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The 1050s

286 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.

1050 CE33 entries

  • King Edward the Confessor unites the English dioceses of Devon and Cornwall. He moves the see from Crediton to Exeter and gives the order to build a cathedral. Leofric becomes the first bishop of Exeter.
  • King Anund Jacob dies after a 28-year reign. He is succeeded by his elder half-brother Emund the Old as king of Sweden.
  • The brewery of Weltenburg Abbey (modern Germany) is first mentioned, thus making it one of the oldest still operating breweries in the world (approximate date).

1051 CE24 entries

  • May 19 – King Henry I of France marries Anne of Kiev at the cathedral of Reims. William of Normandy marries Matilda of Flanders, daughter of Count Baldwin V, which Henry sees as a threat to his throne.
  • Spring – William of Normandy consolidates his power in Normandy. He fights over the control of Maine (after the death of Count Hugh IV), and lays siege to the fortresses of Alençon and Domfront (Western France).
  • Heregeld, commonly known as Danegeld, is abolished by Edward the Confessor. It has been collected for many years to provide funds for defending the country from Viking raiders.

1052 CE26 entries

  • Byōdō-in, a Japanese Buddhist temple (located in the Kyoto Prefecture), changes its name by order of Fujiwara no Yorimichi.
  • Summer – Godwin, Earl of Wessex, sails with a large fleet up the Thames to London, forcing King Edward the Confessor to reinstate him into his previous position of power.
  • Battle of Haydaran: The Zirid dynasty is defeated by the invading Bedouin Arab tribes of the Banu Hilal.

1053 CE26 entries

  • April – Harold Godwinson succeeds his father Godwin as earl of Wessex. He invites the exiled Edward the Exile, son of Edmund II, to return in the hope that he can claim the English throne from King Edward the Confessor.
  • June 18 – Battle of Civitate: Norman horsemen (3,000 men), led by Humphrey of Hauteville, count of Apulia and Calabria, rout the combined forces under Pope Leo IX, in Southern Italy. The Normans destroy the allied Papal army and capture Leo, who is imprisoned (as a hostage for 8 months) in Benevento.
  • December – Conrad I, duke of Bavaria, is summoned to a Christmas court at Merseburg, and deposed by Emperor Henry III. He flees to King Andrew I in Hungary, and joins a coalition with the rebellious Welf III, duke of Carinthia. Henry's 4-year-old son Henry becomes the new duke of Bavaria.

1054 CE31 entries

  • July 4 (approx.) – SN 1054, a supernova, is first observed by the Chinese, Arabs and possibly Native Americans, near the star Zeta Tauri. For 23 days it remains bright enough to be seen in daylight. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula (NGC 1952).
  • July 16 – East-West Schism: Humbert of Silva Candida, representative of the newly deceased Leo IX, breaks the relations between Western and Eastern Churches, through the act of placing an invalidly-issued Papal Bull of excommunication during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy.
  • July 27 – Siward, earl of Northumbria, invades Scotland, to support King Malcolm III against Macbeth, who has usurped the Scottish throne from Malcolm's father, Duncan I. Macbeth is defeated at Dunsinane.

1055 CE34 entries

  • April 13 – Pope Victor II succeeds Leo IX as the 153rd pope of the Catholic Church in Rome (until 1057).
  • October 24 – Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia, is outlawed by the witan ("meeting of wise men"). In revenge he builds a force and allies himself with the Welsh king Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. After defeating Ralph the Timid (a nephew of King Edward the Confessor), they attack Hereford and raid the church – taking everything of value, leaving the building on fire. The rebels also attack Leominster.
  • Winter – The Seljuk Turks led by Sultan Tughril capture Baghdad and enter the city in a Roman-styled triumph. Al-Malik al-Rahim, the last Buyid emir in Iraq, is taken prisoner.

1056 CE31 entries

  • June 16 – In response to the attack on Hereford Cathedral in 1055, Leofgar the bishop of Hereford takes an army into Wales to deal with the Welsh prince Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. He along with a large number of English troops is killed in battle at Glasbury-on-Wye by the Welsh. Earl Harold Godwinson raises an army to take revenge, but comes to peaceful terms with Gruffydd.
  • August 31 – Empress Theodora (a sister of the former Empress Zoë) dies after a 18-month reign, by a sudden illness at Constantinople. She is succeeded by Michael VI Bringas ("the Old"), who had served as military finance minister under the former Emperor Romanos III. Michael is appointed through the influence of Leo Paraspondylos, Theodora's most trusted adviser. This ends the Macedonian dynasty.
  • October 5 – Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor ("the Black") dies after a 10-year reign at Bodfeld, an imperial hunting lodge (Königspfalz) in the Harz Mountains. He is succeeded by his 5-year-old only son Henry IV as "king of the Germans" and enthroned by Pope Victor II (also a German) at Aachen – while his mother, Empress Agnes of Poitou, becomes co-regent.

1057 CE29 entries

  • July 28 – Pope Victor II dies after a 15-month pontificate at Arezzo. He is succeeded by Stephen IX as the 154th pope of the Catholic Church.
  • August 15 – Battle of Lumphanan: Macbeth, King of Scotland ("the Red King") is killed by Malcolm ("Canmore"). Macbeth is succeeded by his stepson Lulach, who is crowned (probably on September 8) as king of Scotland at Scone.
  • King Anawrahta captures Thaton, the capital of the Thaton Kingdom, strengthening Theravada Buddhism in Burma.

1058 CE28 entries

  • March 17 – King Lulach ("the Unfortunate") of Scotland is killed in battle against his cousin and rival Malcolm III ("Canmore") who becomes king of the Scots.
  • September 20 – Empress Agnes de Poitou and King Andrew I ("the White") of Hungary meet to negotiate about the border zone in Burgenland (modern Austria).
  • November 6 – Byzantine Emperor Isaac I Komnenos deposes Michael I Cerularius, patriarch of Constantinople, and has him exiled to Prokonnessos (until 1059).

1059 CE24 entries

  • January 24 – Pope Nicholas II succeeds Stephen IX as the 155th pope of the Catholic Church. He is installed in Rome in opposition to Antipope Benedict X – the brother of the late Pope Benedict IX (deposed in 1048).
  • April 13 – Nicholas II, with the agreement of the Lateran Council, issues the papal bull In nomine Domini, making the College of Cardinals the sole voters in the papal conclave for the election of popes.
  • August 23 – Robert Guiscard, count of Apulia and Calabria, signs the Treaty of Melfi with Pope Nicholas II. Nicholas recognises the Norman conquest of southern Italy, and accepts the titles of Guiscard as duke of Sicily.