1064
Great Nile Famine Begins in Fatimid Egypt
The Nile failed to rise. For the first of seven consecutive years, the annual inundation that fed Egypt's fields fell catastrophically short, and the granaries of the Delta began to empty. Grain prices in Cairo would eventually reach thirty dinars per ardabb - thirty times the normal rate. What followed was one of the medieval world's worst humanitarian catastrophes: starvation so extreme that chroniclers recorded the living eating the dead.
Harold Godwinson shipwrecked in Normandy
Sailing in the Channel on obscure business, the English earl was driven ashore in Ponthieu and handed over to Duke William. According to Norman sources, William compelled Harold to swear on holy relics to support his claim to the English throne. Harold took the oath. It would haunt his short reign.
Pala Dynasty Weakens in Bengal
The Pala dynasty, which had ruled Bengal and Bihar for three centuries as patrons of Buddhism and the great university at Nalanda, entered a period of accelerating decline. Territorial losses to the Sena dynasty and internal feuding eroded Pala authority across the Gangetic plain. The dynasty's fall would mark the end of institutional Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent - the monasteries and universities it had sustained would not survive long without royal patronage.
Seljuks sack Ani
Alp Arslan's army stormed the Armenian capital and gave it over to slaughter and fire. Contemporary chroniclers described bodies so thick in the streets that one could not walk without stepping on them. The fall of the city of a thousand churches erased Armenia's last functioning kingdom. Ani's massive stone walls and glittering skyline of churches had made it one of the richest cities in the medieval world.
Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem intensifies
The German bishop Gunther of Bamberg led a mass pilgrimage of thousands to Jerusalem, suffering heavy casualties from Bedouin attacks in the Sinai. The scale of the expedition, and the difficulties it encountered, foreshadowed the impulse that would drive the First Crusade thirty years later when Urban II preached at Clermont.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1064?
Saeculum lists 5 curated events from 1064. The most significant is Great Nile Famine Begins in Fatimid Egypt: The Nile failed to rise. For the first of seven consecutive years, the annual inundation that fed Egypt's fields fell catastrophically short…
What era was 1064 part of?
1064 falls within the High Middle Ages (1000-1300). Crusades, cathedrals, and the slow waking of Europe.
Which regions saw notable events in 1064?
The curated events from 1064 span Middle East, Europe and South Asia.