11th century  

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The 11th century is the period from 1001 through 1100 in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the 1st century of the 2nd millennium.

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.

Events

• 1000 (cca), Vikings, led by Leif Eirikson, establish small settlements at and around Vinland in North America
• 1054, the Great Schism, in which the Western (Roman Catholic) and Eastern Orthodox churches separated from each other. Similar schisms in the past had been later repaired, but this one continues after nearly 1000 years.
• 1065, independence of the Kingdom of Galicia and Portugal under the rule of Garcia
• 1066, Norman conquest of England
• 1094, El Cid, the great Spanish hero, conquers the Moorish city of Valencia
• 1099, First Crusade captures Jerusalem
• King Anawrahta of Myanmar made a pilgrimage to Ceylon, returning to convert his country to Theravada Buddhism.
• The Tuareg migrate to the Aïr region.
• Kanem-Bornu expands southward into modern Nigeria.
• The first of seven Hausa city-states are founded in Nigeria.
• The Hodh region of Mauritania becomes desert.

Significant people

• William the Conqueror
• Macbeth
• Alp Arslan
• Pope Saint Gregory VII (Hildebrand)

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

• Invention of military rockets by the Chinese
• The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu is one of the first novels in Japanese