1014: Year in Review

Alfonso V of León. Date and artist unknown. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Welcome to the page for my 1014 series. You’ll find a link to each and every post in the series at the bottom of the page.

In the series I plan to look at the key events, star players and major empires that shaped the world of 1014. It was an age of Viking conquest and exploration. Wars raged from the Balkans to the British Isles. Empires were rising and falling across the globe. I’ll be posting on the 1000th anniversary of any of the key dates, though exact dates are often hard to come by. Otherwise I’ll be posting two or three times a month on various topics from the period.

There’s a lot to cover and I don’t plan to do it alone. The idea for this series is that it will be a collaboration. I’ve got a few guest contributors with knowledge on some of the key events and players lined up. I’ll also be looking to re-blog as much as possible. If you’ve got any info or content you’d like to share or would like to write a post, I’d love to hear from you. Whether it be a biography on Alfonso V of León, a study on farming techniques in medieval India or a post on siege warfare of the 11th century, I’m interested.

Seal of Robert II of France.

I also want to look at daily life during the time period, not just for the movers and shakers of the world, but for the common man and woman. Life was difficult then. A bad harvest could spell famine and disease and bad harvests were easy to come by. Warfare fought on the the whims of the powerful could spell death. Raid after raid was also a constant threat for all but a few. Children were lucky to live to adulthood and the women who bore them were lucky to survive.

Welcome to the year 1014, I hope you enjoy your stay.

If you’d like to help out in any way or have anything you’d like to share, write me at yesterday.unhinged@gmail.com

On This Day

On This Day in 1014: Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark, Norway and England Dies

On This Day in 1014: Henry II Crowned Holy Roman Emperor

Biographical Posts

Aethelred the Unready  by Susan Abernathy of the Freelance History Writer

Posts on States

Croatia, Between a Rock and a Hard Place  by Robert Horvat of If It Happened Yesterday, It’s History