The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium: An Englishman’s World by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger was not coincidentally published just before the turn of the last millennium. Millennial hype aside, the book intends to describe what life was like around the year 1000, rather than be a history of events occurring in the year 1000. The book’s primary source and focus is the Julius Work Calendar, a document written sometime around the year 1000 describing and illustrating life at the time. While I did appreciate the light tone of the writing, the subject matter bounced around somewhat too much despite the attempt to focus each chapter on a single topic related to a month of the year as described by the Julian Work Calendar. There may have been a few interesting facts and nuggets of information, specifically regarding the origins of certain words in the English language, but overall the book left little lasting impression on me.
1215: The Year of Magna Carta by Danny Danziger and John Gillingham is a very similar book both in its theme and writing style (one of the authors is the same as The Year 1000) but the results are somewhat more enjoyable in 1215. Instead of the Julius Work Calendar, the focus of 1215 is centered around the Magna Carta. The discussions of the document itself are saved until the latter third of the book, with the beginning focusing on life in England after the Norman conquest and then more of what you would describe as the historical aspects of the time, specifically the reign of King John. This broader focus actually makes for a more informative and enjoyable book.
I haven’t read many other books on this subject, but I would say that if you are interesting in learning about medieval England, skip The Year 1000 and give 1215 a try.
Rating for The Year 1000: 5 out of 10.
Rating for 1215: 7 out of 10.
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