1052

Political Events

Harold Godwine, earl of Wessex, returns from exile in September with an invasion force that includes his sons Harold and Tostig (see 1051; 1053).

Pisa conquers Sardinia from the Arabs, who have held the island since 720.

Count Boniface of Canossa is assassinated, having shifted his longtime allegiance to the German emperors toward the papal (Guelph) side in the factional dispute that divides Italy; the deaths of his son and older daughter will leave his 6-year-old younger daughter Matilda in sole possession of the vast Tuscan estates established by Boniface's father, Atto Adalbert (see 1054).

Pro-Byzantine forces murder Gaimar V, prince of Salerno, whose brother-in-law Humphrey de Hauteville helps Gaimar's brother, the duke of Sorrento, to regain Salerno's throne for Gaimar's young son (see 1051; 1053).

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