The time from the 5th to the 10th centuries is an era when Europe was a giant seething cauldron. New states arose and collapsed, the Christian religion spread further and further, peoples moved from place to place. Why is the term “Dark Ages” firmly attached to this period of European history? Were they really "dark"?
If you look at this period of European history more closely, you have to admit: yes, they were. The destruction of the ancient slave system and the formation of a new feudal society proceeded extremely slowly and painfully. The fragile internal ties of the Roman world at the end of the Empire were very quickly destroyed by barbarian invasions, and the main blow fell on the economy. Trade almost came to a standstill - there were few buyers, and merchants, as a rule, became victims of robbers or conquering armies. The only one constant factor The life of medieval man was unstable. At any moment, a peasant cultivating his plot could be driven into slavery, and there was no need to expect protection from the local baron or from the city authorities. The city, around which agricultural lands had long been clustered, was itself locked behind decaying walls, hoping to escape from a sudden raid.
There was famine in Europe. It's hard to imagine, but chronic malnutrition has become the norm throughout the Christian world. Neither hunting nor fishing could compensate for the lack of bread and meat. Throughout Europe at this time, the authors of monastic chronicles noted that cannibalism covered entire regions. Mothers killed and cooked their own children. Following famine and war, disease was bound to come. Epidemics wiped out entire cities and villages, sometimes leaving virtually no survivors in a once prosperous region. Between the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Carolingian Empire, the population of Western Europe fell by more than half. In the 6th century, the first major plague epidemic began, raging in Italy, Gaul and Spain for more than fifty years.
All the technical achievements of antiquity were forgotten. In the 5th – 8th centuries, construction with stone practically ceased in Europe. Most of the stone churches of this era are Roman temples, slightly rebuilt in accordance with the requirements of Christian symbolism. What could not be rebuilt was destroyed in order to obtain building stone. The Romans considered wood a symbol of barbarism - but after the fall of Rome, no one began to think so, and wood turned into the main building material.
And in agriculture, the barbarian peoples found themselves far behind the ancient farmers. Tools, mostly borrowed from the Romans, were not improved, and the land was cultivated poorly and unevenly. The crafts that the barbarians had once brought to the lands of the Empire were gradually disappearing. Glassmakers from the Rhineland were deprived of soda, which previously came to them from the Mediterranean regions. The demand for jewelry has fallen, and examples of the jewelry art of the barbarians of the 2nd - 3rd centuries that have survived to this day are artistically much higher than the crude crafts of the 6th - 7th centuries.
But the most terrible thing was the decline of morals, which can be judged not only from monastery chronicles, but also from court documents. At a time when the ancient barbarian “truths” were gradually fading into the background, when Roman law meant very little, and the church could not keep track of its flock, the so-called penitentiaries became widespread - collections that described in detail punishments for various sins. Human life turned into a commodity - nothing other than monetary fines could be used to punish the criminal. The most terrible thing about these penitentiaries is the scrupulousness. Fines varied depending on, for example, whether the victim's entire arm was torn off or dangling from a piece of skin (in the latter case, the fine was almost halved). Any two severed fingers on a hand were “worth” the same as one severed index finger.
The rulers, who felt completely unpunished in their domains, committed the most cruel tyranny over their subjects. The French historian J. Le Goff accurately noted that the torture to which Christians at that time subjected their fellow believers was many times greater than what the pagan Romans did to the first Christians. People's hands were cut off, their faces were burned with a hot iron, after which they waited until the wounds had healed slightly and resumed the torture. Often, only murder could stop a king or count who had acquired a taste for torture.
The Church during the Dark Ages was perhaps the only structure that maintained some kind of order within its ranks. Skillfully seeking support from almost all the barbarian kings, the Catholic Church accumulated enormous wealth and land. Thanks to this, the basis was laid for the rapid rise of the Christian world in the 11th century.
In the Dark Ages, the church was active not only in the spiritual, but also in the secular, in political life. The bishops of a number of large cities were actually their full-fledged rulers, sometimes coming into conflict with kings and mayors, sometimes directing their aspirations in the direction desired by the church. It was with the support of the Catholic bishops that the Frankish king Clovis began to expand the borders of his kingdom. The bishops themselves, coming from noble families, pursued their own political interests, albeit within the framework of the activities of the entire Church. This state of affairs inevitably led to almost complete interpenetration of spiritual and secular authorities, church and kings.
In some countries, the church has taken the lead. This happened in Spain, where the spiritual authorities of the Gothic kingdom established the most severe laws that aroused sharp hostility among the population. The Spaniards greeted the Moors who came to the Pyrenees quite calmly precisely because the power of the Muslims turned out to be softer than the power of the Christian bishops. Almost everywhere, bishops were advisers to kings, drew up laws and approved taxes.
On the other hand, the kings, having been baptized and gained the support of the church, sought to introduce their people into its structure. Often the king appointed bishops from among his entourage to the cities of his country, and he himself supervised the work of church councils. Nothing good could come from such a union. The supreme leadership of the church fell victim to the same vices as the semi-barbaric secular nobility. It got to the point that a number of areas of the Christian world moved away from Christianity for a long time, returning to paganism, to ancient superstitions, which the church simply could not cope with. This happened in England in the 6th century and in France in the 7th century.
The situation was different in the lower circles of the clergy. Since the time of the Great Migration, monasteries have been almost the only refuge for ordinary people. Barbarian invaders, as a rule, left monasteries and churches alone. Back in the 5th century, the Goths of Alaric, having burst into Rome, recognized the right of refuge for the Christian churches. During the terrible era of barbarian invasions, monks, the only educated people, tirelessly worked on healing the sick and acted as intermediaries between the population of the area and the leaders of the barbarian tribes. The saints and ascetics of that time tried their best to strengthen people’s faith and give them strength. Monasteries remained the last stronghold of culture. Manuscripts of ancient authors, scientific works and literary works were preserved in monastery libraries, copied and rewritten.
The gloomy mood that had taken hold of people and the virtual collapse of the highest circles of the clergy threatened to destroy the church. But in 590, the papal throne was occupied by a man whose policies determined the very spirit of medieval society for centuries to come - Gregory the Great.
Before being elected to the highest church position, Gregory was a monk. Becoming the head catholic church, he did not change his earlier vow to renounce everything worldly. Gregory seemed to be returning the church to its origins - to those times when the first Christians, hiding in the catacombs from the Roman persecutors, awaited the new coming of the Messiah and the end of the world. Under Gregory, the theme of the end of the world began to sound with renewed vigor. It must be said that many things contributed to this - a terrible plague in Italy, which did not spare Rome (the papal residence), famine, wars, complete discord in minds and souls. The Apocalypse, so colorfully described by John the Theologian, seemed very close. The Pope called on Christians to renounce everything earthly, repent and prepare for the Last Judgment. “What is the use of reaping if the reaper is not destined to live?” – asked Grigory.
Gregory the Great was the first to pose with all its severity the main question of the Middle Ages: the relationship between the worldly and spiritual principles. On days when the world was falling apart, the spirit had to be chosen. This idea turned out to be in tune with the mindset of most Christians. As a matter of fact, it was with Gregory the Great that the Middle Ages began as a cultural era.
So, dear friends, we have finally reached the “dark Middle Ages”. By the way, do you know why the Middle Ages are called “dark”? After all, the word “Middle Ages” itself was invented only when this era was coming to an end. And they understood this word something like this: like there were bright times in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, when education, culture, reason reigned. And then the barbarians came and everything was lost. In fact, those who know history and mythology well know what these “bright” times were like. To put it mildly, extremely contradictory. In the 16th century, humanity again becomes incredibly educated, cultured and intelligent. What's in the middle? And in the middle lie the dark centuries of general savagery, the general decline of Europe, the triumph of religious and other prejudices. In short, a terrible time. Well, let's figure it out.
It is believed that the term “Middle Ages” (lat. ævum medium - middle age) was first introduced by the Italian humanist Flavio Biondo (1453). Before Biondo, the main term for the period from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Renaissance was Petrarch's "Dark Ages".
Maybe these “dark” ones later became “gloomy”, who knows. And, by the way, please note that the “dark ages” from Petrarch’s point of view lasted until the Renaissance, and this era from the point of view modern history is located within the “Middle Ages”. So we will assume that the “dark Middle Ages” are those before the Renaissance. And then - immediately enlightenment. But first of all, dear readers, we must understand that whatever these centuries were, this still concerns only the history of Europe.
But I won’t burden you any further, I’ll just let you know that the history of the portrait in this controversial time actually slowed down somewhat. In the period from the 6th to the beginning of the 15th century, this genre practically did not develop. Almost a hundred years is no joke.
What was this connected with? The fact is that the entire culture of the Middle Ages was aimed at overcoming the sinful essence of man. Everything corporeal was discarded as useless, mortal, devoid of an eternal beginning, tempting man. The priority of spiritual life is reflected in the art of the Middle Ages, which is most clearly embodied in cathedral architecture and religious painting and sculpture.
If the sculptors of Ancient Greece sculpted a person as they saw him ideally - harmoniously developed spiritually and physically, then Gothic artists depicted a person conditionally, schematically. fine arts of the Middle Ages was supposed to strengthen the human spirit, and not distract it from sublime thoughts. In medieval sculptures, a person is deprived of gender, and women and men are equally flat, narrow-shouldered, and shapeless.
In icon painting, the spiritual principle was emphasized, a flat image was used, and disproportion often appeared so that the viewer’s attention was focused on the spiritual, heavenly, and not earthly. To do this, they resorted to the following techniques: a large forehead was depicted on the icon - it meant the receptacle of the divine mind, large eyes - the focus of the spiritual in man. The viewer's attention was focused on the hand of the person depicted (the hand blesses, the hand makes the sign of the cross).
Giotto di Bondone - Madonna Enthroned (Ognisanti Madonna)
Almost devoid of individuality, dispassionate, medieval images of people could hardly be called portraits. Perhaps you will consider this natural, just as an icon can be a portrait? Who could see Mother of God? It wasn’t she herself who posed for the artists! We will talk about who could pose for the artists for this holy image a little later. Follow me, dear readers, into the bright era of the Renaissance!
Cimabue. "Madonna"
The Middle Ages, “dark times”... Many people associate this era with the fires of the Inquisition, brutal internecine wars, bloody crusades, terrible epidemics, ignorance and fanaticism. However, we should not forget that it was precisely in that distant era, from which we are separated by almost a millennium, that Dante Alighieri created “ Divine Comedy", recognized by descendants as the pearl of world literature, the magnificent St. Peter's Cathedral was erected, universities were opened in large cities, including Oxford and Cambridge.
But that's not even the main thing. In the Middle Ages, slowly, with great difficulty, science and technological progress entered the lives of ordinary people, radically changing their usual way of life. Horseshoes, invented by the Romans, are now attached to the hooves of animals with nails; a more advanced plow, which became widespread during this period, gives impetus to the development of agriculture. After all, now you can cultivate rocky, clayey areas of land and get generous harvests. For peasants, who made up the majority of the European population, a rich harvest was the only way to survive and feed their families. Guilds of artisans were created in cities, which, by the standards of their contemporaries, worked miracles. It was then that sheet glass was made for the first time. During this era, workshops were organized for the production of Venetian glass, which is still highly valued in the world. For quite a long time, glass beads were equated with jewelry made from semi-precious stones.
For the first time, cast iron was smelted, which very quickly found wide application: cast iron cannons were stronger, pipes were more reliable, dishes were more convenient and cheaper. Together with gunpowder, the invention of which is attributed to the monk Berthold Schwarz, these advances led to the creation small arms. Ships sheathed in iron sheets conquered the oceans, and the trade borders of states began to rapidly expand, foreshadowing the era of great geographical discoveries.
It was during these difficult times that Copernicus created his heliocentric theory of the world, and Paracelsus, Ibn Sina and Visalius tried to understand what processes were occurring in human body, and looked for new ways to treat various diseases.
And finally, it was the Middle Ages that gave us the brilliant Renaissance, the great da Vinci, Botticelli, Giotto, Raphael, Michelangelo...
The heyday of art came at the end of the Middle Ages. Domestic and world medieval studies consider the beginning of the era, called the Early Middle Ages in historical science, to be the collapse under the onslaught of the Germanic tribes of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. n. e. This period lasted about five centuries (from approximately 500 to 1000) and was marked by a tremendous migration of peoples: numerous Germanic tribes settled in the lands of the Romans, which subsequently led to confrontation between cultures, religions, languages and resulted in numerous bloody conflicts. As a result of the resettlement, the northern Gothic tribes ended up in the south of Europe, the Asian Huns settled in what is now France and on the western coast of the Black Sea, and the Vandals from Germany reached the territories of present-day Algeria and Tunisia, and from there they migrated to Italy and Corsica.
The peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, almost completely conquered by the Moors, began to fight their enslavers. Continuous infighting between Christian rulers significantly hampered liberation movement, but, despite everything, in 1492 the Moors were finally expelled from the Iberian Peninsula.
At the same time, after the withdrawal of the Roman legions, German attacks on the British Isles became more frequent. Anglo-Saxon troops landed in Kent and by the 10th century. became the absolute masters of Britain.
In southern Europe, the Byzantine Empire gained increasing influence. The vast territory of Western and Central Europe was occupied by the Frankish kingdom, whose influence on the course of history was very significant.
Without exaggeration, the High Middle Ages can be called the era of the Crusades and the power of the Church. This period lasted from approximately 1000 to 1300. Heyday agriculture, trade and crafts led to population explosion- The population of Europe has increased significantly. Naturally, this entailed significant changes in politics, economics, spiritual life and art. Kievan Rus restrained the invasion of the Mongol hordes with all its might, but many states Eastern Europe were conquered and plundered by the Asians.
The later Middle Ages began with terrible disasters: the Great Famine of 1315-1317. and a plague epidemic that wiped out more than half the population of Europe. These disasters caused numerous peasant uprisings. The bloody and cruel Hundred Years' War claimed thousands more lives.
The series of terrible events of the era was crowned by the Renaissance, which gave the weakened peoples the light of science and culture, new knowledge and the opening of trade routes.
The Middle Ages gave us magnificent buildings, paintings, sculptures, poetic and philosophical treatises, knightly ballads, and also... tea, chocolate, tobacco, potatoes... This era presented descendants with hundreds of mysteries, some of which have not yet been answered . They are the ones that will be discussed in the book you are holding in your hands. Here the inquisitive reader will find many interesting, sometimes paradoxical facts about the past and will be able to draw parallels with modern life. After all, history, as we know, moves in a spiral.
10. The emergence of the first universities
Classical education (still used today in some institutions) was a system used by universities established in the Early Middle Ages (for the first time in history). Taught at universities various types arts, law, medicine and theology (the science of religion). The University of Bologna (created in 1088 AD) was able to grant an academic degree for the first time. In addition to the classical structure (based on ancient Greek education), medieval universities also experienced Arab influence. While women were indeed excluded from universities, women's education did exist. Nunneries of that era educated women, who could join at an early age. One of them (Hildegard Von Bingen) is one of the most famous women of the Middle Ages who had influence on powerful men.
9. The beginning of the development of science
While scientific progress in the West was slow, its achievements were quite stable and reached a high level. The laying of scientific foundations in this era was able to give rise to the magnificent flowering of science that occurred in the Late Middle Ages. It is safe to say that without the scientific achievements of the Early Middle Ages, we would now be at a much lower level of development.
Ronald Numbers (Professor at Cambridge University) said the following: "The ideas that 'the rise of Christianity killed ancient science', 'the medieval Christian Church suppressed the growth of natural sciences", "Medieval Christians thought the world was flat" and "The Church prohibited autopsies and examinations of corpses" are examples of widespread myths that are still sometimes accepted as true, despite the fact that they are not based on any historical evidence. research.
8. Carolingian Renaissance
The Carolingian Renaissance was a period of development in literature, writing, the arts, architecture, law, liturgical and biblical studies that occurred in the late eighth and ninth centuries AD. The Carolingians were kings of the Franks, the most famous of whom was Charlemagne. The Carolingian Empire represented a cultural revival of the Roman Empire. By this time, "vernacular Latin" represented the many dialects spoken in Europe, so the creation of schools was vital to disseminate this knowledge among the common people. This was also the period of the birth of Western classical music.
7. Golden Age of Byzantium
During the reign of Justinian, the Corpus Juris Civilis appeared - a huge compilation of Roman law. Literacy levels were quite high primary education was widespread (even in rural areas), secondary education was accessible to many people, and higher education, as discussed above, was also widely available. It was also a period of mass publication of books - encyclopedias, dictionaries and anthologies. While there weren't many innovations, a lot of effort was put into preserving past achievements for the future.
6. Religious unity
This is a rather controversial topic, but the fact is that during the Early Middle Ages in Europe there was a single Church, an agreed canon of the Bible and a developed philosophical tradition. This led to a long period of peace within the Western nations. This religious unity was associated with an intellectual development still invisible compared to the Roman Empire at its height. Despite the fact that Islam was far from the doctrines of the West, a mutual exchange of information still took place. But this was only the calm before the storm that became the First Crusade, aimed at the return of Jerusalem and other Christian shrines. After this, the mutual exchange of information between the two civilizations ended.
5. The emergence of algebra
Research in the East led to the appearance of the first book on algebra. “The Book of Complementation and Opposition”, written by Al-Khwarizmi (790-840) and the Arabic title of the book gave rise to the word “algebra”. This book gave the first systematic solution to linear and quadratic equations. The word “algorithm” comes from the name of Al-Khwarizmi himself. Later translations of his books also gave the decimal positional number system still in use today. Al-Khwarizmi, along with Diophantas, are the “fathers” of algebra.
4. Art and architecture
Throughout the Early Middle Ages, architecture was innovative and varied. At this time, the idea of realistic images in art was introduced, which became the basis of Romanesque art, the influence of which penetrated into the Late Middle Ages. During the same period, the introduction of classical forms and concepts into architecture took place. We can say that this period was the first era of high art, and compared to the era of the Great Migration, it was much more functional and less artistic. We can say that the Early Middle Ages gave birth to an amazing and beautiful history of art and architecture.
3. Fantastic weather
This may seem trivial, but weather played a much more significant role in the lives of the inhabitants of the Middle Ages. When we imagine the "Middle Ages", we imagine storm, snow, rain and darkness - as we can see in the film "The Name of the Rose". It is a fact that during the Early Middle Ages the North Atlantic region warmed so much that by the beginning of the Late Middle Ages (1100 AD), the area had already been in an era for more than a hundred years, called the “Medieval Warm Period.” During this period, the melting of glaciers took place, allowing the Vikings to colonize Greenland and other northern lands. Oddly enough, the Protestant Reformation (16th century), as well as the period up to the 19th century, is associated with the period of the Little ice age– the period of Enlightenment was literally darker and colder than the era of the Dark Ages itself. During this period, reforms and increased levels of agricultural knowledge ensured an increase in food supplies.
2. The law becomes fair
The Early Middle Ages had a complex system of laws that were often unrelated, but they were effective and fair. For traders who traveled around the world, there was a Lex Mercatoria (Commercial Code), which developed over time. This law allowed for the creation of arbitration and encouraged good practices among traders. At the same time, Anglo-Saxon law was formed with an emphasis on maintaining peace in the world. The early Middle Ages (with its legal system) were best time for living, since the legal system was flexible and convenient for the majority. The third important system of law was early Germanic law, which allowed each person to be judged by his own kind.
1. Agricultural boom
If you wanted to die a painful death of starvation, then the Early Middle Ages were not the best times for this. As a consequence of excellent weather and expanding agricultural knowledge, the West achieved extraordinary success. Iron tools were in widespread use in the Byzantine Empire, and feudalism in other countries provided the opportunity for efficient management of the land, with large surpluses distributed so that animals ate grain rather than grass. State security was also provided by the feudal system, and peace and prosperity were available to the majority of people.
Original article.
From the Stone Age to the Space Age, every era in human history has strived for progress. Well, almost every era. The Dark Ages are the exception to the rule - everyone knows that after Rome fell, the world stopped developing and “plunged into darkness”, which lasted for centuries. It was a period of intellectual and economic darkness, where everyone turned into either a cruel warrior or a filthy ragamuffin.
Yes, you may be sitting and want to play an online game on the theme of the Middle Ages and also expect the usual dirt, poverty and devastation there, maybe it’s just a flash and not a full-fledged 3D game, but just online gaming, but maybe it’s all fiction and would you rather play a fantasy saga? Historical games, like history itself in fact, are a story that has come down to us in the form of old books, stories of great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great eyewitnesses... And is it worth believing?
At least that's what we're told. Even though the Dark Ages were definitely darker than the modern ones (just like in the Bronze Age, no one knew what a telephone was yet), they were by no means as hopeless as they are usually told. In order to correct some popular misconceptions about this period, let's look at the myths that you probably believe.
No. 1. Society was cruel and living conditions disgusting.
The reasons why this time period was called the Dark Ages:
The society had very few household goods and virtually no infrastructure. Generals and barbarians roamed the land, every surface was covered with a layer of dirt, and the average life expectancy of the bulk of the population was very short.
Meanwhile, the church widely used torture on people so that they began to believe in Christ, and, perhaps, even after that, continued to mock them on any occasion. Honestly, try searching for a movie or book about this era and we guarantee you won't find a bunch of smiling kids on the cover.
Reality:
In fact, the standard of living was quite good, even if the person was very poor. In fact, at that time humanity managed to achieve best level in philanthropy and health, and introduce new look charity done on an almost daily basis.
For example, during the Dark Ages, slavery became less popular. It is known that the Romans loved some of their slaves, but improvements in agricultural technology and the advent of better trained draft animals gradually made forced human labor less necessary. Instead, classes that had likely previously been enslaved became largely either free laborers or, at worst, serfs. The latter were not yet technically free (they could not leave the land without the permission of their Master), but enjoyed much greater freedom than slaves.
Also, it must be recognized that, despite the large number of cases of people being burned at the stake, Christianity began to develop at this time, and there was also a sharp increase in charitable organizations. Almost immediately after church representatives established themselves in Europe, they began to form a widespread system of charitable organizations that distributed food, clothing and money to the needy. It may not be a coincidence that the first forms of hospices, hospitals, and poor houses were invented during the Dark Ages, which paved the way for the creation of public health care.
Don't get us wrong, if you went back to the Middle Ages in a time machine, you would hate it because it would only take the locals five minutes to kill you for witchcraft. But the term "Dark Ages" is not generally used by scientists because there is not much evidence that life was worse than in periods before or after that age (but more on that later). It began to be used because popular culture only remembers the violent parts of it, where it is said that people gathered to watch men beat each other with horses just for fun. And while we're on the subject...
No. 2. Entertainment in the Middle Ages consisted of knightly tournaments and sword fights
If you've been to a restaurant in medieval times, then you know that when medieval people wanted to relax after a hard day of bloodshed, their preferred form of entertainment was to shed more blood.
Therefore, when Europe was not engulfed in another war, subjects of various kingdoms found other ways to satiate their notorious bloodthirstiness and thirst for battle. Naturally, they preferred games that resembled war as much as possible - jousting was obviously the most popular, but various duels and "cudgeling" also became widespread.
Reality:
Tournaments (everyone can mentally imagine what the historical blood sport looked like) in reality simply could not be held during this period. Real knightly stirrups were not yet known in most European countries, so the lack of support for the legs led to the fact that battle participants were easily knocked off their feet (or rather, off their horses) like sacks of potatoes with the lightest blows. In fact, knightly tournaments were, in fact, military training until the end of the 11th century.
But the reality is even less shocking: even in the darkest centuries of the Middle Ages, innocent family fun was held. Compared to eras before and after them, sports and games in the Dark Ages were decidedly less warlike. Many of the things that people from the Middle Ages did for fun are very similar to what we still do today (when we don't spend all day on the Internet). In fact, archery, boxing and rugby were either invented or perfected during the Dark Ages.
Oh, how about this: in the Scandinavian sagas, starting from the ninth century, scary Vikings are described, having fun frolicking on ice skating rinks and participating in ski racing. And let's not forget about really popular games of that time, such as bowling, dancing, games of tag and horseshoe throwing. Yes, horseshoe throwing was in vogue in the Middle Ages. Compare this to the gladiatorial massacres that took place during the Roman Empire or the tournaments that emerged during the late Middle Ages. So which century deserves the nickname “dark”?
No. 3. At this time, cruel wars were constantly going on
The reason why the Dark Ages were called that was because then, after the fall of the glorious Roman Empire, the dismal years supposedly began. When the Roman Empire was destroyed by numerous attacks by barbarian hordes in 476 AD, there was an instant lack of a nation that could easily evade attacks from popular militias. Upon discovering the sudden absence of such a large state, various leaders from all over Europe immediately breathed a sigh of relief and began, in a chaotic manner, to fight against each other.
Soon the entire continent found itself in an endless state of all-out war, with princes and warlords fighting for control of each other's domains.
Reality:
Of course, there was a struggle then. It's very possible. But what people tend to forget is the scale of the fighting.
If you compare battles during the Dark Ages with, say, the Roman wars, then it is like comparing a fight between two kids with a fight between bandits: in both cases, the warriors were trained to fight, but in the first of them it looked as if millions of people simply argued among themselves.
Let's be clear: Rome was great when it came to large scale battles. During the first war with Carthage, a Roman fleet of 100,000 men was lost in one day. Rome responded to this catastrophic loss calmly, sending even more troops to fight and continuing the war for another decade and a half. During the Second Carthaginian War, Rome lost 400,000 soldiers without blinking an eye. The Roman Empire was not interested in outwitting its opponents, it simply held out longer. If Rome had any problems, it sent troops to solve them, and did not recall them back until they completed their task.
As the Roman Empire was broken, Europe's economy became more and more localized. Without intercontinental taxation and a reasonable division of labor, the gigantic standing army became an artifact of a bygone era. This sudden lack of financial infrastructure allowed dozens of kings and princes to take over the vacancies of the cash-strapped Roman government. Of course, they would probably like to take a million men with them across the continent, like a legion, but they simply did not have the money to pay for the services of such a huge army.
Most leaders responded to this problem by introducing a feudal system; they divided their land holdings, allocating separate plots of land for military forces. Since very few of them took over large tracts of land to begin with, this forced them to keep their armies relatively small (even the most massive military forces in the later stages of the era, well, numbered 20,000 soldiers). Most armies were like large gangs. Thus, the wars of the Dark Ages took place as short skirmishes between tiny forces. There were no large campaigns, no ten-year struggles, no hellish life in war-torn lands, just short skirmishes between two gangs of guys who then returned to herd cattle and plow their fields.
But this brings us to another of the most common myths, that...
No. 4. The Dark Ages were in an "intellectual abyss"
Like it or not, the Dark Ages wouldn't be called that just because a few barbarians marauded their way through Europe. The real reason why this era was devoid of any light is because people, for the most part, were very illiterate, and also superstitious. Scientists (not to mention people who could read) were few and far between, and any desire for literature was actively suppressed, since it had no use in agricultural work. In fact, writing any kind of story would probably get you burned as a witch.
Reality:
The reason why this century was practically erased from the history of mankind is that no one took into account everything that happened during the specified period. The image of the Middle Ages is no different from the transitional intellectual period. Of course, the general population did not know how to read and write, but similar examples can be found in every era right up to modern history. On the other hand, scientists simply had fun during the Dark Ages.
Carolingian minuscule became the standard script script that was introduced by Emperor Charlemagne in the eighth century and revolutionized the entire concept of reading and writing. Before the Carolingians, the minuscules and writing of most scribblers were illegible and written without any rules. Uppercase mixed with lowercase and random placement of delimiters were quite common, and the rules of spelling and alphabet were expressed by some scholars only as a polite suggestion. Standardized, fast, and efficient, Carolingian minuscule introduced revolutionary concepts such as cases, punctuation, and spaces between words. This significantly speeded up both writing and reading, because it made it faster, because now I didn’t have to stare at absurd squiggles for several hours.
The introduction of Carolingian minuscule made it possible to begin the production of documents and books. And also, perhaps, the most main reason The reason why so many ancient texts survived was that Carolingian scholars and translators tracked down all the incorrectly written books, plays, and documents, carefully corrected the errors in them, copied and reproduced them using their new super handwriting.
In terms of major innovations in the history of information transmission, writing documents in human-readable form and producing them relatively quickly should probably be compared to Guttenberg's printing press and the Internet. But no one ever remembers the Carolingian minuscule because it was during the Dark Ages.
But ultimately, this leads us to...
In fact, thanks to the workers of the “Dark Time”, we are reading medieval manuscripts
#5: The Dark Ages were a real thing.
Okay, maybe some unusual events happened in the Dark Ages, but even in the most terrible eras there was always something like that. Overall, there must be a very good reason for christening an entire era with such a name. So there must have been some good reason for historians to come up with the term "Dark Ages", right?
Reality:
Ha, of course not! Here's a shocking twist: historians never had anything to do with the use of the term "Dark Ages", just some of them were misled into accepting the term. As we mentioned earlier, in those days medieval historians tried to avoid this name, preferring to use more neutral terms such as "migration", "Early Middle Ages" or simply "Middle Ages" depending on which centenarians described the meaning of "Dark Ages" "
And all because the Dark Ages never existed. The general idea of them is a complete and utter fabrication, haphazardly cobbled together by a confused writer. The term "Dark Ages" was first used in the 14th century by Petrarch, an Italian poet who had a penchant for Roman nostalgia. Petrarch used it to describe virtually every event that occurred after the fall of Rome. He did not make an argument about the "darkness" that was present during hundreds of years of human achievement due to the fact that there was enough historical evidence about any events that occurred then. He based all his arguments on the general opinion that life had become bad since Rome was destroyed.
Petrarch believed that the only way to improve the world was to imitate the ancient Romans and forget about the barbarian years that drove his contemporaries from Rome into the past. Of course, he conveniently forgot a few more things. Namely, the mass slavery, slaughter and excessive taxation of the ancient Romans, they cannot be found in his fictional images, like the numerous achievements of the “age of darkness” that he so gleefully denigrated.
And this is the funniest thing in history. Anyone can rewrite it under the right circumstances, and all it takes is some idiot with a catchy term and his fans to desecrate an entire era. So when you finally finish building a time machine and want to check the future, don't be surprised if, in a random 26th century, fetishists in Victorian England call our time the "Information Age."