1016
Year 1016 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
- March 25 - Battle of Nesjar : Olaf Haraldsson is victorious over former co-regent Sweyn Haakonsson, confirming his status as king of Norway.
- April 23 - Æthelred the Unready, king of England, dies after a 38-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Edmund II "Ironside".
- Summer - Battle of Brentford : Edmund Ironside defeats the Danes under King Cnut.
- July 6 - Battle of Pontlevoy: French forces of Fulk III and Herbert I defeat Odo II which determines the balance of power in the Loire Valley.
- October 18 - Battle of Assandun: Cnut defeats Edmund Ironside, leaving the latter as king of Wessex.
- November 30 - Edmund II dies and Cnut takes control of the whole of the Kingdom of England.
- The Pisan and the Genoese republics launch a naval offensive against the Muslim strongholds of Sardinia, in particular Porto Torres, and defeat the fleet of the taifa king of Dénia, Mujāhid al-ʿĀmirī.
- Melus of Bari makes a second attempt against Byzantine-held Southern Italy. To support his cause, he hires Norman mercenaries, unwittingly triggering the rise of Norman rule over southern Italy.
- Georgius Tzul, ruler of Khazaria, is captured by a combined Byzantine Empire–Kievan Rus' force, which effectively ends Khazaria's existence.
Arabian Empire
- January 7 - Fath al-Qal'i, governor of the Citadel of Aleppo, revolts against Emir Mansur ibn Lu'lu', forcing him to flee. Fath accepts an agreement with Salih ibn Mirdas and takes control of Aleppo.
Asia
- March 10 - Emperor Sanjō of Japan abdicates the throne after a 5-year reign. He is succeeded by his 7-year-old cousin Go-Ichijō as the 68th emperor of Japan. Fujiwara no Michinaga is appointed regent.
- Japanese poet Koshikibu no Naishi and her husband Fujiwara no Kiminari have a son, but the couple is not accepted because of the social gap between them.