985
Year 985 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
- Summer - Henry II is restored as duke of Bavaria by Empress Theophanu and her mother-in-law Adelaide at an Hoftag assembly in Rohr. King Otto III remains under the regency of the two empresses in the Holy Roman Empire and in the Kingdom of Italy.
- Battle of Fýrisvellir: King Eric the Victorious defeats a Swedish Viking army under Styrbjörn the Strong near Uppsala.
- July 6 - The city of Barcelona is sacked by Moorish troops under Al-Mansur, the de facto ruler of Al-Andalus.
England
- Lady Wulfrun, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman, is granted land by King Æthelred II. She founds Heantune that later becomes the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands.
Asia
- Raja Raja Chola I becomes ruler of the Chola Dynasty. During his reign he expands his domains beyond South India.
By topic
Exploration
- Greenland is colonized by the Icelandic Viking Erik the Red.
Religion
- July 20 - Anti-Pope Boniface VII dies under suspicious circumstances at Rome. He is succeeded by John XV as the 137th pope of the Catholic Church.
- Amalfitan Benedictines found the only Latin Christian monastery on Mount Athos with the support of John the Iberian. The monastery will last until 1287.
Births
- August 13 - Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, Fatimid caliph
- Adalbert, margrave of Austria
- Boniface III, margrave of Tuscany
- Gilbert Buatère, Norman nobleman
- Gisela, queen of Hungary
- John Gualbert, Italian monk and abbot
- Hamza ibn 'Ali ibn-Ahmad, founding leader of the Druze
- Maria of Amalfi, Lombard duchess and regent
- Osmond Drengot, Norman nobleman
- Pilgrim, archbishop of Cologne
- Radbot, German nobleman
- Rodulfus Glaber, French monk and chronicler
- Theobald II, French nobleman
- Wazo, bishop of Liège
- Zhao Yuanyan, prince of the Song Dynasty
Deaths
- January 31 - Ryōgen, Japanese monk and abbot
- June 26 - Ramiro III, king of León
- July 20 - Boniface VII, antipope of the Catholic Church
- August 25 - Dietrich of Haldensleben, German margrave
- Basil Lekapenos, Byzantine chief minister
- Chen Hongjin, Chinese warlord and general
- Herbert III, Frankish nobleman
- Hywel ap Ieuaf, king of Gwynedd
- Judith, duchess regent of Bavaria
- Kishi Joō, Japanese female waka poet
- Marzuban ibn Muhammad, Shaddadid emir
- Muirgus mac Domnaill, king of Uí Maine
- Rikdag, margrave of Meissen
- Tornike Eristavi, Georgian general and monk
- Harold II, king of Denmark and Norway