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The 1030s

269 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.

1030 CE36 entries

  • April 30 – Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni dies after a 28-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Mas'ud I, who seizes the throne of the Ghaznavid Empire, which includes much of Afghanistan, Iran, and India.
  • July 29 – Battle of Stiklestad: King Olaf II Haraldsson (St. Olaf) attempts to reconquer Norway with help from King Anund Jakob of Sweden. He is defeated by a superior Norwegian peasant and Danish army (14,000 men). Olaf is killed in the battle. He is later canonized and becomes the patron saint of Norway and Rex perpetuum Norvegiae ('the eternal king of Norway').
  • July – Emperor Conrad II (the Elder) leads an invasion into Hungary. He plunders the lands west of the River Rába but suffers from the consequences of the scorched earth tactics used by the Hungarians. Conrad, threatened by starvation, is forced to retreat to Germany. King Stephen I (St. Stephen) pursued his forces, which were defeated and captured by the Hungarians at Vienna.

1031 CE27 entries

  • July 20 – King Robert II (the Pious) dies at Melun, after a 35-year reign. He is succeeded by his 23-year-old son, Henry I, who becomes the sole ruler of France. Henry's mother, Queen dowager Constance of Arles, prefers her third son, Robert, as heir to the throne and, with the help of Count Odo II, begins a war against Henry.
  • Summer – After a failed invasion in the previous year, the Holy Roman Empire concludes a peace with the Kingdom of Hungary; Emperor Conrad II is forced to cede the lands between Leitha and Fischa to King Stephen I.
  • The Caliphate of Córdoba collapses after years of infighting; the caliphate fractures into a number of independent Muslim taifa (kingdoms). The last Umayyad ruler, Caliph Hisham III, tries to consolidate the caliphate, but his raising of taxes (to pay for mosques) leads to heavy opposition and he is imprisoned by his rivals.

1032 CE31 entries

  • September 6 – King Rudolph III dies without any heirs. He bequeaths his entire dominions to Emperor Conrad II (the Elder), dispatching to him the Holy Lance and ring of St. Maurice, symbols of Burgundian investiture.
  • October – Pope John XIX dies after an 8-year pontificate at Rome. He is succeeded by his nephew Benedict IX as the 145th pope of the Catholic Church, while (probably) still in his teens.
  • The first mention is made of Kursk, Russia, in the hagiography of Theodosius, who becomes a monk at the Kiev Caves Monastery (approximate date).

1033 CE21 entries

  • February 2 – Emperor Conrad II (the Elder) holds an assembly at the Abbey of Payerne and is crowned King of Burgundy. He claims dominion over the Kingdom of Burgundy which is incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire.
  • December 5 – A major earthquake in the Jordan Valley devastates multiple cities across the Palestine region, killing many people and triggering a tsunami.
  • Treaty of Merseburg: Conrad II attends a Hoftag at Merseburg and signs an agreement with King Mieszko II. He divides Poland in three parts with Mieszko designated as supreme ruler, in exchange for Conrad's support.

1034 CE25 entries

  • March – Conrad II converges his armies on Lake Lemano and defeats Count Odo II in battle at Geneva (modern Switzerland). For his assistance, Conrad grants Humbert I with the Burgundian county of Maurienne.
  • April 11 – Emperor Romanos III (Argyros) is drowned in his bath, at the urging of his wife Zoë, who marries her chamberlain, and elevates him to the throne of the Byzantine Empire, as Michael IV. Romanos is buried in the Church of St. Mary Peribleptos in Constantinople.
  • November 25 – King Malcolm II dies in battle at Glamis. He is succeeded by Duncan I, son of his eldest daughter, rather than Macbeth, who is possibly another grandson of his.

1035 CE30 entries

  • March 23 – Battle of Cesar (near the village of Cesar, Portugal): The armies of Bermudo III, King of León, defeat the Moorish armies of Abu'l-Qasim, the emir of the Taifa of Seville.
  • October 18 – King Sancho III of Pamplona dies and divides his dominions among his four sons, García Sánchez III, Gonzalo I, Ferdinand I and Ramiro I.
  • November 12 – King Cnut the Great dies at Shaftesbury, leaving the rule of England in dispute between his sons Harthacnut and Harold Harefoot. The earls of Northumbria and Mercia support Harold's claim, while Godwin (Earl of Wessex) supports Harthacnut. Harold is elected as regent (or joint ruler) of England. Cnut is buried in the Old Minster, in Winchester.

1036 CE24 entries

  • February 5 – Edward the Confessor's younger brother Alfred Aetheling is blinded and murdered, in an apparent attempt to seize the throne of England from Harold I.
  • May 15 – Emperor Go-Ichijō dies at the age of 27 after a 20-year reign. He is succeeded by his brother Go-Suzaku as the 69th emperor of Japan.
  • June 13 – Caliph al-Zahir li-i'zaz Din Allah dies after a 16-year reign. He is succeeded by his 6-year-old son al-Mustansir as ruler of the Fatimid Caliphate. Vizier Ali ibn Ahmad al-Jarjara'i will guide the regency for the first few years.

1037 CE27 entries

  • May – Conrad II, with Pavian assistance, lays siege to Milan at the Porta Romana side, but the city holds out. In Rome, Pope Benedict IX deposes Aribert as archbishop.
  • September 4 – Battle of Tamarón: Ferdinand I defeats and kills his brother-in-law Bermudo III. Ferdinand becomes the king of Castile and León (modern Spain).
  • November 15 – Battle of Bar-le-Duc: Odo II, Count of Blois and Champagne, while invading the Duchy of Lorraine dies in battle with forces loyal to Gothelo I.

1038 CE25 entries

  • January 9 – An earthquake in Dingxiang, China kills an estimated 32,300.
  • August – A battle occurs near the town of Alfuente, Andalucia, between the Taifa of Granada and the Taifa of Almeria, as described by the Jewish poet Samuel ibn Naghrela.
  • November 10 – Li Yuanhao proclaims himself Emperor of the Western Xia, declaring independence from the Song dynasty in China.

1039 CE23 entries

  • June 4 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, ("the Elder") dies of gout in Utrecht after a 12-year reign. He is succeeded by his 21-year-old son, Henry III ("the Black"), who also becomes king of Italy and Burgundy.
  • The Banu Tujib clan is deposed by Al-Mustain I, who starts the Banu Hud (Huddid dynasty), which rules over the Taifa of Zaragoza for almost a century.
  • The Abbey of Bec is founded at Le Bec-Hellouin in Normandy (modern France).