1106 CE

A comet (the Great Comet of 1106) is seen and reported by several civilisations around the world. Lasting for 40 days, the comet grows steadily in brightness until finally fading away. Emperor Henry IV escapes his captors at Ingelheim. He enters into negotiations at Cologne with English, French and Danish noblemen, and begins to collect an army to oppose his son Henry V but dies at Liège after a 49-year reign. Henry leads a successful expedition against Count Robert II of Flanders and is forced to swear his allegiance to him. Battle of Tinchebray: King Henry I defeats and imprisons his older brother Robert II, duke of Normandy, in Devizes Castle. Edgar Atheling (uncle of Henry's wife) and the 3-year-old William Clito, son of Robert, are also taken prisoner. Henry places his nephew William in the custody of Helias of Saint-Saens, count of Arques.

In the 1100s, the 12th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • Turlough O’Connor becomes King of Connacht and claimant to the High Kingship of Ireland, reigning until 1156.Irelandsource

Conflict & Security

  • September 28 – Battle of Tinchebray: King Henry I defeats and imprisons his older brother Robert II, duke of Normandy, in Devizes Castle. Edgar Atheling (uncle of Henry's wife) and the 3-year-old William Clito, son of Robert, are also taken prisoner. Henry places his nephew William in the custody of Helias of Saint-Saens, count of Arques.source
  • Bolesław III, duke of Poland, begins a civil war against his half-brother Zbigniew, for control over Lesser Poland and Silesia.source
  • The city of Balaguer (located in Catalonia) is conquered from the Moors by Ermengol VI, count of Urgell.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • August 7 – Emperor Henry IV escapes his captors at Ingelheim. He enters into negotiations at Cologne with English, French and Danish noblemen, and begins to collect an army to oppose his son Henry V but dies at Liège after a 49-year reign. Henry leads a successful expedition against Count Robert II of Flanders and is forced to swear his allegiance to him.source
  • Autumn – Bohemond I returns to Apulia (Southern Italy) with an expeditionary force to prepare an offensive against the Byzantines. He is accompanied by his newlywed wife Constance (who is pregnant by him) and followers.source

Religion & Belief

  • Spring – Bohemond I, prince of Antioch, marries Constance of France (daughter of King Philip I) in the cathedral of Chartres. Philip agrees to marry his second daughter, the 9-year-old Cecile of France, to Tancred (nephew of Bohemond). Meanwhile, Bohemond mobilises an expeditionary force (some 30,000 men) to begin a campaign against Emperor Alexios I.source
  • Roger le Poer, bishop of Salisbury, is granted land in south Wales by Henry I. He starts the construction of Kidwelly Castle on the banks of the river Gwendraeth.source

Science & Discovery

  • February 2 – A comet (the Great Comet of 1106) is seen and reported by several civilisations around the world. Lasting for 40 days, the comet grows steadily in brightness until finally fading away.source

Culture & Society

  • Magnus Erlendsson becomes Earl of Orkney (until 1115).source

Births

  • Fujiwara no Michinori, Japanese nobleman (died 1160)source
  • Matilda of Anjou, duchess of Normandy (died 1154)source
  • Chŏng Chung-bu, Korean military leader (died 1179)source
  • Xing, Chinese empress (died 1139)source
  • Minamoto no Yorimasa, Japanese military leader (died 1180)source
  • Hugh de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Bedford (died 1141)source
  • Celestine III, pope of the Catholic Church (died 1198)source
  • Ibn Asakir, Syrian scholar and historian (died 1175)source
  • David FitzGerald, bishop of St. Davids (died 1176)source
  • Hugh II, French nobleman (died 1134)source
  • Magnus Nielsen, king of Västergötland (died 1134)source
  • Alexios Komnenos, Byzantine co-emperor (died 1142)source

Deaths