1016

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.

• 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)

• 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