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The Year 1000 What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium An Englishman World Robert Lacey Danny Danziger 9780316511575 Books

Download As PDF : The Year 1000 What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium An Englishman World Robert Lacey Danny Danziger 9780316511575 Books

The Year 1000 What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium An Englishman World Robert Lacey Danny Danziger 9780316511575 Books

If I were born in England in the year 1000 I would be a farmer because that was the default occupation in those days. With famines ever lurking, food was the issue for most people. And if I had no land to farm I would have to submit myself to a landowner, voluntarily, to be a slave. Because the only alternative was starvation. Mine would be a short life of hard labor and exposure, for others. I would try to keep warm in winter by burning wood or dung, if I could get them. And I might have fleas or worms.

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 Antichrist 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.


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The Year 1000 What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium An Englishman World Robert Lacey Danny Danziger 9780316511575 Books Reviews

At one time or another growing up, most of us have thought how it would have been to live in a castle or be able to travel back to an earlier time. Samuel Clemens, known to many as Mark Twain, created “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” with that theme in mind.

Many readers recall doomsday soothsayers of the late twentieth century and their predictions of mass electrical outages, food shortages as the time turned from Dec.31, 1999 to Jan.1, 2000. fears from our increasing dependency on computers. Others pointed to scriptural passages from the “Bible” or other traditions predicting the beginning of the end of the world.In the year 999, there were predictions and fears as well. Most of the populous Illiterate, relying on religious leaders to guide but often scared them by warning what was to come for as the end of time drew near.

Plagues were a constant threat, as were invasions from the several directions on hamlets living throughout this island. Life itself was tenuous and often brief. Starvation an ever present threat. Many infants didn’t survive beyond their first year. Sanitation, water purification, illness prevention were over 900 in the future. Life was rough, shelter was primitive, weather harsh, and often what attempts that were thought to cure, most often made medical conditions worse.

The land we know of today as Great Britain, most difficult month for starving to deathwas July! Because of its agrarian culture, the first of two harvests was preserved for their most precious possessions, farm animals. throughout the cold months. The second
harvest was for humans. it was this planting which was often destroyed or not as abundant as the first.

Invaders took food, killed or enslaved the young and hardiest of the population in a hamlet and demanded possessions. Attempts to gather under the lord or one who owned the land on which peasants worked was the only option for survival.

The authors of done exhaustive research; the result is a highly informative book.It includes word derivation language changed over centuries. Most fascinating was English cultural history as invasion and tradition altered the landscape and the conquered people who adapted what they were forced to adopt.

I hope you’ll take time to read this enchanting book and absorb information found in it. After all, we Americans share its common language, though we too have very much adapted what we’ve adopted.
The book 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 was the beginning of spring and the equinox, what did they inherit from the Romans, Vikings, and Anglo-Saxons besides the names of the towns and their calendar. July was hay month and goes into harvesting the crops, the weather, and how the monks not only prayed but carried out certain agricultural tasks themselves. December talks about the breaking with the past and beginning anew.

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.
If I were born in England in the year 1000 I would be a farmer because that was the default occupation in those days. With famines ever lurking, food was the issue for most people. And if I had no land to farm I would have to submit myself to a landowner, voluntarily, to be a slave. Because the only alternative was starvation. Mine would be a short life of hard labor and exposure, for others. I would try to keep warm in winter by burning wood or dung, if I could get them. And I might have fleas or worms.

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 Antichrist 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.