11. There is no evidence that substantial proportions of the population of Europe during the Middle Ages expected the world to end in the year 1000 CE.
Apocalyptic predictions are nothing new, with 22% of Americans in 2012 believing that the end of days will occur during their own lifetimes. According to several historians, this practice was present during the Middle Ages, with January 1, 1000, widely proclaimed as the ultimate Day of Judgement throughout Europe. Claiming that in anticipation of the return of Jesus Christ vast quantities of people abandoned their jobs, dispersed their possessions, and journeyed to the Holy Lands for the fateful day, these historians paint a picture of widespread hysteria and fear regarding the start of the new millennium.
Unfortunately for these historians, there is very little evidence any of this actually happened. Whilst Pope Sylvester II did predict the end of the millennium as the end of days, with some presumably believing him, there is no substantiating evidence of riots, mass pilgrimages, or terror in Europe. Accounts in support of these events only emerged centuries after the fact, akin to the misleading ancient histories of Herodotus. Furthermore, despite claims that people in the Middle Ages “would believe what they were told against the evidence of their own eyes”, much of Europe did not strictly adhere or follow the word of the Church, instead exercising, rightly, a degree of common sense.