1008
Year 1008 was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
- Olaf Haraldsson, future king of Norway, makes raids in the Baltic Sea. He lands on the Estonian island of Saaremaa, wins a battle there, and forces the inhabitants to pay tribute.
- Battle at Herdaler: Olaf Haraldsson sails to the southern coast of Finland to plunder, where he and his men are ambushed and defeated in the woods.
- The oldest known mention is made of the city of Gundelfingen.
- Unification of the Georgian realm.
- In England, King Æthelred the Unready orders a new fleet of warships built, organised on a national scale. It is a huge undertaking, but is completed the following year.
Arabian Empire
- Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah sends a tributary mission to Emperor Zhenzong of the Song dynasty in order to reestablish trade relations between the Fatimid Caliphate and China.
Japan
- November 13 - Kamo Special Festival: The poet Murasaki Shikibu is given her name from a famous court poet, Fujiwara no Kinto; this year she probably starts to write The Diary of Lady Murasaki.
- 42nd Birthday of Fujiwara no Michinaga, father-in-law of the emperor, is celebrated.
- Under the Early Lê dynasty, King Lê Long Đĩnh personally marched into battle to defeat the barbarians in Đô Lương and Vị Long provinces.
By topic
Religion
- Autumn - Bruno of Querfurt, a missionary bishop, and 18 companions sets out on a mission to spread Christianity among the Prussians.
- Olof Skötkonung, king of Sweden, is baptized in Husaby by missionary Sigfrid, and makes generous donations on the spot.
Births
- May 4 - Henry I, king of France
- October 12 - Atsuhira, future Emperor Go-Ichijō of Japan
- Al-Mu'izz ibn Badis, Zirid ruler of Ifriqiya
- Anselm of Liège, French chronicler and historian
- Di Qing, general of the Song Dynasty
- Gothelo II, duke of Lower Lorraine
- Sugawara no Takasue, Japanese writer
- Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester
Deaths
- March 17 - Kazan, emperor of Japan
- April 7 - Ludolf, archbishop of Trier
- April 10 - Notker of Liège, French bishop
- May 25
- * Bishi, Japanese imperial princess
- * Matilda of Saxony, [countess of Flanders|Matilda of Saxony], countess of Flanders
- October 6 - Menendo González, Galician nobleman
- November 20 - Geoffrey I, duke of Brittany
- Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar, Andalusian court official
- Clothna mac Aenghusa, Irish poet
- Gunnlaugr Ormstunga, Icelandic poet
- Gurgen II, king of Iberia-Kartli
- Ibn Zur'a, Abbasid physician and philosopher
- Madudan mac Gadhra Mór, king of Síol Anmchadha
- Poppo, Polish missionary bishop
- Raymond III, French nobleman
- Rotbold I, French nobleman
- Sarolt, Grand Princess of Hungary