The Year 1000

By Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger,

Book cover of The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium: An Englishman's World

Book description

What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium

The Year 1000 is a vivid and surprising portrait of life in England a thousand years ago - no spinach, no sugar, but a world which already knew brain surgeons and property developers, and yes, even the occasional gossip…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Year 1000 as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Having made my creative name as project designer responsible for the original Jorvik Viking Centre in York, UK, this book uses words and historical illustrations to do what we attempted to do. It was to place the observer into an experience from the past, which would be in such detail and authenticity that it’s as close, I believe, to time travel as our generation will achieve. Truth, fascination, and amazement. Why I like this book is it achieved what archaeologists, scientists, and interpretive designers strove to achieve. 

This was one of my earliest research books on early England, and it’s an entertaining introduction to a world that is somewhat familiar, yet vastly different from ours. The authors take us through a calendar year, focusing on activities and attitudes from fasting to feasting, from medicine to marriage practices, and I referred to it again and again as I wrote my novels set in 11th century England. The book is filled with historical anecdotes and intriguing historical figures, bringing that long-ago world to vivid life. My own copy is heavily adorned with yellow marker, in particular the chapter…

From Patricia's list on early Medieval England and Scandinavia.

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