Yup. I've read that the kings had writers and readers and the writers could not read and the readers could not write. (Doesn't make a lot of sense but, that's what I read)
Our custom of reading wills aloud comes from that period. Everything official used to be read aloud because so few could read.
The eastern half of the Roman Empire was still pretty much intact, and in fact had reconquered parts of the western half. However, the reconquests never really took root (except perhaps for the north African provinces, which they held until the Arabs came through a century later).
This is something we all learned in school. However, some ten years ago, before widespread internet I have been told by a medieval scholar that this is not true, that written records of "dark ages" do exist but are left to linger in the shade, or deliberatelly put aside.
Can anyone elaborate if this is true or not?
This is something we all learned in school. However, some ten years ago, before widespread internet I have been told by a medieval scholar that this is not true, that written records of "dark ages" do exist but are left to linger in the shade, or deliberatelly put aside.
Can anyone elaborate if this is true or not?
I don't think the non-Roman kings could either, even while the empire still lasted. In any case, pinning the Middle Ages on this one event seems highly speculative to me, considering that Rome had been declining since the 3rd century and, indeed, had finally evaporated from western Europe nearly a century before. The Byzantine Empire trucked on strong for another thousand years, in spite of this event, and if literature withered into the monasteries in a form that usually represented itself only in saints' lives and biblical commentaries, it just continued a trend that had been ongoing for centuries previous. Very little important Roman or Greek literature was written after the 2nd century.