1055
1055 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
- January 11 - Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos dies after a 12½-year reign at Constantinople. He is succeeded by Theodora, who is proclaimed by the imperial guard as empress of the Byzantine Empire.
Europe
- King Ferdinand I of León begins his campaign against al-Andalus. He conquers Seia from the Christian allies of the Muslim taifas. In a drive to consolidate his southern border in Portugal he re-populates the city of Zamora with some of his Cantabrian subjects.
England
- October 24 - Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia, is outlawed by the witan. In revenge he builds a force and allies himself with the Welsh king Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. After defeating Ralph the Timid, they attack Hereford and raid the church – taking everything of value, leaving the building on fire. The rebels also attack Leominster.
- Edward the Confessor gives Tostig Godwinson the important position as earl of Northumbria and the difficult mission of bringing the northern state under control.
Arabian Empire
- Winter - The Seljuk Turks led by Sultan Tughril capture Baghdad and enter the city in a Roman-styled triumph. Al-Malik al-Rahim, the last Buyid emir in Iraq, is taken prisoner.
By topic
Architecture
- Construction on the Liaodi Pagoda in Hebei is completed.
Religion
- King Andrew I of Hungary establishes the Benedictine Tihany Abbey. Its foundation charter is the earliest written record extant in the Hungarian language.
- April 13 - Pope Victor II succeeds Leo IX as the 153rd pope of the Catholic Church in Rome.
Births
- August 16 - Malik-Shah I, sultan of the Seljuk Empire
- September 28 - Uicheon, Korean Buddhist monk
- Adelaide of Weimar-Orlamünde, German noblewoman
- Alger of Liège, French clergyman and priest
- Bertha of Holland, French queen consort
- Fujiwara no Akisue, Japanese nobleman
- Gilbert Crispin, Norman abbot and theologian
- Gruffudd ap Cynan, king of Gwynedd
- Hildebert, French hagiographer and theologian
- Ida of Austria, German duchess and crusader
- Judith of Lens, niece of William the Conqueror
- Machig Labdrön, Tibetan Buddhist teacher
- Minamoto no Shunrai, Japanese poet
- Terken Khatun, Seljuk empress
- Vigrahapala III, ruler of the Pala Empire
Deaths
- January 10 - Bretislav I, duke of Bohemia
- January 11 - Constantine IX, Byzantine emperor
- April 10 - Conrad II, duke of Bavaria
- May 26 - Adalbert, margrave of Austria
- August 28 - Xing Zong, Chinese emperor
- November 13 - Welf III, duke of Carinthia
- December 5 - Conrad I, duke of Bavaria
- A Nong, Chinese shamaness, matriarch and warrior
- Benedict I, Hungarian politician and archbishop
- Boniface IV Frederick, margrave of Tuscany
- Gruffydd ap Rhydderch, king of Deheubarth
- Mauger, archbishop of Rouen
- Nong Zhigao, Vietnamese chieftain of Nong
- Rinchen Zangpo, Tibetan Buddhist monk
- Siward, earl of Northumbria
- Theodore Aaronios, Byzantine governor
- Yan Shu, Chinese statesman and poet