Timeline 1060-1080 (Interference)

1061-1065
1060-1062

Northern Europe: King Frederick I of Germany dies without male issue. His appointed heir is his nephew Hermann, second son of the king of Luxemburg Giselbert I, but again the German dukes have other ideas and support one of their own, the ambitious Rudolf von Rheinfelden. After two years of infighting, treasons and small indecisive battles :confused:, a most important agreement is reached by papal mediation at the Diet of Lüneburg, where the electoral character of the German crown ;) is officially sanctioned. The dukes of Saxony (which is now ruled by almost a century by the Billungs family), Bavaria, Thuringia, Franconia (now Hermann himself), Swabia, the Patriarch of Aquileia and the archbishops of Trier, Mainz, Cologne and Salzburg will choose the German king, with the last word to be left to the Pope in the case of a tie in the votes. The Electors appoint Hermann I as king, thus keeping the Luxemburg family in the throne; Rudolf marries Gisela, one of Hermann's sisters, and is made duke of Swabia (which hadn't a ruler in the last years).

1061 Southern Europe: Pope-king Nicholas II dies after a brief but fruitful pontificate to be succeeded by John XVIII (*OTL Alexander II, the Milanese Anselmo da Baggio). Also king Pipino I of Lombardy dies of old age and is succeeded on the throne at Pavia by his nephew, Arduino II. Bari heroically resists a Venetian-Norman siege till Western imperial forces break the siege by land; the free trading city is now recognized as an independent, if nominally imperial, republic, and the Venetians are bought off :rolleyes: by emperor John II. 1061-1063 

Southern Europe: A serious civil war rages in Lombardy, where Milan starts vying with Pavia to host the capital of the kingdom, and allies with Guido, count of Pombia and Biandrate. Guido, a distant cousin of king Arduino II, self-proclaims king and occupies Ivrea. After two years of pitched battles and ecclesiastical strife (with the bishop of Pavia self-styling archbishop), the Milanese army prevails at the battle of Campomorto, but Guido dies on the battlefield:p. Arduino II is finally accepted as king, but has to be re-crowned in Milan by the Milanese Archbishop Guido da Velate.

Central-Eastern Europe: King Boleslaw II of Poland retakes upper Slovakia from Hungary.

1062

Central Asia, Middle East: Fars (southern Persia) is taken over by the Kurdish Shabankarai clan, which will prove able to successfully resist later Seljuk comebacks.

North Africa: The Zenete Compact invades Mauretania (*OTL Morocco): in the southern reaches of the country they found Murnathya (*OTL Marrakech) as their capital. Banu Hilal raiders from Tripoli (Libia) fiercely sack southern Ifrigia (later Punia, *OTL Tunisia) and recapture Djirva (*OTL Djerba) from Christian hands, making it again a nest of Muslim piracy

1062-1063 Southern Europe: An anti-Pope, Honorius II, is appointed by the supporters of king Arduino II and marches to Rome, briefly expelling the legitimate John XVIII (*OTL Alexander II). He is driven from the city by a revolt :D and later forced to renounce his claim as a synod in Mantua recognizes John the sole true Pope 1062-1066

Northern Hesperia (*OTL America): A tiny Norse colony established in what will be later called New Palestine (*OTL Massachussetts) :cool: is overwhelmed and destroyed by the local Skraelings (Hesperindian [*Amerindian] natives)

1063

Northern Europe: Berchtold von Zähringen is made the first margrave of Baden (SW Germany, a part of Swabia).

Southern Europe: Western imperial forces resume the war against the encroaching Norman, but these, led by the Hauteville brothers, gain the upper hand and score a major victory at the battle of the Torano (upper Campania)

1063-1065

British isles: Harold Godwinson, earl of Wessex, invades Wales clashing with the fierce resistance of Gruffydd ap Llewellyn's forces

1064 Byzantine Empire: The Ouzoi/Oghuz swarm through the Sklaviniai (*OTL Balkans) up to Greece, pillaging and massacring, till they are mostly finished off by epidemics, Byzantine generals and local Slavic clans. In the meantime basileus Constantine IX (*not OTL's one) dies of old age in Constantinople and is succeeded by his son-in-law, Michael I, a high civil servant

Caucasus, Middle East: The Seljuk Turks :eek: invade Armenia crushing the last indepedent Armenian state in Vannadopolis/Kars and take Ani. The Marwanids of Amida/Diyarbakir (Kurdistan) ally with the new invaders to oust the Byzantines from Edessa (*OTL Urfa); Aleppo's Byzantine-Mirdasid garrison instead holds against a Seljuk raid.

Central Asia: Alp Arslan crushes his rivals in the battle of Rayy (Persia/Iran) and becomes the only sultan of the rapidly expanding Seljuk empire. 1065 British isles: Morcar, son of earl Alfgar of Mercia, overthrows earl Tostig Godwinson of Northumbria on orders from Tostig's own brother, Harold of Wessex. Tostig takes refuge in Norway at Harald Hardradi's court. Exploiting the English internecine strife, Gruffydd ap Llewellyn is able to soundly defeat the Anglo-Saxons at Ludlow :p and the Welsh border is anew set along the Severn river. The Jarls of the Orkneys lose control over the Isle of Man and the Hebrides. Westminster Abbey is consecrated

Western Europe: France and Burgundy jointly invade Lorraine to wrest it for good from Luxemburgian hands, but the war soon bogs down in a number of petty skirmishes, owing also the disloyal conduct of many French and Burgundian feudatories who are easily bought off with small land grants and money :o

Southern Europe: The Peace of Naples recognizes the Norman principalities of Gaeta, Capua and Boiano and the county of Puglia (actually only Capitanata, northern Puglia) as fully sovereign states. The shrewd Hauteville brothers, the formemost Norman leaders, give back some land in Abruzzo to the Papal kingdom of Italy/Spoleto to ensure its future friendly attitude in case of further conflicts :cool:. Middle East: Arab raiders exterminate a 7000-strong column of German Christian pilgrims near Caesarea (Palestine), including several high prelates :mad:. Such is the end of the greatest European mass pilgrimage to the Holy Land since centuries, causing great outrage in the Catholic world. :mad:

1066-1070
1066

Northern Europe: The Slavic Wends burn and raze Hedeby, which is abandoned in favor of nearby Schleswig/Slesvig.

British isles, Western Europe: King Edward the Confessor dies without sons. The Witan (crown council) swiftly elects king of England Harold II Godwinson, earl of Wessex, from a cadet branch of the royal House of Cerdic, instead of Edward's appointed heir, the young Edgar Ætheling, also to counter the claim by William, duke of Normandy and distant relative of the deceased king. After a few months Harald Hardradi :eek: and Tostig Godwinson land in Northumbria with a Norwegian army: Harold II marches north to oust them but is caught and killed in an ambush by Welsh raiders :D near Leicester and his army soon falls apart. Edgar Ætheling is crowned in Winchester as the new king (Edgar II), but soon Tostig Godwinson, supported by the Norwegians, kills him :mad: and usurps the English throne. Meantime, on the continent, William of Normandy abandons the French expedition to Lorraine with his army and crosses the Channel to England. The Anglo-Saxons split in two rival factions, the “Norman” one supporting William and the “Norwegian” one supporting Tostig. After the easy capture of London and his forceful coronation as William I of England, the Norman conqueror marches northwards to Northumbria, but the subsequent battle of the Dee against Tostig and Harald Hardradi's forces is a narrow defeat and leaves England in shambles, with the south firmly in the hands of William and the north held by the Anglo-Norwegians:confused:. To ensure continued alliance from king Alan I of Brittany, William bestows upon him the important earldom of Richmond.

Southern Europe: To bolster defences against Byzantine attempts to reconquest, the Norman fiefs in Albania are unified to form the principality of Dyrrachion (*OTL Dūrres). The prince has to be elected for life by his peer landlords, and local noblemen can be co-opted with full rights provided they declare loyal to the Papacy rather than to the Patriarchate of Constantinople in religious matters

1066-1077

Caucasus: the Byzantine seal a tactical alliance with the sultanate of Derbent to keep the Seljuk menace at bay. The Seljuk hordes repeatedly invade Derbent, but this proves a tough nut to crack and the final subjugation of the sultanate proves long and difficult. This will bring along, though, the Turkicization of Azerbaijan

1067 

Western Europe, British isles: In France king Baldwin IV the Pilgrim dies, and his son and heir Baldwin V seizes William's domains in Normandy citing the duke's felony :rolleyes: at abandoning him during the war for Lorraine and invading England without his royal consent:rolleyes:. William the Conqueror is thus stuck in England where, after a new inconclusive battle with Tostig's Anglo-Norwegian forces at Chesterfield, even Mercia rebels under its Anglo-Saxon earl, Eastmond.

Southern Europe: The Western emperor, John II, dies in Palermo and is succeeded by his nephew, who takes the name of Theophylactus II (*not to be confused with his uncle's long deceased cousin, who bore the same name and number but never actually reigned). The new ruler formally decides in favor of Rome re: the Great Schism with Constantinople

Byzantine Empire: A Seljuk raid sets on fire Caesarea/Mazhak, the main town of Cappadocia

1067-1083

Western Europe: Upon the extinction of the main branch of the Comminges family the county of Barcelona inherits by matrimonial rights Septimania proper (only a part of the kingdom bearing the same name), Béziers, Carcassonne and the Razès/Rennes-le-Chateau. Most of these lands are quickly seized by king William I of Septimania/Toulouse and later trasferred to the Trencavel viscounts of Nimês and Albi. The cadet branch of the Comminges will become the Foix family, with domain over that town plus Couserans and Bigorre, under Navarrese suzerainty

1068

India: Emperor Vira Rajendra of the Cholas, already victorious against the Chalukyas over Vengi, wrests Kedah (Malaya) from Srivijayan hands.

1068-1069

British isles, Western Europe: the situation in England remains utterly chaotic:confused:. Even if Harald Hardradi had to go back to Norway to quell (in blood, obviously :eek: ) some internal disturbances, Tostig holds his own in Northumbria, and Mercia is ruthlessly crushed by Northumbrian and Welsh raids and by William's superior military, who lays waste to the land (the Harrowing of Mercia) causing a half-genocide to tame the Anglo-Saxons. William also allies with king Otto (*OTL count Conrad I) of Luxemburg against France Byzantine Empire: General Romanus Diogenes wages successful campaigns against the encroaching Seljuks in Anatolia, repulsing them from major fortresses and routes

1069

Western Europe: The county of Castile is formed around the town of Burgos with the fusion of some minor petty states under count Galindo Bravo Perez

Central-Eastern Europe: Boleslaw II of Poland marches on Kiev and restores on the Kievan throne his relative Izyaslav I of Turov against the usurper Vseslav the Werewolf.

Arabia: Abu Hashim Mohammed establishes the Hashemite clan (claiming direct descendance from the Prophet itself, and one of whose main branches had generated the Sh’ia Imams) as the wardens of Mecca, overthrowing the Musabite Sharifs of Hijaz with the support of the Fatimid Caliph al-Mustansir

SE Asia: King Ly Thanh Tong's Vietnamese army sacks the capital of Champa, Vijaya, and captures the Cham ruler, Rudravarman III, extorting from him several border provinces in the Annam. 1069-1086 Far East: Prime minister Wang Anshi implements wide-reaching, radical and effective reforms in Song China under the rule of emperor Shenzong/Zhao Xu, thus strengthening the economic, military and social bases of the State, which is by now the most advanced in technology and administration in the world

1070 British isles: William the Conqueror again invades Northumbria. Tostig's reign anew is saved by its Norwegian allies led by Olaf III the Brave, son and heir of Harald Hardradi and recent founder of the trade port of Bergen; the Normans are repulsed under the walls of York/Jorvik

Western Europe: King Baldwin V the Rash of France dies in the battle of Metz against German and Luxemburgian forces, leaving 15 years old Pipin I as only heir to the French crown.

Central-Eastern Europe: Duke Welf IV of Carinthia, son of Azzone II degli Obertenghi, becomes duke of Bavaria as Welf I; Carinthia is instead entrusted to the powerful Swabian feudatory Berchtold von Zähringen.

North Africa: The Zenete Compact completes its violent conquest of Mauretania by storming the ancient capital, Ulili (*OTL Roman ruins of Volubilis); the seaports along the Strait of Arrodriga (*OTL Gibraltar), Tangiers and Sefta/Ceuta, hand themselves over to the kingdom of Elbira (*OTL Granada) to avoid the new conquerors from the south.

India: Kulothunga I inherits both the Chola empire and the Chalukya kingdom of Vengi. Vijayabahu I frees Sri Lanka/Ceylon from Chola domination.

1071-1075
1071

Western Europe: Robert, heir to the county of Blois, murders his cousin Pipin I and usurps the French throne :mad:, reigning as Robert II jointly with his father Robert I, then strikes a peace with Lorraine by paying a small sum, soon followed by the reluctant king William II of Burgundy

Southern Europe: War resumes again between the Normans and the Western empire, with the former invading most of Puglia and vainly besieging Naples; as the Papacy shows no sign of condemning this, the enraged :mad: emperor Theophylactus II appoints an anti-Pope, John XIX and is excommunicated by Pope John XVIII (*OTL Alexander II). In Lombardy the Milanese Patarene zealots besiege the new archbishop, Goffredo da Castiglione, in his power base in Castiglione Olona, but are wiped back by the count of Seprio, Rodolfo III. Central-Eastern Europe: The Kipchak/Cumans replace the Pechenegs in the domination of inner Taurida (*OTL Crimea). Byzantine Empire: General Romanus Diogenes clashes with the Seljuk army of sultan Alp Arslan in the first battle of Manzikert; despite the treason on the battlefield by a thousand Ouzoi Turk mercenaries, the Anglo-Rus' Varangian Guard holds and the battle is a close, bloody tie; a compromise peace on a status-quo basis is then negotiated on the spot, and Alp Arslan even secretly pledges help to Romanus in case he should rise against basileus Michael and his court:rolleyes:, now openly envious of his popularity and power. Middle East: Atsiz' Turkoman horde (a semi-independent splinter of the Seljuks) pillages Syria weakening Fatimid influence

1071-1074 Western Europe: The War of Gascony pits Navarre, Aquitaine and Septimania/Tolosa one against the other; the Aquitanians prevail in the end and acquire Gascony.

Southern Europe: Bulgarian and the Macedonian Slavs revolt under the leadership of George Voitech. The rebels are aided by the Serbian prince Constantine Bodin, brother of the prince of Duklja/Zeta/Melanoria (*OTL Montenegro), Mihailo, and by Bogomil insurgents. Constantine is hailed as the new Czar of Bulgaria with the name of Peter, but the Byzantines painfully manage to suppress the rebellion

1072

British isles, Western Europe: William the Conqueror makes peace with Tostig, recognizing him as king of Northumbria and being in turn acknowledged as king of England within the terms of the Treaty of Lincoln, brokered by the English Church. Then, in a daring move, William re-crosses the Channel to France:cool:, where Normandy rises against the crown and he crushes the royal army at the battle of Lisieux. Robert II of France is murdered by a vassal in the flight and William reaches Paris, deposing and jailing Robert I of Blois and making himself king of both England and France: this marks the end of the Baldovingian dynasty and the foundation of the Norman empire on both sides of the Channel

Southern Europe: Robert the Guiscard, count of Puglia, vassalizes Bari and defeats a Western imperial army at the battle of Acerenza; the coastal cities of Campania, though, prove impregnable for the Italo-Normans.

Byzantine Empire: basileus Michael I dies with no male heirs and a court struggle ensues between different relatives over the throne. Romanus Diogenes quickly marches on Constantinople and is crowned Romanus II in St. Sophia by Patriarch John Xiphilinos. A subsequent attempt to poison him is narrowly foiled, and the new basileus has the schemer Michael Psellus and the entire male kin of his deceased predecessor blinded and exiled in remote monasteries:eek:. Romanus II ensures peace from the Seljuks by paying a tribute in exchange for mercenaries – which are made into the Tourkospatharioi, among the most reliable imperial guards, being themselves Muslims :eek: and thus not eligible to the throne of the Equal to the Apostles:rolleyes:.

Central Asia: The Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan is murdered in Khorezm during the successful campaign to vassalize the western Karakhanid ruler of Samarkand, Nasr I Abu'l Hasan Shams al-Mulk, and his vassal Abd al-Aziz Burkhan in Bukhara. The campaign had the aim of gaining control over the Waliate (*the Sunny “Papacy” of TTL) and was made on invitation from Wali (*”Pope”) Abu'l Fath I, worried by the rampaging chaos of Muslim Central Asia and held in golden captivity by his Karakhanid patron:rolleyes:. 1072-1075

British Isles: The Dublin Vikings reassert their independence with little Norwegian help, then are again overrun by Leinster

Middle East: Emir Atsiz fiercely raids Iraq and Syria taking Mosul; Fatimid Baghdad successfully resists a one year-long siege. 1073 

Western Europe: King William II of Burgundy, as a relative of the deposed Baldovingians by way of manifold marriages, contests William the Conqueror's rights over France and invades, being thoroughly routed at the battle of Chateau-Lunain (*not existing OTL) by his Norman rival, who thereafter gets rid of vassals deemed unreliable. The count of Portugal, Pedro III Manuel, defeats a Gallastrian invasion in the battle of the Tamega river, where his father-in-law :rolleyes: king Pedro II of Gallastria (*OTL Galicia and Asturias) is killed.

Southern Europe: Pope John XVIII (*OTL Alexander II) dies in Rome and is succeeded by Ildebrando da Sovana, the main architect of the reassertion of Papal power and prestige, who styles himself Leo VIII ([I]*in OTL he choose Gregory VII, here there wasn't a Gregory VI to influence him[/I]). The Normans enter Bari, at first as allies, soon becoming the effective overlords of the prosperous sea-trading republic.

1074

Southern Europe: Matrimonial and military alliance between the Western empire and Venice, whose Doge Domenico Silvo is afraid of ending with the Normans on both sides of the Otranto straits; Pope Leo VIII (*OTL Gregory VII) launches an excommunication also against Venice and his Doge, and soon revolts spark in the Venetian domains in coastal Histria and Dalmatia. In southern Italy now only the coast of Campania, Calabria and Salento remain in imperial possession

1075

Southern Europe: Pope Leo VIII (*OTL Gregory VII) writes the ”Dictatus Papae”, by which reclaims absolute Papal authority re: the appointment of bishops over any temporal (civilian) authority; thus begins the so called Investiture Controversy. The occasion for the move was the contested appointment of Tedaldo da Castiglione to the archbishopric of Milan, made with the consent of king Arduino II of Lombardy. The Doge of Venice, Domenico Silvo, goes to pilgrimage to Rome to have his excommunication relieved, which he gets by granting generous land concessions to the Church :rolleyes: and assuring his pro-Roman stance in Dalmatia against the pro-Byzantine Slavs. A few months later the pro-Roman faction wins the civil war in Croatia with Venetian and Hungarian help; Zvonimir Suronja becomes king.

North Africa: General Nicephorus Calavritanus, with his allies from the Numidian principality of Costantina, routs a Banu Hilal invasion at the battle of Tebessa, then is hailed as emperor by his troops and holds Ifrigia (later Punia, *OTL Tunisia) against the legitimate emperor Theophylactus II, who has transferred his capital in Palermo. The rising Comune of Genoa acquires a small bay on the central Numidian coast, founding their first commercial colony, St. James of Ikhuzi (*OTL Algiers).

Caucasus: Malik Danishmend founds the Danishmendiyya sultanate of Ahlat (Armenia) centered in Ani as a Seljuk vassal. The Seljuks conquer Gandža (Azerbaijan) overthrowing the local pro-Fatimid Shi'a kingdom of Arran.

Middle East: An anti-Byzantine revolt happens in Aleppo, where the local Mirdasid rulers accept Seljuk suzerainty, angering basileus Romanus II Diogenes

Central Asia: The Ghaznavids are vassalized by the new Seljuk sultan, Malik Shah, who moves his capital from Rayy to Isfahan and declares Samarkand a perpetual holding of the Walis (*Sunni “Popes” of TTL) where “no mortal can reign, only the all-merciful Allah”:rolleyes:.

ca. 1075

Southern Europe: Throughout Lombardy (*northern Italy) and Veneto local town councils begin to shake the power of bishops and royal gastalds, expressing the rising power of the Comuni

Caucasus, Byzantine Empire, Middle East: Due to the harsh Turkish domination of Ahlat (central-eastern Armenia), a huge number of Armenians flee west into Cappadocia, Pontus, Cilicia and Syria: their diaspora will form prosperous commercial colonies from the Sklaviniai (*OTL Balkans) to the Levant. The century-old theme system of the Byzantine empire enters its final agony :(, being replaced by a collection of civilian and military provinces (catepanates, strategarchies ), sometimes on hereditary bases (duchies).

1076-1080
1076 British isles: Norwegian invasion of Ireland :cool: led by king Olaf III the Brave; the Norwegians easily gain the allegiance of several clans against the High King, Turlough I of the O'Brian clan, who is forced to pay tribute and recognize Norwegian overlordship over the whole of Ireland after losing the bloody battle of the Fence.

Southern Europe: Pope Leo VIII (*OTL Gregory VII) excommunicates king Arduino II of Lombardy and the Lombard bishops who support him in the Investiture Controversy. Count Frederick reassembles the Canossa holdings by enforcing a family compact upon his nephews to face the royal Lombard army, the powerful bishops and the growing Communal movement of the main towns

Central-Eastern Europe: Adam dethrones his cousin Akhad Moskha usurping the title of Khan of the Volga Bulgars and moves the capital from Bolgar to Bilyar.

Middle East, Byzantine Empire: Atsiz's Turkmen rebel against the Seljuk sultanate and besiege Antioch, then withdraw under the threat of the Byzantine army led by basileus Romanus II Diogenes. Then the two armies clash in the battle of Arousion (*OTL Kheurbet al-Aarous), where the Byzantines suffer a massive defeat:(basileus Romanus is severely wounded and dies a few days later in Antioch:(. His infant son Leo VI is enthroned in Constantinople under the tutelage of Patriarch Cosmas I, but the Byzantine generals soon begin to vie for power Northern Hesperia (*OTL America): A third wave of Norse colonists from Norway, Iceland and Greenland reaches Vinlandria (*OTL Newfoundland), where by now some 1,500 Europeans live in several settlements in the north of the island on fishing, timber and petty trades with the Skraelings (*Native Americans)

1076-1077

Far East: The Song Chinese clash again with Dai Viet (*north Vietnam), then reach an agreement on borders

1077

Southern Europe: Arduino II of Lombardy, excommunicated, obtains the pardon of Pope Leo VIII (*OTL Gregory VII) by making a harsh pilgrimage to Rome :rolleyes:, where he subsequently dies of an illness after taking monastic vows. He is succeeded on the throne of Pavia and in Romancia (*OTL eastern Switzerland plus Vorarlberg and Valtellina) by his younger brother, Pipino II. Failed revolt against Pisan overlordship among the Norman lords in Corsica; the main rebel chiefs are slain or handed over to the Pisans by the native Corsicans, tired of the stern feudal regime:D ; the remaining Norman eventually pledge loyalty to Pisa. Robert the Guiscard conquers Taranto from the Western empire; a Norman fleet from Gaeta sacks Trapani (Sicily). Prince Mihailo of Duklja/Zeta (Melanoria, *OTL Montenegro) is crowned king by a Papal envoy; for some time, also to stem Norman aggression from nearby Albania, Mihailo will pledge allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church.

Byzantine Empire: The Seljuk sultan Malik Shah, feeling himself no more bound by the personal treaty his father Alp Arslan reached with the deceased basileus, unleashes the most unruly Turkmen tribes against the Byzantine possessions in Anatolia. The Byzantine provincial governor of Commagene, Vahram, sets up an independent State in Germanicea/Marash, comprising also Antioch

Middle East: Atsiz's Turkmen take Damascus and establish there a Turkic Syrian emirate.

Central Asia: The Seljuks finally subdue all of Khorezm

1077-1078 North Africa: the Western emperor Theophylactus II invades Ifrigia (later Punia, *OTL Tunisia) but is repulsed by the local usurper, Nicephorus Calavritanus, and forced to sail back to Sicily

Byzantine Empire: The rebel Byzantine general Nicephorus Briennius holds Macedonia, finding sanctuary and support in Norman Albania, and threatens Constantinople till his army collapses, bribed :rolleyes: by a young loyalist general, Alexius Comnenus.

Caucasus: The Seljuks conquer Derbent, “the key of the Caspian”, then invade Alania but are defeated in battle on the Terek river.

1077-1080

Western Europe: Robert the Courthose, first son of William the Conqueror, rebels against his father and brothers and fights a protracted civil war till he is forced into exile in Aquitaine

Western Europe, Southern Europe: King Hermann I of Germany adds the margraviates of Histria and Krain/Carniola (Slovenia) to the overlordship of the Patriarch of Aquileia, Sigeard, who receives the title of count of Friul, officially founding the Patriarchal state. This brings along a sharp conflict with the duke of Carinthia, Berchtold von Zähringen. When Berchtold dies, king Hermann entrusts Carinthia and Histria to a nominal subjects of Patriarch-count Sigeard, Marquard III von Eppenstein, count of Gurizberg (*OTL Gorizia), disowning the Zähringen heir, Berchtold II. This last rebels in his family's holdings in Swabia, being finally driven out of Germany and establishing himself as a powerful feudatory south of the Rhine, in the Burgundian Swiss ;) lands where he sought refuge. 1078 

British Isles: Maredudd ap Gruffydd quells a Norman-sponsored revolt in southern Wales, then, when a Norman army invades, he thwarts it at the battle of Dinmore Manor

Southern Europe: Norman sack of Rossano, the foremost city of northern Calabria; a Norman fleet menaces Palermo, the Western imperial capital, but is defeated

1078-1079 Byzantine Empire: General Nicephorus Basilakes again raises the flag of rebellion in Thessaly and central Greece, but is quickly defeated and eliminated

1078-1081

Byzantine Empire: Dangerous revolt in Asia Minor by general Nicephorus Melissenos, a powerful aristocrat. The insurgence is eventually crushed by Alexius Comnenus at the battle of Daskyleion; Alexius becomes the “strong man” behind the imperial throne of Byzantium. The Seljuk Turks, taking advantage of the chaos, start settling themselves in inner Asia Minor:(some of them still offer themselves as mercenaries and are recruited in the Byzantine Tourkospatharioi units (for service in Europe only, though)

1079

British Isles: Foundation of the Norse-Celtic kingdom of the Isle of Man under Godred I of the Crovan dynasty, a vassal to the Norwegian crown noted for his bravery in the Irish campaign.

Southern Europe: The Western emperor Theophylactus II, in order to recover his shattered empire:o, agrees to abandon his anti-Pope John XIX in favor of the legitimate Roman Pope, Leo VIII (*OTL Gregory VII) and accepts a peace treaty with the Normans. By this, he renounces to all of Puglia and parts of Lucania/Basilicata, where a principality of Taranto and a county of Melfi are established respectively under Bohemund and Roger I Borsa, sons of the count of Puglia Robert the Guiscard. In Otranto a neutral duchy is formed under a Venetian noble, Michele Orseolo, to ensure protection of Venetian interests in the sea outlet to the Levant

Central-Eastern Europe: In Poland king Boleslaw II kills St. Stanislaus, bishop of Cracow:eek:, and is deposed and exiled in favor of his brother Wladislaw I Herman.

Middle East: Tutush, brother of the Seljuk sultan Malik Shah, crushes Atsiz's independent emirate in Syria as an envoy of the sultan, than he himself begins to rule Syria as a private power base, even striking a peace deal with the Fatimids.

1079-1081

Central-Eastern Europe: Short Kievan occupation of Bosporon/Kerč, Tmutarakan and Azov: the first two cities later free themselves again under their prince David, whereas Azov falls to the Kipchak/Cumans

1079-1085 Middle East: The Arab Banu Uqayl tribesmen retake power in Mosul after Atsiz's liquidation, then destroy the Mirdasid emirate in Aleppo, sacking the city; they are later beaten and chased back by Tutush, who keeps them as a buffer between himself and his own brother Malik Shah, the Seljuk sultan 1080

British Isles: Olaf III of Norway crushes the Briton kingdom of Cumbria/Cumberland and annexes it to his domains; he also ensures obedience from the Norse Jarls of the Orkneys. These moves provoke a harsh struggle with the double crown of Alba/Scotland, which feels encircled by the Norwegians and their Northumbrian allies.

Southern Europe: Count Frederick of Canossa is defeated at the battle of Bussolengo by German forces after having swiflty wrested German Bernmark (the March of Verona) from their Zähringen ruler. Pipino II, king of Lombardy, is excommunicated :rolleyes: by Pope Leo VIII (*OTL Gregory VII), having supported the forcible reinstatement of Tedaldo da Castiglione as archbishop of Milan.

Byzantine Empire: The Seljuks capture Caesarea/Mazhak, the provincial capital of Byzantine Cappadocia; Suleiman I, a distant cousin of the Seljuk sultan Malik Shah, founds there the sultanate of ar-Rum (the “Roman” land). The Armenian prince Rupen carves an own kingdom in Cilicia, which will be known as Armenia Minor, and manages to keep himself independent from both Constantinople and the Seljuks.

Caucasus: The Seljuks vassalize Iberia/Georgia SE Asia: A provincial governor overthrows the ruling dynasty of the Khmer Empire and ascends the throne in assuming the name of Jayavarman VI.