There was a time in our history
when life was difficult and barbaric
that we call The Dark Ages.

Historians less inclined to give Knighthood
the credit it justly deserves for moving
the world from The utter tyranny of the Roman Empire
to more reasonable life,
call this period Early Medieval.

The Dark Ages was a time of continual
fighting between warrior kings of ‘Europe.’
It was a time of lawlessness, superstition,
magic…gargoyles, gothic...evil and dragons.
Knighthood was born among the Barbarians,
from the Barbarians, of the Barbarians.

Franks, Goths and Ostrogoths, Vandals, Gards,
Huns, Visigoths, Anglo-Saxons, Gepids, Avars,
Lombards and Celts were those of ‘Europe.’

To the North, were the Vikings, who were
whispered to be ‘The Tall Men of the North.’
They terrified southern Europeans
With their height, blue eyes, fair coloring,
and fierce, war-like ways.
An old prayer from that time is,
‘Lord, save us from the Savages of the North.’
Thus, the Vikings became known as Norsemen.

Fortunately for us all, Vikings were not really
interested in settling down and taking over.
For the most part they were adventurous seafarers,
explorers looking for quick booty.
Lief Ericson is the best-known Viking.
Supposedly he once landed on American shores,
but the land held little interest to him.

Celts also tended to be taller peoples.
Height and might were alluring strengths
during this time...Life was by the sword.

Due to the breakdown in everyday life,
few people could read or write.
Most people lived in mud huts that were
surrounded by a wooden stockade.
Life was localized and pluralistic.
People loved bread and cooked meat on a split.

Cults abounded in such life, such as the Druids
in Brittany. Christianity continued to spread,
but paganism was strong, as was magic and potions,
fortunetelling, myths, and card-reading.

People of the DarkAges loved adornment and ornament.
Knights are well known for their costumes, uniforms,
Flags, horses, crests, shields…armor, swords.
A poor man could become a knight if he was
strong and able, understood honor an loyalty.

The earth was flat. Heaven was like the Second Floor
of a house. Angels roamed around Heaven, watching
earth people, from time to time, visiting them.
Far beneath the earth’s crust lay Hell, which was full of
fire,brimstone,witches,sprites,devils, and bad spirits.
Some people thought the earth was flat
and lay on the back of a turtle’s back,
the grand turtle forever swimming.
There is still an organization today called
“The World is Flat and Lies on the Back of a Turtle.”

Rome, The Roman Empire, had fallen and no nation
in Europe had organized well. People wandered and
were unruly. This was also a time of adventures,
opportunists, highway robbery, treasure hunting.

Scholars of the day found refuge in Arabia, which was an
unconquered land of liberty. There, Theosophy was born.
Records were made and kept safe. Many societies and
religions were born and began during the Dark Ages.
Though it was a fighting time, it was a birthing time too.
This is our 5th Century!

By the year 1000 A.D.,
political and territorial shifts are common.
The Merovingians (431-731)
The Carolingians (c.747-987)
The Franks (481-511).

From these came Charlemange, son of Charles Martel,
King of the Franks in 768 A.D.,
Emperor in 800 A.D.
Charlemagne wisely split land up into parcels
among his trusted kinsmen, knights, favorites.
He expected loyalty, riches, goods.
The people worked the fields and gave to their kings.

Thus, kingdoms and feudalism were born.
As people began to feel safer,
a strong merchant class developed.
To preserve order and provide protection,
warriors who were loyal to a kingdom and a king
banded together forming special Orders to protect
a kingdom. Knighthood flourished.

Being strong and skilled, ready to fight and win,
required discipline, practice, rules, physical strength.
Knights lived, traveled, and fought together.
They lived by their codes.
So, from The Dark Ages came knighthood,
which has fascinated people ever since.
Knights moved the world quickly into better times.

The Dark Ages has been much maligned for its violence,
but it was a glorious period in many ways,
one that paved the way toward creating real
scholarship, writing, printing, books, learning
to Europe, which was demoralized and made poor
by Rome’s tyranny of many years.

It was inevitable the Roman Empire be vanquished,
turned into deserved sandspurs territory.
Their greatest mistakes were to create a small elite class,
and a large poor class, who had few or no rights.
History teaches us Empires do not last,
especially those who have Slaves.

Evil does not prevail.

The Barbarians, though often reckless and brutal,
gave the world a new beginning,
and Knighthood.
Knighthood in Flower believes that
feudalism was the mother of democracy;
Knighthood, its father.
copyright May 10,1999 by thedarkages~

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