1036

By place

Europe

• Summer - In Naples, Duke Sergius IV abdicates and retires to a monastery; he is succeeded by his son John V.
• A Zirid expeditionary force invades Sicily and takes Palermo from the Normans, but fails to fully reconquer the island.

  England

• February 5 - Edward the Confessor's younger brother Alfred Aetheling is blinded and murdered, in an apparent attempt to seize the throne of England from Harold I.

  Africa

• June 13 - Caliph Ali az-Zahir dies after a 16-year reign. He is succeeded by his 6-year-old son Al-Mustansir as ruler of the Fatimid Caliphate. Vizier Ali ibn Ahmad al-Jarjara'i will guide the regency for the first few years.

  China

• The Tangut script is devised by Yeli Renrong, for Emperor Jing Zong of Western Xia.

  Japan

• May 15 - Emperor Go-Ichijō dies at the age of 27 after a 20-year reign. He is succeeded by his brother Go-Suzaku as the 69th emperor of Japan.

  By topic

Religion

• Pope Benedict IX is briefly forced out of Rome, but returns with the help of Emperor Conrad II.
• The Flower Sermon first appears in Buddhist literature.