Emperor Taizu, the founder of the Song…

Years of conflict had followed Jayavarman’s death in 1001.

Kings have reigned only for a few years, and have been successively violently replaced by their successors until eventually Suryavarman I, a Buddhist, assumes the Khmer throne for the final time around 1010.

Suryavarman I establishes diplomatic relations with the Chola dynasty of south India, sending a chariot as a present to the Chola Emperor Rajaraja Chola I.

The Goryeo king is unseated in a revolt, resulting in an invasion by the Liao Dynasty and the burning of the Korean capital Gaegyeong in the Second Goryeo-Khitan War.

Yaroslav, one of Vladimir’s younger sons, is the supposed founder, in 1010, of Yaroslavl, situated on the upper Volga River, at its junction with the Kotorosl River, about one hundred and fifty miles (two hundred and forty kilometers) northeast of Moscow.

The German counteroffensive against Poland, which begins in 1010, is of no significant consequence, beyond some pillaging in Silesia.

Persian poet Ferdowsi of Khorasan (whose original name is Abolqasem Mansur) was born into a family of Iranian landowners (dehqans) in 940 in the village of Paj, near the city of Tus in the province of Khorasan, now in northeastern Iran.

Little is known about Ferdowsi's early life.

The poet had a wife, who was probably literate and came from the same dehqan class.

He had a son, who died aged thirty-seven, and was mourned by the poet in an elegy that he inserted into the Shahnameh, his magnum opus.

Ferdowsī is a Shi'ite Muslim, which is apparent from the Shahnameh itself and confirmed by early accounts.

(In recent times, however, some have cast doubt on his religion and his Shi'ism.)

The class of dehqans to which Ferdowsi belongs are landowning Iranian aristocrats who had flourished under the Sassanid dynasty (the last pre-Islamic dynasty to rule Iran) and whose power, though diminished, had survived into the Islamic era which followed the Arab conquests of the seventh century.

The dehqans are intensely patriotic (so much so that dehqan is sometimes used as a synonym for "Iranian" in the Shahnameh) and see it as their task to preserve the cultural traditions of Iran, including the legendary tales about its kings.

The Muslim conquests of the seventh century had been a watershed in Iranian history, bringing the new religion of Islam, submitting Iranians to the rule of the Arab caliphate and promoting Arabic culture and language at the expense of Persian.

By the late ninth century, the power of the caliphate had weakened and local Iranian dynasties emerged.

Ferdowsi had grown up in Tus, a city under the control of one of these dynasties, the Samanids, who claimed descent from the Sassanid general Bahram Chobin (whose story Ferdowsi recounts in one of the later sections of the Shahnameh).

The Samanid bureaucracy used the New Persian language rather than Arabic and the Samanid elite had a great interest in pre-Islamic Iran and its traditions and commissioned translations of Pahlavi (Middle Persian) texts into New Persian.

Abu Mansur ʿAbd-al-Razzāq, a dehqan and governor of Tus, had several local scholars compile a prose Shahnameh ("Book of Kings"), which was completed in 957.

Although it no longer survives, Ferdowsi used it as one of the sources of his epic.

Samanid rulers were patrons of such important Persian poets as Rudaki and Daqiqi.

Ferdowsi followed in the footsteps of these writers.

Details about Ferdowsi's education are lacking.

Judging by the Shahnameh, there is no evidence he knew either Arabic or Pahlavi.

Although New Persian was permeated by Arabic vocabulary by Ferdowsi's time, there are relatively few Arabic loan words in the Shahnameh.

This may have been a deliberate strategy by the poet.

It is possible that Ferdowsi wrote some early poems which have not survived.

He began work on the Shahnameh around 977, intending it as a continuation of the work of his fellow poet Daqiqi, who had been assassinated by a slave.

Like Daqiqi, Ferdowsi employed the prose Shahnameh of ʿAbd-al-Razzāq as a source.

He received generous patronage from the Samanid prince Mansur and completed the first version of the Shahnameh in 994.

After the Turkic Ghaznavids overthrew the Samanids in the late 990s, Ferdowsi had continued to work on the poem, rewriting sections to praise the Ghaznavid Sultan Mahmud, to whom the weork is dedicated.

Mahmud's attitude to Ferdowsi and how well he rewarded the poet are matters which have long been subject to dispute and have formed the basis of legends about the poet and his patron.

The Turkic Mahmud may have been less interested in tales from Iranian history than the Samanids.

The later sections of the Shahnameh have passages which reveal Ferdowsi's fluctuating moods: in some he complains about old age, poverty, illness and the death of his son; in others, he appears happier.

Ferdowsi completes his enormous heroic epic, nearly sixty thousand couplets long, on March 8, 1010.

Ferdowsi narrates the fortunes of Persia dynasty by dynasty, from the dawn of man to the Arab conquest of the Sassanid Empire in the mid-seventh century.

Today the most popular and influential national epic in Iran and other Persian-speaking nations, the Shahnameh is the only surviving work by Ferdowsi regarded as indisputably genuine.

The huge Brihadeeswarar Temple, a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva, is constructed of granite, the nearest sources of which are close to Tiruchirappalli, about sixty kilometers to the west of Thanjavur.

Laid out in 1002 on the orders of Raja Raja Chola I, construction is completed in 1010.

It is today the largest temple in India and one of the country’s most prized architectural sites.

The Anti-Jewish Persecutions in France Following the Destruction of the Holy Sepulcher (1010)

In 1010, a surge of anti-Jewish violence erupted in France, fueled by rumors and religious tensions following the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem by the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in 1009. This event, though distant, provoked outrage across Christian Europe, and accusations soon arose against French Jewish communities, falsely implicating them in a conspiracy with Muslims.

Origins of the Persecution: The Alleged "Warning Letter"

• According to the chronicler Adhémar of Chabannes, Western Jews had written a letter to their Eastern coreligionists, supposedly warning them about an impending Christian military movement against Muslim-held lands.
• Though Adhémar wrote in 1030, his account is widely questioned, as he has a reputation for fabricating stories.
• His claim, however, reflects the broader anti-Jewish sentiment that had taken root in France following the destruction of the Holy Sepulcher.

The Cluniac and Ecclesiastical Reaction

• Pope Sergius IV, allegedly outraged by the destruction of the Holy Sepulcher, was said to have called for Christian action against Muslims, though historical records of such a papal directive are unclear.
• The Cluniac monk Rodulfus Glaber, writing decades later, blamed the Jews for the Holy Sepulcher’s destruction, spreading the accusation that the Jews of Orléans had sent a letter to the East, prompting the order for the church’s destruction.
• This claim fed into existing prejudices, leading to calls for expulsions and forced conversions.

Persecutions and Expulsions in Limoges and Beyond

• Alduin, Bishop of Limoges (r. 990–1012), responded to these accusations by offering the Jews of his diocese a stark choice: baptism or exile.
• For a month, Christian theologians attempted to convert the Jewish community through disputations, but only three or four Jews converted.
• Many Jews killed themselves rather than convert, while others were forcibly expelled from Limoges.
• Similar expulsions occurred in other French cities, marking one of the earliest waves of widespread anti-Jewish violence in medieval France.

The Retelling and Expansion of the Accusation (1030)

• By 1030, Rodulfus Glaber further embellished the story, claiming that:
  • The Jews of Orléans had secretly sent a beggar to the East with a letter encouraging the destruction of the Holy Sepulcher.
  • This act, once discovered, led to widespread Jewish expulsions and massacres throughout the “Roman world” (Christendom).
  • Some Jews were driven from their cities, others were executed, while still others took their own lives.

Skepticism and the Historical Reality

• Modern historians, such as Count Paul Riant (1836–1888), have dismissed these accounts as popular legends, reflecting anti-Jewish myths common in medieval chronicles.
• There is no concrete evidence that Jews had any role in the destruction of the Holy Sepulcher, but the accusations provided justification for their persecution in Christian territories.

Legacy and Consequences

• These early 11th-century expulsions foreshadowed the increasing religious intolerance of the High Middle Ages, particularly the anti-Jewish violence of the First Crusade (1096).
• The events in 1010 established a pattern where European Christians responded to events in the Holy Land by targeting their Jewish neighbors, a phenomenon that would recur throughout the medieval period.
• This episode demonstrated how myth and rumor could justify real persecution, a theme that would resurface in medieval blood libels and accusations of host desecration in later centuries.

While the story of the Jewish "letter" to the East was likely fabricated, the violence and expulsions that followed in France were tragically real, marking an early chapter in the long history of anti-Jewish persecution in medieval Europe.

Robert II’s Attempt to Divorce Constance and Remarry Bertha (1010)

In 1010, Robert II of France ("the Pious") traveled to Rome, once again seeking papal approval to divorce his wife, Constance of Arles, and remarry his former wife, Bertha of Burgundy. His request was flatly denied by Pope Sergius IV, reinforcing the Church’s opposition to consanguineous unions and serial repudiation of spouses.

Robert’s Marital Struggles and Papal Resistance

• Robert’s first marriage (989) to Rozala-Susanna of Italy had ended in repudiation after Hugh Capet’s death in 996.
• His second marriage to Bertha of Burgundy, the widow of Odo I of Blois, was annulled by Pope Gregory V on the grounds of consanguinity, as Bertha was Robert’s cousin.
• Despite his forced separation from Bertha, Robert never abandoned his desire to reunite with her, continuing to resent his arranged marriage to Constance of Arles.

The Failed Papal Appeal in 1010

• Hoping to secure Church approval for a reunion with Bertha, Robert personally traveled to Rome in 1010.
• Bertha followed him, reinforcing the seriousness of his plea.
• Pope Sergius IV, unwilling to reverse a ruling already made by Pope Gregory V, denied the request, upholding the original condemnation of their consanguineous marriage.
• The pope also viewed Robert’s history of repudiated wives unfavorably, further justifying his refusal to grant an annulment.

Robert’s Return and Relationship with Constance

• Returning from Rome unsuccessful, Robert was forced to remain with Constance of Arles, despite the discord in their marriage.
• According to one account, after this episode, Robert "loved his wife more", suggesting that he may have resigned himself to his fate and attempted to reconcile with Constance. (Penelope Ann Adair, "Constance of Arles: A Study in Duty and Frustration," in Capetian Women, ed. Kathleen Nolan (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), pp. 13-14.)
• However, their marriage remained stormy, as Constance continued to bring her Provençal family into power at court, much to the resentment of Robert’s northern Frankish nobility.

Legacy

• This episode demonstrated the increasing authority of the papacy over royal marriages, reinforcing the Church’s role in regulating European dynastic unions.
• Despite Robert’s personal inclinations, he was unable to circumvent the Church’s ruling, illustrating the limits of Capetian royal power in this period.
• Though he remained with Constance, his failed effort to remarry Bertha would continue to haunt his reign, exacerbating tensions within the royal household and among the nobility.

Robert II’s marital entanglements reflect the political and religious complexities of Capetian rule, where royal desires were often subject to the rigid laws of Church doctrine and the pressures of feudal alliances.

English Benedictine monk Ælfric, a prolific writer and respected scholar and educator, produces biographies, a Latin grammar, and a series of dialogues in Latin called the “Colloquium", a vivid portrayal of Anglo-Saxon culture.

He designs his “Homilies” and other works, including translations from Latin, to instruct his readers in Christian doctrine.

Surnamed “the Grammarian,” he writes with an ease and clarity unusual for the time.

He dies in 1010; the copious writings of his contemporary, the churchman Wulfstan, also aid in further the stylistic development of Old English prose that was born in the tenth-century monastic revival under Alfred.

Thorfinn Karlsefn, an Icelandic explorer and wealthy trader, attempts in about 1010 to establish a settlement in the territory that Leif Eriksson called Vinland, wintering there.

Thorfinn's expeditions are documented in the Grœnlendinga saga ("Saga of the Greenlanders") and Eiríks saga rauða ("Saga of Eirik the Red"), which together are referred to as "The Vinland Sagas", but the details are at considerable variance.

According to the Grœnlendinga saga, Karlsefni left with sixty men and five women, trailing the path taken by Leif and Thorvald Eiriksson.

Whereas, according to Eric’s Saga, describing the voyage in greater detail, he took three ships with one hundred and forty men aboard.

The Scandinavian colonists, both men and women, trade and then fight with the native Skraelings (roughly, "savages").

In Greenland, Thorfinn Karlsefni had met Gudrid Thorbjorns-daughter, the widow of Thorstein Eiriksson, and wedded her.

She had been staying under the care of her brother-in-law Leif Eriksson, at Brattahlid the estate left to Leif by Eirik the Red, who was dead by this point, having succumbed to an epidemic around 1003.

Thorfinn had reached the momentous decision to go to Vinland, which according to the Grœnlendinga saga happened at the insistence of Gudrid.

And Leif agreed to lend the houses he built in Vinland, though unwilling to make a free gift of it.

Among the other settlers into Vinland was Freydis, sister or half-sister of Leif Eriksson, who may have accompanied Karlsefni's voyage (Eric’s Saga) or headed an expedition of her own that ended in carnage (Grœnlendinga Saga).