The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages, Revised and Expanded Edition - Softcover

Cohn, Norman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195004566 ISBN 13: 9780195004564

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1970

Synopsis

The Middle Ages inherited from antiquity a tradition of prophecy and gave it new life. This tradition foretold a millennium in which humanity would enjoy a new paradise on earth, free from suffering and sin. This is the story of those millenarian fanaticisms, and points to their persistence in the modern era.

About this title

Review:

At the end of the first millennium A.D., itinerant preachers crisscrossed Europe warning that the end of the world was nigh. Hundreds of thousands of people took heed, joining religious cults and anti-governmental militias in preparation for the coming war between good and evil. (If this sounds familiar, it is proof only that history is cyclical.) During this heady time, Europe exploded in religious war, peasant revolts and sectarian strife, marked by the first large-scale massacres of Jews and gypsies, the first inklings of inquisitions and holy crusades. Norman Cohn, a masterful writer and interpreter, carefully explores this extraordinary period in European history in a book that bears rereading as our own millennium approaches its end.

From the Back Cover:

This fascinating book explores the millenarianism that flourished in Western Europe between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1970
• ISBN 10: 0195004566
• ISBN 13: 9780195004564
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416