996

By place

Europe

• Spring - King Otto III starts his first expedition to Italy from Regensburg, and proceeds over the Brenner Pass. News of Otto's arrival prompts Crescentius II, patrician of Rome, to invite Pope John XV back to Rome. Otto arrives in Verona, and receives ambassadors of Doge Pietro II Orseolo of Venice.
• May 21 - Otto III, 16, is crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire at St. Peter's Basilica, and claims also the title of King of Italy. His grandmother, Adelaide, retires to a convent she has founded at Seltz. Otto puts down a Roman rebellion; a number of nobles are banished for their crimes.
• October 24 - King Hugh I Capet dies in Paris after a 9-year reign and is interred in the Basilica of St. Denis. He is succeeded by his 24-year-old son Robert II as king of France. Robert tries to increase his power, by pressing his claim of feudal lands that becomes vacant. This results in many territorial disputes.
• November 1 - Otto III grants the Bavarian bishopric of Freising 30 "royal hides" of land in Neuhofen an der Ybbs. A document marks the first use of the name Ostarrîchi, meaning "Eastern Realm".
• November 20 - Richard I, duke of Normandy, dies after a 55-year reign. He is succeeded by his young son Richard II. During his minority, Rodulf of Ivry, who wields the power as regent puts down a peasants revolt at the beginning of Richard's reign.

  Africa

• May 15 - The new Fatimid navy is destroyed by fire, resulting in anti-Christian pogroms in Cairo.
• October 14 - Caliph Al-Aziz Billah dies at Bilbeis in Egypt after a 21-year reign in which he has expanded his Shiite caliphate at the expense of the Byzantines, using Turkish mercenaries. He is succeeded by his 11-year-old son Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah as ruler of the Fatimid Caliphate.
• Revolt of Tyre: The citizens of Tyre revolt against the Fatimid Caliphate. Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah sends a expeditionary army and navy to blockade the city by land and sea.

  China

• The Niujie Mosque is constructed in Beijing during the Liao Dynasty. The first mosque is built under supervision of the Muslim architect Nazaruddin.

  By topic

Religion

• April 1 - Pope John XV dies of fever after an 11-year reign. Meeting a Roman embassy at Ravenna, Otto appoints his cousin Bruno of Carinthia, who duly ascends as Gregory V. He becomes the 138th pope – and the first German pope of the Catholic Church.

  Births

• July 29 - Fujiwara no Norimichi, Japanese nobleman
• Drogo of Mantes, count of Valois and the Vexin
• Elvira Menéndez, queen consort of León
• Oda of Meissen, queen consort of Poland

  Deaths

• March 12 - Odo I, Count of Blois, French nobleman
• April 1 - John XV, pope of the Catholic Church
• October 14 - Al-Aziz Billah, Fatimid caliph
• October 24 - Hugh I Capet, king of France
• November 20 - Richard I, duke of Normandy
• Abu Talib al-Makki, Shafi'i jurist and hadith scholar
• Li Fang, Chinese scholar and encyclopedist
• Gilla Pátraic mac Donnchada, king of Osraige
• Herman I, Count Palatine of Lotharingia, German nobleman
• Ibn Abi Zayd, Muslim imam and scholar
• Ki no Tokibumi, Japanese waka poet
• Strachkvas, Bohemian prince and chronicler
• Takashina no Takako, Japanese female poet