985

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.

• 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)

• 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