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In the sixth century Britain and Ireland had the reputation of being the most dangerous and barbarous parts of Europe, the Congo of their day. AD 500, written from the perspective of Greek explorers, takes the modern reader on a tour around this strangely unfamiliar version of our islands. Along the way you will learn how to nipple-suck correctly (a sixth-century version of shaking hands); how to get married with ‘a native’; how to spot one of the last of the druids; how not to get sacrificed in the Fens; how to deflect the curses of Celtic poets; and even a hangover cure for Saxon beer. Written as a Greek travel guide/ travelogue AD 500 should not be mistaken for fiction. Extensive endnotes ground the book and the details of sixth-century life found there in the scientific work of modern linguists, archaeologists and historians.
book reviews
- NewBooks Mag
"This clever and highly informative history...Simon Young writes with an easy style and a wry humour." - Financial Times
'Informative and entertaining, this is popular history at its best.' - Good Book Guide
'First-rate reading' - Ireland on Sunday
'Simon Young offers nugget after nugget of fascinating detail to paint a colourful portrait of a time when native savagery was being tempered by the arrival of Christianity in a country on the cusp between druidic power and the first cold grip of Church rule... This bawdy , picaresque and high-spirited book... wears its considerable learning lightly and opens a window on a time long neglected...' - Belfast Telegraph
'There is much more in the same entertaining and informative vein.. It certainly succeeds in throwing new light on the mysterious Dark Ages.' - Yorkshire Evening Press
'A kind of Roman Britain version of Mad Max... very funny' - Murrough O'Brien, Independent on Sunday
'...their account of the strange and barbaric practices of these islands is hugely entertaining and sometimes harrowing. What a joy to be able to recommend a book about misery, bloodshed and grisly superstition for being funny, compassionate and clear-eyed. It's not historical fiction as such, more a deft and convincing reworking of history in the tradition of Geoffrey of Monmouth. The world is wonderfully evoked. the hand behind these narrators guides them with warmth and fluency.' - Peter Jones in the JCT
' a brilliant idea... extremely enjoyable and informative.' - Scotland on Sunday
' Enjoyable and ingenious, this breathes life into the period.' - Oxbow
'Simon Young has written a thoroughly enjoyable, witty, atmospheric and very knowledgeable companion to post-Roman Britain, from Kent to Orkney...' - British Archaeology
'...put this in your holiday suitcase' - BBC History Magazine
‘an accessible overview of what Britain might have been like after the Romans had left.' - Historical Novels Review
‘Whether you read AD 500 from cover to cover, or dip in to look up your home region or a place you are visiting, you are bound to find some nugget to fascinate and entertain. From the origins of the duffel coat, to drunken orgies on the South Bank or the sealing of alliances by nipple-sucking in Ireland, this book has something for everyone… A delightful conceit and an entrancing read.' - Western Daily Press
‘The wry humour of a new book by an expert on Celtic history had me hooked' - Bridlington Gazette & Herald
‘AD500 is a beacon of fascinating insights to light up the Dark Ages for the masses.'
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