Directory

981 CE

Fall – Otto II departs with an expeditionary force from Rome, and invades Apulia (Southern Italy) to punish the Saracens. He demands a fleet from Pisa, and imposes a trade embargo against Venice. Erik the Red leaves Norway, to survey west of Iceland in Viking longships, that carry nearly 700 people with cattle, horses, and other necessities for starting a colony on the island. Erik finds land and calls it Greenland. The Gommateshwara statue is built by Chavundaraya, minister and commander of the Ganga dynasty, in India (approximate date).

Conflict & Security

  • Fall – Otto II departs with an expeditionary force from Rome, and invades Apulia (Southern Italy) to punish the Saracens. He demands a fleet from Pisa, and imposes a trade embargo against Venice.source
  • Al-Mansur, the de facto ruler of Al-Andalus, conquers and razes the city of Zamora, as part of his effort to seize the Christian-dominated north of the Iberian Peninsula.source
  • Song–Đại Cồ Việt war: Đại Cồ Việt under King Lê Đại Hành defeated the invasion of the Song.source
  • Spring – Emperor Otto II (the Red) leads the imperial court to Rome, making the city his imperial capital, and receives nobles from all parts of Western Europe. Otto makes plans to conquer Byzantine Italy.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • Erik the Red leaves Norway, to survey west of Iceland in Viking longships, that carry nearly 700 people with cattle, horses, and other necessities for starting a colony on the island. Erik finds land and calls it Greenland.source

Religion & Belief

  • Spring – Pope Benedict VII dissolves the Slavic bishopric of Merseburg, after conferring with Otto II. He issues an encyclical, forbidding the exaction of money for the conferral of any Holy Order (known as simony).source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • The Gommateshwara statue is built by Chavundaraya, minister and commander of the Ganga dynasty, in India (approximate date).source
  • The first commercially made shaving soap sells for 3 dirhams (0.3 dinars).source

Culture & Society

  • The first recorded Mahamastakabhisheka ceremony, of the sacred 57 foot m high monolithic statue of Bahubali, is performed.source

Births

  • Abu'l-Qasim al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Maghribi, Arab statesman (d. 1027)source
  • Li Deming, Chinese general and rebel leader (d. 1032)source
  • Torstein Knarresmed, Norse Viking warrior (approximate date)source
  • Vladivoj, duke of Bohemia (approximate date)source
  • Giovanni Orseolo, Venetian nobleman (d. 1006)source
  • Theodora, Empress of the Byzantine Empire (d. 1056)source

Deaths

  • February 12 – Ælfstan, bishop of Ramsburysource
  • June 20 – Adalbert, archbishop of Magdeburgsource
  • July 9 – Ramiro Garcés, king of Viguera (Spain)source
  • July 12 – Xue Juzheng, Chinese scholar-official and historiansource
  • August 13 – Gyeongjong, king of Goryeo (Korea) (b. 955)source
  • Zhao Defang, prince of the Song dynasty (b. 959)source
  • Summer – Seongjong ascends the throne of Goryeo (Korea) after the death of his brother-in-law (and cousin), king Gyeongjong.source
  • Slavník, founder of the Slavník dynasty (Bohemia)source
  • Wigger I, German nobleman (approximate date)source
  • Ibn Khalawayh, Persian scholar and grammar (or 980)source
  • Abu'l-Faraj Muhammad, Buyid nobleman and statesmansource
  • Amlaíb Cuarán, Viking king of Scandinavian Yorksource
  • Pandulf Ironhead, prince of Benevento and Capuasource