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The 1020s

327 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.

1020 CE33 entries

  • June 15 – Byzantine troops under Catepan Basil Boioannes (supported by his ally Prince Pandulf IV) capture the fortress of Troia.
  • King Canute the Great codifies the laws of England (approximate date).
  • The French city of Saint-Germain-en-Laye is founded by King Robert II (the Pious).

1021 CE29 entries

  • February 13 – On one of his habitual night rides in the outskirts of Cairo, the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah disappears, most likely assassinated by disaffected palace factions, apparently involving his sister, Sitt al-Mulk.
  • March 26 – On the feast of Eid al-Adha, the death of al-Hakim, kept secret for six weeks, is announced, along with the succession of his son, al-Zahir li-i'zaz Din Allah. On the same day, al-Hakim's designated heir, Abd al-Rahim ibn Ilyas, is arrested in Damascus and brought to Egypt.
  • The last evidence of indigenous Christian and non-Arabophone culture in Tripolitania (modern Libya) is seen.

1022 CE31 entries

  • Spring – Battle of Svindax: The Byzantine army under Emperor Basil II defeats the Georgians at Svindax (modern Turkey). King George I is forced to negotiate a peace treaty, ending the Byzantine–Georgian wars.
  • King Olof Skötkonung dies and is succeeded by his son Anund Jakob as ruler of Sweden. He becomes the second Christian king of the Swedish realm.
  • Pope Benedict VIII convenes a synod at Pavia. He issues decrees to restrain simony and incontinence of the clergy.

1023 CE38 entries

  • February 23 – The Chitragupta Temple (now in India at Khajuraho at the Madhya Pradesh state) is consecrated to the Hindu god Shiva, at the Maha Shivaratri celebration.
  • March – Musharrif al-Dawla, ruler of Iraq, comes to Baghdad to see the Abbasid Caliph al-Qadir, and attempts to defy the caliphate.
  • May 11 – In the Kingdom of León in Spain, the Abbot Oliba declines to authorize the wedding of King Alfonso V to Urraca Garcés, the sister of King Sancho of Pamplona, describing it as incesti connubii. The wedding takes place anyway.

1024 CE56 entries

  • March 23 (9 Muharram 415 AH) – In the first example of the reversal of the policy of religious tolerance created by the late Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim, Egyptian Christian Abu Zakariyya is arrested on charges of apostasy. Zakariyya, raised as a Christian, had converted to Islam, but then renounced Islam and converted back to Christianity, with immunity granted by al-Hakim. Zakariyya, apparently singled out for punishment is executed on October 14 (7 Shaban 415 CE).
  • September 4 – Conrad the Elder is elected as the new King of Germany by an assembly of imperial princes and nobles at Kamba, receiving more votes than his cousin Conrad the Younger, son of Conrad I, Duke of Carinthia
  • December 17 – The monastery of Grottaferrata, outside of Rome, is consecrated by Pope John XIX and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

1025 CE39 entries

  • February – In what was the Kingdom of Israel, Fath al-Qal'i, the Fatimid Governor of Jerusalem, and Anushtakin al-Dizbari, the Governor of Palestine, make a successful assault on Ramla against Hassan ibn Mufarrij al-Jarrah, the leader of the Jarrahids of Syria.
  • May – Ishoyahb IV, the unpopular Nicene Christian Patriarch of the Church of the East, dies in Baghdad after a five-year reign, leaving a vacancy that will not be filled until 1028.
  • December 25 – Mieszko II Lambert, son of Bolosław I, is formally crowned as king of Poland by the Archbishop Hippolytus in Gniezno Cathedral.

1026 CE26 entries

  • June 1 – The Basilica of Saint Maternus in Walcourt, modern-day Belgium, is consecrated by Bishop Réginhard of Liège.
  • June 16 – The Manju tsunami with waves of at modern-day Masuda, Shimane: more than 1,000 people are killed and 3,000 homes destroyed.
  • Battle of Helgeå (off the coast of Sweden): Naval forces of King Cnut's North Sea Empire defeat the combined Swedish and Norwegian royal fleets.

1027 CE31 entries

  • March 26 – Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II ("the Elder") and his wife Gisela of Swabia as Holy Roman Emperor and Empress, respectively, in Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Cnut the Great, King of Denmark and England, attends the coronation, proving his position as sole ruler of the Danish North Sea Empire.
  • August 6 – Robert the Magnificent becomes duke of Normandy after the death of his brother Richard III.
  • August 16 – Bagrat IV becomes king of Georgia on the death of his father, George I. Queen Dowager Mariam becomes regent for her 9-year-old son.

1028 CE19 entries

  • April 14 – The 10-year-old Henry III (the Black), son of Emperor Conrad II (the Elder), is elected and crowned king of Germany in Aachen Cathedral by Pilgrim, archbishop of Cologne.
  • November 11 – Emperor Constantine VIII dies at Constantinople after a 3-year reign. On his deathbed, and without a male heir, Constantine arranges that his eldest daughter, Zoë Porphyrogenita, succeeds him and marries the Byzantine nobleman, Romanos III (Argyros).
  • Cnut the Great sails from England to Norway with a fleet of 50 ships. He defeats Olaf Haraldsson and is crowned king of Norway. Cnut becomes the sole ruler of England, Denmark and part of Sweden (known as the Danish North Sea Empire).

1029 CE25 entries

  • March/April: The Ghaznavid Sultan Maḥmūd brutally sacks the city of Rayy after receiving a request for help by its Buyyid ruler Majd al-Dawla against his rebellious troops. He crucifies a large number of the local population and burns many books that he considers heretical.
  • Prince Pandulf IV of Capua becomes the de facto ruler of southern Italy – holding Capua and Naples himself – this in support with his powerful allies Amalfi, Salerno and Benevento. Only the Duchy of Gaeta remains out of his grasp.
  • The seat of the Bishopric of Zeitz is moved to Naumburg (Saxony-Anhalt) in Central Germany.