In July 1054, Chinese astronomers saw a new star; 12 days later came the schism in Constantinople.
That star's remnant is the Crab Nebula.
The events
- Supernova SN 10541054 · Kaifeng, Song China. On 4 July 1054 Song dynasty astronomers noted a 'guest star' that stayed visible in daylight for 23 days. Its remnant is the Crab Nebula. In the same year the Christian Church split into East and West.
- East–West Schism1054 · Constantinople. The papal legate Cardinal Humbert laid a bull excommunicating Patriarch Michael Cerularius on the altar of Hagia Sophia, and the patriarch anathematised the legates in turn. The schism split Christianity into Catholic and Orthodox churches.
More amazing facts
- 987 · 988 Rus was baptised in 988, a year after Hugh Capet became King of France.
- 988 · 1021 Thirty-three years after the Christianization of Rus', Vikings were cutting wood in Newfoundland — tree rings date it precisely to 1021.
- 1014 · 1016 While Basil II was finishing off Bulgaria at Kleidion (1014), Rus' was getting its first law code, the Russkaya Pravda (1016).
- 1066 · 1910 The same Halley's Comet embroidered on the Bayeux Tapestry in 1066 returned in 1910 — when the Earth even passed through its tail.
- 1096 · 1325 Oxford University is older than the Aztec state: teaching at Oxford existed by about 1096, while Tenochtitlan was founded only in 1325.
- 1096 · 1147 Moscow is first mentioned in a chronicle in 1147.