1040 CE
King Harold Harefoot dies at Oxford at the age of 24. His illegitimate son Ælfwine Haroldsson is left in the care of his grandmother, Ælfgifu of Northampton. Battle of Dandanaqan: The Turkmen Seljuqs defeat the Ghaznavid forces (50,000 men) led by Sultan Masʽud I at Dandanaqan, a fortress city in the desert near Merv. Ghaznavid commanders Ali Daya and Begtoghdi are blamed for the defeat and executed. 23 – Battle at Brůdek: Duke Bretislav I of Bohemia defeats the German forces under King Henry III ("the Black") in the Bohemian Forest.
In the 1040s, the 11th century.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
Conflict & Security
- May 23 – Battle of Dandanaqan: The Turkmen Seljuqs defeat the Ghaznavid forces (50,000 men) led by Sultan Masʽud I at Dandanaqan, a fortress city in the desert near Merv. Ghaznavid commanders Ali Daya and Begtoghdi are blamed for the defeat and executed.source
- August 22–23 – Battle at Brůdek: Duke Bretislav I of Bohemia defeats the German forces under King Henry III ("the Black") in the Bohemian Forest.source
- Peter Delyan leads a rebellion against the Byzantine Empire and is proclaimed by the Bulgarian nobles as emperor (tsar) Peter II in Belgrade.source
Religion & Belief
- Weihenstephan Abbey (Kloster Weihenstephan) in Germany, founds the oldest operating brewery.source
- The Shalu Monastery is founded by the Buddhist monk Chetsun Sherab Jungnay in Tibet.source
- The Emirate of Sicily is divided and fragmented into small fiefdoms. The Arab nobles of Palermo restore the regime of the Kalbids (approximate date).source
Births
- February 22 – Rashi, French rabbi and writer (died 1105)source
- July 12 – Yun Kwan, Korean general (died 1111)source
- Géza I (Magnus), king of Hungary (approximate date)source
- Alfonso VI, king of León and Castile (approximate date)source
- Ida of Lorraine, French countess (approximate date)source
- Ernulf, French Benedictine monk and bishop (died 1124)source
- Sikelgaita, Lombard duchess of Apulia (died 1090)source
- Ivo of Chartres, French bishop (approximate date)source
- Alan Rufus, Norman nobleman (approximate date)source
- Ladislaus I, king of Hungary (approximate date)source
- Zayn al-Din Gorgani, Persian physician (died 1136) (approximate date)source
- Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad, Abbadid emir of Seville (died 1095) (approximate date)source
- Roger I of Sicily, Norman nobleman (approximate date)source
- Blessed Gerard, founder of the Knights Hospitaller (died 1120) (approximate date)source
Deaths
- January 17 – Masʽud I, Ghaznavid sultan (born 998)source
- March 3 – Cunigunde, Holy Roman Empresssource
- March 17 – Harold Harefoot, king of Englandsource
- March 17 – King Harold Harefoot dies at Oxford at the age of 24. His illegitimate son Ælfwine Haroldsson is left in the care of his grandmother, Ælfgifu of Northampton.source
- May 29 – Renauld I, French noblemansource
- June 21 – Fulk III of Anjou, French nobleman (born 970)source
- August 14 – Duncan I, king of Scotlandsource
- August 14 – King Duncan is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth, who succeeds him as king of Scotland.source
- October 1 – Alan III, duke of Brittany (born 997)source
- Yeshe-Ö, Tibetan lama-king (approximate date)source
- Gilbert, Count of Brionne, Norman nobleman (approximate date)source
- Ibn al-Haytham, Arab astronomer (approximate date)source
- Bertha of Milan, Lombard duchess (approximate date)source
- Spring – Nikephoros Dokeianos, Byzantine governor of the Catepanate of Italy, is murdered by Lombard rebels at Ascoli. He is replaced by Michael Dokeianos, who arrives in November with a Varangian army.source