Society
Résumé
This chapter, "Society," focuses largely on the transitions in lay society for the period beginning in around the year 1000. Following a short discussion of the scholarly debate on the "Transformation (or "Mutation") of the Year 1000" (p. 28), the author introduces to the reader the discrepancies between attempts of scholars to describe these transformations adequately on the one hand, and the realities of a complex society that was characterized by differences in regional, local and circumstantial practice on the other. He nevertheless takes these differences and pulls from them the most important points, organizing them in such a way that students will likely be able to come away with a fairly clear picture, while still realizing that it is indeed a general one.