1073

Events

Spring - Emperor Michael [VII Doukas] sends a Byzantine army to deal with Seljuk raiding in Cappadocia, supported with a mixed force of Norman and French mercenary heavy cavalry under Roussel de Bailleul. Roussel re-conquers some territory in Galatia and declares it an independent Norman state. Michael, enraged, sends another army led by his uncle, Caesar John Doukas and the veteran General Nikephoros Botaneiates to deal with the rising of the Norman threat in Asia minor. But the Byzantines are defeated and John is captured. Roussel marches with a force across Bithynia to the Bosporus and sacks Chrysopolis, near Constantinople.

May 25 - King Sancho IV of Navarre and Ahmad al-Muqtadir, Muslim ruler of the Taifa of Zaragoza, conclude an alliance by treaty.
October 14 - The Judicate of Arborea is recognised by Pope Gregory VII.
Ebles II of Roucy leads a French army in Spain, to support King Sancho V of Aragon in his struggle against his Muslim neighbors.
Sviatoslav II and Vsevolod I unite the Kievan forces and expel their brother Iziaslav I. Sviatoslav II becomes Grand Prince of Kiev.

Wang Anshi, Chinese chief chancellor of the Song dynasty, creates a new bureau of the central government, which supervises the manufacture of military armaments and ensures quality control.
June 15 - Emperor Emperor Go-Sanjō dies after a 5-year reign and is succeeded by his 19-year-old son Shirakawa as the 72nd emperor of Japan.

Pope Alexander II dies after a 11½-year pontificate at Rome. He is succeeded by Gregory VII as the 157th pope of the Catholic Church.
Rabbi Yitchaki Alfassi finishes writing the Rif, an important work of Jewish law.
John IX bar Shushan ends his term as Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.