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THE YEAR 1000 is a vivid evocation of how English people lived a thousand years ago - no spinach, sugar or Caesarean operations in which the mother had any chance of survival, but a world that knew brain surgeons, property developers and, yes, even the occasional group columnist. In the spirit of modern investigative journalism, Lacey and Danziger interviewed the leading historians and archaeologists in their field. In the year 1000 the changing seasons shaped a life that was, by our standards, both soothingly quiet and frighteningly hazardous - and if you survived, you could expect to grow to just about the same height and stature as anyone living today. This exuberant and informative book concludes as the shadow of the millennium descends across England and Christendom, with prophets of doom invoking the spectre of the Anti-Christ. Here comes the abacus - the medieval calculating machine - along with bewildering new concepts like infinity and zero. These are portents of the future, and THE YEAR 1000 finishes by examining the human and social ingredients that were to make for survival and success in the next thousand years.… (more)
User reviews
Not sure - but I am sure that I really enjoyed reading this book. Its easy reading, informative in a quirky and attention grabbing way - and ever so interesting. The book is more a themed discussion covering a particular period of time, with comparisions to other periods - than a "history book". An odd description I know - but if you read the book and forgive my poor description - you will know what I mean. There is a lot of history in this book - its just not laid out and tackled like a history book. This is not a text book - its a reading book that happens to be about the history a particular time. Well written and interesting - I very much enjoyed it and recommend it.
Buttons had yet to be invented, so clasps or thongs were used to hold simple sacklike tunics together. Children of age twelve were considered old enough to swear allegiance to the king, and marriage between early teenage girls to older men was the norm. The wheeled plough was crucial to their existence, for it enabled two men and an ox to open up acres. England supported about a million people at this time. It would not have been possible without this invention, which was available as early as the first century, according to Pliny. Slavery was a fact of life and prevalent. In 1066, the Normans introduced the feudal system, but, prior to their invasion, slavery, was introduced by Germanic tribes who made war on their Slavic neighbors — slave derives from the fact that most slaves were "Slavs." Anglo- Saxons raided Wales for slaves, also. Dublin operated the largest slave market in western Europe. It was not uncommon for slavery to be an alternative to prison and it became the penalty for numerous offenses ranging from adultery to theft. Almost everyone was in bondage of one form or another, and often families were forced to place themselves in bondage during times of famine in order to eat. Famine was frequent, especially during July when supplies from the previous year were running low and the new harvest was not yet ripe. Infanticide was not a crime; the law recognized the horrible pressure placed on families by another mouth to feed. Children under the age of seven could legally be sold into slavery to relieve the pressure. The authors have an interesting and plausible explanation for rural frenzies that erupted during the early summer months (see Breughel's famous tableaux of crazed festivals). Lightheadedness was inevitable from lack of food, and the poor had to subsist on whatever they could find during the lean month of July. Rye that has gone moldy is a source of lysergic acid: LSD. " Poppies, hemp, and darnel were scavenged, dried and ground up to produce a medieval hash brownie known as 'crazy bread.'“ According to one modern historian, entire communities became virtually somnolent from the stuff. Taxes were collected in an interesting fashion. Mints were scattered throughout the kingdom, licensed by the crown and strictly watched to make sure that the percentage of silver to alloy was not adulterated. Coin was soft metal (to get a half-penny, one simply cut a penny in half) and to prevent it from becoming debased, it was good for only a relatively short period, two to three years. It then had to be turned in for new coins, exchanged at ten coins for eight or nine, depending on the level of taxation, the difference being kept for the king.
Clinton's peccadilloes were not unknown in the eleventh century. When King Eadwig failed to show up on time for his coronation in 955 C. E., a search party went looking for him. He was discovered in bed with a pretty young lass and her mother. Top that one, Bill. This bucolic picture becomes tainted with the evidence that while today’s air is polluted with gasoline fumes, the first millennium was pervaded with the odor of excrement. The toilet was behind the house and animals went just about everywhere. Parasites were a terrible problem, especially the maw-worm, which might reach 30 centimeters in length and had the disconcerting practice of migrating throughout the body and emerging unexpectedly from any orifice, sometimes from the corner of the eye. Despite their ignorance of elementary hygiene — if food fell to the floor, one made the sign of the cross and ate it anyway — they had extensive anatomical knowledge. A ninth century book still extant displays profound knowledge of the body’s interior mechanisms, and another describes the various fetal development stages in detail, even indicating that the soul was not present until after the third month, which suggests a tolerance of abortion.
Skulls dug up in ancient cemeteries of the time reveal evidence of trepanning, a technique still used today to relieve pressure in the brain following head trauma (except that we prefer Black & Decker to a bow drill). They were able to grow grapes for wine in England during this period because the climate was much warmer than today — even warmer than with “global warming.” The period 950 to 1300 A.D. is known as the “Little Optimum.” Archaeologists estimate the climate of the world was at least 4 degrees warmer than today, and the retreating arctic ice may have helped make possible Leif Erikson’s discovery of the New World and the vines he found growing there.
It's about ... well, you already figured that out, I'm sure. Anyhow, it uses an illustrated calendar from the era to talk about what daily life was like. This is the sort of thing that I tend to wonder about when I'm reading
This was a very quick and easy read, and doesn't suffer too much from having been written in 1998 (a couple of references to the upcoming Y2K fears were the worst of it). It would be a perfect choice for someone who's moderately interested in times past, but not really into history.
The book's chapters and topics are set up to correspond to the months of the year, detailing what life was life was like during that time and in particular that month. For example, March
Overall I enjoyed the book, it was not too heavy but such is its design. It was written to ‘ask the questions about everyday life and habits that conventional history books often ignore…’ It paints a picture in one’s mind by merely giving the reader a feel for the time not a starched compilation of tedious facts. As a history buff, I found it a light yet interesting read. If you are looking for a more thorough historical chronicling of the time, this is not the book for you.
Fly hither, my little cattle,
In blest peace, in God's protection,
Come home safe and sound!
This book is about every-day life in Anglo-Saxon England around the year 1000 A.D. The annual round of agricultural tasks, as shown in the pages of a mediaeval
One of the things I found most interesting was about bees and the charms (both Christian and pagan) used to persuade a swarm of bees to build their nest on your land. Honey was the only form of sweetener in use at that time and it was a lucky day when a swarm of bees took up residence on your land, since there was good money to be made from honey, beeswax and a resin used as a building material by the bees. Maybe the charms are the precursor of the tradition that beekeepers should always tell their bees when anything important happens, such as a death in the family. Make the bees feel welcome and part of the family and they will hang around!
I would not be able to read or write, but could communicate orally in English, such as it was then. I could not afford to own even one book. I would have only one name, no surname. I would live by saints’ days and the church calendar, like the neighbors. I would know nothing of the world beyond a few miles of my home, but would live in fear of invasion by armies of thugs. And I would have to behave myself, lest I be mistaken for the anti-Christ who was expected to arrive with the millennium. Typically, there was a gallows on the edge of town. Such was England, or Engla-lond, in the year 1000.
This book is a fascinating glimpse into the past, derived from contemporary documents such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, the Julius Work Calendar, monastic rules, wills and legal documents, even bawdy jokes and poems. Plus archaeological findings. It makes me appreciate the comforts I have now, but it was not all bad then. Their world was quiet, unpolluted, and not overpopulated.
A good appetizer that would have profited from a commented further reading guide.
The other day, grazing, I spotted The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium [for Britons]. It reminded me a bit of Eileen Power���s Medieval People and was a factor* in my rereading Pillars of the Earth soon after.
Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger arranged their book according to the Julian Work Calendar and the sketches that depict the work of the month. They discuss the sign language monks used to communicate under vows of silence, though according to Anne Sullivan in ���The Miracle Worker��� it took Spanish clergy to devise a manual alphabet (and also how to teach deaf people to speak, since you needed to articulate in order to partake in rites without which you could not inherit, a problem for inbred aristocracy). They explain how people managed before sugar was available (big surprise: honey!)
* The main factor was the severe reaction to two facial stings, right eyelid and left eyebrow, my little honeyfuckers administered to me on Thursday morning. I am getting a better veil, one incorporated into a hooded jacket, rather than this one that too easily gapes at the nape, before I next open the hives.