04-27-2014, 02:29 PM
Hey, Pete!
Europe is STILL a "hodgepodge of principalities."
How dark were the Dark Ages, anyway? Did you get lost going for well-water in the middle of the day? Did you walk into town and never find your way back?
When I finished writing my first history book in 1996, it WAS the Dark Ages. My computer was a pre-86 version of DOC and the printer spit-out rolls of perforated paper. There was no internet and Google didn't exist. Maybe that's why I'm a barbarian. :dizzy:
A few decades ago, I looked for reference scholarship on the Dark Ages and couldn't find anything. I remember purchasing (at great expense) a massive, toe-crushing, work called the Encyclopedia of Late Antiquity. It was 10 pounds of crap, discussing religion, the Eastern Empire, and so forth. It was so dry, I almost went to the hospital for dehydration.
What a waste of paper. A forest of healthy trees died for its publication. "Late Antiquity" my asp. I'm a barbarian. I don't care about dead laws or church ins-and-outs. I care about people and how they lived on a day-to-day basis. We never see any of this in Anyone's doctorial thesis. What happened to the good old Dark Ages, anyway? :mad:
Europe is STILL a "hodgepodge of principalities."
How dark were the Dark Ages, anyway? Did you get lost going for well-water in the middle of the day? Did you walk into town and never find your way back?
When I finished writing my first history book in 1996, it WAS the Dark Ages. My computer was a pre-86 version of DOC and the printer spit-out rolls of perforated paper. There was no internet and Google didn't exist. Maybe that's why I'm a barbarian. :dizzy:
A few decades ago, I looked for reference scholarship on the Dark Ages and couldn't find anything. I remember purchasing (at great expense) a massive, toe-crushing, work called the Encyclopedia of Late Antiquity. It was 10 pounds of crap, discussing religion, the Eastern Empire, and so forth. It was so dry, I almost went to the hospital for dehydration.
What a waste of paper. A forest of healthy trees died for its publication. "Late Antiquity" my asp. I'm a barbarian. I don't care about dead laws or church ins-and-outs. I care about people and how they lived on a day-to-day basis. We never see any of this in Anyone's doctorial thesis. What happened to the good old Dark Ages, anyway? :mad:
Alan J. Campbell
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
