Great English earthquake
August 11, 1089
A rare tremor shook much of southern England, rattling churches and knocking stones from towers. Chroniclers recorded it with apocalyptic dread. Structural damage was modest but the shock fed ongoing anxieties about William Rufus's quarrelsome reign and the uncertain fate of the unburied Pope Gregory in distant Salerno. Medieval seismologists now estimate the quake at roughly magnitude five, centered somewhere beneath the English Channel.
In context
Also in 1089 (4 other events on record)
- Seljuks Seize Samarkand from the Qarakhanids · Central Asia · War
- Vikramaditya VI Captures Kanchi from the Cholas · South Asia · War
- Death of Lanfranc of Canterbury · Europe · Religion
- Chola maritime power continues · South Asia · Politics
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Disaster
Era
High Middle Ages (1000–1300), one of 1,306 events from that era on Saeculum.