Year 1008 (MVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.

Events

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By place

Europe

• Olaf Haraldsson, future king of Norway, makes raids in the Baltic Sea. He lands on the Estonian island of Saaremaa, wins a battle there, and forces the inhabitants to pay tribute.

• Battle at Herdaler: Olaf Haraldsson sails to the southern coast of Finland to plunder, where he and his men are ambushed and defeated in the woods.

• The oldest known mention is made of the city of Gundelfingen (Southern Germany).

• Unification of the Georgian realm.

• In England, King Æthelred the Unready orders a new fleet of warships built, organised on a national scale. It is a huge undertaking, but is completed the following year.

Arabian Empire

• Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah sends a tributary mission to Emperor Zhenzong of the Song dynasty in order to reestablish trade relations between the Fatimid Caliphate and China (approximate date).

Japan

• November 13 Kamo Special Festival: The poet Murasaki Shikibu is given her name from a famous court poet, Fujiwara no Kinto; this year she probably starts to write The Diary of Lady Murasaki.

• 42nd Birthday of Fujiwara no Michinaga, father-in-law of the emperor, is celebrated.

Vietnam

• Under the Early Lê dynasty, King Lê Long Đĩnh personally marched into battle to defeat the barbarians in Đô Lương and Vị Long provinces.

By topic

Religion

• Autumn Bruno of Querfurt, a missionary bishop, and 18 companions sets out on a mission to spread Christianity among the Prussians.

• Olof Skötkonung, king of Sweden, is baptized in Husaby (Västergötland) by missionary Sigfrid, and makes generous donations on the spot.</onlyinclude>

Births

• May 4 Henry I, king of France (d. 1060)

• October 12 Atsuhira, future Emperor Go-Ichijō of Japan (d. 1036)

• Al-Mu'izz ibn Badis, Zirid ruler of Ifriqiya (d. 1062)

• Anselm of Liège, French chronicler and historian

• Di Qing, general of the Song Dynasty (d. 1057)

• Gothelo II (or Gozelo), duke of Lower Lorraine (d. 1046)

• Sugawara no Takasue, Japanese writer (approximate date)

• Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester (approximate date)

Deaths

• March 17 Kazan, emperor of Japan (b. 968)

• April 7 Ludolf (or Liudolf), archbishop of Trier

• April 10 Notker of Liège, French bishop (b. 940)

May 25

• Bishi, Japanese imperial princess

• Matilda of Saxony, countess of Flanders

• October 6 Menendo González, Galician nobleman

• November 20 Geoffrey I, duke of Brittany (b. 980)

• Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar, Andalusian court official

• Clothna mac Aenghusa, Irish poet (approximate date)

• Gunnlaugr Ormstunga, Icelandic poet (approximate date)

• Gurgen II (Magistros), king of Iberia-Kartli (Georgia)

• Ibn Zur'a, Abbasid physician and philosopher (b. 943)

• Madudan mac Gadhra Mór, king of Síol Anmchadha

• Poppo, Polish missionary bishop (approximate date)

• Raymond III, French nobleman (approximate date)

• Rotbold I (or Rotbaud), French nobleman

• Sarolt, Grand Princess of Hungary (b. 950)

References