I could, but I already have some opinions of my own weather correct or not, I'm wondering what you think, was the dark ages really the dark ages or is it more complex than that?
"dark ages" dont kid me Armatus..there was a period betwen the fall of WRE and 1000, about which we have relatively few informations and which was occasionally chaotic, but "dark" is something thats out of place in every historic narrative. Try to imagine a slave in roman empire, who is kept in a barn like an animal and works till death for his masters...how could he perceive his own age? Not like darkest age ever? History is deep, deeper than any imagination, and happy are the few how could look into her womb...
Put it this way scholars and historians need a term for a particular period of time. It doesn't reflect what the entire world was doing, nor even the worlds of those within the so-called period. Did Europe become backward and more barbaric than it's roots? In very many ways yes, but did learning and knowledge stop. No... I can remember being in 7th grade listening to my history teacher talk about the dark ages, a period of time we have no knowledge of. It's rather interesting to see how my knowledge of the period has increased significantly with our continued research of history. The dark ages wasn't simply a time where history went "blank" it was a period that was overtly chaotic for some places in the western world.
Yes, there is an actual debate among historians about the name of the period. Some point to the continuity and would like to extent as far as possible the term Late Antiquity. Others point to the changes and would still like to call it the Dark Ages. Others stick with High Middle Ages. For the last centuries of the Western Empire, some French scholars prefer the Late Antiquity while others rather use the subjective "Bas-Empire", literally "Low-Empire". I heard an interesting debate involving several historians at a colloquium in September and the opinions varied greatly.
High Middle ages? I would consider the high middle ages from say 1100 to 1450 give or take a few years. Also the term dark ages is rather westerncentric.
Ah sorry, my error. I used "Haut Moyen Âge", literally High Middle Ages, which in French is used to describe the early Middle Ages. "Bas Moyen Âge" is used for the later period which is indeed called High Middle ages in English. I hope I didn't confuse everybody with this...
Speaking of ages, I found what appears to be an actual photo of the drawn or copied images I posted back on July 26th. The photo supposedly from the emboss of a Nordic helm (the picture above shows warriors with raven crests and ring mail rather than boar crests and linen shirts below):
Here's the article on the history of beer or bier I mentioned a while back too: Three Millennia of German Brewing http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/history.html
so does anyone have some good images to share?
Hi, guys. Aramtus, thanks for the invitation. What pictures do you want us to share? Also, about the crests: Raven is probably referring to Odin, and Boar to Frey. It would be nice to know the age of the pictures and location. My wild guess would be that it depicts part of some ritual...
You're welcome Rufats, any thing you can contribute is fine. This is just a casual group so feel free to add random medieval things.
Ringeck should be invited yet....
Anyone can join this group, it's public.
Added some new pictures...
Updated album with a few more...
I found this one described as byzantine pirates. It seems different to me. I think it's partially because of the detail and partial because of the heraldry on the flags. Also notice the Greek fire pot throwing sling one man has on the far left.
It's 15:56 recto, Matthew Paris.
man that's late... I hate how so many articles on the web just can't seem to stop using reenactment art without calling it for what it is.
check out what's new at Byzantium 1200 project site: http://www.byzantium1200.com/tiles.html
Er, it is from around 1250. But it IS from 15:56 recto in the manuscript. Like, page 15:56, right leaf?
