The Year 1000, by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger, was apparently quite a hit in America. I had never even heard of it until I went home on vacation and found everyone talking about it. All hype aside, my love of medieval history made it impossible for me to not read this book.

The inspiration for the book came from the Julius Work Calendar, a document from around 1020 that lists the holidays and church festivals for each month of the year. The drawings on the “calendar" - one for every month - depict average Anglo-Saxons from the year 1000 going about their everyday business: plowing, sowing, hunting, tending sheep, feasting. These drawings offer a tantalizing glimpse of life in “Engla-lond" a thousand years ago, and the information they give form the basis of the book The Year 1000.

The Year 1000 is divided into 12 main chapters corresponding to the 12 months of the Julius Work Calendar. Each chapter comments on the drawing for that particular month and discusses those aspects of early medieval life to which the drawing pertains. For instance, the chapter for April is called “Feasting," and in this chapter, the eating habits of the Anglo-Saxons are analyzed. June is “Life in Town,” August is “Remedies," October is “War Games” - every chapter offers bits of insight into a long-gone age.

Against the background of the general history of the time (which Vikings were raiding which towns, who was king, or how Christianity was rapidly gaining status and influence), The Year 1000 brings to light the personal details and everyday goings-on of the people of Anglo-Saxon England. This is history for people who think history is nothing more than a forgettable series of dates or the deeds of rich white men. In this book, you find out that the Anglo-Saxons were about as tall as we are today, they knew the earth was round, they ate chicken soup when they were sick and they liked to tell naughty riddles. It is precisely these little details that make history come alive, and that make the Anglo-Saxons of The Year 1000 a very real and even appealing folk.

The Year 1000 is a very accessible book: only 200 pages long, amusingly written, comfortable to read and interesting. The student in me greatly appreciates the source notes, bibliography and index, especially since the book was not written by scholars of the Middle Ages, but rather by an author and a journalist who are now magazine editors (I just like to know where people get their information).

If you are looking for something about the Apocalypse to get you in the mood for December 31, 1999, then this is the wrong book. The Year 1000 is not so much about death and the end of things as it is about survival, about life and how it was carried out a millennium ago. It is an endearing book about a surprisingly endearing people (how could you not like people who chatted with bees?). If you have no idea “what life was like at the turn of the last millennium”, The Year 1000 might be a nice introduction. It’s not a deep scholarly examination of the period, but it is a very enjoyable read.

Lege Feliciter!