1051

Events 
 Godwin, Earl of Wessex, is forced to leave England by King Edward the Confessor for refusing to take action against the townspeople of Dover. He returns the following year.
 Hilarion of Kiev becomes the first native metropolitan of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Kievan Rus.
 May 19 – Henry I of France marries Anne of Kiev at the cathedral of Reims.
 William of Normandy fights for his life and crown in Normandy.
 Heregeld is ended by King Edward the Confessor of England.

 Births 
 Edgar Atheling, uncrowned King of England, 1066, after the Battle of Hastings
 Mi Fu, Chinese poet, painter, and calligrapher (d. 1107)

 Deaths 
 January 22 – Ælfric Puttoc, archbishop of York
 Bi Sheng, Song Dynasty Chinese inventor of movable type printing