985

Year 985 (CMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

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.

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.

Births

 * 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)

Deaths

 * 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