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Early Middle Ages

The early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century.[note 1] They marked the start of the Middle Ages of European history, following the decline of the Western Roman Empire, and preceding the High Middle Ages (c. 11th to 14th centuries). The alternative term late antiquity, for the early part of the period, emphasizes elements of continuity with the Roman Empire, while early Middle Ages is used to emphasize developments characteristic of the earlier medieval period.

For the scholarly journal, see Early Medieval Europe (journal).

The period saw a continuation of trends evident since late classical antiquity, including population decline, especially in urban centres, a decline of trade, a small rise in average temperatures in the North Atlantic region and increased migration. In the 19th century the early Middle Ages were often labelled the Dark Ages, a characterization based on the relative scarcity of literary and cultural output from this time. The term is rarely used by academics today.[1] The Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, survived, though in the 7th century the Rashidun Caliphate and the Umayyad Caliphate conquered the southern part of the Roman territory.


Many of the listed trends reversed later in the period. In 800, the title of Emperor was revived in Western Europe with Charlemagne, whose Carolingian Empire greatly affected later European social structure and history. Europe experienced a return to systematic agriculture in the form of the feudal system, which adopted such innovations as three-field planting and the heavy plough. Barbarian migration stabilized in much of Europe, although the Viking expansion greatly affected Northern Europe.

Early Christian Ireland

Early medieval European dress

Early medieval literature

English medieval clothing

Human history

Indo-Sassanid

Medieval demography

Medieval History of Africa

Turkic expansion

Wales in the Early Middle Ages

Cambridge Economic History of Europe, vol. I 1966. Michael M. Postan, et al., editors.

1963. The Medieval World 300 to 1300, (New York: MacMillen Co.)

Norman F. Cantor

Marcia L. Colish, 1997. Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition: 400–1400. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press)

1974. The Early Growth of the European Economy: Warriors and Peasants from the Seventh to the Twelfth Century (New York: Cornell University Press) Howard B. Clark, translator.

Georges Duby

Georges Duby, editor, 1988. A History of Private Life II: Revelations of the Medieval World (Harvard University Press)

(1957) 1978. The Carolingian Empire (University of Toronto) Peter Munz, translator.

Heinrich Fichtenau

2003. The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason (London: William Heinemann)

Charles Freeman

1982. Dark Age Economics: The Origins of Towns and Trade AD 600–1000 (New York: St Martin's Press)

Richard Hodges

(1962) 1988. The Evolution of Medieval Thought (Random House)

David Knowles

1980. Rome: Profile of a City 312–1308 (Princeton University Press)

Richard Krautheimer

1986. Pagans and Christians (New York: Knopf)

Robin Lane Fox

1992. The Beginnings of Western Science: 600 BC–1450 AD (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press)

David C. Lindberg

John Marenbon (1983) 1988.Early Medieval Philosophy (480–1150): An Introduction (London: Routledge)

Rosamond McKittrick, 1983 The Frankish Church Under the Carolingians (London: Longmans, Green)

Karl Frederick Morrison, 1969. Tradition and Authority in the Western Church, 300–1140 (Princeton University Press)

Pierre Riché, (1978) 1988. Daily Life in the Age of Charlemagne (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press)

Laury Sarti, "Perceiving War and the Military in Early Christian Gaul (ca. 400–700 A.D.)" (= Brill's Series on the Early Middle Ages, 22), Leiden/Boston 2013,  978-9004-25618-7.

ISBN

1953. The Making of the Middle Ages (Yale University Press)

Richard Southern

2005. Framing the early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean 400-800, Oxford University Press.

Chris Wickham

Archived 2 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine page, Clio History Journal, Dickson College, Australian Capital Territory.

Early Medieval History

: Or, Sketches of the social condition of Europe, from the fifth to the twelfth century. (1846). New-York: Leavitt, Trow & company

Glimpses of the dark ages

from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Age of spirituality : late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century