1002

By place

Europe

• January 23 - Emperor Otto III dies, at the age of 22, of smallpox at Castle of Paterno after a 19-year reign. He leaves no son, nor a surviving brother who can succeed by hereditary right to the throne. Otto is buried in Aachen Cathedral alongside the body of Charlemagne.
• February 15 - At an assembly at Pavia of Lombard nobles and secondi milites, Arduin of Ivrea is restored to his domains and crowned as King of Italy in the Basilica of San Michele Maggiore. Arduin is supported by Arnulf II, archbishop of Milan.
• June 7 - Henry II, a cousin of Otto III, is elected and crowned as King of Germany by Archbishop Willigis at Mainz. Henry does not recognise the coronation of Arduin. Otto of Worms withdraws his nomination for the title of Holy Roman Emperor and receives the Duchy of Carinthia - Henry is the first King to be elected away from the Cathedral of Aachen since the tradition was begun by Otto I in 936.
• July - Battle of Calatañazor: Christian armies led by Alfonso V of León, Sancho III of Pamplona and Sancho García of Castile, defeat the invading Saracens under Al-Mansur, the de facto ruler of Al-Andalus.
• August 8 - Al-Mansur dies after a 24-year reign and is succeeded by his son Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar as ruler of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba.
• October 15 - Henry I, duke of Burgundy, dies and is succeeded by his stepson, Otto-William. He inherits the duchy; this is disputed by King Robert II of France.
• Fall - A revolt organized by Bohemian nobles of the rivalling Vršovci clan, forces Duke Boleslaus III to flee to Germany. He is succeeded by Vladivoj.

British Isles

• November 13 - St. Brice's Day massacre: King Æthelred the Unready orders all Danes in England killed. Æthelred marries Emma, daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy.
• Winter - Æthelred pays tribute to Sweyn Forkbeard, buying him off with a massive payment of 24,000 lbs of silver to hold off further Viking raids against England.
• Brian Boru, king of Leinster and Munster, becomes High King of Ireland. After the submission of Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, Brian Boru makes an expedition to the North.

Persia

• Winter - Khalaf ibn Ahmad, Saffarid emir of Sistan, is deposed and surrenders to the Ghaznavid dynasty after a 39-year reign.

Asia

• In Japan, court lady Sei Shōnagon completes writing The Pillow Book.

By topic

Religion

• June - Frederick, archbishop of Ravenna, is sent as an imperial legate to the Synod of Pöhlde, to mediate between the claims of Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim and Willigis, concerning the control of Gandersheim Abbey.

Births

• May 10 - Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Muslim scholar
• June 21 - Leo IX, pope of the Catholic Church
• Airlangga, ruler of Kahuripan
• Adolf II of Lotharingia, German nobleman
• Alice of Normandy, countess of Burgundy
• Aristakes Lastivertsi, Armenian historian
• George I, king of Georgia
• Mei Yaochen, poet of the Song dynasty
• Nikephoros III, Byzantine emperor

Deaths

• January 8 - Wulfsige III, bishop of Sherborne
• January 23 - Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor
• April 23 - Æscwig, bishop of Dorchester
• April 30 - Eckard I, margrave of Meissen
• May 6 - Ealdwulf, archbishop of York
• August 8 - Al-Mansur, Umayyad vizier and de facto ruler
• October 15 - Henry I, duke of Burgundy
• November 13
• * Gunhilde, Danish princess and noblewoman
• * Pallig, Danish chieftain of Devonshire
• Athanasius IV, Syrian patriarch of Antioch
• Dominic, archbishop of Esztergom
• Gisela, French princess
• Godfrey I, Frankish nobleman
• John the Iberian, Georgian monk
• Kisai Marvazi, Persian author and poet
• Rogneda of Polotsk, Grand Princess of Kiev
• Sa'id al-Dawla, Hamdanid emir of Aleppo
• Sancho Ramírez, king of Viguera