11th century

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As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. In the history of European culture, this period is considered the early part of the High Middle Ages, with a sudden decline of Byzantine power and rise of Norman domination over much of Europe. In Song Dynasty China it was a high point of classical Chinese civilization, technology, and science. In Persia, there was likewise a golden age for medieval Iranian science and Persian literature. For Chola-era India and Fatimid-era Egypt, they had reached their zenith in military might and international influence. In this century the Turkish Seljuk dynasty comes to power in the Middle East over the now fragmented Abbasid realm. In Japan the Fujiwara clan continued to dominate the affairs of state. In the Americas the Toltec civilization flourished in central America.

Overview

The Brihadeeswarar Temple of Chola era southern India, completed in 1010 AD, during the reign of Rajaraja Chola I.
File:Iron Pagoda of Kaifeng 6.jpg
The Iron Pagoda of Kaifeng, China, 1049 AD.

The eleventh century is, in European history, a century of change. It is usually marked as the first period of the High Middle Ages and is therefore sometimes termed the Early Middle Ages, though this term has another common meaning synonymous with Dark 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 which survived tarnished by the tumultuous tenth century. In 1054, the Great Schism rent the church in two, however.

In Germany, it was marked by the ascendancy of the Holy Roman Emperors, who hit their high watermark under the Salians.

In Italy, it opened with the integration of the kingdom into the empire and the royal palace at Pavia was sacked 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 cities in the north.

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.

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 which replaced the fallen caliphate. Spain emerged fully "Europeanised".

In China, political factions rise at the imperial court of Kaifeng during the Song Dynasty. 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.

In India, the Chola Dynasty reaches 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 South East Asia. They also sent raids into what is modern-day Thailand.

In Japan, the Fujiwara clan dominates central politics by acting as regents, controlling the actions of the Emperor of Japan, who acted merely as a 'puppet monarch' during the Heian period.

Events

The Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Defeat of the Bulgars by the Byzantine Greeks depicted in the Madrid Skylitzes.
A Chinese Song Dynasty naval ship with a traction trebuchet catapult, from the Wujing Zongyao of 1044 AD.
File:SongShenzong.jpg
Emperor Shenzong of Song China.
Capture of Jerusalem, 1099

Significant people

File:Avicenna Persian Physician.jpg
Avicenna of Persia.
File:Basil II.jpg
Basil II of the Byzantine Empire.

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

See also 1000s in architecture.
St Albans Cathedral of England.
Shen Kuo (1031-1095 AD)

Decades and years

ru-sib:11-о столетте

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