The apocalyptic year 1000: religious expectation and social change, 950-1050

The essays in this book challenge prevailing views on the way in which apocalyptic concerns contributed to larger processes of social change at the first millennium. Several basic questions unify the essays: What chronological and theological assumptions underlay apocalyptic and millennial speculations around the Year 1000? How broadly disseminated were those speculations? Can we speak of a mentality of apocalyptic hopes and anxieties on the eve of the millennium? If so, how did authorities respond to or even contribute to the formation of this mentality? What were the social ramifications of apocalyptic hopes and anxieties, and of any efforts to suppress or redirect the more radical impulses that bred them? How did contemporaries conceptualize and then historicize the passing of the millennial date of 1000? Including the work of British, French, German, Dutch, and American scholars, this book will be the definitive resource on this fascinating topic, and should at the same time provoke new interest in and debate on the nature and causes of social change in early medieval Europe. The Essays In This Volume Challenge Prevailing Views On The Way In Which Apocalyptic Concerns Contributed To Larger Processes Of Social Change At The First Millennium. They Should Provoke New Interest In And Debate On The Nature And Causes Of Social Change In Early Medieval Europe. Introduction: The Terribles Espoirs Of 1000 And The Tacit Fears Of 2000 / Richard Landes ; Awaiting The End Of Time Around The Turn Of The Year 1000 / Johannes Fried -- Pt. 1. The Apocalyptic Year 1000 In Medieval Thought. Stalking The Signs: The Apocalyptic Commentaries / Guy Lobrichon ; Adso Of Montier-en-der And The Fear Of The Year 1000 / Daniel Verhelst ; Thietland's Commentary On Second Thessalonians: Digressions On The Antichrist And The End Of The Millennium / Steven R. Cartwright ; Avarice And The Apocalypse / Richard Newhauser ; Waiting For The Millennium / Umberto Eco -- Pt. 2. The Apocalyptic Year 1000 In Medieval Art And Literature. Apocalypse And Last Judgment Around The Year 1000 / Yves Christe ; The Millennium, Time, And History For The Anglo-saxons / Malcolm Godden ; The Cult Of St. Michael The Archangel And The Terrors Of The Year 1000 / Daniel F. Callahan ; Eschatology, Millenarian Apocalypticism, And The Liturgical Anti-judaism Of The Medieval Prophet Plays / Regula Meyer Evitt ; Visualizing The Millennium: Eschatological Rhetoric For The Ottonian Court / Susan E. Von Daum Tholl. Pt. 3. Historiography Of The Apocalyptic Year 1000. The Fear Of An Apocalyptic Year 1000: Augustinian Historiography, Medieval And Modern / Richard Landes ; Eschatological Imagination And The Program Of Roman Imperial And Ecclesiastical Renewal At The End Of The Tenth Century / Benjamin Arnold ; Satan's Bonds Are Extremely Loose: Apocalyptic Expectation In Anglo-saxon England During The Millennial Era / William Prideaux-collins ; Apocalyptic Moments And The Eschatological Rhetoric Of Reform In The Early Eleventh Century: The Case Of The Visionary Of St. Vaast / David C. Van Meter -- Pt. 4. Tools And Sources. The Astronomical Situation Around The Year 1000 / Bradley E. Schaefer ; Selected Documents On Eschatological Expectations And Social Change Around The Year 1000 / David C. Van Meter. Edited By Richard Landes, Andrew Gow, David C. Van Meter. Papers Delivered At A Conference Held At The End Of 1996. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. A rain of blood had fallen for three days in Aquitaine in 1027, covering men's heads, their clothes, and the stones themselves.