1036 CE
Edward the Confessor's younger brother Alfred Aetheling is blinded and murdered, in an apparent attempt to seize the throne of England from Harold I. Emperor Go-Ichijō dies at the age of 27 after a 20-year reign. He is succeeded by his brother Go-Suzaku as the 69th emperor of Japan. Caliph al-Zahir li-i'zaz Din Allah dies after a 16-year reign. He is succeeded by his 6-year-old son al-Mustansir as ruler of the Fatimid Caliphate. Vizier Ali ibn Ahmad al-Jarjara'i will guide the regency for the first few years.
Conflict & Security
- A Zirid expeditionary force invades Sicily and takes Palermo from the Normans, but fails to fully reconquer the island.source
Religion & Belief
- Summer – In Naples, Duke Sergius IV abdicates and retires to a monastery; he is succeeded by his son John V.source
- Pope Benedict IX is briefly forced out of Rome, but returns with the help of the elder Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor.source
- The Tangut script is devised by Yeli Renrong, for Emperor Jing Zong of Western Xia.source
Crime & Justice
- February 5 – Edward the Confessor's younger brother Alfred Aetheling is blinded and murdered, in an apparent attempt to seize the throne of England from Harold I.source
Culture & Society
- The Flower Sermon first appears in Buddhist literature.source
Births
Deaths
- February 5 – Alfred Aetheling, Anglo-Saxon princesource
- March 17 – Gebhard II, bishop of Regensburgsource
- May 15 – Emperor Go-Ichijō dies at the age of 27 after a 20-year reign. He is succeeded by his brother Go-Suzaku as the 69th emperor of Japan.source
- May 15 – Go-Ichijō, emperor of Japan (b. 1008)source
- June 12 – Tedald (or Theobald), Italian bishopsource
- June 13 – Caliph al-Zahir li-i'zaz Din Allah dies after a 16-year reign. He is succeeded by his 6-year-old son al-Mustansir as ruler of the Fatimid Caliphate. Vizier Ali ibn Ahmad al-Jarjara'i will guide the regency for the first few years.source
- June 13 – al-Zahir li-i'zaz Din Allah, Fatimid caliph (b. 1005)source
- August 25 – Pilgrim, archbishop of Colognesource
- Hárek of Tjøtta, Norwegian Viking chieftainsource
- Berengar of Gascony, French noblemansource
- Abu Nasr Mansur, Persian mathematician (b. 960)source
- Hisham III, Umayyad caliph of Córdoba (b. 973)source
- Fujiwara no Ishi, Japanese empress (b. 999)source
- Emilia of Gaeta, Italian duchess and regentsource