The First Millenium Essay Example for Free

The First Millenium Essay The Year 1000 was once considered a year of apocalyptic proportions as biblical beliefs associated it with 1000 years after the Christ’s death. Historians in the 19th century had once imagined the terror during the climax of 1000 years. Without any serious argument, the notion was introduced despite many who chose to ignore the issue. Current views have however delineated eschatological sentiments of terror that once aroused religious transformations in the 11th century. Many historians have now effectively banished the thought which referenced a wrongful data without providing the solidified basis for such documentation. Lacey and Danzinger has however retrieved from England’s possession visible foundations of history through an old book written in black oak ink â€Å"sometime around the year 1020 probably by a cleric working in the manuscript studio of the Canterbury Cathedral† (p. 5). This book was later regarded as the Julius Work Calendar which provided basis for both authors of the discovery on what life was like a millennium after Christ’s death. The book actually focuses on the everyday lives of the Anglo-Saxons timed at the end of the first millennium. It strived to reconstruct the realities in a monthly tour throughout the period. The ordinary appearance of an English individual was then portrayed as â€Å"tall and people In Victorian England could not match our health or physique† (p.9). Yet â€Å"life was simple- as people wore sack-like tunics in colors that were less muddy† (p.10). No fashionable clothes were worn as people looked extremely uniform as a way of ease for the daily toils. In effect, life expectancy was also short â€Å"where a boy of 12 was old enough to swear an oath of allegiance to the king –while girls married easily in their teens† (p.10). When most adults die at an early age, people who lived well into midlife are considered respectable. At that time, England was able to sustain a â€Å"population of at least a million souls† where people were often grouped together as hunter-gatherers who lived in small groups and villages (p. 11). The simplicity was so pivotal in such that â€Å"cow dung, horse manure, sheep droppings and chicken shit† perforated the air (p.119). Men were also morally driven to religion as excitement is drawn upon a discussion and general arguments over the â€Å"observance of the Christian year† (p.12), â€Å"the lives of spirits and saints who lived their lives for the sake of Jesus’ teachings† (p. 17). England was in fact â€Å"a network of magical sites containing physical relics of at least 1 saint† (p. 19). Faith was in the main core of the simple society as peoples lives were entwined in the lives of saints. The â€Å"believer could even point to the bible which contained no less than 35 miracles in which Jesus defeated illness through the power of faith† (p. 122). Faith was therefore considered of highest consequence as people of the middle ages placed higher degrees of trust and faith. Every believer was highly aware that â€Å"sins were keeping the miraculous tradition alive† (p.122) and reliance to faith is highly a virtue. Faith in medicine was akin to belief in God. Persons during the period have an inkling of disease and illness. Folk remedy might have been applied with a hefty amount of religious conviction and care. Cures for maladies also involved â€Å"binding the stalk of herb crossword to the head with a red bandana while chilblains were to be treated with a mixture of ems, wine and fennel root† (126). Virility was also considered an important health matter that required â€Å"ministrations in the groin area with yellow lowered herb agrimony† (p. 126). Cleanliness was unheard of and people do not bathe as often as we do now. Nudity was even accepted in exchange for food and grain. During the time of the middle ages, the government existed under the rules of the king and his minions. Many may have not seen the king as â€Å"personal portraits did not exist† (p.17) and people were more familiar with the representatives of the church than with political persons. The lord of the land as the king’s minion was also considered the â€Å"loaf giver† (p.46-47) who would pay the Viking invaders at least â€Å"2000 pounds in gold and silver upon which payment invaders departed† (p. 14). In effect, people were highly dependent upon the immediate rulers of lands or village leaders for their safety. Slavery was consistent with the feudal system introduced by Viking invaders with Dublin operating the largest market. Typically everyone was in bondage where men expressed a â€Å"token of their fresh start or servitude† as opposed to prison or difficult times during famine (p. 45). Book Review Lacey, Robert and Danny Danzinger. The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millenium: An Englishman’s World, 1st ed. Boston: Little Brown, 1999. The book Lacey and Danzinger wrote is considered a refreshing answer to the present day worries on the changes which a new millennium can bring. The simple fact that even social scientist were led to believe on the apocalyptic interpretations proved how social changed brought out the emergence of this belief based on the cultural perceptions of the Middles Ages. The daily dangers of life during the period were centered on possible famines which don’t actually happen very often†¦and if it did, for shorter periods. While the book provides a realistic knowledge of the middle ages negating a continued myth on eschatological findings, it still attempts to reap benefits for the common millennium beliefs. However historians alike will welcome the accomplishments that strive to understand medieval lives into a larger global context. While we get insights on the activities of a calendar year, the daily lives of peasants and aristocracies are also exposed. Practicality was the usual behavior of people in an agricultural society. After defining the social dynamics of the period based on the Jules Calendar, I can definitely support that any romantic visions of the Middle Ages should be discounted in favor of the truth based on research and finding both authors made supported by ample evidence of truth. Religion has overemphasized wrong notions that are inherited into our modern era in an unbalanced mysticism. Through Lacey and Danzinger, the powerful heresies of the first decades which looked into the image of the monks provided basis for a historical research to ensue with proper documentation of facts. Hope being the key for existence that promised to inspire even the practical pragmatic individuals was definitely believed in. The only points which the authors failed to consider are the discussion on the recorded events of the period as written by other authors based on the annals of Saint Armand, discussing a power shattering quake that anticipated a catastrophic event for the next millennium. While Lacey and Danzinger provided views disuniting the eschatological findings, they were not able to inundate any countermeasure against the popular voices of the apocalyptic myth or doomsday beliefs. They have the ample chance to disregard the works of the destructive prodigies whose perspectives dwelled on creating a negativist confirmation of religious chaos. Lacey and Danzinger can therefore do well to disorganize this idea in full and weaken any widespread beliefs on the â€Å"end of days†. While having the capacity to exorcised doomsday believers, Lacey and Danzinger left this out for readers to discover in a pragmatic way. Altogether however, I sing praises for this book that glorified human life in the Middle Ages. Both authors have gone a long way in explaining what life was about under moral religious theologies with their documentary evidence as proof. Through their conjectural terrain, I have accepted the confidence of history in a linear time of peasant and aristocratic existence in the middle Ages.