Medieval Europe was far from unified it was a large geographical region divided into smaller and culturally diverse political units that were never totally dominated by any one authority. The term Dark Ages may be more a judgment on the lack of sources for evaluating the period than on the significance of events that transpired. The Dark Ages, formerly a designation for the entire period of the Middle Ages, and later for the period c.450–750, is now usually known as the Early Middle Ages. Beginnings and Cultural DevelopmentsĪlthough the transitions were gradual, and exact dates for the demarcation of the Middle Ages are misleading, convention often places the beginning of the period between the death of the Roman emperor Theodosius I in 395 and the fall of Rome to the Visigoths in 410. The importance of the Middle Ages has been increasingly recognized as scholarship based on newly published source material, archaeological findings, and studies of demographics and migration patterns presents more accurate and detailed analyses of events and trends. The ideas and institutions of western civilization derive largely from the turbulent events of the Early Middle Ages and the rebirth of culture in the later years. and lasted into the 15th cent., i.e., into the period of the Renaissance. English – refers both to the Anglo-Saxons (the first people to call themselves ‘English’ or ‘Angli’) and later to all settlers in England, including Danes, particularly after the emergence of a unified kingdom of England in the 10th century.Middle Ages, period in Western European history that followed the disintegration of the West Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th cent.Danes – the Vikings who mounted a full-scale invasion in the 860s and then settled across much of what is now northern and eastern England.Vikings – the invaders from Scandinavia who between the 8th and 11th centuries raided much of western Europe, including the British Isles.It came into general use in the 10th century. Anglo-Saxons – the collective term for the Germanic settlers, first coined in the late 8th century.Angles, Saxons and Jutes – the Germanic peoples who migrated from continental Europe and settled, initially in the south and east of the island, from the 5th century.British, Romano-British and Britons – the inhabitants of Britain following the end of Roman rule in the early 5th century.Throughout these pages we have used these terms for the different peoples of the period. The raids developed into full-scale invasions which eventually overwhelmed the disastrous King Æthelred ‘Unraed’ (r.978–1016). In the 980s, however, Viking raids resumed, motivated by the ease of extorting vast quantities of silver from English coffers. Edward’s son Æthelstan (r.924–39) advanced still further: in 937 he destroyed a coalition of Vikings and Scots, and became known as ‘Ruler of All Britain’. Its leader, Guthrum, accepted Christian baptism, and agreed a treaty which allowed the Vikings to control much of northern and eastern England – the Danelaw.īut from the 910s King Edward the Elder (r.899–924) and his sister Æthelflaed, the ‘Lady of the Mercians’, conquered the Danelaw south of the Humber. King Alfred of Wessex (r.871–99) defeated the Viking army decisively at Edington (878). Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia all fell, leaving only Wessex to fight on. Then in 865 an invading ‘Great Army’ began plundering from kingdom to kingdom, extorting protection money. Sporadic Viking raids began in the 790s, Lindisfarne Priory in Northumbria was an early victim. But by the 650s, almost all the lowlands were under English control. In independent kingdoms across the north and west, the British also resisted the repeated onslaughts of the peoples who were later called ‘English’. This British victory halted the Saxon advance for half a century. Only the last, in about 500, is confirmed in earlier sources – but it makes no mention of Arthur. A record made three centuries later credits him with 12 battles, from Scotland to the south coast. It’s during this early period that the figure of Arthur – possibly completely legendary – emerges. The Britons successfully counter-attacked, however, at first under Ambrosius Aurelianus, ‘the last of the Romans’. We don’t know exactly how they invaded or settled in England, but by AD 500 Germanic speakers seem to have settled deep into Britain. Later, Angles, Saxons and Jutes arrived from across the North Sea. At first, the chief enemies of an independent Britain were Irish raiders from the west and Picts from the north.
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