The last apocalypse: Europe at the year 1000 A.D : by James Reston Jr

As the millennium approached, Europeans feared the world would end. The old order was crumbling, and terrifying and confusing new ideas were gaining hold in the populace. Random and horrific violence seemed to sprout everywhere without warning, and without apparent remedy. And, in fact, when the millennium arrived the apocalypse did take place; a world did end, and a new world arose from the ruins. In 950, Ireland, England, and France were helpless against the ravages of the seagoing Vikings; the fierce and strange Hungarian Magyars laid waste to Germany and Italy; the legions of the Moors ruled Spain and threatened the remnants of Charlemagne’s vast domain. The papacy was corrupt and decadent, overshadowed by glorious Byzantium. Yet a mere fifty years later, the gods of the Vikings were dethroned, the shamans of the Magyars were massacred, the magnificent Moorish caliphate disintegrated: The sign of the cross held sway from Spain in the West to Russia in the East. James Reston, Jr.’s enthralling saga of how the Christian kingdoms converted, conquered, and slaughtered their way to dominance brings to life unforgettable historical characters who embodied the struggle for the soul of Europe. From the righteous fury of the Viking queen Sigrid the Strong-Minded, who burned unwanted suitors alive; to the brilliant but too-cunning Moor Al-Mansor the Illustrious Victor; to the aptly named English king Ethelred the Unready; to the abiding genius of the age, Pope Sylvester II — warrior-kings and concubine empresses, maniacal warriors and religious zealots, bring this stirring period to life. Prologue: The Battle of Maldon 1 Chapter 1: King Olaf Trygvesson 13 Chapter 2: Thorgeir the Lawspeaker 35 Chapter 3: Queen Sigrid the Strong-Minded 57 Chapter 4: Svein Forkbeard versus Ethelred the Unready 78 Chapter 5: Armageddon at Sea 98 Chapter 6: Al Mansor, the Avenging Moor 112 Chapter 7: Little Sancho and Sancho the Great 147 Chapter 8: Forty Thousand Horsemen of the Apocalypse 162 Chapter 9: Vajk the Saint 186 Chapter 10: Gerbert the Wizard 204 Chapter 11: Theophano, Almost Purple-Born 222 Chapter 12: Otto the Dreamer 245 Epilogue: December 31, 999 A.D. 272 Acknowledgments 278 Selected Bibliography 282 Index 289 With the turn of the century approaching, talk of the apocalypse ran rampant. In The Last Apocalypse, James Reston reminds us that such talk is nothing new. At the previous turn of the millennium, Vikings, Moors, and Hungarian Magyars besieged Europe with wanton cruelty and violence, spreading fear and destruction wherever they went and leading many to believe that the end of the world was near. Such colorful characters as Sigrid the Haughty, Svein Forkbeard, Ethelred the Unready, and Al-Mansor the Illustrious Victor were the heroes and villains of the era Traces the victories of the kings and popes of Christendom against the seemingly invincible Vikings, Moors, and Hungarian Magyars, shaking the world and confirming the popular belief that history was about to end