Year 1081 (MLXXXI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.
Events
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By place
Byzantine Empire
- April 1 – Emperor Nikephoros III is forced to abdicate the throne, and retires to the Peribleptos monastery. He is succeeded by Alexios I Komnenos, who is crowned on April 5, as ruler of the Byzantine Empire. His brother-in-law Nikephoros Melissenos supports Alexios as new emperor, in exchange for the title of Caesar (co-emperor), and is appointed as commander of the Byzantine armies in the West.
- May – A Norman fleet of 150 ships (including 60 horse transports), led by Duke Robert Guiscard, sets off towards the Dalmatian coast. An army of 15,000 men (including about 1,300 Norman knights) sails to the city of Avalona (modern Albania); they are joined by several ships from Ragusa, a republic in the Balkans who are enemies of the Byzantines.
- October 18 – Battle of Dyrrhachium: After taking the island of Corfu, Robert Guiscard advances to Dyrrhachium (modern-day Durrës), and lays siege to the city. Alexios I Komnenos attempts to defend Illyria from the Normans (the first recorded mention of Albania), but is defeated by Guiscard, outside Dyrrhachium, the Byzantine capital city of Illyria.
Europe
Britain
Seljuk Empire
By topic
Religion
Births
Deaths
- January/February – Ibn Hayyus, Syrian poet and panegyrist (b. 1003)
- April 2/3 – BolesÃ
Âaw II the Bold (or "the Generous"), king of Poland (or 1082)
- June – Bernard of Menthon, French priest and saint
- September 1 – Eusebius (or Bruno), bishop of Angers
- October 18
- Konstantios Doukas, Byzantine emperor (b. 1060)
- Nikephoros Palaiologos, Byzantine general
- December 10 – Nikephoros III, Byzantine emperor
- December 21 – Abu al-Walid al-Baji, Moorish scholar and poet (b. 1013)
- Abelard of Hauteville, Italo-Norman nobleman
- Artau I, count of Pallars SobirÃÂ (approximate date)
- Caradog ap Gruffydd, prince of Gwent, killed in battle
- JÃ
Âjin, Japanese Tendai monk and writer (b. 1011)
- Mihailo ("King of the Slavs"), Serbian king of Duklja
- Trahaearn ap Caradog, Welsh king of Gwynedd, killed in battle (b. 1044)
References