Why The Dark Ages Weren't Really That Dark

Nobody who lived through the Dark Ages knew they were in one. The name came seven hundred years later, from a poet who missed Cicero, and a cardinal who had just finished reading about a pope's corpse being put on trial. This is the full story of early medieval Europe, the fall of Rome, the Plague of Justinian, the Merovingian blood feuds, Charlemagne, the Vikings, the Byzantine throne, told in order and without cleaning anything up. Some of it is as bad as you have heard. Some of it built the world you live in. If you’d like to support the channel, you can become a Patreon member here:   / eternalmysteries   You can also support the channel by becoming a YouTube member here:    / @theeternalmysteries   Timestamps: 0:00 How the “Dark Ages” Got Their Name 7:07 The Fall of Rome and the Collapse of the Roman World 25:27 Justinian, Catastrophe, and the Sixth-Century Crisis 44:34 The Violent Kingdoms That Replaced Rome 1:10:07 Charlemagne, Conquest, and the Carolingian Revival 1:20:54 The Monasteries That Kept Learning Alive 1:26:33 The Viking Age 1:49:49 Everyday Life in the “Dark Ages” 2:04:27 The Tenth Century Wasn't Dark Everywhere 2:17:43 Europe at the Turn of the Millennium