11th century

Summary

The 11th century is the period from 1001 (represented by the Roman numerals MI) through 1100 (MC) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the 1st century of the 2nd millennium.

Political boundaries in Eastern Hemisphere in early half of 11th century
Political boundaries in Eastern Hemisphere at the end of the 11th century

In the history of Europe, this period is considered the early part of the High Middle Ages. There was, after a brief ascendancy, a sudden decline of Byzantine power and a rise of Norman domination over much of Europe, along with the prominent role in Europe of notably influential popes. Christendom experienced a formal schism in this century which had been developing over previous centuries between the Latin West and Byzantine East, causing a split in its two largest denominations to this day: Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

In Song dynasty China and the classical Islamic world, this century marked the high point for both classical Chinese civilization, science and technology, and classical Islamic science, philosophy, technology and literature. Rival political factions at the Song dynasty court created strife amongst the leading statesmen and ministers of the empire. In Korea, the Goryeo Kingdom flourished and faced external threats from the Liao dynasty (Manchuria).

In this century the Turkish Seljuk dynasty comes to power in Western Asia over the now fragmented Abbasid realm, while the first of the Crusades were waged towards the close of the century. The Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt, the Ghaznavids, and the Chola dynasty in India had reached their zenith in military might and international influence. The Western Chalukya Empire (the Chola's rival) also rose to power by the end of the century. In Japan, the Fujiwara clan continued to dominate the affairs of state.

In the Americas, the Toltec and Mixtec civilizations flourished in Central America, along with the Huari Culture of South America and the Mississippian culture of North America. The Tiwanaku Empire centered around Lake Titicaca collapsed in the first half of the century.

Overview edit

 
The Brihadeeswarar Temple of Chola era southern India, completed in 1010, during the reign of Rajaraja I

In European history, the 11th century is regarded as the beginning of the High Middle Ages, an age subsequent to the Early Middle Ages. The century began while the translatio imperii of 962 was still somewhat novel and ended in the midst of the Investiture Controversy. It saw the final Christianisation of Scandinavia and the emergence of the Peace and Truce of God movements, the Gregorian Reforms, and the Crusades which revitalised a church and a papacy that had survived tarnished by the tumultuous 10th century. In 1054, the Great Schism saw the political and religious culmination and a formal split between the Western and Eastern church.

In Germany, the century was marked by the ascendancy of the Holy Roman Emperors, who hit their high-water mark under the Salians. In Britain, it saw the transformation of Scotland into a single, more unified and centralised kingdom and the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The social transformations wrought in these lands brought them into the fuller orbit of European feudal politics. In France, it saw the nadir of the monarchy and the zenith of the great magnates, especially the dukes of Aquitaine and Normandy, who could thus foster such distinctive contributions of their lands as the pious warrior who conquered Britain, Italy, and the East and the impious peacelover, the troubadour, who crafted out of the European vernacular its first great literary themes. There were also the first figures of the intellectual movement known as Scholasticism, which emphasized dialectic arguments in disputes of Christian theology as well as classical philosophy.

In Italy, the century began with the integration of the kingdom into the Holy Roman Empire and the royal palace at Pavia was summoned in 1024. By the end of the century, Lombard and Byzantine rule in the Mezzogiorno had been usurped by the Normans and the power of the territorial magnates was being replaced by that of the citizens of the northern cities. In Northern Italy, a growth of population in urban centers gave rise to an early organized capitalism and more sophisticated, commercialized culture by the late 11th century, most notably in Venice. In Spain, the century opened with the successes of the last caliphs of Córdoba and ended in the successes of the Almoravids. In between was a period of Christian unification under Navarrese hegemony and success in the Reconquista against the taifa kingdoms that replaced the fallen caliphate. In Eastern Europe, there was a golden age for the principality of Kievan Rus.

 
A Scholar in a Meadow, Chinese Song dynasty, 11th century

In China, there was a triangular affair of continued war and peace settlements between the Song dynasty, the Tanguts-led Western Xia in the northwest, and the Khitans of the Liao dynasty in the northeast. Meanwhile, opposing political factions evolved at the Song imperial court of Kaifeng. The political reformers at court, called the New Policies Group (新法, Xin Fa), were led by Emperor Shenzong of Song and the Chancellors Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi, while the political conservatives were led by Chancellor Sima Guang and Empress Dowager Gao, regent of the young Emperor Zhezong of Song. Heated political debate and sectarian intrigue followed, while political enemies were often dismissed from the capital to govern frontier regions in the deep south where malaria was known to be very fatal to northern Chinese people (see History of the Song dynasty). This period also represents a high point in classical Chinese science and technology, with figures such as Su Song and Shen Kuo, as well as the age where the matured form of the Chinese pagoda was accomplished in Chinese architecture.

In Japan, the Fujiwara clan dominated central politics by acting as imperial regents, controlling the actions of the Emperor of Japan, who acted merely as a 'puppet monarch' during the Heian period. In Korea, the rulers of the Goryeo Kingdom were able to concentrate more central authority into their own hands than in that of the nobles, and were able to fend off two Khitan invasions with their armies.

In the Middle East, the Fatimid Empire of Egypt reached its zenith only to face steep decline, much like the Byzantine Empire in the first half of the century. The Seljuks came to prominence while the Abbasid caliphs held traditional titles without real, tangible authority in state affairs.

In India, the Chola dynasty reached its height of naval power under leaders such as Rajaraja Chola I and Rajendra Chola I, dominating southern India (Tamil Nadu), Sri Lanka, and regions of Southeast Asia. The Ghaznavid Empire would invade northwest India, an event that would pave the way to a series of later Muslim expansions into India.

In Southeast Asia, the Pagan Kingdom reached its height of political and military power. The Khmer Empire would dominate in Mainland Southeast Asia while Srivijaya would dominate Maritime Southeast Asia. Further east, the Kingdom of Butuan, centered on the northern portion of Mindanao island flourished as the dominant trading polity in the archipelago. In Vietnam, the Lý dynasty began, which would reach its golden era during the 11th century.

In Nigeria, formation of city states, kingdoms and empires, including Hausa kingdoms and Borno dynasty in the north, and the Oyo Empire and Kingdom of Benin in the south.

Events edit

1001–1009 edit

 
An 11th-century rock crystal ewer of Fatimid Egypt

1010s edit

 
Defeat of the Bulgarians by the Byzantines depicted in the Madrid Skylitzes

1020s edit

 
Celadon statue of an imperial guardian lion of the Chinese Song dynasty, 11th or 12th century

1030s edit

1040s edit

 
Territories of Zirids and Hammadids after the invasions of Banu Hilal, of Norman incursions and the weakening of the Almoravids

1050s edit

 
A flat casket carved out of ivory from Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain), c. 1050

1060s edit

 
The Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to the Battle of Hastings in 1066

1070s edit

 
An 11th-century Chola dynasty bronze figurine of Arthanariswara

1080s edit

 
A page of the Domesday Book of England

1090–1100 edit

 
Siege of Jerusalem (1099)

Undated edit

Gallery edit

Architecture edit

 
St Albans Cathedral of England, completed in 1089
 
The Gonbad-e Qabus Tower, built in 1006 during the Ziyarid dynasty of Iran
 
Pagoda of Fogong Temple, built in 1056 in Shanxi, China by the Khitan Liao dynasty in 1056

Inventions, discoveries, introductions edit

 
Latin translation of the Book of Optics (1021), written by the Iraqi physicist, Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen)
 
Constantine the African examines patients' urine; he taught ancient Greek medicine and Islamic medicine at the Schola Medica Salernitana.
 
The original diagram of Su Song's book Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao (published 1092) showing the clepsydra tank, waterwheel, escapement mechanism, chain drive, striking clock jacks, and armillary sphere of his clock tower
 
Diagram from al-Bīrūnī's book Kitab al-tafhim showing lunar phases and lunar eclipse
 
The spherical astrolabe, long employed in medieval Islamic astronomy, was introduced to Europe by Gerbert d'Aurillac, later Pope Sylvester II.

Science and technology edit

Literature edit

 
The Ostromir Gospels of Novgorod, 1057

Notes edit

  1. ^ Soekmono, R, Drs., Pengantar Sejarah Kebudayaan Indonesia 2, 2nd ed. Penerbit Kanisius, Yogyakarta, 1973, 5th reprint edition in 1988 p.52
  2. ^ "index". www.muslimphilosophy.com.
  3. ^ Soekmono, R, Drs., Pengantar Sejarah Kebudayaan Indonesia 2, 2nd ed. Penerbit Kanisius, Yogyakarta, 1973, 5th reprint edition in 1988 p.56
  4. ^ Epigraphia Carnatica, Volume 10, Part 1, page 41
  5. ^ Kallner-Amiran, D. H. (1950). "A Revised Earthquake-Catalogue of Palestine" (PDF). Israel Exploration Journal. Israel Exploration Society. 1 (4): 223–246. JSTOR 27924451.
  6. ^ Soekmono, R, Drs., Pengantar Sejarah Kebudayaan Indonesia 2, 2nd ed. Penerbit Kanisius, Yogyakarta, 1973, 5th reprint edition in 1988 p.57
  7. ^ Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 120–124.
  8. ^ Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 81–84.
  9. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 1, 252.
  10. ^ On the Banu Hillal invasion, see Ibn Khaldoun (v.1).
  11. ^ Einar Joranson (1928). "The Great German Pilgrimage of 1064-1065". In Paetow, Louis J. (ed.). The Crusades and Other Historical Essays Presented to Dana C. Munro by his Former Students. New York: Crofts. pp. 3–43. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  12. ^ Bowman, 599.
  13. ^ Mohn, 1.
  14. ^ "Asian maritime & trade chronology to 1700 CE". Maritime Asia.
  15. ^ Kennedy, 152.
  16. ^ Ebrey et al. (2006), 158.
  17. ^ Darlington, 474–475.
  18. ^ Seife, 77.
  19. ^ Darlington, 473.
  20. ^ Tester, 131–132.
  21. ^ Darlington, 467–468.
  22. ^ Tester, 130–131, 156.
  23. ^ Salhab, 51.
  24. ^ Darlington, 475.
  25. ^ Holmes, 646.
  26. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 291.
  27. ^ Needham, Volume 3, 603 – 604, 614, 618.
  28. ^ Sivin, III, 23.
  29. ^ Chan, Clancey, & Loy, 15.
  30. ^ Sivin, III, 16–19.
  31. ^ Needham, Volume 3, 415 – 416.
  32. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 1, 98.
  33. ^ Sivin, III, 34.
  34. ^ Fraser & Haber, 227.
  35. ^ Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 201.
  36. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 660.
  37. ^ Wu (2005), 5.
  38. ^ Unschuld, 60.
  39. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 446.
  40. ^ Needham, Volume 6, Part 1, 174, 175.
  41. ^ Needham, Volume 3, 648.
  42. ^ Hartwell, 54.
  43. ^ Prioreschi, 193–195.
  44. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 352.
  45. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 111, 165, 145–148.

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