1044

Events

* King Anawrahta seizes the throne of Pagan, Myanmar.
* Benedict IX abdicates as pope. Sylvester III succeeds him.
* The Chinese military treatise of the "Wujing Zongyao" is written and compiled by scholars Zeng Gongliang (曾公亮), Ding Du (丁度), and Yang Weide (楊惟德) during the Song Dynasty. It is the first book in history to include formulas for gunpowder and its use for various bombs (thrown by sling or trebuchet catapult). It also describes the double-piston pump flamethrower and a thermoremanence compass, a few decades before Shen Kuo wrote of the first known magnetic mariners compass. Although emphasizing the importance of many weapons, it reserves high respect for the crossbow and ability of crossbowmen to fell charging units of nomadic cavalrymen.

Births

* Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, known as El Cid (d. 1099)

Deaths

* Gothelo I, Duke of Lotharingia

Heads of State

* Burma — Anawrahta (reigned 1044-1077)
* Byzantine Empire — Constantine IX Monomachos (reigned 1042-1055)
* China — Emperor Renzong of Song (reigned 1022-1063)
* England — Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042–1066)
* France — Henri I (reigned 1031–1060)
* Germany — Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1028-1053)
* Great Seljuq Empire — Toğrül (reigned 1037-1063)
* India — Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1012-1044)
* India — Somesvara I (reigned 1042-1068)
* Japan — Emperor Go-Suzaku (reigned 1036-1045)
* Korea — Jeongjong, 10th Emperor of Goryeo (reigned 1035-1046)
* Rome — Pope Benedict IX (reigned 1032-1044, 1045, 1047-1048)
* Scotland — Macbeth (reigned 1040–1057)