rayhan al-Biruni
• Alhacen (Ibn al-Haytham)
• Avicenna (Ibn Sina)
• Basil II
• Boleslaus I
• Canute
• Fujiwara no Michinaga
• Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
• Malcolm II of Scotland
• Sweyn I