CNN Perspectives - Millennium A Thousand Years of History (1999) Part 1 The Eleventh Century Century of the Sword

Join CNN's MILLENNIUM for a panoramic sweep over the last 1,000 years, watching the people, events and achievements that shaped the world. The 10, one-hour episodes of MILLENNIUM are extraordinary in their range of vision and compelling in their presentation. Yet MILLENNIUM is neither chronological nor all-encompassing. Instead, it is eclectic, a pastiche of things great–or small–that sculpted the world. Each of the 10 episodes of MILLENNIUM focuses on a single century, brought to life by five vignettes from five different locations worldwide. Inspired by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto's book, “Millennium,” and filmed in 28 countries, the series is as geographically far-ranging as the world it covers. Its producers and crews spent more than two years and traveled 100,000 miles gathering footage. MILLENNIUM reconstructs the visual images of past ages using this footage, along with vivid re-enactments and computer-generated graphic animation.

Part 1 The Eleventh Century Century of the Sword

Survey the world in AD 1000 and see that China was the most vibrant, open and technologically advanced civilization. Islam, less than 400 yars old, had become the most far reaching civilization in trade and travel. Cordoba, in Southern Spain, was one of the most important cities in the world. India, rich in natural resources, was the only other civilization that the Chinese respected. Enriched by contact with China, Japan looked promising but turned increasingly in on itself. We are able to examine life in the imperial palace through an intimate diary left by Sei Shonagon, who was a lady in waiting to the Heian royalty. Christianity was divided into two rival camps. The Western Catholic Church looked to Rome, the Eastern Orthodox Church looked to Constantinople. In 1054, the political wrangling reached a climax when the Pope excommunicated the Eastern Church.

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