The Year 1000 by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger is a very broad and highly entertaining overview of life in England around the year 1000. The title kind of gives it away, I suppose.
The book follows the rhythm of the seasons, describing what life was like in each month for the typical Anglo-Saxon with fascinating digressions into language, religion, medicine, warfare, politics, law and commerce. This is a popular history that reminds me of those Discovery channel shows that jump from topic to related topic to provide a glimpse of a culture, a window to a time.
More than anything else, The Year 1000 is teeming with interesting facts and short explanations that the reader could conceivably relate to friends in the did-you-know manner of discussing history.
For instance, did you know that for the right of English merchants to trade in Pavia, the English crown had to pay fifty pounds of silver, two shields, swords and lances, and two FINE GREYHOUNDS with gilded and embossed collars?
All told, a fun and informative little book for those of us who have forgotten a lot of the history we didn’t really pay attention to the first time around. It would probably be a good read to open an AP English IV class before diving into Beowulf.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
I applaud all attempts at context for Beowulf. Course maybe I just hated that one because I ended up in regular English that year instead of honors because of a scheduling conflict, and became the teacher’s pet. Nothing worse than being liked by the teacher in a regular English class with a bunch of seniors that just want to be done with school.
It’s amazing how studying a thing can sometimes just ruin the enjoyment of it.
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