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Millennium: The End Of The World And The Forging Of Christendom (2008)

by Tom Holland(Favorite Author)

3.78 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0316732451 (ISBN13: 9780316732451)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Little Brown and Company

review 1: Fascinating look at the period commonly referred to as the Dark Ages and the widespread belief that the end times were imminent and how that played into the politics and policies of the rulers of the time. Certainly to the Christian West, with the pagan Vikings raiding the northern coasts, the Saracens conquering Sicily and Southern Italy, Byzantium suffering catastrophic defeat at Manzikert and Muslim Spain threatening the Pyrenees, it must have seemed that the end was near. And yet, by the close of the book, the First Crusade had conquered Jerusalem, the Saracens had been kicked out of Italy and Sicily and the West would never be as threatened again.Some complaints, however, the struggle between Pope and Holy Roman Emperor is a well known story and certainly did not end... more here as the book seems to suggest. And the omission of any mention of El Cid in the account of the struggle to control Spain is curious.Loved the claim that villages were created in order to facilitate control of the peasants who previously lived on their own separate farms but I have doubts about how true it is.
review 2: If one feels that he needs an refresher on some events that happened around the year AD 1000, this book fits in quite well. Do you remember who was involved in Canossa in 1077? Obviously, the foreplay of 1066 is explained in detail. Tom Holland also shows that while Constantinople was losing its grip on the East after the loss in Manzikert (1071), Spain and Italy are strong enough in the meanwhile to reconquer their lost land from the Saracens. Last but not least, the author pays attention to struggle between Church and State and its further impact on the second millennium and beyond. less

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