1049
Leo IX elected pope
The Alsatian reformer Bruno of Toul, chosen by Henry III at Worms, refused to be installed until Roman clergy and people confirmed him. He brought Hildebrand and a generation of reformers to the curia. Papal power was being reinvented from within, a revolution that would soon turn against emperors. Leo's insistence on proper election was itself a reforming act, signaling that the papacy would no longer simply accept imperial appointments.
Shen Kuo born in Hangzhou
The Song polymath who would describe the magnetic compass, notice that fossilized bamboo in the north meant climates had changed, describe movable-type printing, and write on music and astronomy was born in Hangzhou. His Brush Talks from Dream Brook is one of the great scientific miscellanies. His observations on geological processes, including erosion and sedimentation, anticipated modern earth science by several centuries.
Almoravid movement gains momentum in the western Sahara
Abdullah ibn Yasin's desert warriors, drilling at their ribat on the Senegal River, had grown from a handful of zealots into a formidable army of Sanhaja Berbers bound by strict Maliki discipline. They captured the oasis of Sijilmasa on the northern edge of the Sahara, seizing control of the trans-Saharan gold trade's most crucial waystation.
Song court establishes printing bureaus in provinces
The central government ordered the creation of official printing offices in major provincial capitals, standardizing the production of government documents, examination texts, and Buddhist sutras. Woodblock printing had already made Song China the most literate society on earth; the provincial bureaus extended that literacy deeper into the countryside than any previous program in human history.