The Year 1000: Religious and Social Response to the Turning of the First Millennium

285 Pages·2002·19.29 MB·English

by  Michael Frassetto (eds.)

The Year 1000
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The Year 1000
Religious and Social Response to the
Turning of the First Millennium
Edited by
Michael Frassetto
Palgrave
macmillan
* THE YEAR 1000
© Michael Frassetto, ed., 2002
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-1-4039-6029-0
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published 2002 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™
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registered trademark in the European Union and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-73055-1 ISBN 978-1-137-11559-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-11559-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The year 1000 : religious and social response to the turning of the
first millennium I edited by Michael Frassetto.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. One thousand, A.D. 2. Eleventh century. 3. Millennialism-Europe.
4. Prophecy. 5. Europe-Social conditions. 6. Church history-Middle Ages, 600-
1500. 7. Civilization, Medieval. 8. End of the world. I. Title: Year one thousand. II.
Title: Religios and social response to the turning of the first millennium. III.
Frassetto, Michael.
CB354.Y43 2002
909'.1-dc21 2002025262
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: November, 2002
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments Vll
Contributors IX
Introduction 1
Michael Frassetto
1. Mutations, Adjustments, Terrors, Historians, and the
Year 1000 9
Edward Peters
2. Exegesis of the Apocalypse in the Early Middle Ages 29
E. Ann Matter
3. Wulfstan and the Millennium 41
Mary P. Richards
4. Harrowing the Houses of the Holy: Images of Violation in
Wulfstan's Homilies 49
Nancy E. Atkimon and Dan E. Burton
5. The Tau Cross in the Writings of Ademar of Chabannes 63
Daniel F. Callahan
6. Heretics, Antichrists, and the Year 1000: Apocalyptic Expectations
in the Writings of Ademar of Chabannes 73
Michael Frassetto
7. Thietmat of Merseburg: The Image of the Ottonian Bishop 85
David A. Wtlrner
8. Otto III, Charlemagne, and Pentecost A.D. 1000: A Reconsideration
Using Diplomatic Evidence 111
Matthew Gabriele
vt ~ Contents
9. Apocalyptic Concerns and Mariological Tactics in
Eleventh-Century France 133
Tennyson]. Wellman
10. A New Fashion in Imitating Christ: Changing Spiritual
Perspectives around the Year 1000 165
Phyllis G. Jestice
11. The Year 1000 and Those Who Labored 187
Claire Taylor
12. Early Medieval Women, Prophecy, and Millennia! Expectations 237
jane T. Schulenburg
13. Islam and the West in the Age of the Pilgrim 257
David R. Blanks
Index 273
Acknowledgments
A volume such as this one is, of course, the work of many hands, and it is my special
privilege to recognize the contributors who have given this volume what worth it may
claim. Indeed, without their commitment to this project, the volume would not have
appeared, and I must thank all involved for their hard work and good cheer through
out the project. I should also thank the organizers of the annual conference at the
Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University, who provided a forum for the first
hearing of several of the chapters in this volume. Thanks are offered also to George
Beech, who participated in a session at the conference that formed the core of this
book, and whose comments proved most helpful for the final preparation of several
of the essays in this volume. I also owe a special debt of thanks to Daniel F. Callahan,
who first inspired my interest in the question of the year 1000 and encouraged my
work over the years. My colleagues at Encyclop.rdia Britannica have been very sup
portive of my outside interests, and I should thank them for that support and for
enduring more than a few dissertations on the year 1000 and other matters. Finally,
this volume could not have been completed without the sacrifice and support of Jill
and Olivia, who have made the dawning of this millennium much brighter for me.
Michael Frassetto
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Contributors
Nancy E Atkinson is an Assistant Professor of Medieval Literature at the University
of North Alabama. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh, where she
was awarded a fellowship to work on her study of early modern witchcraft. She has
published on late medieval drama and is currently working on late medieval English
sermons.
Dan E Burton is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of North
Alabama. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University in the Department of
History and Philosophy of Science. He is currently working on medieval optics and
astronomy in the writings of Nicole Oresme, and is finishing a book, co-authored
with David Grandy, on the History of the Occult in the West.
David R. Blanks is Associate Professor of History at the American University of
Cairo. He is editor of Images oft he Other: Europe and the Muslim World before 1700
(1997), and editor, with Michael Frassetto, of Western Views ofI slam in Medieval and
Early Modern Europe: Perception of Other (1999).
Daniel F. Callahan is Professor of History at the University of Delaware, where he has
taught since 1968. He has published numerous articles on tenth-and eleventh-century
spirituality, with a concentration on the writings ofA demar of Chabannes. Recent arti
cles include "Ecclesia Semper Reformanda: Clerical Celibacy and Reform in the
Church," in Medieval Piety and Purity: Essays on Religious Reform and Clerical Celibacy,
M. Frassetto, ed. (1998) and "The Cult of St. Michael the Archangel and 'The Terrors
of the Year 1000'," in The Apocalyptic Year 1000: Religious Expectations and Social
Change, ca. 950-1050, R. Landes, D. Van Meter and A. Gow, eds., Oxford University
Press, in press. He is currently working on a book entitled The Making ofa Millennia/
Pilgrim: jerusalem and the Cross in the Life and Writings ofA demar ofC habannes.
Michael Frassetto is the religion editor for the Encyclopxdia Britannica. He earned
his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware, where he was awarded a Fulbright
Scholarship to study in the German Democratic Republic. He is the editor of
Medieval Piety and Purity: Essays on Religious Reform and Clerical Celibacy, and edi
tor, with David R. Blanks, of Western Views ofI slam in Medieval and Early Modern
Europe: Perception of Other (1999), and the author of articles on medieval religion
and society.