This collection of new essays examines the long-standing question of apocalyptic expectations around the turn of the first millennium. Including works by scholars of medieval history, literature, and religion, this book argues that apocalyptic expectations did exist around the year 1000. It provides a more balanced and nuanced approach to the issue than the traditional views that either identify a time of fear, the “terrors of the year 1000,” or deny that awareness of the millennium existed. This book, instead, recognizes that there were a variety of responses to the eschatological years 1000 and 1033 and that these responses contributed to the broader social and religious developments associated with the birth of European civilization.

Introduction by Michael Frassetto * Mutations, Adjustments, Terrors, Historians, and the Year One Thousand by Edward Peters * Exegesis of the Apocalypse in the Early Modern Ages by E. Ann Matter * Wulfstan and the Millennium by Mary P. Richards * Harrowing the Houses of the Holy: Images of Violation in Wulfstan’s Homilies by Nancy E. Atkinson and Dan E. Burton * The Tau Cross in the Writings of Ademar of Chabannes by Daniel F. Callahan * Heretics, Antichrists, and the Year 1000: Apocalyptic Expectations in the Writings of Ademar of Chabannes by Michael Frassetto * Thietmar of Merseburg: The Image of the Ottonian Bishop by David A. Warner * Otto III, Charlemagne, and Pentecost 1000 AD: A Reconsideration Using Diplomatic Evidence by Matthew Gabriele * Apocalyptic Concerns and Mariological Tactics in 11th Century France by T. J. Wellman * A New Fashion in Imitating Christ: Changing Spiritual Perspectives around the Year 1000 by Phyllis Jestice * The Year 1000 and Those Who Labored by Claire Taylor * Early Medieval Women, Prophesy and Millennial Expectations by Jane T. Schulenburg * Islam and the West in the Age of the Pilgrim by David Blanks