1006

By place

Europe

• Summer - The Saracen fleet appears before Pisa, but departs again. The Pisans take their fleet to sea to give chase and defeat the Arab fleet at the battle of Reggio Calabria.

  England

• Fall - Danish Viking raiders led by Sweyn I attack and destroy the river crossing at Wallingford. The Danes attack and burn the town of Reading.

  Oceania

• A major eruption of the Mount Merapi volcano covers all of central Java with volcanic ash, causes devastation throughout central Java, and destroys the Hindu kingdom of Mataram on the island of Java.

  By topic

Astronomy

• May 1 - The brightest supernova ever recorded, SN 1006, occurs in the constellation of Lupus. It is observed and described in China, Japan, Iraq, Egypt, and Europe and possibly depicted in North American rock art. Modern astronomers now consider its distance at about 7,200 light-years. The supernova provides enough light to read by on a night with a dark moon.

  Births

• October 23 - Wen Yanbo, grand chancellor
• Al-Lakhmi, Fatimid scholar and jurist
• Constantine X, Byzantine emperor
• Ísleifur Gissurarson, Icelandic bishop
• Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Persian Sufi poet

  Deaths

• February 13 - Fulcran, bishop of Lodève
• July 21 - Gisela of Burgundy, duchess of Bavaria
• December 26 - Gao Qiong, Chinese general
• Ælfhelm of York, ealdorman of Northumbria
• Azon the Venerable, French prelate
• Cenwulf, bishop of Winchester
• Fiachra Ua Focarta, abbot of Clonfert
• Giovanni Orseolo, Venetian nobleman
• Ibn Marzuban, Persian official and physician
• Maud of Normandy, French noblewoman
• Olaf the Peacock, Icelandic merchant
• Sherira Gaon, Jewish spiritual leader