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The Second millenium

So now it is the year 1069!

Al-Mu’tamid becomes the third and last ruler of Seville, the break-away kingdom in Moslem Spain. A treacherous murderer like his father, he lacks his father’s competence and soon has the various Moslem kingdoms untied against him. Twenty-two years after he takes the throne, his kingdom falls to rival Moslems.

Angered at rebellions in his new kingdom, William the Conqueror raids northern England, burning and killing everything he can find. It is estimated that 100,00 English die from starvation and/or winter cold as a result of William's scorched earth policy. He replaces local lords with Norman rulers and thus pacifies northern England. He also founds an abbey.

China's new Emperor begins enforcing a rigorous reform campaign to root out corruption.

Vietnam begins the "South Marching." With China to the north, the Pacific Ocean t the east, and rugged mountains to the west, Vietnam will spend the next seven centuries expanding southward, eventually tripling the nation's area.
 
Welcome to 1070 AD!

Su Song was an astounding Chinese genius who excelled in dozens of scientific fields. This year, he completes his great pharmaceutical book.

For the second year in a row, the Byzantine Empire deals the Seljuk Turks a massive defeat.

An Italian lawyer named Lanfranc is made Archbishop of Canterbury. Zealously honest, he straightens out a lot of corruption and struggles to keep the English Church independent of Rome.
 
1071 is a really bad year for the Byzantine Empire.

Not only do the Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantines, but they even capture the Emperor. The Seljuks seize 30,000 square miles of what is now western Turkey, while Byzantium falls into three decades of economic weakness that makes it difficult to defend their eastern borders. Meanwhile, facing war with Egypt, whom they now consider their real enemy (the Byzantine army had taken very heavy losses), the Seljuks quickly make peace terms with the Emperor and let him go.

And in southern Italy, the last Byzantine city falls to the Normans.

Still putting down rebellions, William the Conqueror is busy constructing castles in England to control his unruly subjects.
 
1072 is really new!

The Normans conquer Sicily, Calabria and Napoli, and establish a kingdom over southern Italy (the last Byzantine territories in Italy are lost). The Kingdom of Sicily will survive until 1860, when 99% of the population vote to voluntarily unite with the Kingdom of Italy. However, the Normans themselves will lose control over the kingdom within a few decades.

William the Conqueror decides that the Archbishop of Canterbury has primacy over the Archbishop of York. And Hereward the Watchful, who had led guerilla opposition to William, submits. So William invades Scotland. After all, Scotland had invaded him first. But the two nations quickly make peace.

The Scots begin constructing Dunfermline Abbey. Over the centuries it will be sacked, abandoned, and rebuilt a few times, and it is currently in use as a church.

And Chinese scientists are having a good year. They begin plotting the courses of the stars, planets, and moon, and develop a new technique for dredging canals.
 
1073

One of the more famous Popes, Gregory VII begins his successful twelve year reign. Before becoming Pope, Gregory had rigorously enforced reform and had been a leader in authorizing the Catholic Church to appoint future Popes. Tough and competent, he is held as a villain in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs for his murderous persecution of his opponents, yet he was flexible in establishing new policies.

Pope Gregory and German Emperor Henry deposed each other a few times, and on one occasion, the Emperor had to go personally to Rome to beg to be unexcommunicated. Finally having enough, Germany appointed Clement III as Pope in 1080. Three years later, a German army entered Rome and forcibly placed Clement on the Papal Throne. Pope Clement stayed on the Papal throne for thirty years, during the reigns of four rival Popes.

Shirakawa begins his fourteen year reign as Emperor of Japan. As was customary with Japanese Emperors, he abdicated once the succession was ensured (His father had done the same thing). But he pretended to retire to a monastery and continued to rule through the new Emperor. This custom was continued by some future Emperors.

The Seljuk Turks seize Ankara, a major city in central Turkey.

French troops enter Spain to help the Catholics battle the Moslems.
 
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It's 1074, and the village of Onavas, in northwestern Mexico, has just broken into the news. The people there are tying boards to the heads of their children in order to deform their skulls. They've quit doing it, of course, and the village of 200 people is hosting archaeologists who are digging up remains and trying to figure out why they did it in the first place.

Benevento, a small Italian city-state, is defeated by Norman invaders.
 
1075 marks the beginning of the Investiture Controversy. Pope Gregory VII had declared that no secular ruler could appoint Church officials. Since bishops in Germany controlled large areas, independent of the Emperor, the Holy Roman Empire opposed this policy. While celebrating Mass on Christmas Day, the Pope was kidnapped by agents of the Emperor, but later freed by Roman citizens.

Still on the go, Seljuk Turks capture Jerusalem from rival Moslems.

Vietnam begins administering tests for applicants for government positions, rather than giving them to the nobility. As Vietnam continues to expand steadily southward, they are building dikes and other infrastructures to make the land more prosperous. Then, learning that China is massing an army for an invasion, Vietnam rallies 100,000 men and invades China, capturing three Chinese generals and scattering the Chinese forces. Next year, China will return and be defeated again.
 
And now it is 1076!

The Holy Roman Emperor declares the Pope to be deposed for opposing the Emperor’s power to appoint Church officials. The Catholic Church responds by excommunicating Emperor Henry and everyone who backs him. Henry responds by leading an army into Italy.

There’s a lot of controversy over what happened, but the powerful Ghana Empire of western Africa begins to break apart. Historians agree that Moslems had peacefully converted much of the kingdom. Some records indicate that rival Moslems from Morocco invaded, broke up the empire, but then couldn’t hold it.

After another victory over the Chinese, Vietnam issues a poem entitled “Rivers and Mountains of the South Nation,” which is their official declaration of independence. Vietnam had been independent for some time, but had agreed to be a vassal state in return for peace.

At "The Trial of Penenden Heath," the English Catholic Church successfully sues an earl who had stolen Church lands. The trial set a precedent for British respect for ancient laws (the theft had occurred before the Norman Conquest) in the presence of modern law. Because Britain does not have a constitution, this precedent still stands.
 
Let's look at 1077.

In January, HRE Henry has the Pope trapped in a castle. And then, in one of the greatest moments in the history of the Catholic Church, he spends three days waiting outside the gates, pleading for the Pope to lift the excommunications on Henry and his court. In return for promises, the Pope lifts the ban.

Fleeing from an unsuccessful rebellion against the Seljuk Empire (which has been smashing both the Moslems and the Byzantines as it expanded into their territories) Suleyman founds an independent Turkish state in western Turkey that survives for nine years. Skillfully allying with and betraying the Byzantines and the Moslems, he establishes a stable kingdom, but he is assassinated after nine years and Seljuk retakes his kingdom with little resistance.

England’s famous Windsor Castle is built. Designed to protect London and a strategically important part of the Thames River, it has been rebuilt and improved on several times. Closely associated with English royalty, it is possibly the most expensive secular building in the world.

The Almoravid Empire finishes conquering the Ghana Empire, and all of northwestern Africa is under their control. And now they begin preparing for their invasion of Spain.

Still on the move, the Seljuk Turks capture Nicaea in northwestern Turkey, and once again capture Jerusalem.

In Spain, the Catholic kingdom of Castile is also on the move, capturing the Catholic kingdom of Coria. This important city is in western Spain, bordering the mountains that surround Portugal.
 
Welcome to 1078.

Around this time, China is producing 125,000 tons of cast iron every year.

Pope Gregory VII forbids Jews to hold office.

Fleeing the Seljuk Turks, Armenian refugees found the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in southern Turkey. Practicing the Armenian Apostolic Church religion, they become a center of Armenian culture and science. Their innovations in castle-building were copied by the Crusaders, with whom they got along. With one major seaport, they eventually become a prosperous kingdom that maintains friendly relations with Catholic Europe. The kingdom finally falls in 1375.
 
Merry Christmas!

And now, on to 1079.

Omar Khayyam, the great Persian astronomer, , correctly calculates the length of one year. During his lifetime, he would also advance algebra and geometry. Later, he would become famous as a poet and philosopher.

William the Conqueror demolishes twenty small hamlets and some isolated farms in order to create a forest for hunting deer. Today it is the largest park in southeastern England.

Stanislaus, bishop of Krakow, Poland, had reprimanded King Boleslaw the Bold for immorality and cruelty. When that doesn't work, Stanislaus excommunicates the king and joins a conspiracy against him. Boleslaw then personally kills the bishop as he celebrates Mass. There are conflicts about the exact year, but Boleslaw is later forced to flee Poland, and his brother becomes the next king.
 
Folks, I need to explain that the evil King of Poland, Boleslaw the Bold, who murdered Bishop Stanislaus, is not the same man as his father Boleslaw the Brave. His father was the first King of Poland and is regarded by Poles as a hero.

And now we are ready for the year 1080!

China defeats the Western Xia Dynasty in a series of battles. Located in northwestern China and Mongolia, the Xia will survive another century before being absorbed into China.

After 24 years, the first bishop of Iceland dies. He had made his large home the headquarters of the Catholic Church in Iceland, and his son now becomes bishop for the next 36 years.

Having been forgiven by Pope Gregory VII, 26 year old HRE Henry IV returns to Germany to find a civil war in progress. It takes a while, but Henry's side wins.

William the Conqueror sends a letter to Rome, insisting that the King of England is not under the authority of the Pope.

Finally having had enough of the power-crazed Pope Gregory VII, Germany appoints Clement III as Pope. Clement will rule for twenty years, serving through the reigns of four other Popes. After his death, the Catholic Church will dig him up and throw him into the Tiber River. I can understand why; after years of opposing various Popes and Church reforms, he had been given an important position in the Church by the HRE, but he had to swear allegiance to the Pope. When Pope Gregory VII ordered Catholic clergy to stop selling Church offices and to stop keeping concubines, Clement rebelled in violation of his oath. At times he was very popular with the Church and the people, who blamed Pope Gregory for causing civil war in the HRE (The criticism is partly true).
 
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Will we have fun in 1081?

Reeling in defeat from China, the Western Xia attack, catching a Chinese army by surprise and destroying it. But the Chinese manage to hold on and the Xians cannot advance.

A Turkish hostage who was raised in the Byzantine court, Taka Bay escapes to the coast of the Aegean Sea. He leads a revolt and establishes a small Turkish kingdom, builds a forty-ship navy and starts seizing islands in the eastern Mediterranean. After defeating the Byzantine navy twice, he is defeated and killed, and Byzantium retakes his kingdom. But it will take another two centuries for Turkey to regain the area.

Alexios I begins his very successful thirty-seven year reign as Byzantine Emperor. His collapsing empire needs military and financial reform, and he's the man for the job. His reign begins a resurgence of Byzantine power.

We're not sure where Albania came from, but the Normans seize it from the Byzantine Empire and hold it for nineteen years. Located to the east of Italy, it had been part of the Bulgarian Empire.

A massive battle between rival Welsh kingdoms weakens the Welsh so badly that William the Conqueror will later easily seize most of Wales.
 
Welcome to 1082.

Now that they have their government stabilized, Spanish Moslems invade the Moslem kingdom of northwestern Africa. At their height, four decades later, they will hold a large section of the western Mediterranean coast and much of northern Africa’s Atlantic coast, thus controlling the entry to the Mediterranean. If you have a long memory, you might recall that Moslem Spain is all that remains of the first great Moslem Empire, which was seized and defeated by rebels centuries ago.

HRE Henry IV captures the city of Rome, and the Catholic Church holds an unsuccessful synod to settle the conflicts between him and Pope Gregory.
 
1083 is a rough year for Moslem Spain.

Busy fighting the Moslems of northwest Africa, Spanish Moslems lose Graus, one of the northernmost towns in Moslem Spain, to the Catholics. The town is then given to a monastery which begins repopulating and rebuilding the town.

Talevera de le Riena is an important town in central Spain. Its good weather and excellent soil had made it a major Moslem agricultural and trade center, and its population of Moslems, Catholics, and Jews usually got along. This year the Catholic kingdom of Castile seizes the city, and it remains part of Catholic Spain to this day.

And in northern Africa, the Almoravids (the Moslem kingdom of northwestern Africa) capture a Spanish Moslem strongpoint on Africa's northwestern coast.

Having breached Rome's defenses, the Holy Roman Empire captures St. Peter's Cathedral, leaving Pope Gregory VII trapped in a besieged castle.
 
1084

Four years after being elected Pope, Clement III is crowned in Rome, in opposition to Pope Gregory VII. Clement supports the HRE’s authority to appoint Church officials, while Gregory opposes him. But a pro-Gregory army of Normans advances on Rome, sacks the city, and Gregory regains his Papal Chair. But then he is forced to flee the city due to political opposition, and he dies next year.

Pope Gregory VII is one of the most famous of all Popes, brutally enforcing Papal authority, regarded as a murderer by Foxe's Book of Martyrs, and later made a Catholic saint.

In the southern tip of central Turkey, the Seljuk Turks capture Antioch from the Byzantines.

As civil war continues in Sweden, Sweyn the Sacrificer, determined to restore pagan sacrifices, seizes the throne. The Swedes then generally returned to paganism voluntarily. Three years later, Sweyne is assassinated, and Christianity is restored.

In southeast Asia, Kyansittha becomes King of Burma for the next 28 years. Continuing the successful policies of his father, he turns Burma into an international power. During his mostly peaceful reign he merges different Buddhist sects into a Burmese version of Buddhism, begins an extensive temple-building campaign, and increases the nation's agricultural output.

Wanting to turn the village of Speyer, Germany, into a major city, the Catholic bishop guarantees Jews many major rights, and refugees flock in. For the next two centuries, Speyer will be a center of Jewish influence, and will also contain the largest Catholic Church in the world (at that time).
 
1085

Nine year old "Wise Ancestor" begins his 25 year reign as Emperor of China. Controlled by his corrupt former Empress mother, who ends all reforms and restores corruption, he gains real power in 1093 when she dies. He reforms the government, lowers taxes, forces China's enemies onto better terms, and fires corrupt officials.

Reeling in defeat on every front, Moslem Spain loses Toledo, a major Moslem city in the very center of Spain, to the Catholic kingdom of Castile. Castile immediately invites French Catholic knights to settle the area.

William the Conqueror order a massive survey of England and part of Wales in order to ascertain taxes. Completed next year, the Domesday Book
 
I have a modern-day version of the Domesday Book, and it is remarkable in the extent of details it provides. Land owner, number of people, cows, pigs, chickens ... the details are fascinating. (It is also fascinating to note the vast amount of land William gave to his half-brother Odo (or Odon) of Conteville.)
 
AirDancer, thanks for the input. And we thought OUR government was intrusive!

1086

Victor III, a very successful abbot, begins an unimpressive one year reign as Pope. Overshadowed by Pope Clement III, Victor had refused the Papacy until it was practically forced onto him. He became sick shortly after being elected by the cardinals and retired to a monastery to die.

One year after Catholic Spain had resiezed Toledo, Spanish Moslems pull some armies out of Africa and attack at “The Battle of the Slippery Ground,” referring to the fact that there was so much blood on the grass that both armies kept slipping. Losing 1/3 of their 1500 man heavily-trained army, the Catholics are driven off the field, but the Moslems’ 7500 man army has taken too many losses to pursue them. No territory changes hands, and the Catholics hold onto Toledo. However, it is considered a Moslem victory because the Catholics could not advance again for seven more decades. As a side note, they couldn’t fight on Saturday because there were so many Jews in both armies.

In Sicily, the last Moslem stronghold falls to the Normans.
 
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