1064

Year 1064 (MLXIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.

Events

By place

Europe

• Summer – King Ferdinand I (the Great) conquers more territory in modern-day Portugal and captures Coimbra. He appoints Sisnando Davides to reorganise the economy and administer the lands encircling the city.
• European warriors go to Spain, to participate in the siege of Barbastro. This expedition is sanctioned by Pope Alexander II – and is now regarded as an early form of Crusade.
• Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, is shipwrecked on the shores of Ponthieu (Normandy). He is captured by Count Guy I who takes him as hostage to his castle of Beaurian.
• Duke William I (the Bastard) demands the release of Harold Godwinson from Guy I (after a ransom being paid). Harold must swear an oath to aid William to the throne of England.
• Kings Harald Hardrada of Norway and Sweyn II of Denmark agree to a peace agreement. Harald turns his attentions to England where he believes he has a right to the throne.

Seljuk Empire

• April 27 – Alp Arslan succeeds to the throne, as sultan of the Seljuk Empire. He becomes sole ruler of Persia from the river Oxus to the Tigris.
• The Seljuk Turks under Alp Arslan invade Anatolia, and capture Ani after a siege of 25-days. He sacks the city and slaughters its citizens.
• Badr al-Jamali, Fatimid governor of Syria, tries to engineer a pro-Fatimid coup in Aleppo; but the rebellion is suppressed by Musa Yabgu.

Asia

• King Bagrat IV of Georgia captures the fortress city of Samshvilde, the capital of the neighboring Tashir-Dzoraget.

Mesoamerica

• January 4 – The Aztecs migrate from Aztlán to the southern lands in central Mexico.

By topic

Religion

• Winter – Great German Pilgrimage: Archbishop Siegfried I of Mainz leads a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Either during this pilgrimage or shortly before it, the Ezzolied; a High German poem on the life of Christ, is composed.
• Michaelsberg Abbey at Siegburg (modern Germany) is founded by Anno II, archbishop of Cologne.
• Construction of the Piazza dei Miracoli (known as Piazza del Duomo) at Pisa in Tuscany begins.

Volcanology

• Sunset Crater Volcano (modern-day Arizona) first erupts (approximate date)

Births

• Adela of Flanders, queen of Denmark (approximate date)
• Beatrice I, countess of Bigorre (approximate date)
• Bořivoj II (or Borivoi), duke of Bohemia (approximate date)
• Danxia Zichun, Chinese Zen Buddhist monk (d. 1117)
• Hugh of Flavigny, French abbot (approximate date)
• Robert Fitz Richard, English nobleman (d. 1136)

Deaths

• August 15 – Ibn Hazm, Andalusian historian and poet (b. 994)
• November 29 – Al-Kunduri, vizier of the Seljuk Empire (b. 1024)
• December 19 – Fujiwara no Nagaie, Japanese nobleman (b. 1005)
• Akkadevi, princess of the Chalukya dynasty (b. 1010)
• Dromtön, Tibetan monk and founder of Reting Monastery
• Dub dá Leithe (or Dubhdalethe), Irish abbot
• Gozelo I (or Gozelon), count of Montaigu
• Llywelyn Aurdorchog, Welsh nobleman (approximate date)
• Yaakov ben Yakar, German Jewish rabbi (b. 990)
• Yi Yuanji, Chinese painter (approximate date)