upright=1.35|thumb|Statue of Lady [[Wulfrun (c. 935–1005)]]
Year 985 (CMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
Events
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By place
Europe
- Summer – Henry II (the Wrangler) is restored as duke of Bavaria by Empress Theophanu and her mother-in-law Adelaide at an Hoftag assembly in Rohr (Thuringia). King Otto III (5-years old) remains under the regency of the two empresses in the Holy Roman Empire and in the Kingdom of Italy.
- Battle of Fýrisvellir: King Eric the Victorious defeats a Swedish Viking army under Styrbjörn the Strong (his nephew) near Uppsala.
- July 6 – The city of Barcelona is sacked by Moorish troops under Al-Mansur, the de facto ruler of Al-Andalus (modern-day Spain).
England
- Lady Wulfrun, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman, is granted land by King Æthelred II (the Unready). She founds Heantune that later becomes the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands.
Asia
- Raja Raja Chola I (considered by many as the greatest emperor of the Chola Empire) becomes ruler of the Chola Dynasty. During his reign he expands his domains beyond South India.
By topic
Exploration
- Greenland is colonized by the Icelandic Viking Erik the Red (according to legend, but has been established as approximately correct – see History of Greenland).
Religion
- July 20 – Anti-Pope Boniface VII dies under suspicious circumstances at Rome. He is succeeded by John XV as the 137th pope of the Catholic Church.
- Amalfitan Benedictines found the only Latin Christian monastery on Mount Athos with the support of John the Iberian. The monastery will last until 1287.
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Births
- August 13 – Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, Fatimid caliph (d. 1021)
- Adalbert, margrave of Austria (approximate date)
- Boniface III, margrave of Tuscany (approximate date)
- Gilbert Buatère, Norman nobleman (approximate date)
- Gisela (or Gizella), queen of Hungary (d. 1065)
- John Gualbert, Italian monk and abbot (d. 1073)
- Hamza ibn 'Ali ibn-Ahmad, founding leader of the Druze
- Maria of Amalfi, Lombard duchess and regent
- Osmond Drengot, Norman nobleman (approximate date)
- Pilgrim, archbishop of Cologne (approximate date)
- Radbot, German nobleman (approximate date)
- Rodulfus Glaber, French monk and chronicler (d. 1047)
- Theobald II, French nobleman (approximate date)
- Wazo, bishop of Liège (approximate date)
- Zhao Yuanyan, prince of the Song Dynasty (d. 1044)
Deaths
- January 31 – Ryōgen, Japanese monk and abbot (b. 912)
- June 26 – Ramiro III, king of León (Spain) (b. 961)
- July 20 – Boniface VII, antipope of the Catholic Church
- August 25 – Dietrich of Haldensleben, German margrave
- Basil Lekapenos, Byzantine chief minister (b. 925)
- Chen Hongjin, Chinese warlord and general (b. 914)
- Herbert III (the Old), Frankish nobleman (b. 910)
- Hywel ap Ieuaf, king of Gwynedd (Wales)
- Judith, duchess regent of Bavaria (b. 925)
- Kishi Joō, Japanese female waka poet (b. 929)
- Marzuban ibn Muhammad, Shaddadid emir
- Muirgus mac Domnaill, king of Uí Maine (Ireland)
- Rikdag, margrave of Meissen (Germany)
- Tornike Eristavi, Georgian general and monk
- Harold II (Bluetooth), king of Denmark and Norway