Welcome to an age of darkness
Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 11:28 am
This topic will focus on summarizing a bit about the Dark Ages, one of the most darkest and violent periods of humankind.
A Dark Ages
People of that time were basically forest dwellers. Wherever they looked they saw a tree line, and wherever they walked or rode they crossed the forest, and often got lost on the way (maps and compasses were yet to be invented)!
Time
Dark Ages people relied on the cockcrow to give the signal for dawn, or listened to the bells sounding the canonical praying hours in a nearby monastery. Observation of the position of heavenly bodies was often accurate enough to know the time. The only “clocks” are the sundial, the sandglass, and the clepsydra, or water-clock. Nighttime is mainly measured in terms of “candles.”
Languages
Occidental languages are split into two groups: Romanic languages (Italian, French, Spanish) and Germanic languages (the languages of the Germanic Empire). Each language group is in turn subdivided into a patchwork of dialects. Since Latin is the language of the church, of clerics and of monks, it is de facto the most widespread of languages.
Religion
Catholicism is the official religion of the occidental world. There are churches everywhere. Priests implement the mission of the church to baptize, celebrate mass, give the sacraments, communicate the faith and uphold morals in their rural parishes. Besides that, church imposes a few duties like Sunday mass, the observance of fêtes and fasting, and rules for births, weddings and deaths.
Many pagan kingdoms are Christianized during the Dark Ages. This process is usually initiated at the highest level, and then forced upon the rest of the population through large scale baptism and the eradication of the old cults and their priests or priestesses.
Farmers
Most farmers of the Occident are feudal tenants: their lord grants them plots of land (tenures) for cultivation in exchange for certain services. Farmers actually live across a wide spectrum of social conditions from quasi-slaves — serfs — who can be sold as property, to freemen or colonists who benefit from reduced rents and obligations.
Warlords
The feudal anarchy arising after the downfall of the Carolingian Empire seriously eroded the prerogatives of kings, and tore apart the very fabric of their kingdoms. Kingdoms broke up into principalities, and principalities broke up into fiefs:much of the old power of counts and princes shifted to the benefit of small warlords and religious communities. New strongholds and castles sprout everywhere: on the site of an antique institution, an outpost, a vicus, etc.
Princes
Great lords rival kings in terms of power and riches. Their main obligation to the king consists of the military aid they owe him, but in practice they do pretty much what they want. In fact principalities—not kingdoms — are the real political hearts of the Occident.
Cities & Trade
In the occidental society of the Dark Ages there is little room for trade. Everything is produced or gathered on the spot. Money plays only a small part in the economy. Just like any feudal lord, the bishop is the master of the people and he owns all the property in his diocese. The city inhabitants are more or less under the same juridical conditions as country tenants. They are lodged, fed, clothed and armed by the bishop.
Although the medical science of the Romans appears rudimentary by today’s standards, they do perform simple surgery and dentistry, know how to cauterize and suture wounds, and how to disinfect them with wine (which was incidentally also their anesthetic). In contrast, health and hygiene in the Dark-Ages Christian world devolves to a
messy affair of total ignorance, dogmatic misinterpretation of the Roman legacy, and many folkloric halftruths. Occupational diseases and poisonings are commonplace,
and child delivery is a death-defying business for both mother and baby. Infectious diseases are completely misunderstood and thus unstoppable, untreated battlefield injuries often result in massive infections and ultimately death.
A Dark Ages
People of that time were basically forest dwellers. Wherever they looked they saw a tree line, and wherever they walked or rode they crossed the forest, and often got lost on the way (maps and compasses were yet to be invented)!
Time
Dark Ages people relied on the cockcrow to give the signal for dawn, or listened to the bells sounding the canonical praying hours in a nearby monastery. Observation of the position of heavenly bodies was often accurate enough to know the time. The only “clocks” are the sundial, the sandglass, and the clepsydra, or water-clock. Nighttime is mainly measured in terms of “candles.”
Languages
Occidental languages are split into two groups: Romanic languages (Italian, French, Spanish) and Germanic languages (the languages of the Germanic Empire). Each language group is in turn subdivided into a patchwork of dialects. Since Latin is the language of the church, of clerics and of monks, it is de facto the most widespread of languages.
Religion
Catholicism is the official religion of the occidental world. There are churches everywhere. Priests implement the mission of the church to baptize, celebrate mass, give the sacraments, communicate the faith and uphold morals in their rural parishes. Besides that, church imposes a few duties like Sunday mass, the observance of fêtes and fasting, and rules for births, weddings and deaths.
Many pagan kingdoms are Christianized during the Dark Ages. This process is usually initiated at the highest level, and then forced upon the rest of the population through large scale baptism and the eradication of the old cults and their priests or priestesses.
Farmers
Most farmers of the Occident are feudal tenants: their lord grants them plots of land (tenures) for cultivation in exchange for certain services. Farmers actually live across a wide spectrum of social conditions from quasi-slaves — serfs — who can be sold as property, to freemen or colonists who benefit from reduced rents and obligations.
Warlords
The feudal anarchy arising after the downfall of the Carolingian Empire seriously eroded the prerogatives of kings, and tore apart the very fabric of their kingdoms. Kingdoms broke up into principalities, and principalities broke up into fiefs:much of the old power of counts and princes shifted to the benefit of small warlords and religious communities. New strongholds and castles sprout everywhere: on the site of an antique institution, an outpost, a vicus, etc.
Princes
Great lords rival kings in terms of power and riches. Their main obligation to the king consists of the military aid they owe him, but in practice they do pretty much what they want. In fact principalities—not kingdoms — are the real political hearts of the Occident.
Cities & Trade
In the occidental society of the Dark Ages there is little room for trade. Everything is produced or gathered on the spot. Money plays only a small part in the economy. Just like any feudal lord, the bishop is the master of the people and he owns all the property in his diocese. The city inhabitants are more or less under the same juridical conditions as country tenants. They are lodged, fed, clothed and armed by the bishop.
Although the medical science of the Romans appears rudimentary by today’s standards, they do perform simple surgery and dentistry, know how to cauterize and suture wounds, and how to disinfect them with wine (which was incidentally also their anesthetic). In contrast, health and hygiene in the Dark-Ages Christian world devolves to a
messy affair of total ignorance, dogmatic misinterpretation of the Roman legacy, and many folkloric halftruths. Occupational diseases and poisonings are commonplace,
and child delivery is a death-defying business for both mother and baby. Infectious diseases are completely misunderstood and thus unstoppable, untreated battlefield injuries often result in massive infections and ultimately death.
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Any questions or updates, this post will be edited.