Barbarians

This title challenges the conventional portrait of the Dark Ages being a dangerous and barbaric time. It is divided into three sections: the first starts with the fall of Rome; the second with the Anglo-Saxon invasion; the third with the rise of the Norse culture of the Vikings. "The Dark Ages are little-known and little-understood. Conventional history portrays it as an ominous and dangerous period precipitated by the fall of Rome. We are led to believe that the torch of civilisation flickered only in the monasteries that dotted the landscape of a Europe engulfed in the darkness of barbarism." "Barbarians: Secrets of the Dark Ages challenges the accepted view of events passed down to us by Roman accounts of the barbarian world. The Romans, like every imperial power, had a vested interest in propagating their own version of history. There are few indigenous accounts to contradict the Roman view, but reading between the lines, archaeological investigation and critical analysis allow many cultural voices to emerge out of the darkness ..."--BOOK JACKET.