Dark, old and Gothic

I'm surprised they still make documentaries like this one. “The Dark Ages” contains all the usual stereotypes and distortions about how the glorious Roman Empire fell to the barbarians and most of Europe descended into the dark and gloomy Middle Ages, until the light of the Renaissance dawned 1000 years later. The pun is probably unintended, but it *is* funny that the barbarians are often referred to as “Gothic” rather than Goths. Not wrong per se, but it does conjure up the right wiccan-Satanic images. There is a “Gothic” obsession in this show with torture chambers and their screaming victims, some of which are shown repeatedly. “The Dark Ages” is apparently not for kids, or those faint of heart!

I'm not saying everything in this documentary is wrong. In fact, the historians interviewed often make correct statements which the narrator then distorts beyond recognition. Thus, several “talking heads” point out that Europe's development turned around for the better already during the High Middle Ages, yet the narrator then interprets this as a reference to the Renaissance! Another historian mentions the salient fact that it was Emperor Justinian's armies, not the “barbarians”, who devastated most of Italy. So whose fault was the Dark Age *really*? While some scholars interviewed have a very positive view of the Roman Empire, others point out (correctly) that the empire's decline began several centuries before the much touted “fall of Rome”. Civil wars, economic stagnation and (admittedly) invasion attempts by Germanic tribes were facts of life long before Alaric's infamous sack of Rome.

The most egregious factual error is surely the claim that the Visigoths were “heathens”. Actually, they were Arian Christians. By not even mentioning Visigoth Spain, Ostrogoth Italy and Vandal North Africa – three “barbarian” kingdoms which were on a relatively high level economically and culturally – the documentary creates the false impression that the darkest period of the Middle Ages began almost immediately after the “fall” of Rome to the Visigoths, and that only the East Roman Empire preserved a modicum of civilization. “The Dark Ages” is also confusing at times, shifting attention back and forth between the Frankish realms and Britain, as if they were the same political entity. And while the Vikings were indeed a bunch of butchers, even the Devil should be given his due. The Vikings (or rather the Norse) didn't come as “marauders” to Iceland or Vinland, they created regular settlements there. Iceland was uninhabited before the Norse colonization, apart from a few Irish monks.

On the plus side, Charles Martell and Charlemagne are treated as the good guys, and we are spared all the “pro-Muslim” (really pro-Islamist) propaganda. The treatment of Christianity is rather weak, but the civilizing mission of Christian monks during the Early Middle Ages is stressed. The role of Bede is emphasized in particular.

However, this can't change the basic fact that the simplistic view of the Middle Ages presented in “The Dark Ages” feels both dark and very aged…