The approach of the end of the first millennium created a widespread fear that the end of the world was nigh. Whole populations panicked.

In France the political chaos and ensuing misery only fuelled the fear of the imminent Day of Judgement. The ruling Carolingian dynasty was falling apart and there were famines and epidemics. There were also Viking invasions, civil wars, and then endless hostilities between rival nobles.

Only the Church which claimed ‘to crown kings and elect emperors’ retained any credibility and seemed to be able to offer a way out from the endless misery by preaching the ‘Truce of God’.

Strengthened by an ecclesiastical organisation established over many centuries, the Church slowly extended its moral authority and emerged as the most dynamic force in society. So began an amazing revival of religious life all over the Western world.

A contemporary, the monk Raoul Glaber, wrote at this time that ‘Suddenly France was covered by a white blanket of churches and abbeys…’ 6