ANST - Millennial Madness (was Re: Calendars)

[Tim McDaniel]

On Thu, 5 Feb 1998, Kendall Johnson <avalon at netjava.com>
wrote:
> The millinial madness that occured approx. before the year
> A.D. 1000

Sources?

> I have read that there were several in southern and
> western French regions. I have also read theat a theory
> for the first crusades were a subdivision of one of these
> uprisings.
...
> some of the local bishops and priest ... in an effort to
> gain more power for the church they began preaching of
> crusades to the holy land.

Pope Urban II originated the call for a crusade at Clermont
in 1095 (Thomas Bokenkotter, _A Concise History of the
Catholic Church_, p. 149).  Therefore, on two bases, I'd say
the theory doesn't hold up, and I'd be suspicious of any
source that asserts it.  Motives I've seen asserted were "to
bring help to the beleaguered Eastern Christians" (ibid) and
to get rid of surplus / unlanded noble youths causing
trouble.

Now, *I* haven't found (and haven't looked more than a few
minutes for) sources denying millenial madness or affirming
it with data.  All I have are my own vague memories of net
discussion, which is pretty lame.  I just suggest that
people keep an open mind -- there may have been such
beliefs at the time, and there may not.

Daniel de Lincolia
-- 
Tim McDaniel; Reply-To: tmcd at crl.com; if that fail, tmcd at austin.ibm.com
is work address.  tmcd at tmcd.austin.tx.us is wrong tool.  Never use this.
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