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The 1070s

331 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.

1070 CE49 entries

  • April 11 – Stigand is deposed as Archbishop of Canterbury in England by papal legates and imprisoned.
  • May 1 – After 353 years of being exiled to Lugo due to the Muslim occupation of the city of Braga, the Diocese of Braga is restored by order of Ferdinand I of León under Archbishop Pedro of Braga thanks to the advancing Christian forces during the Reconquista.
  • June 9 – Kulottunga I begins his reign as Chola emperor in South India.

1071 CE23 entries

  • February 22 – Battle of Cassel: Robert I ("the Frisian") defeats his sister-in-law Richilde (widow of Baldwin VI) and her nephew Arnulf III, in a succession struggle for the County of Flanders. Robert is appointed count by King Philip I of France.
  • May – Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyah marries Yusuf ibn Tashfin, leader of the Almoravids, and becomes his queen and co-regent.
  • October 24 – Romanos IV is deposed by John Doukas (Caesar) and his political advisor Michael Psellos after his return to Constantinople. Michael VII Doukas is crowned co-emperor and his mother Eudokia is forced to retire to a monastery.

1072 CE28 entries

  • January 10 – The Normans under Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger I ("Boso") conquer Palermo (after a one year siege). Roger receives the keys of the city, and Robert invests him with the title of Count of Sicily. The Emirate of Sicily rules only the southern part of the island, with Syracuse as the capital (until 1091).
  • June 29 – Romanos IV Diogenes, deposed ruler of the Byzantine Empire, is blinded and sent into exile to the island of Proti (in the Sea of Marmara) at the Monastery of Transfiguration. A few days before his death, he receives a letter from Michael Psellos (his political advisor), congratulating him on the loss of his eyes.
  • December 15 – Sultan Alp Arslan ("Heroic Lion") dies after a 9-year reign, during his campaign in Transoxiana. He is succeeded by his 17-year-old son Malik-Shah I, who is declared new ruler of the Seljuk Empire. Qavurt, a brother of Alp Arslan, claims the Seljuk throne for himself and occupies the capital of Isfahan.

1073 CE33 entries

  • May 25 – King Sancho IV of Navarre and Ahmad al-Muqtadir, Muslim ruler of the Taifa of Zaragoza, conclude an alliance by treaty.
  • June 15 – Emperor Go-Sanjō dies after a 5-year reign and is succeeded by his 19-year-old son Shirakawa as the 72nd emperor of Japan.
  • October 14 – The Judicate of Arborea (one of the four independent kingdoms in Sardinia) is recognised by Pope Gregory VII.

1074 CE27 entries

  • February 2 – Treaty of Gerstungen: King Henry IV is forced to restore the peace with Duke Otto of Nordheim (one of the Saxon leaders of the Saxon Rebellion). He signs a treaty in Gerstungen Castle, on the River Werra in Thuringia (modern Germany).
  • February 7 – Battle of Montesarchio: Prince Pandulf IV, co-ruler of Benevento, is killed while fighting the Normans in southern Italy.
  • March 14 – Battle of Mogyoród: King Solomon is defeated by his cousins, Duke Géza I and Ladislaus I. He is dethroned and Géza becomes the new ruler of Hungary.

1075 CE42 entries

  • February – Pope Gregory VII holds a council in the Lateran Palace at Rome. He publishes a decree against laymen investiture (an act which will later cause the Investiture Controversy).
  • June 9 – First Battle of Langensalza: Emperor Henry IV defeats the Saxon nobles on the River Unstrut near Langensalza in Thuringia (modern Germany). He subjugates Saxony, and immediately tries to reassert his rights as the sovereign of northern Italy.
  • August 25 – Council of London: Archbishop Lanfranc instigates the movement of English bishoprics. One of these is the bishopric of Sherborne and Wilton which is moved to Old Sarum.

1076 CE30 entries

  • October 8 – Demetrius Zvonimir is crowned as king of Croatia in Solin (near Split), in the Basilica of Saint Peter and Moses (known later as the Hollow Church) by a representative of Gregory VII.
  • December 13 – Norman conquest of southern Italy: Italo-Norman forces under Robert Guiscard de Hauteville and Richard I of Capua, conquer the fortress city of Salerno after a short siege.
  • December 26 – Bolesław II the Bold (or "the Generous") is crowned as King of Poland by Archbishop Bogumił in Gniezno Cathedral. Bolesław supports Gregory VII in his conflict against Henry IV.

1077 CE33 entries

  • January 25 – Walk to Canossa: Emperor Henry IV travels to the Castle of Canossa near Reggio Emilia (Northern Italy), to visit Pope Gregory VII. He waits (with his wife Bertha of Savoy and son Conrad) at the gates for three days, for absolution of his excommunication. Gregory lifts the sentence, imposing on Henry a vow to comply with certain conditions (see Investiture Controversy).
  • April 3 – Henry IV grants the County of Friuli (with ducal status) to Sigaerd of Beilstein, patriarch of Aquileia. He creates the first Parliament, representing the communes as well the nobility and clergy.
  • September 1 – Pope Gregory VII appoints Landulf as bishop of Pisa. He makes him permanent legate of the Holy See in Corsica.

1078 CE33 entries

  • March 24 – Nikephoros Botaneiates enters Constantinople in triumph and is crowned by Patriarch Cosmas I as emperor Nikephoros III of the Byzantine Empire. Michael VII resigns his throne after a 7-year reign and retires into the Monastery of Stoudios.
  • July 11 – The Romanesque tympanum of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Galicia (Spain) is constructed.
  • October 3 – Grand Prince Iziaslav I dies, and is succeeded by Vsevolod I, who unites the principalities – Kiev, Chernigov and Pereyaslavl – in Kievan Rus'.

1079 CE33 entries

  • April 11 – Stanislaus of Szczepanów, bishop of Kraków, is executed on orders by King Bolesław II the Generous. The way in which his sentence is carried out causes a revolt among the Polish nobles. Bolesław is forced to flee, to take refuge at the court of King Ladislaus I of Hungary. He is succeeded by his brother Władysław I, as ruler of Poland.
  • The Seljuk Turks under Sultan Suleiman ibn Qutulmish reach and occupy the western coast of Asia Minor, an area known since the Archaic Period (c. 800–c. 500 BC) as Ionia (modern Turkey).
  • King William the Conqueror establishes the New Forest in Southern England. He proclaims it as a royal forest, using it for hunting, mainly of deer.