You'd be fine, so long as you could prove you weigh more than a duck.

I think I'd be OK.

I know the land, I know the safe foods etc. I can make soap and gunpowder from first principles, I can build a furnace, a still, can work iron and case harden it to make tools in advance of a lot of what was around at the time, can cut glass, work with lead.

I can make a bow and arrows, a spear, given enough matal I can make a sword or a knife. I can use all of these weapons with reasonable competence.

If I was dumped in England 1000 years ago (i.e. 1008) I'd head for Westminster and get a job on the abbey.

I would probably be mauled by wild animals or killed by the villagers within the first 24 hours.

german maybe ... but do you speak Middle High German?

Wie sol ich den ritter nû gescheiden
und daz schœne wîp
die dicke bî ein ander lâgen ê?
dâ rât ich in rehten triuwen beiden
und ûf mîn selbes lîp

daz sie sich scheiden und er dannen gê.
mâze ist zallen dingen guot.
lîp und êre ist unbehuot,
ob man iht langer lît.
ichn singe eht anders niht wan: ez ist zît.
stant ûf, ritter!'

I'm with you. I think the survival rate, regardless of how smart you are, would be nil. I'm sure I wouldn't last long.

hehehe... you betcha! Can you say sphagnum moss?


what are first principles?


hehe... Caecilius ego sum...

Nope, I speak broken Medium German.

I think that's about the extent of it along with a few handy sayings about there being truth in wine and coming, seeing and conquering. Oh, and lots of stuff about Agricola.

Starting from raw materials avaialble in the world commonly at the time - wood ash, fat, sulphur, charcoal, salt peter, things like that. :thumbsup:

Willravel would be dead inside a week, witches and heretics are not tolerated. Daniel might survive as his ego isnt quite so inflated.

So you're saying they would kill the man who introduced the idea of sanitary medicine about 700 years early—the man who would likely save many lives—just because of "witchcraft"? The church had way bigger fish to fry with the fast expansion of Islam. Actually, I'd probably enjoy more success with the Muslims, considering they developed the scientific method.

Yep, I do. IMO, your biggest problem would be getting them to listen you. Nostradamus was a trained physician prior to his stint as a "fortune teller." He differed with some of the main medical practices of the time. For some crazy reason he thought keeping the cities clean, i.e. washing the shit out of the streets, was important. More important then say bleeding the evil out of people. He had serious issues with the church. By the time he started writing his prophecies he had to do so in "quatrains." Basically in code to keep him from being labeled a heretic. He knew the local lingo, the politics etc... and still had problems. He came along some five centuries later when "new ideas" were much more widely accepted. I think you show up and the minute you start talking, esp. going against the establishment, you're toast... literally.

Nostrodmus made a simple mistake: he didn't argue from scripture. While the act of Jesus cleaning his disciples' feet was clearly an allegory for humility and service of leadership, one could also argue from this teaching the holy nature of cleanliness.

The main issue I'd have would be gaining access to the Bible, as it was not widely distributed at the time. I'd probably have to become a priest of some kind.

the church would very likely get rid of you... you'd be a heretic.

back then, cleanliness was not next to godliness. my understanding of the time is that it was believed that washing frequently was a bad thing, showed excessive pride or something, for soem reason was against god.

but more importantly, by 1000AD, the church had little to worry about with islam for another 400 or 500 years. they'd been stopped in western europe in the mid-700's by charles martel at tours/poiters. eastern europe was orthodox, so not the pope's concern, and muslim expansion there was still being halted by the romans (byzantines).

so they'd have plenty of time to burn your heretic butt. :)

Everyone involved in this thread should pause to read "The Year 1000" by Robert Lacey. The assumption that Anglo Saxon Britain was simply a barbaric backwater could not be further from the truth. The Saxons were a very pragmatic people, if you had knowlege that could help them, they would very likely welcome you with open arms.

Debaser to my rescue! Wait, what?!

But not all of Britain in the year 1008 was populated by Saxons.

Or Anglos...

Angles.

Obtuse.

nothing to say

the only thing i really think you have right is that we'd all die. EVERYONE PANIC!!!

nothing to say

eh, muslim territories would be the easier to live in as a jew, but jews were all over europe, just highly persecuted, easy scape goats, and generally lived in their own communities, apart from christian society.

nothing to say

Not only had Hinduism predated Christianity by thousands of years, not only did Judaism predate Christianity by thousands of years, but Islam was flourishing in Northern Africa, the Middle East, and East. So no, there were many churches in the 1000s. While the hypothetical postulates being transported to Europe, I doubt it would be difficult to leave Europe should the situation present itself as dangerous due to that incarnation of the church.
And can you imagine if someone stole a few copies and delivered them to the masses? *cough* Protestant reformation. *cough*, and a bit early.
http://static.flickr.com/58/202328699_4e48c389f7_o.jpg
The most organized group in the dark ages. That's like the tallest ewok. Record keeping across long distances was horrible due to slow transportation. "I'm a missionary from the far East who was ordained by *insert other real missionary's name here*' can't be corroborated, but more importantly it can't be refuted. At worst they test me and I recite biblical verses I have memorized from catechism.
Galileo wasn't a politician, he was a scientist. I've seen enough BillO to spin conservatives without too much difficulty.
I'd probably do quite well due to my current state of health and experience in landscaping being applied to agricultural work.

nothing to say.

After 1,000 A.D., there was great unrest between the Catholic Church and monarchs. Take Frederick II, for example.

Will could survive by finding forward-thinking men like Frederick II and supporting his causes with his advanced knowledge, which I'm sure would have impressed him.

nothing to say

lack of survival skills aside (how many of us could actually survive in the wilderness on our own for any real length of time?), the language barrier really would be the biggest short term problem. if this scenario really happened, feigning muteness would possibly be a smart idea...

nothing to say

He can invent the printing press!

nothing to say

I can read latin, though I'd only understand a bit of it. And people would likely be used to my strange accent, so they'd dismiss any mispronunciations as my accent.
I never said I'd manufacture anything. I said I's steal the bible and give it to people.

Also, I never said I'd pursue an atheist agenda. The world has really only been ready for that for maybe the past few hundred years, at most the Renaissance. I can play ball if it means avoiding persecution from a church.

HH has a good idea with muteness, but not understanding would mean pretending to be mentally handicapped. Who knows what they did with people afflicted with a mental disability.

nothing to say

Nobility was not doomed to live an illiterate life, pocon, which could be my "in". Find a low-level noble and provide him with what was essentially the key to the church, and things could get shaken up.

Willravel: What can he not do?

Seriously though, if any of us were magically transported to the year 1000 we'd have a very rough time surviving. The middle ages were a rough time, and around the year 1000 A.D you'd be about 100-150 years away from any sort of major intellectual revival. Power was decentralized, and life was about survival. The muslims were going through a practical golden age while the Europeans were in many ways still recovering from the collapse of the Romans 600 years prior.

I posed this Q to my wife, who stated that as a Chinese woman, she would be quickly detected and either chattled or killed. That surprised me. Would European society be so xenophobic? But then earlier posts re the ownership of records buy the church ring true.

Then I'd suggest you can't "read" it. Reading does require comprehension.



What good will "giving the bible to the people" do - none of them can read.

I'm not sure that all areas of Europe were so xenophobic. They'd be worried if Genghis Khan's army came strolling over the hills - I don't think they'd be that alarmed by a single Asian woman.

I think noone of us would do well 1000 years ago.
The language barrier is one point and an important point. Another point is the general behaviour, society has chanced a lot. I don't know what those people would do to someone who talk and acts in a strange way.

Hunting may be prohibited in most areas, poaching may be punished harshly.

So what kind of job can we do? most of our current jobs are useless (I work in the IT buisness ...) but even most crafting jobs will be useless because things will be done in a much different way. Most workers today rely on modern machines which will not be available. Only people who are trained in classic craftsmanship will stand a chance (and by trained I mean trained, not "I've done some blacksmithing in my backyard")

So, I don't think it wil be easy, I think most of us will end somewere as an unskilled worker who has to do heavy labor.
It may be possible to do some academic work (math perhaps) but I don't think it will be easy to get "into" those jobs. Medicine is difficult, I know how to deal with normal, small wounds, but I have no clue how to treat illness or how to make drugs.

I know some Talhoffer and other swordfighting moves (mostly japanese though), don't know if that would help me...