upright=1.35|thumb|[[Battle of Assandun: King Edmund II (left) is defeated by forces of Cnut the Great.]]
Year 1016 (MXVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Events
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By place
Europe
- March 25 – Battle of Nesjar (off the coast of Norway): Olaf Haraldsson is victorious over former co-regent Sweyn Haakonsson, confirming his status as king of Norway.
- April 23 – Æthelred the Unready, king of England, dies after a 38-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Edmund II "Ironside".
- Summer – Battle of Brentford (near London): Edmund Ironside defeats the Danes under King Cnut.
- July 6 – Battle of Pontlevoy: French forces of Fulk III and Herbert I defeat Odo II which determines the balance of power in the Loire Valley.
- October 18 – Battle of Assandun: Cnut defeats Edmund Ironside, leaving the latter as king of Wessex.
- November 30 – Edmund II dies and Cnut takes control of the whole of the Kingdom of England.
- The Pisan and the Genoese republics launch a naval offensive against the Muslim strongholds of Sardinia, in particular Porto Torres, and defeat the fleet of the taifa king of Dénia, Mujāhid al-ʿĀmirī.
- Melus of Bari makes a second attempt against Byzantine-held Southern Italy. To support his cause, he hires Norman mercenaries, unwittingly triggering the rise of Norman rule over southern Italy.
- Georgius Tzul, ruler of Khazaria, is captured by a combined Byzantine Empire–Kievan Rus' force, which effectively ends Khazaria's existence.
Arabian Empire
- January 7 – Fath al-Qal'i, governor of the Citadel of Aleppo, revolts against Emir Mansur ibn Lu'lu', forcing him to flee. Fath accepts an agreement with Salih ibn Mirdas and takes control of Aleppo.
Asia
- March 10 – Emperor Sanjō of Japan abdicates the throne after a 5-year reign. He is succeeded by his 7-year-old cousin Go-Ichijō as the 68th emperor of Japan. Fujiwara no Michinaga is appointed regent.
- Japanese poet Koshikibu no Naishi (lady-in-waiting to Dowager Empress Shōshi) and her husband Fujiwara no Kiminari (son of Michinaga) have a son, but the couple is not accepted because of the social gap between them.</onlyinclude>
Births
- April 3 – Xing Zong, emperor of the Liao dynasty (d. 1055)
- June 9 – Deokjong, ruler of Goryeo (Korea) (d. 1034)
- July 25 – Casimir I the Restorer, duke of Poland (d. 1058)
- August 24 – Fujiwara no Genshi, Japanese empress (d. 1039)
- October 28 – Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1056)
- Cao, empress and regent of Song dynasty China (d. 1079)
- Edward the Exile, son of Edmund II of England (d. 1057)
- Không Lộ, Vietnamese Zen master (approximate date)
- Minamoto no Tsunenobu, Japanese nobleman (d. 1097)
- Svein Knutsson, king of Norway (d. 1035)
- Yan Vyshatich, Kievan nobleman (d. 1106)
Deaths
- April 23 – Æthelred the Unready, king of England
- May 22 – Jovan Vladimir, Serbian prince (b. 990)
- September 6 – Fujiwara no Bokushi, great-grandmother of the Emperor of Japan
- October 18
- Ælfric of Hampshire, English nobleman
- Eadnoth the Younger, bishop of Dorchester in England
- Ulfcytel Snillingr, English nobleman
- November 30 – Edmund II "Ironside", king of England
- Badis ibn Mansur, Muslim emir of the Zirid dynasty
- Henry II "the Good", count of Stade (b. 946)
- Liu Chenggui, official of Song dynasty China (b. 951)
- Simeon of Mantua, Armenian Benedictine monk
- Sulayman ibn al-Hakam, caliph of Córdoba
- Uhtred the Bold, English nobleman
- Wulfgar of Abingdon, English abbot