1002

Events

By place:

Europe

• January 23; Henry II Holy Roman Emperor succeeds Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor as king of Germany.
• June; Frederick Archbishop of Ravenna is sent as an imperial legate to the Synod of Pöhlde to mediate between the claims of Bernard, Bishop of Hildesheim, and Willigis, Archbishop of Mainz, concerning the control of the abbey of Gandersheim.
• July; Battle of Calatañazor: superior Christian armies of Castille led by Count Sancho García and León led by Alfonso V defeat invading Muslim forces under Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir.
• August 8; Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar succeeds Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir, Chief Minister of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba, Spain
• November 13; St. Brice's Day massacre: Æthelred the Unready orders all Danish people in England killed.
• November; Frederick, Archbishop of Ravenna is elected Archbishop of Ravenna.
• Vladivoj, Duke of Bohemia succeeds Boleslaus III, Duke of Bohemia.
• Otto I, Duke of Carinthia/Otto of Worms withdraws his nomination for the title of Holy Roman Emperor and receives Duchy of Carinthia in return.
• Æthelred the Unready married Emma of Normandy, Richard I the fearless, duke of Normandy's daughter.
• Brian Boru, King of Leinster and Munster, becomes High King of Ireland, breaking the Uí Néill monopoly on the title. Not satisfied with the submission of Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, Brian Boru makes an expedition to the north to take hostages from the northern states.
• John IV of Naples is probably released from German captivity by Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor.
• With a new group of colonists, an epidemic hits the Viking colony in Greenland.
• Danegeld is paid by Æthelred the Unready to prevent Viking raids against England.

Middle East

• December; Khalaf I of Sistan surrenders to Ghaznavids in Taq.

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Rafael of Makuria constructs a red brick building in Old Dongola.

Births

• June 21; Pope Leo IX (d. 1054)
• Adolf II of Lotharingia (d. 1041)
• Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Sunni Muslim scholar and historian (d. 1071)
• George I of Georgia (possible date; d. 1027)
• Mei Yaochen, Chinese poet of the Song Dynasty (d. 1060)

Deaths

• January 23; Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 980)
• April 30; Eckard I, Margrave of Meissen, assassinated
• August 8; Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir, Chief Minister of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba, Spain
• October 15; Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (b. 946)
• Ealdwulf (archbishop of York), Abbot of Peterborough, Bishop of Worchester and Archbishop of York
• Godfrey I, Count of Verdun
• Gunhilde, wife of Pallig, killed in the St. Brice's Day massacre
• John the Iberian, Georgian saint (possible date)
• Pallig, Danish chieftain, Jarl of Devonshire, killed in the St. Brice's Day massacre
• Rogneda of Polotsk, wife of Vladimir I of Kiev before his conversion to Christianity
• Sancho Ramírez of Viguera (possible date)
• Tahir, son of Khalaf I
• Udayadityavarman I of Khmer Empire