History Main / DarkAgeEurope

** ''Theatre/TheRingOfTheNibelung'': The opera tetralogy by Creator/RichardWagner.

This period heralded the [[AfterTheEnd fall]] and [[BalkanizeMe division]] of the Western Roman Empire (the Eastern half was able to survive as the Byzantine Empire), and the rise of monasticism in Europe. Hollywood monks are pious men, clad in long brown robes, with rosaries and tonsure haircuts. They spend their days dipping feathered quills into inkwells and scribbling strange script into large books by candlelight. That is, when they're not out chasing lusty, busty tavern wenches. Hollywood monks don't take that whole “celibacy” thing all that seriously. Neither, in fact, did the regular clergy; celibacy did not become a requirement of the priesthood until ''very'' late in the Middle Ages. It ''was'', however, mandated in nearly every set of monastic rules, including those of Benedict. It was also a time of interesting contrasts: during this period, Christian and Pagan folklore and traditions were syncretized in the minds of the public, which gave rise to some of the most famous mythologies and legends of the Middle Ages, such as Literature/{{Beowulf}}, Siegfried, and the aforementioned Myth/KingArthur.

* ''ComicStrip/PrinceValiant'' is one of the few Arthurian works explicitly set in this time period (specifically the 5th century) in spite of its anachronistic elements, and many HistoricalDomainCharacters like Genseric and Attila the Hun make appearances.

* ''ComicStrip/PrinceValiant'' is set in a highly romanticized version of this setting.

The notion of the "Dark Ages" is thus tied in inexorably with the notion of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance, since it was Renaissance and later [[UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment Enlightenment]] and post-Enlightenment European thinkers who argued that the period after the fall of the Roman Empire was an age of backwardness and superstition where The Roman Catholic Church imposed it's theological narrative on the world and held back science and progress. In short, it can be argued that it is [[TheWarOnStraw a strawman]] set-up by [[KnowNothingKnowItAll misinformed intellectuals]], often from Protestant countries, and whether Protestant themselves or personally secular, were biased against Catholicism specifically and in some instances religion in general.

A time of anarchy and chaos (roughly 500 - 900 AD), when people were [[TheDungAges disease-ridden and covered with filth]], unless one [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail happened to be king]]... at least, if you believe what ''Hollywood'' says about them -- according to real modern historians this is a load of cobblers based purely on the fact that we don't have many documents from that time.

The term “Dark Ages” only makes sense if you understand the technical definition of the word “history”, which is: “The study of stuff people wrote about themselves back in the day.” The Dark Ages were dark not because they were DarkerAndEdgier, or because there was a shortage of candles, but because very few of their writings have survived to the present day, leaving History in the dark about what things were like. We cannot tell for certain whether the Dark Ages were darker and edgier than the eras that came before and after. In fact, there is absolutely no evidence at all that there was any kind of 'technological Dark Age', rather the evidence favors continued gradual development. According to several historians the reason we have writings from Pliny and other earlier writers at all is because they were dutifully copied by monks. The reason we tend to look down on this period is because in the Renaissance there was a massive upsurge in interest in ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian culture and a great deal of belittlement and scorn for the previous millennium. The fact that we have so few historical documents from the 'Dark Ages' could well be explained by the distaste for this time and the outright systematic destruction of many great Gothic buildings from the Middle Ages (aside from ones that were ''still under construction'', like the Cologne Cathedral). From a historical view point it would be more accurate to pinpoint this age from 661 (when the Europeans lost contact with Syria and Egypt due to Muslim invasions) to about 1100 (when the Crusades recovered lost information from the Classical Era). We know what happened during those times though, and it is for [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades whatever reason]] a rather touchy subject, so fiction writers do not touch it.

* AnachronismStew: It's fairly common to see things that invented in the [[TheHighMiddleAges High]] and [[TheLateMiddleAges Late Middle Ages]] such as castles and plate armor to pop up in fiction during this period. Myth/KingArthur is a particularly bad offender in this.

* ''Film/{{Beowulf 2007}}''

** The Carolignian dynasty of [[ManBehindTheMan Mayors of the Palace]], Kings, and finally Emperors helped another one explode on the mainland towards the end of this period, capping off with [[TheEmperor Charlemagne]] reconstructing the largest empire in continental Europe since Rome.

* VestigialEmpire: TheRomanEmpire collapsed in the fifth century, leaving crumbling roads and aqueducts to lace Europe-but only the Western half. [[UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire The Eastern Roman Empire]] continued on until the fifteenth century: advanced infrastructure, a literate culture, and a higher standard of living, but in an increasingly smaller territory.

* VestigialEmpire: TheRomanEmpire collapsed in the fifth century, leaving crumbling roads and aqueducts to lace Europe-but only the Western half. [[ByzantineEmpire The Eastern Roman Empire]] continued on until the fifteenth century: advanced infrastructure, a literate culture, and a higher standard of living, but in an increasingly smaller territory.

This period heralded the [[AfterTheEnd fall]] and [[BalkanizeMe division]] of the Western Roman Empire (the Eastern half was able to survive as the Byzantine Empire), and the rise of monasticism in Europe. Hollywood monks are pious men, clad in long brown robes, with rosaries and tonsure haircuts. They spend their days dipping feathered quills into inkwells and scribbling strange script into large books by candlelight. That is, when they're not out chasing lusty, busty tavern wenches. Hollywood monks don't take that whole “celibacy” thing all that seriously. Neither, in fact, did the regular clergy; celibacy did not become a requirement of the priesthood until ''very'' late in the Middle Ages. It ''was'', however, mandated in nearly every set of monastic rules, including those of Benedict. It was also a time of interesting contrasts: during this period, Christian and Pagan folklore and traditions were syncretized in the minds of the public, which gave rise to some of the most famous mythologies and legends of the Middle Ages, such as Literature/Beowulf, Siegfried, and the aforementioned Myth/KingArthur.

This period heralded the [[AfterTheEnd fall]] and [[BalkanizeMe division]] of the Western Roman Empire (the Eastern half was able to survive as the Byzantine Empire), and the rise of monasticism in Europe. Hollywood monks are pious men, clad in long brown robes, with rosaries and tonsure haircuts. They spend their days dipping feathered quills into inkwells and scribbling strange script into large books by candlelight. That is, when they're not out chasing lusty, busty tavern wenches. Hollywood monks don't take that whole “celibacy” thing all that seriously. Neither, in fact, did the regular clergy; celibacy did not become a requirement of the priesthood until ''very'' late in the Middle Ages. It ''was'', however, mandated in nearly every set of monastic rules, including those of Benedict. It was also a time of interesting contrasts: during this period, Christian and Pagan folklore and traditions were syncretized in the minds of the public, which gave rise to some of the most famous mythologies and legends of the Middle Ages, such as Beowulf, Siegfried, and the aforementioned King Arthur.

* ''Film/{{Beowulf}}'' (2007)

* ''Outlander'' (2008), i.e., Beowulf, [[RecycledInSpace the Sci-Fi Remix]].

* ''Series/{{Outlander}}'' (2008), i.e., Beowulf, [[RecycledInSpace the Sci-Fi Remix]].

[[AC:Comic Strips]]

[[AC:Films -- Animation]]

[[AC:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''The13thWarrior''

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:Live-Action TV]]

* ''Series/{{Merlin}}''

* ''TheWarlordChronicles''

* All movie and literary versions of ''Myth/KingArthur''.

* GoldenAge: A localized one in Ireland which saw a huge cultural, religious and artistic flowering thanks to the arrival of monasticism (this is where the 'Saints' from an 'Island of Saints and Scholars' comes in).
** The Carolignian dynasty of [[ManBehindTheMan Mayors of the Palace]], Kings, and finally Emperors helped another one explode on the mainland towards the end of this period, capping off with [[TheEmperor Charlemagne]] reconstructing the largest empire since Rome.

The term “Dark Ages” only makes sense if you understand the technical definition of the word “history”, which is: “The study of stuff people wrote about themselves back in the day.” The Dark Ages were dark not because they were DarkerAndEdgier, or because there was a shortage of candles, but because very few of their writings have survived to the present day, leaving History in the dark about what things were like. We cannot tell for certain whether the Dark Ages were darker and edgier than the eras that came before and after. In fact, there is absolutely no evidence at all that there was any kind of 'technological Dark Age', rather the evidence favors continued gradual development. According to several historians the reason we have writings from Pliny and other earlier writers at all is because they were dutifully copied by monks. The reason we tend to look down on this period is because in the Renaissance there was a massive upsurge in interest in ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian culture and a great deal of belittlement and scorn for the previous millennium. The fact that we have so few historical documents from the 'Dark Ages' could well be explained by the distaste for this time and the outright systematic destruction of many great Gothic buildings from the Middle Ages (aside from ones that were ''still under construction'', like the Cologne Cathedral). From a historical view point it would be more accurate to pinpoint this age from 661 (when the Europeans lost contact with Syria and Egypt due to Muslim invasions) to about 1100 (when the Crusades recovered lost information from the Classical Era). We know what happened during those times though, and it is for [[TheCrusades whatever reason]] a rather touchy subject, so fiction writers do not touch it.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* ''Film/{{Beowulf}}'' (2007)

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:{{Live-Action TV}}]]

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]
* ''HagarTheHorrible''

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'', both [[Literature/HowToTrainYourDragon the book series]] and the 2010 movie.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfKells''