The year 1000 : what life was like at the turn of the first millennium : an Englishman's world

The turn of the millennium (the last millennium, that is) in England was an interesting world to behold - the country was struggling toward unity, but still wary of invaders from across the various seas (an invasion trend that would stop less than 100 years after the turn of the millennium). The typical Englishman was well-fed, but the kinds of food might astound modern readers; when the people got indigestion back then, medical treatments were even more bizarre. Into the world, Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger venture with humour and insight. Lacey and Danziger, established writers in related topics, have traced a journey through history by tracing the typical life during a year at the turn of the year 1000, through the Julius Work Calendar, on reserve at the British Library, lost for a time due to miscategorisation. The authors (Lacey and Danziger) makes use of this interesting framework of month-by-month chronicling to develop the details of daily life and work in England in the year 1000.

As the Shadow of the Millennium Descended Across England and Christendom, it Seemed as if the World was About to End. Actually, it was Only the Beginning... Welcome to the Year 1000. This is What Life was Like. How clothes were fastened in a world without buttons, p.10 The rudiments of medieval brain surgery, p.124 The first millennium's Bill Gates, p.192 How dolphins forecasted weather, p.140 The recipe for a medieval form of Viagra, p.126 Body parts a married woman had to forfeit if she committed adultery, p.171 The fundamental rules of warfare, p.154 How fried and crushed black snails could improve your health, p.127 And much more...

The Julius Work Calendar: The Wonder of Survival 3 January: For All the Saints 7 February: Welcome to Engla-lond 23 March: Heads for Food 37 April: Feasting 51 May: Wealth and Wool 65 June: Life in Town 83 July: The Hungry Gap 99 August: Remedies 115 September: Pagans and Pannage 131 October: War Games 147 November: Females and the Price of Fondling 161 December: The End of Things, or a New Beginning? 177 The English Spirit 193 Acknowledgements 203 Bibliography 207 Source Notes 215 Index 221 How did people make sense of the end of one era and the start of another?"The Year 1000" plunges readers into the past in colorful detail and provides them with a historically accurate portrait of life on the cusp of the first millennium IT WAS AN OAK TREE THAT PROVIDED THE ink, from a boil-like pimple growing out of its bark. Presents what life was like in the year 1000 for an Englishman