DARK AGES, MIGRATION PERIOD, EARLY MIDDLE AGES

The Middle Ages are sandwiched between the era of classical antiquity and the modern world. The beginning of the Middle Ages is traditionally marked by the fall of the Western Roman Empire in a.d. 476, while Columbus's voyages of discovery mark the start of the modern period. Therefore, most scholars consider the interval between the fifth and the fifteenth centuries a.d. as the Middle Ages or the medieval period.

Most historians, art historians, and archaeologists subdivide the Middle Ages into an earlier and a later period. The Late or High Middle Ages begin in the 11th century a.d. By this time, the Vikings had colonized Iceland and Greenland, and Christianity had been adopted throughout most of central and northern Europe. The High Middle Ages are marked by the growth of urbanism across Europe, the expansion of long distance trade networks, the construction of the great cathedrals, and the establishment of nation-states. Historical records provide valuable information on later medieval life. These European societies of the High Middle Ages have many features in common with the ancient Egyptians, the Maya, and other groups known as civilizations or complex societies. Therefore, the archaeology of the High Middle Ages is not included in this encyclopedia.

The earlier parts of the Middle Ages, on the other hand, have much more in common with the barbarian societies of later prehistoric Europe. These societies were primarily rural and agricultural, and their documentary records are limited or nonexistent. As a result, much of what scholars have learned about day-to-day life in the earlier Middle Ages in Europe comes from archaeological surveys and excavations.

Three terms—the Early Middle Ages, the Migration period, and the Dark Ages—have been used to describe the earlier parts of the medieval period. Each term has a slightly different meaning, and the terms can be used differently in different parts of Europe.

early middle ages

The Early Middle Ages is a term that commonly is used by art historians and others to describe the period beginning with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century and ending with the rise of the Romanesque style of architecture in the eleventh century. While the term might appear as a straightforward chronological marker, it is most useful in describing regions that were formerly part of the Western Roman Empire. In regions such as Britain, France, and Spain, the replacement of Roman military, political, and economic authority by the barbarian successor kingdoms led to significant social, economic, and political changes. Outside the Roman Empire, however, in regions such as northern Germany and Scandinavia, the first part of this period represents a continuation of the Iron Age way of life. In much of northern Europe, the first four centuries a.d. are referred to as the Roman Iron Age, while the period c. a.d. 400–800 is often termed the Late or Germanic Iron Age. In many parts of northern Europe, the term "medieval" is used only when referring to the period after a.d. 1000, an era that is outside the scope of this encyclopedia.

dark ages

The term "dark age" generally is used to indicate a period of time when historical records are limited or nonexistent. For example, the Greek Dark Age begins with the collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms around 1200 b.c. and ends with reappearance of writing in the eighth century b.c. Historians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a.d. used the term Dark Ages to refer to almost all of the European Middle Ages, from the fifth through the twelfth centuries a.d., and they used the term in a pejorative sense. For these historians, the earlier medieval period was not just a time of limited literacy and few documentary sources; it was a period of intellectual stagnation; the accomplishments of medieval people were deemed far less impressive than those of classical antiquity and the Renaissance. Although there is no question that few contemporary historical sources survive from early post-Roman western Europe, the use of the term Dark Ages is still problematic for two reasons. First, most of northeastern Europe remained nonliterate, essentially prehistoric, throughout almost the entire first millennium a.d. The Baltic regions were well outside the boundaries of the Roman Empire, and these lands were mentioned only peripherally in Greek and Roman sources from the first half of the first millennium a.d. Literacy was introduced to the Baltic regions along with Christianity around the year 1000. Second, the term Dark Age is particularly inappropriate for Ireland between the fifth and the eighth centuries a.d. Christianity and literacy were introduced to Ireland in the 400s. Over the next three centuries the Irish developed the oldest indigenous literary tradition in Europe outside Greece and Rome. Some writers would even suggest that the Irish monks who copied classical manuscripts in their scriptoria actually saved Western Civilization. Irish archaeologists generally refer to the fifth through eighth centuries in Ireland as the Early Christian Period.

Many archaeologists today avoid the use of the term Dark Ages because of its former pejorative connotations. When the term is used, it usually describes post-Roman societies whose social, political, and economic organization differ significantly from the classical world; and it often refers only to the initial part of the Early Middle Ages, usually the fifth to the eighth centuries a.d. Since few historical sources are available to study the economics and politics of the early post-Roman period, archaeology has a crucial role to play in the study of this era.

migration period

The Early Middle Ages are sometimes described as the Migration period. In many ways, the first half of the European Middle Ages can be seen as one extended interval of migration. The period begins with the movement of barbarian tribes, such as the Huns, into the territory of the Roman Empire during the fifth century a.d. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, a series of barbarian successor kingdoms were established in the former imperial territory. These include the kingdoms of the Franks in France, the Visigoths in Spain, the Langobards (Lombards) in Italy, and the Angles and Saxons in southern and eastern Britain. The homelands of these barbarian tribes were located outside the empire, in northern and eastern Europe. Migrations, however, did not cease with the establishment of these successor kingdoms. The Magyars entered the Carpathian Basin in the eighth century, and the Early Slavs expanded into much of east-central Europe in the sixth and seventh centuries a.d.

Perhaps the best known of all the migrating peoples are the Vikings. Beginning in the late eighth century a.d., Vikings from western Scandinavia began to raid, trade, and colonize many regions of the North Atlantic. Norse settlements are well documented in both Britain and Ireland. The Vikings had colonized Iceland by the late ninth century, and about a century later they established two colonies in southwestern Greenland, the westernmost outpost of the medieval European world. Other Vikings migrated eastward, settling in Russia and trading with locations as far away as Constantinople (Istanbul) and Mesopotamia.

Although migration is a fundamental feature of European society between a.d. 400–1000, the Migration period, in the strictest sense of the term, refers to the period between 400–600, when a series of Germanic kingdoms were established in the territory of the former Western Roman Empire. Unlike the term Dark Ages, Migration period does not carry with it a pejorative connotation. For that reason, many scholars prefer it to Dark Ages when discussing the early centuries of the Middle Ages.

bibliography

Cahill, Thomas. How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe. New York: Nan A. Talese, Doubleday, 1995.

Hodges, Richard. Dark Age Economics: The Origins of Towns and Tradea.d. 600–1000. 2d ed. London: Duckworth, 1989.

Musset, Lucien. The Germanic Invasions: The Making of Europe,a.d. 400–600. Translated by Edward James and Columba James. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1975.

Pam J. Crabtree