Eleventh century

The 11th centuryd. C. (eleventh century AD) or XI century and. c. (eleventh century of the Common Era) began on January 1, 1001 and ended on December 31, 1100. It is called the «Century of the Crusades».

Global map (except America) around 1025.

Global map (except America) around 1100.

Nicknamed the "Century of the Crusades", the 11th century began the famous crusades, where European Christian kingdoms In response to the call of the popes, they launched various offensives on the Holy Land to wrest control of the place from the Muslims. Of all these expeditions, the only one that achieved some success in its theoretical objectives was the First Crusade.

Going back to Europe, one of the most notable events was the Norman conquest of England, after the Battle of Hastings, where William the Conqueror defeated the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II, allowing the Normans to seize the kingdom and permanently change the England history.

In the Iberian Peninsula, the Caliphate of Córdoba was losing its power in Al-Andalus in favor of the Almoravids, who seized the entire caliphate during the course of the century, over time, the Taifa Kingdoms would take their place dominant in Al-Andalus

There was, after a brief rise, a sudden decline in Byzantine power and the rise of Norman domination in much of Europe, along with the prominent role in Europe of notably influential popes. Christendom experienced a formal schism in this century that had developed in previous centuries between the Roman West and the Byzantine East, causing a split of its two largest denominations to this day: Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

In northern Italy, population growth in urban centers gave way to early organized capitalism and a more sophisticated commercial culture at the turn of the century XI. In Eastern Europe, there was a golden age for Kievan Rus.

In the Song dynasty (China) and the classical Islamic world, this century marked the high point of both classical Chinese civilization, science, and technology, and classical Islamic science, philosophy, technology, and literature. Rival political factions at the Song dynasty court created conflict between the empire's leading statesmen and ministers.

The Chola dynasty in India and the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt reached their zenith of military power and international influence. The Western Chalukya Empire, a rival to the Chola dynasty in India, also came to power towards the end of the century.

In this century, the Turkish Seljuk dynasty rises to power in western Asia by ruling over the now fragmented Abbasid Caliphate.

In Japan, the Fujiwara clan continued to dominate affairs of state.

In Korea, the Kingdom of Goryeo flourished and faced external threats from the Liao Dynasty (Manchuria).

In Vietnam, the Lý dynasty began, while in Myanmar the Kingdom of Pagan reached its political and military zenith.

In the Americas, the Toltec and Mixtec civilizations flourished in parts of North and Central America, along with the Huari culture of South America and the Mississippi Culture in North America. The Tiwanaku Empire centered around Lake Titicaca collapsed in the first half of the century.

Europe in the 11th century

Traditionally, the beginning of the High Middle Ages is located in the year one thousand, which serves as a division of the High and Low Middle Ages. It is also considered that around the year one thousand the fear of the approaching end of the world spread through the European lands, so we can find apocalyptic interpretations of natural events such as comets, eclipses, etc. that were disseminated regularly through sermons that captured the attention of the population.

Economic area

There is a revival of urban life, produced thanks to the reactivation of commerce and the expansion of the rural economy. The cities of the XI century were formed from the small enclosures used by merchants to store their products.

The revival of trade is a remarkable aspect of the European economy, and in turn factors such as the improvement of routes or the minting of coins allowed the activities of merchants. Resoundingly from the XI century, Europe revived trade as it added the necessary conditions for its development, such as more products, more wealth and more men dedicating themselves to this sector. The growth of the population plus the increase in the yield in the work of the fields, allowed the dedication of other activities such as crafts or commerce. The satisfactory production of the fields led to an abundance of surpluses that could also be marketed, and Western Europeans traded with the Byzantine Empire and with the Muslims.

Social sphere

Society was structured into three large social groups: the bellatores, the oratores and the laboratores. The bellatores (lords who make war) occupied the top of the feudal pyramid, exercised the trade of war and took care of the defense of the other two orders. They constituted a land-owning aristocracy that provided them with income and goods through the work of the peasants installed on them. The group of oratores (those who pray) represents the clergy, who also owned land worked by peasants. The laboratores (those who work) were subject to the other two groups and were in charge of producing and working to maintain the system.

In this stage the feudal-vassal institutions were already constituted, by bilateral personal contract. The fief became a private good that was granted in exchange for services. The lord was generally a high-ranking aristocrat while the vassal was an auxiliary of noble rank; the due services were of a military order; hierarchical services in a society dedicated to war. The strengthening of the monarchy had the support of the Church, attributing to the king a religious function. The kings, in addition to being superior feudal lords, were accumulating prestige, wealth and power. This depended on his personal resources linked to the land, from there arises the ambition to gather as much land as possible.

The patrimonialization of the fiefs by the vassals, led to a kind of pricing of feudal obligations. Military aid, the initial basis of the feudal system, loses importance and the lords must pay for the help of their vassals. With the amounts raised through this system, the monarchs had enough money to hire more valuable and loyal troops.

Since the 11th century, the vassal has been able to make his own fiefdoms hereditary. This weakens the vassal's ties with his lord, seeing himself as the owner of his fiefdom. In addition, the vassalage ceremony was renewed each time a succession took place, creating new ties that were not as firm as those established at the beginning of the feudal relationship. It is also admitted that the vassal can break ties with his lord, returning the fiefdom. Some vassals could even surpass their lords in goods, who found themselves powerless against their vassals, breaking the balance of reciprocal obligations in favor of the strongest.

Cultural field

From the XI century, religious movements arose that called for a return to the primitive Church, a moral reform and against the clergy corruption. The Church creates new monasteries as their wealth contrasted with the demands of worldly detachment. The social antagonisms that became even more evident in the midst of economic transformations and the secularization of public administration. Not all groups of heretics recorded at the beginning of the XI century had an anticlerical and puritanical objective, they started from an orthodox, Gregorian attitude and against the accumulation of wealth and power of the ecclesiastical hierarchies, but finally led to anti-hierarchical and anti-clerical tendencies. These foci began in the year 1000 and were promptly extinguished, the last massacres being those of Goslar in 1052 until the virulent reappearance of the heresies of the century. XII, practically in the same geographical centers.

As for education, the episcopal schools dependent on the bishops in the urban centers owed their fame to the different teachers and to the branches of education that were taught: Grammar and Rhetoric in Orleans, Dialectic and Philosophy in Paris Law in Bologna, Medicine in Salerno and Montpellier. Some of these schools got rid of episcopal tutelage. However, the curriculum in the monastic and episcopal schools remained the same as Alcuin had developed in the time of Charlemagne: an introduction to the reading of the sacred texts, limited to recitation and gloss of the authorities, therefore least until the beginning of the 12th century, when the rise of translations, the advance of urban life, the demographic impulse and the contact with the Orient promoted the progress of university studies.

Policy area

Poland and Germany were two divisions of the Carolingian Empire where major differences occurred, such as the development of feudal institutions more rapidly in Poland than in Germany. Since the German monarchy did not experience the repercussions of feudalization until the end of the century, they ruled largely through the Church.

Between 1061 and 1091, the Normans conquer southern Italy. However, Venice allied with Byzantium, obtaining enormous commercial concessions and freedom of transit, later participating in the first crusades and obtaining privileges in the Holy Land.

In the Iberian Peninsula, after the Muslim conquest, some small Christian kingdoms survived in the mountainous regions of the North: León, Navarra and the county of Barcelona. Despite the Saracen incursions in Barcelona, these small kingdoms, in the name of religious faith and Roman and Visigothic traditions, began the Reconquest in a dispersed way.

Relevant events

Hispanic-American Encyclopedia Dictionary

Wars and Politics

• 1001: Mahmud de Ghazni attacks southern India.
• 1002: the Vikings, led by Leif Eriksson, arrive in North America.
• 1003: Roberto II de France invades the Duke of Burgundy and annexes the territory in 1016.
• 1005: A treaty puts an end to the war between the Chinese Song dynasty and the kitans.
• 1014: Byzantines, led by Emperor Basil II, beat the Bulgarians of Samuel in the battle of Clidio.
• 1015: a naval conflict on the coast of Norway, where King Olaf II the Holy One overcomes in the battle of Nesjar.
• 1018: The First Bulgarian Empire is conquered by the Byzantine Empire.
• 1020: Avicena writes The medicine canon.
• 1025: the Chola dynasty of India conquers the Srivijaya dynasty.
• 1027: first assembly of peace and truce of God in the Catalan counties.
• 1035: Canuto the Great, king of Norway, England and Denmark dies.
• 1037: Fernando I de León conquers the kingdom of Galicia.
• 1042: the Normans establish Melfi as their capital in southern Italy.
• 1043: the Byzantine Empire and the Rus of Kiev are set in a naval battle.
• 1044: the Holy Roman-Germanic Empire defeats the Hungarians in the battle of Ménfő.
• 1045: Berbers break their alliance with the Fatimids and recognize the authority of the caliph of Baghdad.
• 1054: Astronomers observe a great supernova (the Crab Nebula).
• 1054: In the battle of Atapuerca, a Spanish-Leonese army defeats another of the kingdom of Pamplona.
• 1055: Silent Turks capture Baghdad by taking the Abbasid caliph prisoner.
• 1056: Fernando I de León is crowned Imperator totius Hispaniae.
• 1061-1091: the Norman conquest of southern Italy occurs.
• 1065: the Selyúcidas, under the command of Alp Arslan, invade Georgia.
• 1066: King Harold II's army defeats an invading Viking army in the battle of Stamford Bridge.
• 1066: King Harold II dies in the battle of Hastings, William of Normandy is made with the throne of England.
• 1071: Sultan Alp Arslan defeats the Byzantines in the battle of Manzikert.
• 1072: King Sancho II of Castile defeats his brother Alfonso VI of Leon in the battle of Golpejera.
  

  Chapel of Santa Cecilia de Granera
• 1073: the Investigative Complaint begins.
• 1073-1074: Selyúcidas capture Ankara and Jerusalem from the hands of the Byzantines.
• 1075: Emperor Henry IV suffocated a rebellion in Saxony.
• 1076: The Moors attack the kingdom of Ghana.
• 1077: Henry IV performs the so-called Canossa ride to ask forgiveness of Pope Gregory VII.
• 1078: the revolt of Nicephorus III against the Byzantine emperor Michael VII occurs.
• 1085: Alfonso VI de León liberates Toledo.
• 1086: The Almoravids defeat an Arago-Leonian army in the battle of Sagrajas.
• 1086: William the Conqueror writes Book Domesday.
• 1088: There is a rebellion against William II of England, known as rebellion of 1088.
• 1088: In northern Italy is founded the Chapel of Santa Cecilia de Bologna.
• 1091: the Normans are controlled by the island of Malta.
• 1091: Byzantines under Alejo I Comneno defeat the Pechenegos in the battle of Levounion.
• 1093: King Malcolm III of Scotland dies fighting against Henry II of England.
• 1094: The Cid conquers Valencia, in the hands of the Almoravids.
• 1095: Pope Urban II calls the European Christian kingdoms to the first crusade.
• 1096: Near London is founded the University of Oxford, the first English-speaking university.
• 1096-1099: the first crusade occurs, which will result in total success for Christianity.
• 1097: the Crusaders take Nicea.
• 1099: The Crusaders capture the holy city of Jerusalem after a siege.

In this century, the city of Tiwanaku, in the central Andes, is abandoned.

Relevant people

Basil II, Byzantine emperor.

William the Conqueror, the first Norman sovereign of England.

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, alias "El Cid Campeador"

• Abhinavagupta (950-1020): Hindu mystic.
• Abraham bar Hiyya (1065/1070-1136): mathematician, astronomer and Hebrew philosopher, of Andalusian origin.
• Al-Biruni (973-1048): astronomer, physicist, philosopher and Persian historian.
• Al-Ghazali (1058-1111): philosopher, theologian, jurist and Persian lawyer.
• Al-Karaji (953-1029): Persian mathematician and engineer.
• Alejo I Comneno (1048-1118): Byzantine emperor.
• Sancho Garcés III (996-1035): King of Pamplona
• Alfonso VI de León (1047-1119): King of Castile and Galicia.
• Almanzor (938-1002): military and political Andalusian, leader of the Caliphate of Córdoba.
• Alp Arslan (1030-1072/1073): Seljucida sultan.
• Anselmo de Canterbury (1033-1109): holy, theologian and philosopher, Benedictine monk.
• Azarquiel (1029-1087): Andalusian astronomer.
• Basil II (958-1025): Byzantine emperor, famous for his conquest campaigns.
• Benedict VIII (f. 1024): Roman pope, creator of the “Tregua of God”.
• Benedict IX (1012-1056): Roman pope, elected high pontiff with 14 years, is the most early pope in history.
• Berengario de Tours (1000-1088): French theologian.
• Bohemundo de Tarento (1058-1111): crossed, prince of Tarento and Antioch.
• Canuto II the Great (995-1035): Viking King of England, Norway and Denmark.
• Conrado II (990-1039): Emperor of the Germanic Roman Empire.
• Constantine IX (1000-1055): Byzantine co-start with Zoe Porphyrogerita.
• Constantine the African (1020-1087): translator and monk.
• Eduardo el Confesor (1003-1066): English king of the ephemeral sajona restoration.
• Henry III the Black (1017-1056): emperor of the sacred Germanic Roman Empire.
• Henry IV (1050-1116): Emperor of the Holy Roman-Germanic Empire.
• Stephen I of Hungary (975-1038): first Hungarian king.
• Fernando I de León (1016-1065): Count of Castile and King of Leon (Spain).
• Fujiwara no Michinaga (966-1027): Japanese politician.
• Gregorio VII (1020-1085): Roman pope, famous for creating the Querella de las Investiduras.
• Guido de Arezzo (991/992-1033): musical theorist and Benedictine monk.
• William the Conqueror (1027-1087): Duke of Normandy and first Norman king of England.
• Harald III (1015-1066): Norwegian King.
• Haroldo II (1022-1066): the last Anglo-Saxon king of England.
• Ibn Gabirol (1021-1058): Andean Jewish philosopher and poet.
• Isaac I Comneno (1005-1061): Byzantine emperor, founder of the Comnean Dynasty.
• Leif Eriksson (970-1020): Viking explorer, one of the first Europeans to reach North America.
• Leo IX (1002-1054): Roman pope, famous for consummating the Eastern Schism.
• Magnus III (1073-1103): Norwegian king.
• Mahmud de Ghazni (971-1030): first sultan of the Gaznavi Empire.
• Matilde de Canossa (1046-1115): Italian nobleman, famous for constantly supporting Pope Gregory VII.
• Mi-Fei (1051-1107): Chinese poet and painter.
• Miguel Psellos (1018-1078): Byzantine philosopher, poet and politician.
• Murasaki Shikibu (c. 978?-c. 1014?): Japanese writer of the Heian court, author of the Novel of Genji.
• Olaf II (995-1030): Norwegian king of Viking origin, who became Christianity and after his death became a Christian saint.
• Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072): Chinese poet.
• Pedro Abelardo (1079-1142): French philosopher.
• Ramanuyá (1077-1157): Hindu religious.
• Roberto II de Flandes (1065-1111): count of Flanders, known with the nickname of "Roberto el Cruzado".
• Roberto II de France (972-1031): French king, excommunicated by his marriage.
• Roberto de Molesmes (1028-1111): French Abbot, one of the founders of the Cistercian Order.
• Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1043-1099): Spanish noble, known with the nickname of "El Cid Campeador".
• Samuel of Bulgaria (- 1014): Tsar of the First Bulgarian Empire.
• Sancho III (990/992-1035): Navarre king.
• Sei Shonagon (968-1000/1025): Japanese writer.
• Shao Yong (1011-1077): philosopher, poet, cosmologist and Chinese historian.
• Your Shi (1037-1101): Chinese writer, painter and pen.
• Urban II (1042-1099): Roman pope, known for preaching the First Crusade.
• Vladimir I (958-1015): great prince of Kiev and Novgorod, became Christianity.
• Yaroslav I the Sabio (978-1054): Prince of Kiev and Novgorod, during his reign came the apogee of the Rus of Kiev.
• Yusuf ibn Tasufin (1061-1106): Almoravid leader.
• Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073): Chinese philosopher and cosmologist.
• Zoe Porphyrogenita (978-1050): Byzantine empress.

Urban II, Roman pope, impeller of the First Crusade.