1085
Alfonso VI captures Toledo
The king of Leon-Castile entered the old Visigothic capital after a long blockade. Toledo's mixed Christian, Muslim, and Jewish population was left alive and largely undisturbed. The city became the intellectual bridge across which Arabic translations of Aristotle would flow to Latin Europe over the next century. Its famous translation school made Toledo the single most important conduit for the transmission of classical knowledge to the medieval West.
Death of Shen Kuo's Patron Emperor Shenzong
Emperor Shenzong died at thirty-seven, and with him died the political will sustaining Wang Anshi's reforms. The conservative faction, led by Sima Guang, swept back to power and systematically dismantled the New Policies - abolishing the Green Sprouts loans, disbanding the militia system, ending the state trading monopolies. Song China's great experiment in activist governance was over. Whether it had succeeded or failed remained, as always, a matter of which historian you asked.
Death of Pope Gregory VII at Salerno
The reformer pope, driven from Rome by his own Norman liberators, died in exile at Salerno, reportedly with the bitter words: I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore I die in exile. His great quarrel over investiture would outlive him by decades into the next century. The Concordat of Worms in 1122 would finally resolve the conflict, largely on terms Gregory had championed.
Death of Robert Guiscard on Cephalonia
The red-bearded Norman conqueror of southern Italy, in the middle of his second Byzantine campaign, died of fever on the Greek island. He had failed to overthrow Alexios but had carved out a durable Norman state in the western Balkans. His son Bohemond would take up the Byzantine quarrel, eventually diverting it into the First Crusade and winning himself the principality of Antioch.
Paper money widespread in Song China
The Jiaozi notes first issued at Sichuan in 1023 had spread across Song China as supplementary legal tender. Merchants preferred their lightness to copper coin for long-distance trade. The fiscal sophistication of Song finance was unmatched; it would inspire awe in later Mongol and European visitors alike. The government printed the notes with multiple colors and intricate designs, developing anti-counterfeiting measures centuries ahead of their time.