The Dark Ages Essay

Disease, despair, and death seemed to be typical aspects of life for the people of the Middle Ages. Western Europe was surrounded by darkness from 600 to 1450, penning the name the Dark ages. Life was tough in the post Roman empire and pre modern age world. There was a large process of devolution from empire to localism of smaller political entities which established the general borders of today. The Roman Catholic Church seemed to be the only stabilizing element of the Dark Ages. The church kept society structured on well defined classes that allowed for little freedom and no social mobility. The class that one was born into, was the one they belonged to their entire life. Even through hard work, one could not improve and move up in social

For he provided precious information into the mostly unknown 10th century. Flodoard lived through a time of political unrest in his own diocese of Reims. Through the unrest, the priest simply accepted the imposition of the new archiepiscopal regime and doesn’t use his writing to attack the prevailing political situation. However because Flodoard was so connected to the Archbishopric and church, he often writes with a bias toward the interests of the archbishopric and church. Flodoard as the historian of the church and second to the staff of the Archbishop meant he was deeply involved in the affairs of the diocese. But this also means the archbishop and the other nobles were deeply involved in Flodoards work with the always looming threat of imprisonment and exiled. For Flodoards ultimate goal is to “preserve the integrity and autonomy of the church of Reims.” . This bias is prevalent throughout the Annals and works directly at keeping up the status quo and advance the interests of the Roman Catholic Church. Flodoard always writes of the hand of God working through the church to perform miracles in bringing people back from the dead, and heal ailments. The elites running the church then utilize these miracles as a way to cement the social class hierarchy and collect taxes for their various