The 11th Century: Century of the Sword (Millennium) 1 of 10

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The Eleventh Century: Century of the Sword _________________________________________________________________ China: Mandate from Heaven One thousand years ago, roads from the West to China crossed the terrible Takla Makan desert. Its name meant: "He who enters will never return. ..." Along its edges, the Silk Road carried merchants from India and the Middle East, their saddle bags bulging with spices, jewels, carpets and silk. The gateway to China was the oasis of Tun-huang. Here, hollowed into the desert cliffs, was a Buddhist monastery endowed with fabulous treasures donated by passing merchants. Each of the 450 caves was a shrine decorated by monks. On the ceilings and walls, they painted the world of China. The Chinese believed their land was the center of the world, and that their emperor held a mandate from heaven to rule all the peoples of the Earth. _________________________________________________________________ Spain: Garden of Islam Islam was young and vigorous in the 11th century. Starting from its cradle in Arabia, Islam had spread from India to Spain. Across 4,000 miles, Muslim travelers passed through a single world, united by mosques and the call to prayer. Muslim manpower was renewed by the nomadic tribes of the Sahara and central Asia. Their cavalry became the vanguard of holy war. Where the sword went, trade followed. Islam taught that to barter is to be pious, and Muslim merchants were the world's middlemen. Every deal was a chance to exchange ideas. _________________________________________________________________ India: The Cradle of Enlightenment At the start of the 11th century, India's culture outshone her neighbors. The birthplace of two great religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, India led much of the rest of Asia in religious and secular knowledge. The Muslim scholar al-Biruni spent 13 years traveling the country to learn the secrets of Hindu wisdom. In the ancient city of Benares, he studied the rites of death and the river of life, the Ganges. "The Hindus believe that in ancient times the Ganges flowed into Paradise," he observed. "Into this river they throw the burned bones of their dead so that nothing remains of them, and every defilement, dirt and smell is annihilated at once, so as scarcely to leave any trace behind. To Hindus, the fire eats everything." A philosopher, astrologer and mathematician, al-Biruni found Hindu culture challenging to his own ideas. _________________________________________________________________ Japan: The World Inside Sei Shonagon lived in Japan a thousand years ago, at the Heian court. For 10 years, she was a lady in waiting to the empress. She recorded this intimate world in "The Pillow Book," a collection of notes, anecdotes and observations of everyday life at court. "When I make myself imagine what it is like to be one of those women who live at home, faithfully serving their husbands -- women who have not a single exciting prospect in life, yet who believe they are perfectly happy -- I am filled with scorn," she wrote. "I wish they could live for a while in our society, so they might come to know what delights it has to offer." Sei Shonagon's "Pillow Book" is filled with the spice and gossip of the court, a portrait in miniature of a rarefied society. _________________________________________________________________ Jerusalem: Soldiers of Christ The year 1000 held terrors for Christians. Wrote one monk, "Perilous times were at hand for men's souls. ... When the millennium approached, almost the whole world suffered the loss of great men, noble laymen and clerics." The year 1033 was the thousandth anniversary of Christ's crucifixion. From across Europe pilgrims traveled to Jerusalem seeking salvation. Then as now, it was the holy city of the people of the Book. Muslims shared it with Jews. Christians claimed the city as well. But when pilgrims reached Jerusalem, they found Christianity divided. Rival traditions from all over Christendom worshipped in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. A thousand years later, they still worship there, but every column and candle is jealously fought over. They do not even trust each other to hold the keys to the door. For 800 years the same Muslim family has held them, locking it each evening and opening it the following day.