Introduction to the Dark Ages - Information, learn a general insight into the Medieval Times

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After the fall of the Roman Empire in the V century, a new period which is referred to as the "Middle Ages" began. Land was divided and kings emerged - castles began to appear throughout the land after the Norman conquest of England and the church was stronger than ever before. Some historians call this "The Dark Ages" because they were in fact full of grief, sorrow, torture, invasions and plague. This went through for a full millenium until the XV century when Constantinople finally fell and the Reinassance emerged bringing new ways of thinking along with more rights for people.

After the division of the old Roman territory, many problems began to emerge. First, barbaric invasions were numerous. The church was too powerful, and so were kings - this made a peasant's life very hard. In addition, castles did not appear until the X century which meant that the local populace was unprotected against sudden barbaric raids.

The Viking Invasions to Europe were numerous. They marked the need of protection which was later addressed by a practice known as Feudalism. In addition, after the Norman Conquest of England, castles began to appear which completely eradicated Viking and most foreign invasions.

Medieval Life was not good. Women were badly treated and diseases were numerous. This combined with the fear of an invasion, made most peasants skeptical about their fate. An outlet for this was the church, which was so important that for every 200 inhabitants a religious building had to be built.

Numerous lengthy sieges occurred during this period and unfortunately, all of them led to disaster in one side or the other. It took years to build a castle, but only weeks to destroy it which unfortunately was frequently the case.

In the XI century, a remarkable event happened - the Crusades. It is a remarkable event because it shows how the church could send tens of thousands of soldiers to their death for a common goal which was "Heaven".

The Crusades also changed Medieval Life because many customs from the Middle East were brought to Europe including architectonical styles, ways to preserve food and many scientific discoveries.

It was also during the XI century when Knighthood reached its peak. Along with the Middle Ages, knighthood declined until the XV century when both were changed for a new way of thinking.