The Romans preferred infantry to cavalry because infantry could be trained to retain the formation in combat, while cavalry tended to scatter when faced with opposition. The discipline and organization of a Roman legion made it a superb fighting unit. However many bribed the Danube border-guards into allowing them to bring their weapons. The Goths sought refuge in Roman territory (376), agreeing to enter the Empire as unarmed settlers. They had mastered the difficult art of shooting composite recurve bows from horseback. The Huns, a confederation of central Asian tribes, founded an empire. The arrival of the Huns in 372–375 ended the history of these kingdoms. In Dacia (present-day Romania) and on the steppes north of the Black Sea the Goths, a Germanic people, established at least two kingdoms: Therving and Greuthung. Įarly in the 3rd century Germanic peoples migrated south from Scandinavia and reached the Black Sea, creating formidable confederations which opposed the local Sarmatians. Replica of the Sutton Hoo helmet the original was buried with an Anglo-Saxon leader, probably King Rædwald of East Anglia, c.
Some scholars have connected this de-population to the Dark Ages Cold Period (300–700), when a decrease in global temperatures impaired agricultural yields. Estimates of the population of the Roman Empire during the period from 150 to 400 suggest a fall from 65 million to 50 million, a decline of more than 20 percent. Archaeologists have identified only 40 percent as many Mediterranean shipwrecks from the 3rd century as from the first.
Starting in the 2nd century, various indicators of Roman civilization began to decline, including urbanization, seaborne commerce, and population. Main article: Fall of the Western Roman Empire Barbarian migration stabilized in much of Europe, although the Viking expansion greatly affected Northern Europe. Europe experienced a return to systematic agriculture in the form of the feudal system, which adopted such innovations as three-field planting and the heavy plough. In 800, the title of Emperor was revived in Western Europe with Charlemagne, whose Carolingian Empire greatly affected later European social structure and history. Many of the listed trends reversed later in the period. However, the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, continued to survive, though in the 7th century the Rashidun Caliphate and the Umayyad Caliphate conquered the southern part of the Roman territory.
In the 19th century the Early Middle Ages were often labelled the Dark Ages, a characterization based on the relative scarcity of literary and cultural output from this time, although the term is scarcely used by academics today. The period saw a continuation of trends evident since late classical antiquity, including population decline, especially in urban centres, a decline of trade, a small rise in average temperatures in the North Atlantic region and increased migration. 800–1000) is assigned to the Early Middle Ages quite generally, even by those who extend (late) antiquity to a time well after the 5th century. However, the period in between the 8th and 11th centuries (c. The alternative term late antiquity, for the early part of the period, emphasizes elements of continuity with the Roman Empire, while Early Middle Ages is used to emphasize developments characteristic of the earlier medieval period. They marked the start of the Middle Ages of European history, following the decline of the Western Roman Empire, and preceding the High Middle Ages ( c. The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century through the 10th century. The jewelled cover of the Codex Aureus of St. For the scholarly journal, see Early Medieval Europe (journal).
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