Year 1016 (MXVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Asia
March 10 – Emperor Sanjō gives up the throne of Japan and soon afterwards is replaced by his cousin Emperor Go-Ichijō, aged about 8. Earthquakes partly destroy the Dome of the Rock in the Old City of Jerusalem.
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, King of England, dies, and is replaced by his son Edmund Ironside. c. May – Battle of Brentford (near London): King Edmund defeats the Danes under Cnut, Prince of Denmark. October 18 – Battle of Ashingdon: Cnut defeats Edmund, leaving the latter as king of Wessex only. November 30 – King Edmund 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 Sardegna, in particular Porto Torres and defeat the fleet of the taifa king of Denia, Mujahid al-Amiri al-Muwaffaq. 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.
Births
July 26 – Duke Casimir I of Poland (Polish: Kazimierz I Odnowiciel)
Deaths
April 23 – Ethelred the Unready, King of England
November 30 – Edmund II, King of England
Emperor Sanjō of Japan
Badis ibn Mansur, third ruler of the Zirid dynasty in North Africa.