Western Civilizations

Jared Aquilina

November 18, 2005

Western Civilizations

Book Review/ Term Paper

"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 beginningÐ'...Welcome to the year 1000."(Robert Lacey) The main purpose of The Year 1000 is not to show the hardships of this day and age but to show the actual portrayal of what life was like and although ways of life has significantly changed from the year 1000 to the present, human nature has not.

The book takes you through many ideas, strategies, and unordinary techniques that 1st century people used in an Englishman's world (Anglo-Saxon). How clothes were fastened in a world without buttons. How dolphins could forecast weather. What the recipe was for medieval form of Viagra. Body parts that married women had to forfeit if she committed adultery and some of the rules and fundamentals of 1st century warfare.

What were people like at the first millennium? Well often we assume that people were smaller and less developed as we are today, that is false. The bones excavated from the graves of Englishmen in the 1st and 2nd centuries show signs of strong and healthy folk. Not until the few centuries that followed is when we began to see overpopulation, overcrowding and malnourishment, which resulted in, weaker, less developed humans. Most of the devastation that can be found from the Black Death can be placed upon the remains of weak, and unhealthy skeletal remains. Most people wore sack like tunics and leggings that we often laugh at in Monty Python movies.

What was life like in the year 1000? Life was simple yet complicated. Simple in a way that no one exactly went to work but most of your life was based on the workings of the Julius Work Calendar. Findings of arthritis in bones shows that most men endured a lifetime of hard manual labor that we, in present day, cannot even imagine. For the most part life was short. A boy, 12 years of age was considered old and mature enough to swear an oath of allegiance to the King, girls got married in their teens to significantly older men. Most adults died in there 40's and you were considered very old if you could live into your 50's.

Slavery is often looked down upon in present day and unfortunately exists in some corners of the globe. It is believed that almost everyone was a slave in a sense back then. Almost everyone was beholden to someone more powerful than them selves, and most likely there living conditions were as bad or even worse than slave living conditions.

Popular foods that were eaten were often lean meats such as beef and chicken and sometimes mutton, a food for "slaves". Often ground acorns, beans, and peas and even bark supplemented flour when grain stocks began to diminish. Often people dealt with little to no food before harvest. When it came time to eat, huge festivals would be organized to serve large amounts of rye bread, when the rye bread molds it turns to the chemical source of LSD. They then had a type of "hash brownie" made up from the molded rye bread, ground hemp and poppy seeds. These festivals consisted of starving folk fed on hallucinogens and narcotics, it is said they described them selves as if " a spell has been placed on entire communities."

Life in England wasn't exactly as pleasant and as simple as it seemed. All countries, societies and communities have enemies and often encounter their enemies from a raid or invasion. Ever so often Vikings would sail in on their dragon ships kidnapping young boys and girls, steeling valuables such silver and gold. Towns and communities would pay ransom money to hold off Viking attacks but ever so often the Vikings would invade again, destroying and plundering everything in sight, almost barbaric like.

English society proved to be a much more developed and disciplined society. There were hard working people with a solid set of laws and traditions that must be followed.

Today the main concern around the modern world is politics and government issues, ideas and views. Arguably every war or battle is fueled by the differences of governmental establishments and beliefs. A prime example would be the cold war, although nothing technically happened in the cold war it is a prime example of how two powerful countries, or regions can dispute of their own idea of government.

The Cold War developed after World War II when ironically two former allies, the U.S. and the Soviet Union had disputes over economical pressure, selective aid, intimidation, nuclear weapons and most importantly government issues (Communism and Democracy).

Although the war heavily focused on the problems of Nuclear weapon development it created a national scare and tension towards communists. If you believed in communism and performed communism you were considered a threat to the government and could even be sent to jail for treason.

All this can be known as the Red scare. From the 1940's to the late 1950's the red scare was just as it sounded like, a scare. There was a suspicion of communists having an influence on the U.S. society and also the belief that communists infiltrated the U.S. government to manipulate them. These fears and assumptions lead to many private investigations and the arrests of anyone associated with communism and the Soviet Union.

What does all of these facts have to do with "The Year 1000"? What can our society today have in common with the society and the way people lived back then. Well human nature has not changed because just as the problem of Democracy vs. Communism arose in the 20th century, the same problems of not government, but religion arose in the 1st Century.

One of the many points I believe the book was trying to prove was times have changed since the days of the hard labor, the Julius work calendar and the traditional foods, ideas and rituals of cultures of the 1st century but human nature surely has not.

Conflict between ones beliefs certainly adds fuel to the fire. As stated, one of the most recent conflicts of beliefs and the origins of almost any war is government. Back then governments was established but they weren't as sacred and as powerful as the beliefs and support of your societies religion.

It is the 1st century, you are an Anglo-Saxon, obviously living in Europe and your main drive and focus is Christianity. You were considered to be "miles Christi", the soldiers of Christ. Non-soldiers and civilians were named "Pagani". Others considered Pagani an outsider, a nobody, and someone who doesn't want to be apart of what