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The 1000s

355 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 11th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

1000 CE44 entries

1001 CE53 entries

  • February 6 – After leading the revolt against Emperor Otto III and expelling the Crescentii, Gregory I, Count of Tusculum is named "Head of the Republic".
  • March 17 – The Buddhist ruler of Butuan, in the Philippines (P’u-tuan in the Sung Dynasty records), Sari Bata Shaja, makes the first tributary mission to China.
  • November 27 – Battle of Peshawar: Jayapala suffers defeat from the Ghaznavid Empire.

1002 CE33 entries

  • June 7 – Henry II, a cousin of Otto III, is elected and crowned as King of Germany by Archbishop Willigis at Mainz. Henry does not recognise the coronation of Arduin. Otto of Worms withdraws his nomination for the title of Holy Roman Emperor and receives the Duchy of Carinthia (modern Austria) - Henry is the first King to be elected away from the Cathedral of Aachen since the tradition was begun by Otto I in 936.
  • August 8 – Al-Mansur dies after a 24-year reign and is succeeded by his son Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar as ruler (hajib) of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba (modern Spain).
  • November 13 – St. Brice's Day massacre: King Æthelred the Unready orders all Danes in England killed. Æthelred marries (as his second wife) Emma, daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy.

1003 CE37 entries

  • May 12 – Pope Sylvester II dies after a 4-year pontificate. He is succeeded by John XVII as the 140th pope of the Catholic Church.
  • November 6 – John XVII dies after a pontificate of about 7 months and is buried in the Lateran Basilica at Rome.
  • Construction of the Brihadisvara Temple in Tamil Nadu (modern India), during the Chola Dynasty (Early Medieval period).

1004 CE36 entries

  • May 14 – Henry II is crowned King of Italy by Archbishop Arnulf II in Pavia. A quarrel ensues between the German troops and the Pavese citizens. Henry orders a massacre of the population in response, destroying the city.
  • December – Fujiwara no Kenshi, the future empress consort, enters the palace as lady-in-waiting to her sister, Empress Shōshi.
  • A Danish Viking fleet under Sweyn Forkbeard lands in Norfolk. Ealdorman Ulfcytel orders his Anglo-Saxon troops to burn the raiding ships. The plan fails and Ulfcytel's small army is defeated by the Vikings.

1005 CE33 entries

  • January 13–18 – The Shanyuan Treaty is negotiated between the Liao dynasty and the Song dynasty. The Song government agrees to pay an annual tribute of 200,000 bolts of raw silk and 100,000 taels of silver, ending the northern border clashes against Liao.
  • March 25 – King Kenneth III of Scotland is killed in the battle of Monzievaird in Strathearn. He is succeeded by his cousin Malcolm II ("Forranach, the Destroyer", son of the late King Kenneth II) as ruler of Scotland.
  • November 16 – Ælfric of Abingdon, archbishop of Canterbury, leaves ships to the people of Wiltshire and Kent in his will, leaving the best, equipped for 60 men, to King Æthelred the Unready.

1006 CE22 entries

  • April 30 – The brightest supernova ever recorded, SN 1006, occurs in the constellation of Lupus. It is observed and described in China, Japan, Iraq, Egypt, and Europe and possibly depicted in North American rock art. Modern astronomers now consider its distance at about 7,200 light-years. The supernova provides enough light to read by on a night with a dark moon.
  • A major eruption of the Mount Merapi volcano on Java causes devastation throughout the centre of the island (which it covers with volcanic ash) and to the Javanese Hindu Mataram kingdom.
  • Summer–Autumn – Danish Viking raiders led by Sweyn Forkbeard raid south-eastern England from the Isle of Wight to Reading in the Thames Valley where they overwinter at the Wallingford river crossing.

1007 CE30 entries

  • January 29 – Ranking ceremony of Murasaki Shikibu – as a renowned writer and lady-in-waiting, tutor of Empress Shōshi, she is elevated to the highest position in the palace below the empress.
  • November 1 – King Henry II of Germany founds the Diocese of Bamberg during a synod held in Frankfurt.
  • The Keraites, a Turco-Mongolian tribe, are converted to Nestorianism (a sect of Christianity).

1008 CE33 entries

  • November 13 – Kamo Special Festival: The poet Murasaki Shikibu is given her name from a famous court poet, Fujiwara no Kinto; this year she probably starts to write The Diary of Lady Murasaki.
  • The oldest known mention is made of the city of Gundelfingen (Southern Germany).
  • Olof Skötkonung, king of Sweden, is baptized in Husaby (Västergötland) by missionary Sigfrid, and makes generous donations on the spot.

1009 CE34 entries

  • February 14 or March 9 – The first known mention is made of the name of Lithuania, in connection with the murder of Bruno of Querfurt. He is beheaded and his 18 companions are hanged the same day during a mission among the Prussians in the Baltic region.
  • August 29 – Mainz Cathedral suffers extensive damage from a fire, which destroys the building on the day of its inauguration.
  • August – A large Viking army led by Thorkell the Tall lands on Kent and proceeds to terrorize most of Southern England.