Events

• 1050
  • The Norman
    Normans
    The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
    
     bishop Robert of Jumièges
    Robert of Jumièges
    Robert of Jumièges was the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. He had previously served as prior of the Abbey of St Ouen at Rouen in France, before becoming abbot of Jumièges Abbey, near Rouen, in 1037...
    
     appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury
    Archbishop of Canterbury
    The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
    
    .
  • First Bishop of Exeter
    Bishop of Exeter
    The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The incumbent usually signs his name as Exon or incorporates this in his signature....
    
     consecrated.
  • Sweyn Godwinson
    Sweyn Godwinson
    Sweyn Godwinson , also spelled Swein, was the eldest son of Earl Godwin of Wessex, and brother of Harold II of England.- Early life :...
    
     pardoned for murdering his cousin.
• 1051
  • Robert of Jumièges refuses to consecrate Spearhafoc
    Spearhafoc
    Spearhafoc, a name meaning "sparrowhawk" in Old English , was an eleventh century Anglo-Saxon artist and Benedictine monk, whose artistic talent was apparently the cause of his rapid elevation to Abbot of Abingdon in 1047–48 and Bishop-Elect of London in 1051...
    
     as his successor as the Bishop of London
    Bishop of London
    The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
    
    . William the Norman is appointed instead.
  • September - Following a rebellion, King Edward the Confessor
    Edward the Confessor
    Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
    
     exiles Godwin, Earl of Wessex
    Godwin, Earl of Wessex
    Godwin of Wessex , was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great and his successors. Cnut made him the first Earl of Wessex...
    
     to Flanders
    Flanders
    Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
    
    .
• 1052
  • Prince Gruffydd ap Llywelyn
    Gruffydd ap Llywelyn
    Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was the ruler of all Wales from 1055 until his death, the only Welsh monarch able to make this boast...
    
     of Wales
    Wales
    Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
    
     raids Hertfordshire
    Hertfordshire
    Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
    
    .
  • 14 September - Godwin, Earl of Wessex returns to England from exile
    Exile
    Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
    
    . He sails a large fleet into London
    London
    London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
    
     forcing King Edward to reinstate him.
  • Three bishops appointed by King Edward — Robert of Jumièges; Ulfus Normanus
    Ulfus Normanus
    Ulfus Normanus was a medieval Bishop of Dorchester, when the city was seat of the united dioceses of Lindsey and Dorchester.He was consecrated in 1050 and was expelled in 1052.-References:...
    
    , Bishop of Dorchester
    Bishop of Dorchester
    Title held by various ecclesiastics including:*Bishop of Dorchester , suffragan bishop under the Church of England, 20th century onwards*Bishop of Dorchester , Saxon bishopric, merged into bishop of Lincoln c.1072...
    
    , and William the Norman, Bishop of London — flee the country.
  • Stigand
    Stigand
    Stigand was an English churchman in pre-Norman Conquest England. Although his birthdate is unknown, by 1020, he was serving as a royal chaplain and advisor. He was named Bishop of Elmham in 1043, and then later Bishop of Winchester and Archbishop of Canterbury...
    
     enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury
    Archbishop of Canterbury
    The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
    
    .
  • William, Duke of Normandy
    William I of England
    William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
    
     visits King Edward and may have been promised the throne after Edward's death.
• 1053
  • 15 April - Godwin dies and is succeeded by his son Harold Godwinson
    Harold Godwinson
    Harold Godwinson was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England.It could be argued that Edgar the Atheling, who was proclaimed as king by the witan but never crowned, was really the last Anglo-Saxon king...
    
     as the Earl of Wessex
    Earl of Wessex
    The title Earl of Wessex has been created twice in British history, once in the pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxon nobility of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom...
    
    .
• 1054
  • 27 July - Siward, Earl of Northumbria
    Siward, Earl of Northumbria
    Siward or Sigurd was an important earl of 11th-century northern England. The Old Norse nickname Digri and its Latin translation Grossus are given to him by near-contemporary texts...
    
     invades Scotland
    Scotland
    Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
    
     to support Malcolm Canmore
    Malcolm III of Scotland
    Máel Coluim mac Donnchada , was King of Scots...
    
     against King Macbeth
    Macbeth of Scotland
    Mac Bethad mac Findlaích was King of the Scots from 1040 until his death...
    
    .
• 1055
  • Siward dies; Tostig Godwinson
    Tostig Godwinson
    Tostig Godwinson was an Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria and brother of King Harold Godwinson, the last crowned english King of England.-Early life:...
    
     becomes Earl of Northumbria
    Earl of Northumbria
    Earl of Northumbria was a title in the Anglo-Danish, late Anglo-Saxon, and early Anglo-Norman period in England. The earldom of Northumbria was the successor of the ealdormanry of Bamburgh, itself the successor of an independent Bernicia. Under the Norse kingdom of York, there were earls of...
    
    .
  • 24 October - Gruffydd ap Llywelyn and Ælfgar
    Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia
    Ælfgar was son of Leofric, Earl of Mercia,by his well-known wife Godgifu . He succeeded to his father's title and responsibilities on the latter's death in 1057....
    
    , exiled son of Leofric, Earl of Mercia
    Leofric, Earl of Mercia
    Leofric was the Earl of Mercia and founded monasteries at Coventry and Much Wenlock. Leofric is remembered as the husband of Lady Godiva.-Life and political influence:...
    
    , raid England, and sack Hereford
    Hereford
    Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
    
    .
  • Harold Godwinson
    Harold Godwinson
    Harold Godwinson was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England.It could be argued that Edgar the Atheling, who was proclaimed as king by the witan but never crowned, was really the last Anglo-Saxon king...
    
     makes peace with Ælfgar, who returns from exile.
• 1056
  • 17 June - Battle of Glasbury
    Glasbury
    Glasbury , also known as Glasbury-on-Wye, is a village in Powys, Wales which lies at an important crossing point on the River Wye, connecting the former counties of Brecknockshire and Radnorshire. The village is just outside the Brecon Beacons National Park, north of the Black Mountains. The...
    
    : Gruffydd ap Llywelyn
    Gruffydd ap Llywelyn
    Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was the ruler of all Wales from 1055 until his death, the only Welsh monarch able to make this boast...
    
     raids England again, and kills Leofgar of Hereford
    Leofgar of Hereford
    Leofgar was a medieval Bishop of Hereford.Leofgar was consecrated in March 1056. He had previously been the chaplain to Harold Godwineson, and it was probably Harold who persuaded King Edward the Confessor to appoint him to the bishopric. The appointment was disapproved of by the Anglo-Saxon...
    
    . Gruffydd's forces burn down Hereford Cathedral
    Hereford Cathedral
    The current Hereford Cathedral, located at Hereford in England, dates from 1079. Its most famous treasure is Mappa Mundi, a mediæval map of the world dating from the 13th century. The cathedral is a Grade I listed building.-Origins:...
    
    .
• 1057
  • Edward the Exile
    Edward the Exile
    Edward the Exile , also called Edward Ætheling, son of King Edmund Ironside and of Ealdgyth. After the Danish conquest of England in 1016 Canute had him and his brother, Edmund, exiled to the Continent...
    
    , son of Edmund Ironside
    Edmund Ironside
    Edmund Ironside or Edmund II was king of England from 23 April to 30 November 1016. His cognomen "Ironside" is not recorded until 1057, but may have been contemporary. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, it was given to him "because of his valour" in resisting the Danish invasion led by Cnut...
    
    , returns to England, but dies shortly after.
  • Leofric, Earl of Mercia
    Leofric, Earl of Mercia
    Leofric was the Earl of Mercia and founded monasteries at Coventry and Much Wenlock. Leofric is remembered as the husband of Lady Godiva.-Life and political influence:...
    
     dies, and his son Ælfgar is again exiled for treason.
• 1058
  • Aelfgar, supported by the Welsh and Norwegians
    Norway
    Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
    
    , unsuccessfully attacks the English coast; he is nonetheless re-instated as Earl of Mercia
    Earl of Mercia
    Earl of Mercia was a title in the late Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Danish, and early Anglo-Norman period in England. During this period the earldom covered the lands of the old Kingdom of Mercia in the English Midlands....
    
    .
• 1059
  • Malcolm III of Scotland
    Malcolm III of Scotland
    Máel Coluim mac Donnchada , was King of Scots...
    
     pays homage
    Homage (medieval)
    Homage in the Middle Ages was the ceremony in which a feudal tenant or vassal pledged reverence and submission to his feudal lord, receiving in exchange the symbolic title to his new position . It was a symbolic acknowledgment to the lord that the vassal was, literally, his man . The oath known as...
    
     to King Edward.

Births

• 1050
  • Waltheof II, Earl of Northumbria (died 1076)
• 1051
  • Edgar Ætheling
    Edgar Ætheling
    Edgar Ætheling , or Edgar II, was the last male member of the royal house of Cerdic of Wessex...
    
    , uncrowned King of England (died c. 1126)

Deaths

• 1050
  • 29 October - Edsige
    Edsige
    Edsige, also Eadsige, Eadsimus, or Eadsin , was Archbishop of Canterbury, and crowned Edward the Confessor as king of England.-Biography:...
    
    , Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1051
  • 22 January - Aelfric Puttoc
    Aelfric Puttoc
    Ælfric Puttoc , sometimes modernized Alfric Puttock, was a medieval Archbishop of York and Bishop of Worcester.-Early:Ælfric first appears in the historical record as the provost of New Minster, Winchester. He was probably a native of Wessex...
    
    , archbishop of York
• 1052
  • Emma of Normandy
    Emma of Normandy
    Emma , was a daughter of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, by his second wife Gunnora. She was Queen consort of England twice, by successive marriages: first as second wife to Æthelred the Unready of England ; and then second wife to Cnut the Great of Denmark...
    
    , consort of Ethelred the Unready
    Ethelred the Unready
    Æthelred the Unready, or Æthelred II , was king of England . He was son of King Edgar and Queen Ælfthryth. Æthelred was only about 10 when his half-brother Edward was murdered...
    
     and Canute the Great
    Canute the Great
    Cnut the Great , also known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden. Though after the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history, historian Norman F...
    
     (born c. 985)
• 1053
  • 15 April - Godwin, Earl of Wessex
    Godwin, Earl of Wessex
    Godwin of Wessex , was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great and his successors. Cnut made him the first Earl of Wessex...
    
     (born c. 1001)
• 1055
  • Goda of England
    Goda of England
    Goda of England or Godgifu; was the daughter of King Ethelred the Unready and his second wife Emma of Normandy, and sister of King Edward the Confessor...
    
    , princess (born 1004)
• 1056
  • 10 February - Athelstan II
    Athelstan II
    Æthelstan was a medieval Bishop of Hereford.Æthelstan was consecrated between 1013 and 1016. Before his death, he had been blind for 13 years, and Tremerig was appointed as a suffragan bishop to assist Æthelstan. Tremerig died shortly before Æthelstan did...
    
    , Bishop of Hereford
  • 16 June - Leofgar of Hereford
    Leofgar of Hereford
    Leofgar was a medieval Bishop of Hereford.Leofgar was consecrated in March 1056. He had previously been the chaplain to Harold Godwineson, and it was probably Harold who persuaded King Edward the Confessor to appoint him to the bishopric. The appointment was disapproved of by the Anglo-Saxon...
    
    , Bishop of Hereford
• 1057
  • February - Edward the Exile
    Edward the Exile
    Edward the Exile , also called Edward Ætheling, son of King Edmund Ironside and of Ealdgyth. After the Danish conquest of England in 1016 Canute had him and his brother, Edmund, exiled to the Continent...
    
    , son of Edmund II of England (born 1016)
  • 31 August - Leofric, Earl of Mercia
    Leofric, Earl of Mercia
    Leofric was the Earl of Mercia and founded monasteries at Coventry and Much Wenlock. Leofric is remembered as the husband of Lady Godiva.-Life and political influence:...
    
     (born 968)
• 1058
  • Alfwold
    Alfwold
    Alfwold was a saint and Bishop of Sherborne in Dorset.-Life:Little is known of him apart from the information given by William of Malmesbury. He was at first a monk of Winchester, then was consecrated Bishop of Sherborne in 1045, succeeding his own brother Brithwyn...
    
    , Bishop of Sherborne