Welcome to the British History Podcast.

My name is Jamie and this is Episode 326, the year 1000.

This show is ad-free due to member support and as a way of thanking members for keeping

the show independent, I offer members only content, including extra episodes and rough

transcripts.

And you can get instant access to all the members extras by signing up for membership

at the British History Podcast.com for about the price of a lot tape per month.

And thank you very much to Alona, Helen and Colleen for signing up already.

It's so easy to lose the force for the trees.

This show is a show about one small island, which even at this point of the story, is still

on the edge of civilization.

And by focusing so much on this island, it's really easy to forget that there's a whole

other world out there.

And it's a world that keeps turning and the events that are happening at this point

in history all over the world would go on to shape who we are today.

So it's the year 1000.

And before we return to our story, we're going to check in briefly with the rest of the

world.

And what follows isn't going to be a comprehensive history.

Instead, it's intended to help you place the events of our story in the larger context

of the bigger human story.

And we'll begin this tour on our island itself in Scotland.

...