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11th century

In the history of European culture, this period is considered the early part of the High Middle Ages. There was a sudden decline of Byzantine power and rise of Norman domination over much of Europe, along with the prominent role in Europe of notably influential popes. In what is now Northern Italy, a growth of population in urban centers gave rise to early organized capitalism and more sophisticated, commercialized culture by the late 11th century.

In Song Dynasty China and the classical Islamic world, this century marked the high point for both classical Chinese civilization, science and technology, and classical Islamic science, philosophy, technology and literature. There was also a population explosion in China, doubling to the size of 100 million, and an economic revolution in China that spurred manufacture and production rates which rivaled even Great Britain's coal and iron output in the early Industrial Revolution. The Islamic world experienced a similar growth with the Muslim Agricultural Revolution, which led to greater mechanization and economic growth in the Islamic world.

Rival political factions at the Song Dynasty court created strife amongst the leading statesmen and ministers of the empire. Chola-era India and Fatimid-era Egypt, had reached their zenith in military might and international influence. The Western Chalukya Empire (the Chola's rival) also rose to power by the end of the century. In this century the Turkish Seljuk dynasty comes to power in the Middle East over the now fragmented Abbasid realm, while the first of the Crusades were waged towards the close of the century. In Japan, the Fujiwara clan continued to dominate the affairs of state. In the Americas, the Toltec and Mixtec civilizations flourished in central America, along with the Huari Culture of South America and the Mississippian culture of North America. In Russia, there was the golden age for the principality of Kievan Rus. In Korea, the Goryeo Kingdom flourished and faced external threats from the Liao Dynasty (Manchuria). In Vietnam, the Lý Dynasty began, while in Myanmar the Pagan Kingdom reached its height of political and military power.


In European history, the 11th century is regarded as the beginning of the High Middle Ages, an age subsequent to the Early Middle Ages. The century began while the translatio imperii of 962 was still somewhat novel and ended in the midst of the Investiture Controversy. It saw the final Christianisation of Scandinavia and the emergence of the Peace and Truce of God movements, the Gregorian Reforms, and the Crusades which revitalised a church and a papacy that had survived tarnished by the tumultuous tenth century. In 1054, the Great Schism rent the church in two, however.

In Germany, the century was marked by the ascendancy of the Holy Roman Emperors, who hit their high watermark under the Salians.

In Italy, it opened with the integration of the kingdom into the empire and the royal palace at Pavia was sacked in 1024. By the end of the century, Lombard and Byzantine rule in the Mezzogiorno had been usurped by the Normans and the power of the territorial magnates was being replaced by that of the citizens of the cities in the north.

In Britain, it saw the transformation of Scotland into a single, more unified and centralised kingdom and the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The social transformations wrought in these lands brought them into the fuller orbit of European feudal politics.


In Spain, the century opened with the successes of the last caliphs of Córdoba and ended in the successes of the Almoravids. In between was a period of Christian unification under Navarrese hegemony and success in the Reconquista against the taifa kingdoms that replaced the fallen caliphate.

In China, there was a triangular affair of continued war and peace settlements between the Song Dynasty, the Tanguts-led Western Xia in the northwest, and the Khitans of the Liao Dynasty in the northeast. Meanwhile, opposing political factions evolved at the Song imperial court of Kaifeng. The political reformers at court, called the New Policies Group (新法, Xin Fa), were led by Emperor Shenzong of Song and the Chancellors Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi, while the political conservatives were led by Chancellor Sima Guang and Empress Dowager Gao, regent of the young Emperor Zhezong of Song. Heated political debate and sectarian intrigue followed, while political enemies were often dismissed from the capital to govern frontier regions in the deep south where malaria was known to be very fatal to northern Chinese people (see History of the Song Dynasty). This period also represents a high point in classical Chinese science and technology, with figures such as Su Song and Shen Kuo, as well as the age where the matured form of the Chinese pagoda was accomplished in Chinese architecture.















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  • Darlington, Oscar G. "Gerbert, the Teacher," The American Historical Review (Volume 52, Number 3, 1947): 456–476.
  • Holmes, Jr., Urban T. "The Idea of a Twelfth-Century Renaissance," Speculum (Volume 26, Number 4, 1951): 643–651.
  • Kennedy, E. S. (1970-80). "Bīrūnī, Abū Rayḥān al-". Dictionary of Scientific Biography II. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0684101149.

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