The Forge of Christendom: The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West [Hardcover]

I consider myself a history buff and love ancient Roman and modern Asian history, but basically haven't paid attention to the Middle Ages/Mediaeval history since high school. As Holland's newest book shows, that was certainly a mistake. According to Holland's The Forge of Christendom: The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West, the early Middle Ages, around the turn of the millennium, proved to be an extremely important time not just in European history, but also the separation between church and state and the idea of progress more broadly.

Before the millennium, many Christians in Europe became apprehensive as, in the Book of Revelation, St. John predicted that the Antichrist would rule the world and the end of days would be near. The exact date was uncertain, but though to be a thousand years after Christ's birth (1000 AD) or his resurrection (1033 AD, the more accepted number after nothing happened in 1000 AD). During this time, Europe (coincidentally?) suffered internecine warfare, rogue knights, Viking raids, threats from a rising Islamic Caliphate, and a host of other problems. When the millennium came and went, both religious and secular leaders realized they had better solidify their own dominions on earth since the end of days might take longer than expected. However, unlike James Reston's The Last Apocalypse: Europe at the Year 1000 A.D., Holland's book does not focus on the myths and legends surrounding the millennium, but rather the historical developments.

The thrust of the book focuses on the political and religious changes that accompanied, and were influenced by, the millennium. Most important for Holland's story is the rise of the papacy. Before the millennium, the papacy was simply an office available for ambitious roman elites. The line of popes consisted of more than a few incompetents, youthful puppets, dilettantes, and gigolos. Furthermore, many bishops received the positions through bribery and other patronage (known as simony). By the mid-1000s, religious reformers, with a stronghold in the monastery in Cluny, succeeded in installing one of their own, Pope Leo IX. Thereafter, popes increasingly exercised their temporal and religious authority, with Pope Leo IX being the first to declare a holy war (against Norman marauders in Italy). The story culminates when Gregory VII excommunicates the Saxon King Henry IV when the latter sought to appoint and control local bishops, as kings had traditionally done. Henry successfully begs for forgiveness at Canossa, but not before the world realizes that the papacy is powerful and that the Pope controls religious affairs. Holland argues this led to the division between church and state that has proven so crucial to Western civilization (and contrasted to Islam, where Islamic law covers both secular and religious issues).

The years surrounding the millennium marked a time when Europe ceased trying to imitate the ancient Roman Empire and started to forge its own distinct future. Initially, European kings, such as Charlemagne, simply sought to emulate Roman emperors and even went to Rome to be crowned by the Pope. During the early Middle Ages, Europe also underwent a transformation in political authority. Holland describes the rise of knights and castles as responses to weak governments in the West and the ambitions of local elites. Proselytization of the barbarians also plays a bigger role. It is particularly interesting to see how Saxons, Vikings, and other warrior tribes "reinterpret" Christianity to endorse their traditional warrior customs.

This book is great because, in addition to being a history lesson, it also describes the origins of so many things still with us today. For example, in the Frankish, Saxon, and other kingdoms, we see the beginnings of the modern nation states of Western Europe. Holland also describes how the Scandinavians, Hungarians, and others who had been outside the Roman Empire were eventually Christianized. We also see the first major incidents of anti-Semitism, in Orleans in 1010 (Holland claims that before then, Christian communities had been largely tolerant of Jews). Also, next time somebody tells you that you need to "go to Canossa," you'll know what to do.

Holland has a great knack for finding wonderful anecdotes and enjoys repeating them at face value. He breathlessly recounts how heredity was a significant issue for heirs because, "as the ancients had long since proved, both sperm and menstrual blood were suffused with the essence of an individual's soul." Hence, princes needed to assure competitors and subjects that they had inherited the prior king's noble traits through his semen. Meanwhile, the Scottish, trying to claim a noble heritage for their proud peoples, claimed to have descended from the Pharaoh's daughter who had found Moses in a bulrushes. her name - Princess Scota of course! One of my favorite stories was the advice Polish bishops gave for punishing a rapist: "nailed his scrotum to a bridge, [and] then, 'after a sharp knife has been placed next to him,' be confronted with the unpleasant options of self-castration or suicide." Thou shalt NOT lust.

Having said that, I don't think the book works as well as Holland's other books (Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West and Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic) simply because he covers too much. Unlike those two books, which covered pivotal events, The Forge of Christendom: The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West really deals with a 150-year time period. There aren't really any central characters, and this period of history covers so many kings, princes, and popes that it simply becomes difficult to remember them all. Furthermore, the narrative often skips around to different parts of Europe and occasionally goes on tangents (I'm still not sure how important the Russians were to all of this). However, at the end of the day, I think Holland rightly felt he had to put in this background because, unlike the history of Julius Caesar, few readers know enough about the early Middle Ages to appreciate the significance of the millennium and Canossa. In that sense, for readers (like myself) who have little background in Mediaeval history, it is important to not get too overwhelmed by the details and keep the larger picture in mind. If you do that, you'll be shocked this history changes your view of the West.

This work covers the history of the great kings in Western Europe and Popes from about the time of Charlemagne (800 AD) to the beginning of the crusades in 1095. The title is misleading, although the idea of the end of the world coming 1,000 years after the birth of Christ figures prominently. If there is a focus, and the author presents one for consideration, it is the conflict between Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and Pope Gregory VII (everyone will think of their meeting at Canossa in 1077.) More specifically, the theme is the rise of the Roman Catholic Church to temporal power and assuming the authority to make and unmake kings as ordained by God. It was during this time that the Roman Catholic Church truely gained its European ascendancy that held until the Protestant Reformation.

It was this theme that attracted my interest, but then the work devolved into a recounting of the actions of kings and leaders from Spain to Poland during these almost 300 years. The narrative becomes disjointed, skipping around from land to land and losing its focus. In some respects the scope is simply too broad to go into the detail the author attempts, but then at other times he omits crucial details that would help to explain certain actions and attitudes. Otto of Northeim, for example, is passed over in a very few words, although he was important in Germany during his lifetime.

The author's scholarship is impressive, and this is indeed a scholarly work with much to offer. The problem lies in its organization. It seems like the author gets sidetracked on peripheral events like the Viking invasion of England that are hardly important in contributing to his basic theme. The core of the matter lies in Italy, France and Germany, and the interplay between those three area as influenced or controlled by the Pope. I think the author would have been well-advised to limit his scope to that and reduced the size of his work accordingly. He is correct that this time period (actually from about 1050 to 1100) laid the political foundation to the second half of the Middle Ages and even up to the French Revolution, and it is important to understand how that came about. But the digressions, like the author's treatise on Cluny, add little except for the specialist, and then they are not sufficiently detailed to be substantially worthwhile.

All in all, this is an interesting book with impressive scholarship. I recommend it to individuals who want to learn about this age, but expect to have some difficulties putting it all together in a meaningful manner.

I'm not giving this book a one star rating because it is a bad book. Indeed it's a good book, a book I've read many times since it came out in 2008 under the title "Millenium". This publisher has got a lot of nerve re-packaging this existing book with a new title and cover art and selling it as Tom Holland's latest. What a sham! My wife ordered this book for me for my birthday, and I've been anticipating it for weeks. It was delivered this afternoon and I'm just speechless. I, and many thousands of other readers already own this book in it's original form.
So if you love Tom Holland's writing, in part because of the rich historical writing in his book Millenium, then don't bother picking this book up. You already own it.
If however, you haven't read this book, it's well worth the read. I just find it hard to recommend it in it's current form, as the publisher has committed what I would consider a fraud. Get the original edition instead.

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