1000

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This article is about the year 1000. For other uses, see 1000 (number).

Europe in 1000

The year 1000 of the Gregorian Calendar was the last year of the 10th century as well as the last year of the first millennium. AD 1000 was a leap year starting on Monday.

Overview

Speculation that the world would end in the year 1000 was confined largely to Christian monks in France, ^[1] as most clerks at the time used regnal years--i.e. the fourth year of the reign of Robert II of France, etc. The use of the modern "anno domini" system of dating was confined to the Venerable Bede and other chroniclers of universal history.

Western Europe began to cross over from the Early Middle Ages into the High Middle Ages beginning around 1000, as marked by numerous distinct changes in Western European life: the rise of the medieval communes, the reawakening of widespread city life, the appearance of the burgher class, the revival of long-distance trade that reconnected Europe with the Mediterranean world, the founding of the first universities, the rediscovery of Roman law, and the beginnings of vernacular literature, to name a few. The papacy at this time remained firmly under the control of Holy Roman Emperor Otto III--the self-proclaimed "Emperor of the World".

In Eastern Europe, the Byzantine Empire continued to thrive during amid its Golden Age in what is today primarily Greece and Turkey. Constantinople, with a population of about 300,000, dwarfed the Western cities of Rome and Paris, which at this time had populations of about 35,000 and 20,000, respectively.

The Viking Age continued in eastern and western Europe much as it had for the previous two centuries, with Viking trade, raids, and culture influencing much of European life. It was in the year 1000 that Leif Ericsson landed in what is today Newfoundland, naming it Vinland.

In what is today China, the Song Dynasty remained the world's most populous empire and continued to thrive under Emperor Xianping. Similarly, the Islamic world continued to and expand under the revived Ummayad Caliphate, including what is now Spain, northern Africa, the Middle East, and central Asia.

Events

• August 20 - The foundation of the Hungarian state, Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.
• September 9 - Battle of Svolder, Notable naval battle of the Viking Age.
• World Population 300 million.
• Gunpowder invented in China.
• Scandinavia, Iceland and Hungary Christianized.
• Stephen I becomes King of Hungary.
• Sancho III of Navarre becomes King of Aragon, Navarre.
• Leif Ericson lands in North America, calling it Vinland.
• Sweyn I establishes Danish control over part of Norway.
• Oslo, Norway is founded. (The exact year is debatable, but the 1000 year anniversary was held in year 2000.)
• Dhaka, Bangladesh, is founded.
• Persian scientist Avicenna hypothesized two causes of mountains: "Either they are the effects of upheavals of the crust of the earth, or they are the effect of water, which, cutting itself a new route, has denuded the valleys." He also published Al-Quanun, or The Canon of Medicine, where he held that medicines were to be known either by experiment or by reasoning.
• The Diocese of Kolobrzeg is founded.
• Emperor Otto III makes pilgrimage from Rome to Aachen and Gniezno (Gnesen), stopping at Regensburg, Meissen, Magdeburg, and Gniezno. Congress of Gniezno (with Boleslaw I Chrobry) was part of pilgrimage. In Rome, he builds the basilica of San Bartolomeo all'Isola, to host the relics of St. Bartholomew.
• The Hutu arrive in present-day Rwanda and Burundi, soon outnumbering the native Twa.
• Château de Goulaine vineyard founded in France.
• Fonderia Pontificia Marinelli bell foundry founded in Italy.
• The archdiocese in Gniezno is founded; the first archibishop is Gaudentius, from Slavník's dynasty.
• World population: 310,000,000

Births

• Adalbert, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1048)
• Qawam al-Daula, ruler of Kerman (d. 1028)
• Ibn Rashiq, arab rhetorician (d. 1070 ?)

Deaths

• September 9 - Olaf I of Norway, killed at the Battle of Svold (b. 969)
• Al-Khujandi, Persian astronomer
• Elfrida, second wife of Edgar of England
• Kuhi, Persian mathematician and astronomer
• Garcia IV of Pamplona
• Tlilcoatzin, Toltec ruler (approximate date)
• David III of Tao, murdered by his nobles

See also

• Millenarianism
• List of state leaders in 1000

Further reading

• Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium (1999) ISBN 0-316-55840-0

References

1. ^ Cantor, 1993 Europe in 1050 p 235.