AD 975 to AD 1099

Society

AD. 975. Arabs introduce modern arithmetical notation, originally from India, into Europe.

Literature

"Battle of Maldon." Anonymous. British. AD 991 or later. Poetry. Old English alliterative poem. English fail to withstand Viking invasion. Fragment.

Society

AD 1000. Norseman Lief Ericcson discovers the Western hemisphere.

Literature

Kathasaritsagara. (Ocean of the Stream of Story). Somadeva. India. AD 1000. Poetry and Tales. Written in Sanskrit. 22,000 verses. 124 chapters. Series of romantic adventure-tales featuring King Udayana.

The Mobinogion. Anonymous. Welsh. AD 1000 (?) Tales. Collection of medieval Welsh tales, first translated into English by Lady Charlotte Guest from 1838-1849. Eleven prose tales. Three divisions. Concerned with Celtic mythological subjects and folk themes.

"The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam." Arabic. AD 1000 (?) Poetry. Epigrammatic quatrains ("rubai"). Edward Fitzgerald's translation into English. With no knowledge of afterlife, we must enjoy full sensory appreciation of life on earth.

Society

AD 1009. Egypt's Caliph al-Hakim destroys Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The act stirs demands in Europe for a Christina crusade to recover the Holy Land.

AD 1013. The Danes conquer England.

AD 1027. Normandy's Duke Richard the Good dies; he has brought Normandy to the height of her power.

AD 1030. Canon of Medicine by the Arab physician Avicenna will influence medical thinking for centuries.

AD 1041. Movable type for printing will be used in the next eight years by the Chinese printer Pi Sheng.

Literature

Chanson de Roland. Anonymous. French. AD 1050. Poetry. Roland = Orlando who is too trusting, unsuspicious and impetuous. He is frank and straightforward and loses his life defending Charlemagne's rear guard against the treacherous heathen Saracens.

Society

AD 1066. The Battle of Hastings, Oct. 4, seals the Norman conquest of England.

AD 1066. A comet appears in the skies that will later be called "Halley's Comet."

AD 1066. The Normans will introduce many French words into the language of England.

AD 1086. The Domesday Book, compiled on orders from England's William I; lists more than 25,000 slaves and 110,000 villeins or serfs among the properties and assets of English landowners.

Literature

Domesday Book. William the Conqueror. Norman/British. AD 1086. Census. Latin record of the census, including property, inhabitants, domestic animals. Final authority for litigation. Served as basis for tax assessments until 1522.

Society

AD 1094. Valencia falls to El Cid, June 15, after a siege of nine months.

AD 1095. Pope Urban II preaches a crusade against the infidel.

AD 1096. The First Crusade raises more than 30,000 men and converges on Constantinople in three groups. A leading figure is the Norman knight Trancred, 18 years of age.

AD 1099. Jerusalem falls to the Crusaders, July 15, after a siege of just over one month.

AD 1099. Middle English begins to supersede Old English.