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The surviving Western Roman Empire is widely recognized as having fallen on 4th September,
476 AD when Flavius Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus and declared himself ruler of all
Italy.
However, Rome had been largely in collapse for at least a century prior, and by the time
of the last Roman emperor in the west, Rome existed more by name than fact.
The collapse of Rome left a power vacuum across Europe, launching the continent into centuries
of continuous warfare and cultural stagnation known as the Dark Ages.
Hello and welcome to The Infographics Show.
Today we're taking a look at what a day in the life of the Dark Ages was like in ancient
England.
England or Britannia as it was known back then had been only partially conquered by
the Romans, who limited their advance at the famed Hadron's Wall.
The Romans never fully subjugated the local tribes, so with the fall of Rome, Britannia
became a lawless free-for-all land of opposing warlords and self-declared kings.
For these early rulers, their kingdoms and right to rule extended only so far as their
soldiers could reach, and the hapless peasants caught in the middle would often find themselves
forced to pay taxes and tribute to separate rulers who claimed their lands as their own.
Governments didn't exist at this time, and government services didn't consist of much
more than armed soldiers coming by your door to demand taxes.
With the collapse of Rome, the entire European continent experienced an economic crash, and
major industries such as pottery making and construction all but disappeared overnight.
Without a strong centralized government to print coins and enforce monetary policy, civilization
across Europe returned back to bartering, and taxes were collected in the form of trade
goods, food, or even physical service in a lord's army.
Feudalism eventually began to take root in its most primitive form, with local lords
granting parcels of land to favored soldiers - typically cavalrymen as these elite soldiers
of the era were much valued for their horses since trained war horses became much rarer.
When a local lord died, there were often no clear lines of succession, prompting all-out
war between the king's surviving family and other feuding nobles.
Religion continued to spread across Europe, Judaism and Islam competed with paganistic
beliefs, but the young and still growing Christian faith quickly garnered support across the
continent.
The example of Jesus standing up to authoritarian Jewish elders in the New Testament resonated
particularly well with peasants currently under the heel of brutal lords.
However, the clergy was not truly organized yet, and the authority of the church, which
was still based primarily in Italy, was not fully recognized as far north as Britain.
Different brands of Christianity appeared, leading to interfaith conflict and further
dividing of the population.
The clergy was starting to emerge as a separate social class, but they remained mostly independent
from each other or any centralized control structure.
These early Christians helped to preserve a great amount of ancient texts and knowledge
that may have been lost forever to rampaging barbarians, securing Roman books and manuscripts
within their growing monasteries.
Life for the average peasant was difficult, dangerous, and tough.
With the collapse of industry, most people worked as sustenance farmers, growing enough
to feed themselves and trade just enough excess for needed goods such as metal tools.
Wheat, barley, oats, and rye were staple crops of the time, and they were supplemented by
beans and peas.
Apples, plums, berries, and various nuts were eaten when in season, though the primary diet
of a Dark Ages peasant was various cereal crops ground into flour and made into bread.
Locally caught fish and sometimes even deer or wild boar were an occasional treat, but
animal proteins were rare, with sheep raised for their wool and milk and beef being too
pricey for most people.
People also consumed large quantities of very weak ale as most drinking water was unsafe.
Though popularized by myths, mead was actually a very rare drink enjoyed mostly only by the
elite.
Skilled craftsmen such as blacksmiths were extremely rare and highly valued, and the
merchant or craftsmen guilds of the Middle Ages did not yet exist.
Education was all but nonexistent, with typically only the clergy having the ability to read.
Most nobles were illiterate.
Farmers not only worked the land, but they would also often be called up into military
service during non-harvest times, with most lords using conscripted armies rather than
full-time professional soldiers.
Medicine in the Dark Ages consisted mostly of herbal remedies known as “wortcunning”
in England.
Practices such as leeching to remove “bad blood” from an individual and superstitious
use of “magical” remedies prospered, and sadly most ailments became fatal.
Yet some of the foundations of real medicine were being rediscovered after the extinction
of the Roman healing arts, with medical treatments for things such as styes involving onion,
garlic, wine, and various other ingredients containing very effective antibiotic and antibacterial
properties.
Rudimentary surgeries were also taking place.
An 11th century skull discovered in the Wharram Percy medieval village showed that a heavy
blow to the head had been treated by cutting away part of the bone in the skull to relieve
pressure on the brain.
With the discovery of anesthesia over a millenia away, we don't care to consider just how painful
such a procedure may have been.
Across Europe, the fall of Rome had seen people return to a mostly isolated lifestyle, with
most people living in small communities or farmsteads.
Yet major cities and establishments did survive, and settlements such as those near modern
York even exploded in population.
These primitive cities were fairly squalid by modern comparisons, with none of that famed
Roman plumbing or luxuries such as public baths and waterworks.
Refuse in the form of trash, dung, and rotting timber were discarded directly onto the streets,
and deposits built up at a rate of roughly an inch a year.
In these horrible conditions, parasites and diseases proliferated, and the average life
expectancy was a shocking 31 years.
Violence, disease, and poor nutrition all created a very high infant mortality rate,
but if a child was one of the lucky few who made it to 20 years, he or she could typically
expect to live into his or her 40s.
Life in the Dark Ages was often short, brutal, and fraught with hardships.
The fall of Rome created a power and cultural identity vacuum within a continent that had
for centuries identified itself solely as Roman.
And with Rome gone, vengeful barbarians rampaged across the bones of the empire and effectively
stamped out the last remnants of Roman society, including its economy, law and order, and
scientific knowledge.
Yet the Dark Ages didn't completely stop the development of human civilization as is so
often believed.
Outside of Europe, life continued on relatively unchanged, with mighty Eastern kingdoms rising
and falling and the influence of the Islamic Caliphs expanding across Africa and the Middle
East.
But for the average peasant of Dark Age Britannia life remained a struggle for survival.
Families had to fight to produce enough food to feed themselves while often being brutalized
by competing warlords or self-appointed lords.
Life in the dark ages for a poor peasant was tough- too bad they didn’t have Skillshare
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What would you do if you were a peasant in Dark Age Britain?
What era of time would you like to have lived in?
Let us know in the comments below.
Also, be sure to check out our other video called The Most Infamous Serial Killer - Why
Was He Never Found?!
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