Dark Ages

MO

I currently detect zero threads in the history section and I am 3 months out from certification, so I almost have to start something on here.

Hello, I am a crazy person who does a lot of reading about the Dark Ages. I can answer questions or provide updates on information I have found. I am also working on a Dark Ages wargame with a few others (Has its own website), and I have a multi-faction "kingdom builder" campaign. So I discover things while trying to do research for the stuff I'm responsible for.

I know the most about areas we have the least information written by the OG sources, and the maximum portion of that is in English.

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Food Facts 1, North Europe

Despite what Total War or Civilization might imply, agriculture was not uniform in capability over Europe. The parts around the Med Sea were very fertile and like Mexico/Brazil/Florida today, places where specific things could be grown. At the same time, the soils were soft and easy to work with "scratch plows" made mostly of wood.

The people of around Northern Europe, Britons, Scandinavians were in a tough spot. The soil is hard and more advanced plows won't exist till around 700-900. More advanced blades for the plow, more advanced mechanisms, and the means to have a cheap, plentiful work horse do the pulling (Oxen are expensive, hungry beasts, slow too)... Will not fully be available till 900-1000.

Oh and people had a two field crop rotation system: growing food or fallow. The period of 700-900 sees the introduction of a three field system, where they plant beans or high protein, high put nitrogen in the soil crops as the step after or before grains.

Britannia struggled to grow Wheat, but Rye I think was introduced by the Saxons and that with Barley, oats grew pretty well. Bread, soaked grain, "table ale" was 90% of the diet or more. If you've heard of a "beer gutt" imagine if all you drank was like calorie filled, low alcohol beer, thats a table Ale. It has no hops in its making, mostly malt and barley/rye. People who did heavy, respected work was drink like a few liters of this a day.

I'm pretty sure that the most common meat was sheep, the most common cheese was "cottage cheese" (Hence the name) from goats or cows. In Ireland most trade is with female slaves and cows, and in Francia (France) I see gold soldini worth about a cow each.

Red

I thought you weren't supposed to call them the Dark Ages anymore

MO

Red

You aren't supposed to call 1000 years of the Middle Ages, the "Dark Ages". The part where a quarter to half of all structures were burned to the ground, and huge groups of people starved to death or were murdered, followed by tons of low level warfare, bandits, and violence....The Early part of the Middle Ages before 700-900....(First 1/3rd really) Can certainly be called "The Dark Ages".

The Economy broke down, it wasn't safe to travel very far anymore, most goods were produced locally and not very complex, ect ect.

Generally, the situation before and after was considerably better.

EDIT:

Gigachad

Red
I think that depends on if you use BC or CE. I'm only kind of kidding. What else would they be called?

MO

Facts 2, Politics Facts 1, Francia and (Northern Europe?)

These are all the Kingdoms of what should've been Francia, ruled over by the Franks. Now I know for a fact that Burgundy was conquered by Clovis or his son around or before the 550s. In fact, all the colored areas were ruled by a single Frankish king.

So you might be wondering, what the hell happened?

Well you see, the same thing that happened to Charlemagne's empire in 843.

You see, the Franks are weird. They're weird because they have a weird system for succession, after the King dies. The system is... all the princes kill each other (Yes, I've checked multiple sources, that is the system).

Charlemagne's son and his eldest grandson had been, by that time, put in sole control of the kingdom. The Grandkids had the elder brother who ruled over most of the lands and two younger brothers who supervised areas. The younger brothers ganged up on the older one, beat his army up, and then redrew the lands so he got the worst piece in the middle.

Basically, Francia was pretty strong and powerful, but it was always fighting itself more than anyone else.

Seriously, look at this. Who thought this was a good system of stability?

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Could you suggest any good books on late medieval lifestyle and fashion for the commoners? There's surprisingly quite a bit to choose from. I need the info for writing and drawing, so visual aids would be necessary.

MO

I have no idea, I'm the sterotype of the heterosexual man, in that I care nothing for fashion. I live my days in striped colared work shirts and grey work slacks.

I also hate deeply the Late Medieval period, as nothing is on fire and the masses,women, are so excessively downtrodden.

Also, I find the wars incredibly boring.

I know that tunics and trousers were very common during the first half of the middle ages, that most clothing was made from wool or linen, and wasn't dyed. Nobility or soldiers could afford to have their clothing dyed, often red, blue, yellow, or green.

I have a collection of Ospreys, but those are resources for painting soldiers, warriors, and knights.
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I think my next post will be about social hierarchy (Slaves, Free, Nobility) or prices of weapons, armor, and horses, or information about "King Arthur".

Can I get some votes or something one way or another?

hpfs

The name "dark ages" seems weird for a period that had the first universities and the creation of parliament.

MO

hpfs
"The English term is derived from Anglo-Norman and dates to the 14th century"

I don't see how being so close to the Renaissance, is the Dark Ages.

The first university, I believe, was after the conquest of England by William, which is the latest that any serious historian would consider the "Dark Ages".

Only morons, especially around the 1400s, would have the whole Middle Ages be the "Dark Ages".

MO

The Pre-industrial Settlement Grid by Imperator-Zor

I find this to be very useful for my RPG settings. What do you think about it?

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