...Viseu, strategically important cities in what is…

Song Chinese forces invade the independent state of Dai Viet (present northern Vietnam), which they persist in calling Annam (“Pacified South”), in 1057.

The Vietnamese troops check the would-be conquerors at the Red River delta, then battle the Chinese in an attempt to force them back across the northern border.

Skirmishes have been fierce and many, but few major battles have been fought until the battle of Kawasaki in 1057.

Abe no Yoritoki had been killed shortly before, and the Minamoto are now fighting his son, Abe no Sadato, who annihilates them at Kawasaki and pursues them through a blizzard; only a handful of survivors, aided by a snowstorm, escape.

The name of Saint Sophia’s Cathedral in Kiev comes from the sixth-century Hagia Sophia cathedral in Constantinople (meaning Holy Wisdom, and dedicated to the Holy Wisdom rather than a specific saint named Sophia).

According to a less popular theory, its model was the thirteen-domed oaken Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod (constructed around 989), which Yaroslav I the Wise had determined to imitate in stone as a sign of gratitude to the citizens of Novgorod, who had helped him secure the Kievan throne in 1019.

The first foundations were laid in 1037 (or 1011), but the cathedral has taken until 1057 to complete.

Pope Victor II, with the Investiture Controversy looming, seeks the alliance of the Bohemian duke.

Thus, Rome grants the right to Spytihnev of wearing the miter and tunic of a bishop for the annual sum of one hundred marks.

The major problem of Uqaylid emir Qirwash during the second half of his reign had been finding a way to control the Oghuz Turks who were coming in from Iran.

The Oghuz had once even managed to occupy and sack Mosul in 1044, although Qirwash had been able to expel them with the support of the Mazyadids.

In 1050 Qirwash had removed from power by his brother Baraka ("Za'im al-Dawla"), who had reigned until 1052 when he died.

Baraka's son Quraysh ("'Alam al-Din") had succeeded him to ruled for the next nine years.

He had acknowledged the supremacy of the Seljuqs, but later comes into conflict with them.

Without meeting the puppet 'Abbasid caliph al-Qa'im, Tughrill proceeds against the 'Uqaylids in Mosul, taking the city in 1057 and retaining the 'Uqaylid ruler as governor there on behalf of the Seljuqs.

The past seven years of Thimal's reign over Aleppo have been mostly peaceful.

Tribute has been paid to the Emperor in Constantinople, who has promoted several Mirdasid officials with imperial titles.

In Baghdad, a revolt by Basasiri against the Seljuqs, who had taken the city in 1055, receives support from Thimal.

By 1057, however, Thimal is having difficulties with the Kilab, who are displeased that they are not treated as well as his Numayrid allies.

The Mirdasids decide that the situation is beyond dealing with and offer to give the Fatimid caliph Aleppo in exchange for several coastal towns, including …

…Beirut and Akka.

Robert Guiscard returns to Apulia in 1057 because of the deaths of William and Drogo and of his third half brother, Count Humphrey.

Humphrey had designated Robert as successor and guardian of his infant son Abelard, but on Humphrey's death, Robert seizes his nephew's lands, thus becoming the greatest landholder in southern Italy and laying the foundation for his own power.

Abu Bakr, in order to ensure the Almoravids do not lose Sijilmassa again, launches a campaign to secure the roads and valleys of southern Morocco.

He immediately captures the Draa valley, then moves along the Wadi Nul (along the edge of the Anti-Atlas, picking up the adherence of the Sanhaja tribes of the Lamta and the Gazzula (Jazzula) to the Almoravid movement.

Abu Bakr leads the conquest of the Sous valley of southern Morocco, seizing the local capital of Taroudant in 1057.

Ferdinand I of Castile's Conquest of Lamego and Viseu

During his campaigns to expand Christian rule in Iberia, Ferdinand I of Castile and León captures Lamego and ...