Year 1087 (MLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.

Events

By place

Europe

• Summer The Taifa of Valencia falls under the domination of El Cid. He stabilizes the region around Valencia, which has revolted against the Moorish puppet ruler Al-Qadir.

• Inge the Elder returns to Svealand and kills his brother-in-law Blot-Sweyn after a 3-year reign. Inge again proclaims himself king of Sweden (approximate date).

England

• September 9 William the Conqueror dies in Rouen after a fall from his horse. He is succeeded as king of England by his third son William II.

• A fire in London destroys much of the city, including St. Paul's Cathedral. Bishop Maurice starts the rebuilding of a new, much larger cathedral.

Africa

• Mahdia campaign: The navies of Genoa and Pisa take the capital of the Zirids, and occupy Mahdia for a year. Subsequently, both republics obtain trading privileges.

• Completion of Bab al-Futuh, Cairo

Japan

• January 3 Emperor Shirakawa abdicates in favor of his 7-year-old son Horikawa after a 14-year reign. He exerts his personal power to set the cloistered rule system further in motion.

Middle East

• May: The marriage of Caliph al-Muqtadi and Mah-i Mulk is consummated. This marriage strengthens the political relation of Malik-Shah I and the Caliph.

By topic

Religion

• May 9 The relics of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of seafarers, are stolen by Italian sailors from his church in Myra (modern Turkey) and transported to Bari in southern Italy.

• September 16 Pope Victor III dies after a 1-year pontificate at Monte Cassino. He is buried in the abbey's chapter house.

Births

• September 13 John II Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1143)

• Ibn Quzman, Andalusian poet and writer (approximate date)

• Reginald III (or Renaud), count of Burgundy (approximate date)

• Theoderich van Are (or Dietrich), German nobleman (d. 1126)

Deaths

• June 9 Otto I ("the Fair"), prince of Olomouc (b. 1045)

• June 27 Henry the Long, margrave of the Nordmark

• September 9 William the Conqueror, king of England

• September 16 Victor III, pope of the Catholic Church

• September 25 Simon I, French nobleman (b. 1025)

• November 12 William I of Burgundy, French nobleman (b. 1020)

• December 13 Maria Dobroniega, duchess of Poland

• December 27 Bertha of Savoy, Holy Roman Empress (b. 1051)

• Abu Bakr ibn Umar, military leader of the Almoravids

• Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī, Arab astrologer (b. 1029)

• Arnold of Soissons (or Arnoul), French bishop (b. 1040)

• Asma bint Shihab, queen and co-regent of Yemen

• Blot-Sweyn, king of Svealand (approximate date)

• Eustace II of Boulogne (approximate date)

• Leo Diogenes, Byzantine co-emperor (b. 1069)

• Solomon (or Salomon), king of Hungary (b. 1053)

• Yaropolk Izyaslavich, prince of Turov and Volhyn

References