1080

Events

Autumn – Nikephoros Melissenos, a Byzantine general and aristocrat, seizes control of what remains of Byzantine Asia Minor (modern Turkey), and proclaims himself emperor against Nikephoros III Botaneiates. Melissenos makes an alliance with Sultan Suleiman ibn Qutulmish and recruits many Turkish mercenaries to his army.

January 27 – Battle of Flarchheim: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, defeats the forces led by the German anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden, duke of Swabia, near the town of Flarchheim (modern Germany).
April 17 – King Harald III of Denmark dies after a 4-year reign and is buried at Dalby Church in Scania (modern Sweden). He is succeeded by his brother Canute IV ("the Holy") as ruler of Denmark.
October 14 – Battle on the Elster: Rudolf of Rheinfelden defeats the imperial forces led by Henry IV at the Elster River. Rudolf dies the following day at Merseburg of wounds received.

May 14 – Walcher, bishop of Durham, is killed by rebel Northumbrians. King William the Conqueror sends a punitive expedition led by his half-brother Odo of Bayeux to pacify Northumbria.
Autumn – Robert Curthose, a son of William I, is sent to invade Scotland. He reaches as far as Falkirk and forces King Malcolm III to agree to terms while building fortifications at Newcastle upon Tyne.
Osmund, bishop of Salisbury, builds Devizes Castle in Wiltshire.

The Rubenid Principality of Cilicia gains independence after its founder, Ruben I, succeeds in establishing his authority in the mountainous regions of Cilicia.

Shen Kuo, Chinese polymath scientist and statesman, begins his defensive military campaign against the Tangut people of the Western Xia. He successfully defends the invasion route to Yanzhou (Shaanxi province).

June 25 – Wibert of Ravenna is elected as Antipope Clement III during the pro-imperial Synod of Brixen. Pope Gregory VII is deposed, signed in a decree by Henry IV.
King Alfonso VI ("the Brave") of LeÃÂ³n and Castile establishes Latin liturgy in the Catholic Church, in place of the Hispanic Rite.
Benno II, bishop of OsnabrÃÂ¼ck, founds the Benedictine abby of Iburg Castle (modern Germany).</onlyinclude>

(many dates approximate)