Timeline 1040-1060 (Interference)

1041-1045
1040-1042

British Isles:

Harthacanute rules England with an iron fist and heavy taxation. Lady Godiva, wife of the earl of Mercia Leofric, rides naked :D through the streets of Coventry to protest against the taxes, gaining a tax cut for her people

Southern Europe:

When the new basileus-Czar, Gabriel, yields to pressures from the Patriarch of Constantinople, Alexius Studites, and abolishes the autonomous Bulgarian Patriarchate of Ohrid, a huge revolt explodes throughout the Sklaviniai (*OTL Balkans). The rebels, both Orthodox Christians and heretic Bogomils, come to be led by a distant relative of the Byzantine ruler, Demetrius Sclavenus. Despite the rapid fall of Ohrid and the atrocities inflicted upon the Bulgarian rebels by general George Maniaces:eek:, succeeded at the head of the Byzantine counteroffensive to Constantine Diogenes, and by his Norman-Albanian allies, the rebellion cannot be crushed easily and the insurgents manage to hold north of the Vlakorai (*OTL Balkan range proper) building a viable independent State along the lower Danube, where Demetrius proclaims himslef the only true Czar of the Bulgarians.

1041

Central-Eastern Europe:

The king of Germany, Frederick I, invades Bohemia, now become too strong a neighbour for his tastes, but his campaign soon founders due to the felony of most German dukes who withdraw their armies. Břetislav the Great, duke of Bohemia, can thus solidify his hold on Poland and proclaim himself king of both countries. His main ally are the still heathen Pomeranian Slavs

Central Asia:

The eastern branch of the Oghuz/Ouzoi Turks, the Turkmens, conquer Khorezm, which undergoes a deep Turkicization; the Seljuks prop up a client kingdom in Kerman (Persia/Iran).

1041-1044

Norhern Europe:

a new useless war is fought in Germany between Frederick I and his disloyal vassals; despite the intervention of Luxemburgian and Lorrainese forces the final settlement leaves the situation unchanged, and Frederick's power jeopardized

Southern Europe:

A harsh civil war, punctuated by brief truces brokered by the king of Lombardy, Pipino, divides the people and the higher feudatories of Milan and its neighbourhood; the final peace settlement brings along the birth of the Milanese Comune, leaving the local Archbishop, Ariberto of Intimiano, ousted from the city in the early phase of the war, as the only true loser :D. Central-Eastern Europe:

A last pagan reaction rages also in Hungary: Sàmuel Aba, brother-in-law of the deceased king Stephen I the Saint, takes the power but is later murdered, and Pietro Orseolo regains the Hungarian throne

1042 British Isles, Northern Europe:

Harthacanute dies, leaving the English throne to his half-brother Edward the Confessor (they shared the same mother, queen Emma of England). Viking power is thus curtailed in England, where the Anglo-Saxon Cerdicingas dynasty comes back to power. Denmark, instead, passes under the power of the king of Norway, Magnus I the Good.

Southern Europe:

George Maniaces ravages Macedonia and Raška/Kosovo with his Viking and Norman mercenaries, then his army suffers a serious setback at the battle of Tudjemili against prince Stefan Vojislav, who gains full independence from Byzantium for Duklja/Melanoria (*OTL Montenegro). The army of the Aquileia Patriarchate sacks nearby Grado, sealing its final decline as a Venetian outpost.

Central-Eastern Europe:

Casimir I, the Piast heir to the Polish throne (now held by the Bohemian Břetislav the Great), regains control of estern Poland minus Cracow with help from his Kievan Rus' allies

Central Asia:

The Seljuks conquer Rayy (central Persia/Iran).

SE Asia:

Upon his death, king Airlingga of Mataram/Kediri divides his kingdom between his two sons Rakai Halu and Anak Wungsu; the two branches of the family will fight long internecine wars

1043

Northern Europe:

King Magnus I of Denmark and Norway trounces once and for all the heathen Viking-Slavic pirate brotherhood of Wollin/Jomsborg (western Pomerania) by destoying its base, then annihilates a Wendic (Slavic) invading horde at Lyrskov Hede (Jutland)

Byzantine Empire:

George Maniaces, recalled from the Sklaviniai (*OTL Balkans), fearing for his life rebels against basileus-Czar Gabriel, defeating imperial forces and killing their leader, the Armenian general Leo Tornikios. He then sets up for a long siege of Constantinople, posing as a champion and restorer of the “Roman” (Greek) character of the empire against the “Bulgarian” Komitopouloi. 1044

Southern Europe:

Upon the death of Alberico III, strongmen of the counts of Tuscolo in Rome, his rival relatives of the Crescenzi family depose and murder Alberico's son, the infamous Pope-king Benedict IX, replacing him with John XVII (*OTL Silvester III). In response, the Normans of southern Italy, now led by William “Iron Arm” of Hauteville and his brothers, carve the principality of Boiano out of chaos-ridden Molise and Papal Abruzzo.

Byzantine Empire:

George Maniaces, with his Viking, Norman, Albaniana and Pecheneg troops massacres a loyalist army reinforced by Russians and Ouzoi at the great battle of Megalosfakion; his partisans then set up a revolt in Constantinople which topples the defeated basileus Gabriel, who is killed by the populace along with his heirs. Thus ends in blood the Komitopouloi dynasty, after only 49 years:(.

SE Asia:

The Dai Viet/Vietnamese fleet defeats the Chams and plunders the Champa kingdom, killing its ruler Jaya Sinhavarman II

1045 Northern Europe:

Harald Hardradi, come back after his famous Byzantine feats of arms, becomes the de facto ruler of Norway on behalf of king Magnus I the Good

Western Europe:

Gallastria (*OTL Galicia and Asturias), ruled by the strong Pedro I the Great, breaks free from Maurian Spain's suzerainty

North Africa:

Tripolitania secedes from the Cyrenaic emirate under the local paramaount tribe, the Beni Khazran.

Byzantine Empire:

George I Maniaces proclaims the annexation of Bulgaria into the empire; this only serves to further extend rebel activity in the Sklaviniai (*OTL Balkans)

SE Asia:

Srivijaya regains control over Malaya.

1046-1050
1046

Northern Europe:

The Duchy of “Slavia” (Schlawe, western Pomerania/Mecklenburg) is first named in historical records as a disloyal subject of Germany, a nest of paganism and a close ally of Bohemia.

Southern Europe:

Count Guido I of Pombia and Biandrate, a distant cousin of king Pipino I of Lombardy, marries Adelaide, countess of Turin and marquess of Susa, thus sealing the paramountry of the Biandrate clan north of the Po and west of the Ticino river; the king's domains consist instead of the ancestral lands of Canavese (Ivrea) and many holdings along the middle Po, from the boundaries of Montferrat to Cremona

Central-Eastern Europe:

The Arpadid male line regains the throne of Hungary with Àndras I the Catholic.

Caucasus:

King Gagik II of Armenia is jailed by treason :mad: in Constantinople and Byzantium gets the strategic fortress and capital of Armenia, Ani.

India:

The Thakuri dynasty succeeds to the Raghavadevas on the throne of Nepal

1046-1049

Southern Europe:

George I Maniaces wages a merciless campaign which uproots the Bulgarian rebellion up to the Danube, earning the nickname “the Bloody” :eek:. The last stages of the campaign see the Pechenegs stage fierce raids against the Bulgarian rebels and raze their capital, Preslav. Bulgaria is tamed and made into separate themes of the Byzantine empire, but at a very high cost in lives; the Bogomil heretics flee to Serbia and thence to Bosnia in the thousands

1047 

Northern Europe:

Harald Hardradi becomes king of Norway upon the death of Magnus I the Good, whereas Denmark comes to be ruled by Sven II, a nephew of Canute/Knut II the Great

Western Europe:

Upon the death of king Henry II of Luxemburg the county is de facto merged with Lorraine, where Henry's younger brother and heir Giselbert reigns with his wife and cousin, Beatrice

1047-1048 Southern Europe:

Emperor John II wages war against the Normans for control over Campania and Sardinia, and allegedly :rolleyes: to give back Abruzzo to the Papal kingdom of Italy/Spoleto. The outcome is almost nil in southern Italy, with the emperor recovering parts of inner Campania, and negative in Sardinia:D, where the local Normans vassalize the Sardinian judicates.

1048

Caucasus:

The Byzantine and Georgian armies thwart a first Seljuk raid into the Caucasus at the battle of Stragna.

Central Asia:

The Seljuks gain suzerainty over Nasrid Seistan. 1049

Byzantine Empire:

George I Maniaces breaks his tactical alliance with the Pechenegs and defeats them heavily at Stara Zagora.

Central-Eastern Europe:

Casimir I the Restorer frees western Poland and Cracow :) from the Bohemian yoke, thus reunifying the country; he is afterwards soundly defeated in Silesia, which remains a Bohemian holding

1049-1050

North Africa:

The Banu Suleiman and the Banu Hilal, savage Bedouin tribes :eek: from the Arabian desert, devastate Egypt opening the road for the swift Fatimid conquest :( of the already decayed Omayyad Caliphate. The two tribes then go on to overthrow the emirates of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania respectively, settling there as the new local masters of Mediterranean Lybia, which is fully Arabicized :(

1050 Northern Europe:

Harald Hardradi sacks and burns the Danish sea-trading town on the Baltic coast of Schleswig, Hedeby

Southern Europe:

The Patriarchate of Aquileia, from its see in Zividal (*OTL Cividale), has its paramountry over Friul officially sanctioned by king Frederick I of Germany, who also makes Gurizberg (*OTL Gorizia) a county.

Byzantine Empire, Middle East:

Basileus George I Maniaces finally recaptures Antioch :) from the Fatimids

ca. 1050 British Isles:

In central Ireland the kingdom of O’Failghe/Offaly is established under the O’Connor clan, while the Viking stronghold of Waterford is conquered by Leinster

Western Europe:

Throughout continental Europe Roman law is restored over Germanic (Frankish, Lombard etc.) laws, marking the true end of the Dark Ages.

Southern Europe:

Albert I founds the dynasty of the counts of Tyrol (from his castle above Meran). In Dalmatia Zara emerges as the most powerful coastal town, often in revolt against Venetian suzerainty. In Sardinia the Norman judge (king) Robert I of Torres, is proclaimed overlord for the entire island, receiving the feudal homage of the Norman feudatories and the other three Sardinian judge-kings of Gallura, Arborea and Santa Igia/Cagliari. North Africa:

Islamization of the Zaghawa Berbers, dwelling between Lybia and Chad, in the heart of the Zenete Desert (*OTL Sahara); they are converted to Sunnism of the Caliphist (*maintaining there has to be a Caliph, not the Wali/”Pope” of Samarkand) branch.

Caucasus:

The Alans drive the Georgians from Avaristan (Daghestan). Black Africa:

The kingdom of Takrur (Senegal) converts to Christianity under king War Jabi thanks to missionary efforts from Ghana; black African Christian doctrine, though, is quite distant from standard Catholicism and influenced by Judaism and local traditional beliefs. Baramanda founds the kingdom of Mali

Southern Africa:

The century-long wave of Bantu migrations reaches South Africa, where Bantoid peoples establish several kingdoms among the local Khoisan/Bushmen natives.

India:

The philosopher-king Bhoja I brings the kingdom of Malwa (India central) to its political and cultural heyday.

SE Asia:

King Anawratha of Pagan makes his city the main powerhouse of Burma by conquering the narby kingdom of Pegu.

Far East:

In China the navigational compass is developed; its use will quickly spread, through the Indian, Persian and Arab world, to the Mediterranean and Europe.



1051-1055
1050-1054

Black Africa: The Zenetes retake the trading town of Awdaghost, now a rival of the Ghanaian capital Kumbi; a close struggle begins between the Berber Zenetes and the Soninke Ghana empire

1051 

Central Asia: Isfahan is taken by the Seljuks, who seize control over all of western Persia/Iran

1052

British isles: Viking Dublin is conquered by the Irish of Leinster, virtually ending Viking power over the Emerald Island

Southern Europe: Bonifacio of Canossa is murdered in an ambush; Canossa extensive holdings are divided among Bonifacio's five surviving heirs, three males and two females (one of whom will retire as a nun). Amalfi again rebels against the Western emperor John II, this time gaining effective independence thanks to its Norman allies; this again reopens the conflict in southern Italy. 1053 India: Sindh regains independence under Bhungar I of the Rajput Sumra dynasty.

1053-1054

Southern Europe: Southern Italy suffers a chaotic conflict which sees emperor John II and the Papacy on one side, the Normans and the free towns of Bari and Amalfi on the other:confused:. Papal forces in Abruzzo are smashed by the Normans at Fara. The imperial army temporarily subdues Bari with the help of the Venetian fleet, then is heavily defeated by the Normans at Canne:rolleyes:, where is first noted a cunning leader, Robert the Guiscard:cool: , one of the Hauteville brothers.

1054 Western Europe, North Africa: The Maurian Empire in Spain and Mauretania crumbles at once when Augustine II dies without heirs, extinguishing the Later (or Maurian) Rodriguez dynasty. Maurian Spain splinters into some twenty states :confused: ruled by Mauro-Spanish and Jewish generals or by local feudatories; Sevilla and Valencia prove the most viable of these. Also Navarre and Languedoc free themselves, with the latter being made a kingdom of Septimania under the former count of Toulouse Pons William I. In Mauretania (*OTL Morocco) the lords and the tribes agree to acknowledge as a largely ceremonial king the Archbishop of Ulili (*OTL Volubilis), Peter Thaddeus.

Southern Europe, Byzantine Empire: The Great Schism divides the Catholic Roman Church from the Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople. The schism is the consequence of the reciprocate excommunication between Patriarch Michael Cerularius, firmly supported by basileus George I, and the Papal legates Umberto da Selvacandida and Pietro d'Amalfi. The quarrel arose over differences in rites developed in the centuries, Constantinopolitan rejection of the double Papal role (spiritual and temporal as king of Italy/Spoleto); most of all, the cause were disputes over church jurisdiction :rolleyes: in Dalmatia, Croatia, Serbia and Duklja/Melanoria (*OTL Montenegro).

North Africa: The principality of Costantina enforces the Foedus Africae (a kind of city-states federation) against the rising power of the local version of feudalism in Numidia.

Central-Eastern Europe: The Poles recapture Silesia from the Bohemians in alliance with Hungary, who raids Moravia. A joint Polish-Hungarian army then invades Bohemia proper but is decisively routed at Lou?e? by B?etislav the Great. Upon the death of Jaroslav I of Kiev Svjatoslav II follows on the throne of Rus', leaving Volhynia to his own younger brother Igor. Kievan power begins to dwindle, and the increasingly distant branches of the Rurikid dynasty start vying for power over Russia and Ukraine, now fragmenting in a number of local principalities. India: The Chola ruler Rajadhiraja I is killed in the battle of Koppam against the Chalukya raja of Kalyani Somesvara I.

Arabia: The Shi'a Ismaili emirate of Al-Hasa, centered at Bahrain, secedes from the Fatimid empire, whose power now wanes from all of eastern and southern Arabia as the Fatimids are intent in consolidating their new rich domain in Egypt 1055 British Isles: Gruffydd ap Llewellyn is acknowledged as prince of Wales by the king of England, Edward the Confessor; he dominates the whole country, finally reunified under the Griffith house:cool:. The powerful earl of Northumbria, Siward Bjornsson, dies and is replaced by Tostig Godwinson, from the earls of Wessex cadet branch of the royal English family, the Cerdicingas.

Western Europe: Robert, son and heir of marquis Henry I of Flanders, marries Richilde, the last heir of the marquises of Hainault, thus unifying the two marches and reaffirming the Robertingians (*OTL Capetingians) as one of the most powerful feudatories inside the kingdom of Luxemburg.

Southern Europe: Basileus George I Maniaces campaigns against the Hungarians and the Pechenegs up to the Danube and reaffirms suzerainty over Croatia and Dalmatia (this last shared with Venice), though Duklja/Melanoria (*OTL Montenegro) still keeps its full independence. In Puglia Western imperial forces recapture Siponto and narrowly defeat the Normans at Ascoli Satriano.

Middle East: The Seljuk chieftain Toghril Beg invades Iraq but is defeated by the Fatimid army under the walls of Baghdad; however, for his valor against the Shiite “heretics”:D, Wali (*the Sunni “Pope” of TTL, with his see in Samarkand) Saifullah II concedes him the title of Sultan.

Central-Eastern Europe: The king of Bohemia, Břetislav the Great, dies, leaving the reign to his son Spytihnēv II

ca. 1055 Southern Europe: The castle of Habsburg:cool: in Aargau is made a county of the kingdom of Burgundy under count Werner I.

1056-1060
1056 

Southern Europe: In Milan the Pataria movement gains support, condemning the Church's corruption and worldliness; its challenge will be reinforced by the ongoing so-called Cluniac reform (from the powerful abbey of Cluny, Burgundy).

Central-Eastern Europe: The march of Styria is established as a German major fief under the Ottokar dynasty

North Africa: After heavy struggles against the Ghana Empire, the Christianized Berber tribes of Mauretania Ultima (*OTL Mauritania) establish the Zenete Compact under the leadership of Tertullian Tezerke, and unleash a fanatical “holy war” :rolleyes: to Christianize the tribes who are still pagan or Jewish.

1057 British isles: King Drust XII of Alba/Scotland wrests Galloway from the Jarls of the Orkneys.

Southern Europe: Seeing the chaos in Italy as a unique opportunity of restoring the country to the Roman (read: Byzantine) empire, George I Maniaces land in Puglia with a 25,000 strong army, then heads straight to Rome. The Normans at first hail him as an ally, then realize the mistake, but it's too late and they are soundly defeated at the Sangro river where most of their leadership falls (with the notable exception of Robert the Guiscard, who surrenders and is later recognized duke of Boiano under Byzantine suzerainty). George I then reaches Rome where he massacres hundreds of citizens and most of the petty local aristocracy, involuntarily rendering an invaluable service to the Catholic Church;) . Pope John XVII remains to wait and is deported to Constantinople, where he is to suffer humiliation at the hands of the Byzantines, earning the surname “the Confessor”.  SE Asia: Anawratha of Pagan (Burma) conquers the Mon kingdom of Thaton

1057-1060

Southern Europe: A “holy war” to expel the Byzantines from Rome and force them back into the communion of Roman Catholicism is proclaimed by the Archbishop of Milan Guido da Velate and by the king of Lombardy, Pipino I: the former seeks to find an outward vent for the Patarini religious zeal, the latter to encroach upon the now divided and weakened Canossa holdings:rolleyes:. A number of Lombard and Burgundian nobles, mainly of cadet families, rushes across the Apennines, looting and enforcing lordship here and there:mad: ; by the time the “benedicti a Domino” (*"blessed by the Lord":rolleyes: ) reach the vicinity of Rome, the Byzantines have already withdrawn from Italy:D

Middle East: The Fatimids again capture Aleppo, and again the Byzantine and their Mirdasid clients retake the city

1058

Caucasus: The Seljuks ally themselves with the Sultan of Derbent, al-Mansur II, and overthrow the Zoroastrian Kesranis of Azerbaijan, who in turn had previously taken Tabriz and the Fars from the Fatimid Caliphate. The Armenian Monophysite Patriarchate is expelled from Ani by the Byzantine authorities and begins a long era of peregrinations between different sees.

Southern Europe: Quoting distant kinship by marriage with the extinct Komitopouloi dynasty, the Western emperor John II moves against George I Maniaces after striking a shrewd deal :cool: with Robert the Guiscard, Venice and a sizable part of the Norman Guard of Albania, which revolts citing retarded payment of their military services:rolleyes:. Such is the chaos that George I at once abandons Rome – not before torching :mad: a sizable part of the Urbs and slaying another thousand Romans:mad: :mad:. After vainly searching for the Guiscard and razing his abandoned castle in Boiano, George I makes it to Bari. The subsequent clash with John II's forces at Gravina is just as bloody as indecisive and both armies are badly mauled. In exchange for service in the Western Imperial army Norman domination of Terra di Lavoro (Campania north of Naples) is acknowledged by emperor John II

1059

Southern Europe: Pisa enforces its overlordship over the Norman fiefdoms of Corsica, which brings to a naval clash with the Western Imperial fleet and its Norman allies, who are thoroughly defeated at the battle of Bonifacio and then finished off by a terrible gale. The battle marks an important turning point in sea power in the Western Med basin. Meantime basileus George I is stuck in Bari with the tottering remains of his army, fending off Norman raids while the Venetians besiege the ports of Puglia and defeat the Byzantine fleet off Dyrrachion. Then George dies suddenly in Bari, heirless, and his surviving army commanders buy their escape from Italy :o at the cost of ceding all of Dalmatia to Venice, while confirming her commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire. Byzantine Empire: In Constantinople the Senate, usually only a ceremonial tool, upon the death of George I appoints an old senator, Constantine of Cappadocia (*not the historical Constantine IX Monomachos, already dead), as the new basileus with the approval of the new Patriarch, Constantine Leichudes. The survivors of the Italian expedition are sent to reduce the rebel Norman Guard of Albania, which they fail miserably:o.

North Africa: The Zenete Compact takes and razes Sijilmasa, violently ending its three-century old Judeo-Berber :cool: state

1059-1064

Western Europe: When king Giselbert I of Luxemburg and Lorraine dies, the former crown goes to his firstborn, Otto (*OTL Conrad I of Luxemburg), whereas the latter is bestowed upon to his second son, Adalberon, under the tutelage of queen mother Beatrice. When Adalberon dies at a young age, Lorraine is incorporated into the kingdom of Luxemburg

Byzantine Empire, Southern Europe: The reign of Constantine IX (*see note above) is marked by repeated military insurrections in the European themes, where no less than five commanders sent against the Albanian Normans are invariably first defeated and then turned to would-be usurpers:rolleyes:, unable though to advance past Tessalonica and the Vardar river. Byzantine influence rapidly crumbles in Dalmatia and Croatia, and the Serbs stage unsuccessful revolts, fanned by the diffusion of Bogomilism

1060

British isles: Cornwall accepts English suzerainty

Central-Eastern Europe: Tmutarakan (with Bosporon/Ker? too) regains its independence from Kiev under a Rurikid prince, Gleb. Southern Europe, Byzantine Empire: Pope John XVII dies in exile in the Taurida (*OTL Crimea). While the Byzantines try to keep the news secret, somehow it leaks to Rome, where the prelates, now relatively free from aristocratic pressure, elect as the new Pope and King of Italy/Spoleto the Burgundian Gerard, who takes the name of Nicholas II. He officially sanctions the election of Popes by the College of Cardinals, representing the whole of the Catholic world, and invests William of Hauteville, brother of Robert the Guiscard, with the title of count of Puglia (though the Normans actually control only the northern part of that region).

ca. 1060 Southern Europe: Azzone II of the Obertenghi is widowed and remarries with the French countess Garsenda of Anjou; this marriage will give rise to the Este dynasty. North Africa: The Fatimid army crushes a Sunni revolt in Egypt executing the self-proclaimed Caliph, Abdallah, and slaying or selling as slaves his peasant followers. The dukes of Thermeli (*OTL Hammamet) become the most influent feudatories of Ifrigia (later Punia, *OTL Tunisia)

Central-Eastern Europe: The Kipchaks/Cumans invade Ukraine pushing ahead the Ouzoi/Oghuz. The Rus' will call the Cumans with the name of Polovtsy.

SE Asia: The Chams free themselves of Khmer ascendancy: they sack and raze the city of Sambor in the Khmer kingdom. King Anawratha of Pagan (Burma) conquers the kingdom of Haripunjaya (northern Siam).