1084 CE

Emperor Henry IV besieges Rome and enters the city. He is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Antipope Clement III in Rome and receives the patrician authority. King Kyansittha begins his reign as ruler of the Pagan Kingdom in Burma (modern Myanmar). Sack of Rome: Duke Robert Guiscard leads a Norman army (36,000 men) north and enters Rome; the city is sacked, and Henry IV is forced to retreat.

In the 1080s, the 11th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • Robert Guiscard returns with 150 warships in Illyria (modern Albania), and occupies Corfu and Kefalonia with the support of Ragusa and the Dalmatian city-states.source

Conflict & Security

  • May – Sack of Rome: Duke Robert Guiscard leads a Norman army (36,000 men) north and enters Rome; the city is sacked, and Henry IV is forced to retreat.source
  • The Seljuk Turks under Sultan Malik-Shah I conquer Byzantine Antioch, held by Philaretos Brachamios, an Armenian general, who seizes power as a usurper.source

Religion & Belief

  • March 31 – Emperor Henry IV besieges Rome and enters the city. He is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Antipope Clement III in Rome and receives the patrician authority.source
  • Pope Gregory VII, who has been forced by the presence in Rome of Henry IV to retreat to the Castel Sant'Angelo, is freed by Robert Guiscard and restores papal authority in Rome.source
  • Building work starts on Worcester Cathedral in England, orchestrated by Bishop Wulfstan.source
  • Bruno of Cologne founds the Carthusian Order which includes both monks and nuns. He builds a hermitage in the French Alps.source

Culture & Society

  • April 21 – King Kyansittha begins his reign as ruler of the Pagan Kingdom in Burma (modern Myanmar).source
  • Sima Guang, Chinese chancellor and historian, with a group of scholars, completes the Zizhi Tongjian, a chronicle of universal history of China.source

Births

  • August 1 – Heonjong, Korean king of Goryeo (died 1097)source
  • Alan I (le Noir), viscount of Rohan (died 1147)source
  • Rechungpa, Tibetan founder of the Kagyu school (died 1161)source
  • David I, king of Scotland (approximate date)source
  • Li Qingzhao, Chinese female poet and writersource
  • Bahram-Shah, ruler of the Ghaznavids (died 1157)source
  • Wang, Chinese empress of the Song dynasty (died 1108)source
  • Charles I (the Good), count of Flanders (died 1127)source
  • Rainier, margrave of Montferrat (approximate date)source
  • Ali ibn Yusuf, ruler of the Almoravids (died 1143)source

Deaths

  • February 16 – Siegfried I, archbishop of Mainzsource
  • June 28 – Ekkehard of Huysburg, German abbotsource
  • October 10 – Gilla Pátraic, bishop of Dublinsource
  • November 20 – Otto II, margrave of Montferratsource
  • Fujiwara no Kenshi, Japanese empress (born 1057)source
  • Halsten Stenkilsson, king of Sweden (approximate date)source
  • Hoël II, duke of Brittany (House of Cornouaille)source
  • King Halsten Stenkilsson is killed and his brother Inge the Elder is deposed in Svealand (modern Sweden). Inge is replaced by his brother-in-law Blot-Sweyn.source
  • Saw Lu, king of the Pagan Kingdom (born 1049)source
  • Aghsartan I, Georgian king of Kakheti and Heretisource
  • Herfast (or Arfast), Norman Lord Chancellorsource