What is Early Middle Ages?
The '''Early Middle Ages''' were a period in [[History of Europe|European history]] that lasted from the [[5th century]] to the [[10th century]] and were followed by the [[High Middle Ages]] and the [[Late Middle Ages]]. The time is called the “Middle” Ages because it came between [[ancient history]] and [[modern history]]. The Middle Ages are sometimes called the Medieval Age. The early Middle Ages has also been called “the Dark Ages” because scholars in early modern times could not find much information about that time. They thought that there was very little [[culture]], good [[literature]], [[art]], good [[architecture]], [[technology]] or [[:wikt:progress|progress]] during this period. ==Fall of Rome== The Early Middle Ages started with the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]], which had ruled much of Europe in [[ancient history]]. Eventually, the empire started to weaken. In 410, Rome was [[looting|sacked]] by [[Alaric I|Alaric]], the leader of the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] tribe known as the [[Visigoths]]. Rome survived but had been greatly weakened. In 476, when Rome was again invaded and sacked by [[Odoacer]], he took the city for himself. He made himself the king of Italy. This ended the Western Roman Empire. Europe entered the Early Middle Ages. ==Life in the Early Middle Ages== As the Early Middle Ages began, Europe was experiencing the effects of the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Before, the empire’s communication systems made it possible for people all over Europe to share ideas and facts. Now these communication systems were no longer working. This made it much more difficult to exchange knowledge and new ideas. For many years, the [[Roman army]] had defended the empire and kept peace between different parts of Europe. Now, wars became common as people all over Europe started to fight each other for territory and resources. The [[Catholic Church]] was very powerful during the Early Middle Ages. Most Europeans were [[Christian]] at this time. == References == [[Category: