Year 1016 (MXVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.

Events

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By place

Europe

• March 25 Battle of Nesjar (off the coast of Norway): Olaf Haraldsson is victorious over former co-regent Sweyn Haakonsson, confirming his status as king of Norway.

• April 23 Æthelred the Unready, king of England, dies after a 38-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Edmund II "Ironside".

• Summer Battle of Brentford (near London): Edmund Ironside defeats the Danes under King Cnut.

• July 6 Battle of Pontlevoy: French forces of Fulk III and Herbert I defeat Odo II which determines the balance of power in the Loire Valley.

• October 18 Battle of Assandun: Cnut defeats Edmund Ironside, leaving the latter as king of Wessex.

• November 30 Edmund II dies and Cnut takes control of the whole of the Kingdom of England.

• The Pisan and the Genoese republics launch a naval offensive against the Muslim strongholds of Sardinia, in particular Porto Torres, and defeat the fleet of the taifa king of Dénia, Mujāhid al-ʿĀmirī.

• Melus of Bari makes a second attempt against Byzantine-held Southern Italy. To support his cause, he hires Norman mercenaries, unwittingly triggering the rise of Norman rule over southern Italy.

• Georgius Tzul, ruler of Khazaria, is captured by a combined Byzantine Empire–Kievan Rus' force, which effectively ends Khazaria's existence.

Arabian Empire

• January 7 Fath al-Qal'i, governor of the Citadel of Aleppo, revolts against Emir Mansur ibn Lu'lu', forcing him to flee. Fath accepts an agreement with Salih ibn Mirdas and takes control of Aleppo.

Asia

• March 10 Emperor Sanjō of Japan abdicates the throne after a 5-year reign. He is succeeded by his 7-year-old cousin Go-Ichijō as the 68th emperor of Japan. Fujiwara no Michinaga is appointed regent.

• Japanese poet Koshikibu no Naishi (lady-in-waiting to Dowager Empress Shōshi) and her husband Fujiwara no Kiminari (son of Michinaga) have a son, but the couple is not accepted because of the social gap between them.</onlyinclude>

Births

• April 3 Xing Zong, emperor of the Liao dynasty (d. 1055)

• June 9 Deokjong, ruler of Goryeo (Korea) (d. 1034)

• July 25 Casimir I the Restorer, duke of Poland (d. 1058)

• August 24 Fujiwara no Genshi, Japanese empress (d. 1039)

• October 28 Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1056)

• Cao, empress and regent of Song dynasty China (d. 1079)

• Edward the Exile, son of Edmund II of England (d. 1057)

• Không Lộ, Vietnamese Zen master (approximate date)

• Minamoto no Tsunenobu, Japanese nobleman (d. 1097)

• Svein Knutsson, king of Norway (d. 1035)

• Yan Vyshatich, Kievan nobleman (d. 1106)

Deaths

• April 23 Æthelred the Unready, king of England

• May 22 Jovan Vladimir, Serbian prince (b. 990)

• September 6 Fujiwara no Bokushi, great-grandmother of the Emperor of Japan

October 18

• Ælfric of Hampshire, English nobleman

• Eadnoth the Younger, bishop of Dorchester in England

• Ulfcytel Snillingr, English nobleman

• November 30 Edmund II "Ironside", king of England

• Badis ibn Mansur, Muslim emir of the Zirid dynasty

• Henry II "the Good", count of Stade (b. 946)

• Liu Chenggui, official of Song dynasty China (b. 951)

• Simeon of Mantua, Armenian Benedictine monk

• Sulayman ibn al-Hakam, caliph of Córdoba

• Uhtred the Bold, English nobleman

• Wulfgar of Abingdon, English abbot

References

Sources