1104
Year 1104 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
- Summer - The Byzantines re-occupy the Cilician cities of Tarsus, Adana and Mamistra. A naval squadron, under Admiral Cantacuzenus, pursues in Cypriot waters a Genoese raiding fleet, and sails on to Latakia, where they capture the harbour and the lower city. Bohemond I reinforces the garrison in the citadel.
Levant
- Spring - The Crusaders, led by Bohemond I, re-invade the territory of Aleppo, and try to capture the town of Kafar Latha. The attack fails, owing to the resistance of the local Banu tribe. Meanwhile, Joscelin of Courtenay cuts the communications between Aleppo and the Euphrates.
- May 7 - Battle of Harran: The Crusaders under Baldwin [II of Jerusalem|Baldwin II] are defeated by the Seljuk Turks. Baldwin and Joscelin of Courtenay are taken prisoner. Tancred becomes regent of Edessa. The defeat at Harran marks a key turning point of Crusader expansion.
- May 26 - King Baldwin I captures Acre, the port is besieged from April, and blockaded by the Genoese and Pisan fleet. Baldwin promises a free passage to those who want to move to Ascalon, but the Italian sailors plunder the wealthy Muslim emigrants and kill many of them.
- Autumn - Bohemond I departs to Italy |Italy] for reinforcements. He takes with him gold and silver, and precious stuff to raise an army against Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Tancred becomes co-ruler over Antioch – and appoints his brother-in-law, Richard of Salerno, as his deputy.
- Toghtekin, Seljuk ruler of Damascus, founds a short-lived principality in Syria.
England
- September 3 - St. Cuthbert is reburied in Durham Cathedral.
Europe
- September 28 - Alfonso I becomes king of Aragon and Navarre.
- King David IV of Georgia defeats 100,000 Seljuk Turks with only 1,500 warriors.
- Sultan Kilij Arslan I of the Sultanate of Rum starts a war with the Danishmendids.
- The Venetian Arsenal is founded in Venice.
Vietnam
- After the raid on Đại Việt in 1103, the Champa army under king Jaya Indravarman II successfully retakes three provinces in the Địa Lý regions but is quickly defeated by the national forces led by Lý Thường Kiệt, and is forced to withdraw from the country. Đại Việt under the Lý dynasty then takes control of the three Địa Lý provinces.
By topic
Religion
- April 21 - The new basilica at Vézelay Abbey is dedicated.
Volcanology
- Autumn - The volcano Hekla erupts in Iceland and devastates farms for 45 miles around.