Millenium

Of all the civilisations existing in the year 1000, that of Western
Europe seemed the unlikeliest candidate for future greatness. Compared
to the glittering empires of Byzantium or Islam, the splintered kingdoms
on the edge of the Atlantic appeared impoverished, fearful and
backward. But the anarchy of these years proved to be, not the portents
of the end of the world, as many Christians had dreaded, but rather the
birthpangs of a radically new order. MILLENNIUM is a stunning panoramic
account of the two centuries on either side of the apocalyptic year
1000. This was the age of Canute, William the Conqueror and Pope Gregory
VII, of Vikings, monks and serfs, of the earliest castles and the
invention of knighthood, and of the primal conflict between church and
state. The story of how the distinctive culture of Europe - restless,
creative and dynamic - was forged from out of the convulsions of these
extraordinary times is as fascinating and as momentous as any in
history.