The Dark Ages (The History Channel, 2007)
The Dark Ages (The History Channel, 2007). This special is a fairly linear chronicle of major events, leaders, and to some extent culture of Europe and the Mediterranean in the six centuries after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the west. The documentary tries to shed light on a period of Western history often ignored and little understood by the general public.
It begins with the conquest of Rome by the Visigoths and then concisely describes the fragmentation of Western Europe into myriad barbarian kingdoms. The plight of the West is contrasted with the continuance of Roman culture and power in the Byzantine east, focusing on the reign of Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora. The rest of the program emphasizes France and Britain, with passing references to Spain, Germany, and a few other areas. The Venerable Bede, Charles Martel and his Muslim opponent Rahman, Charlemagne, and Alfred the Great are profiled. While each profile is interesting in its own right, no overall grand narrative or interpretive theme ever really emerges. For example, the connection of the Byzantine Empire and Orthodox Christianity to Catholic Europe (essential to understanding the Crusades, which are briefly mentioned toward the end) is never touched on again after the Justinian segment.
Somewhat better than the typical fare produced for the History Channel, The Dark Ages occasionally explores uncertain explanations and at times suggests that there may be differing interpretations (Did a mini-ice-age contribute to the harshness of the period? Did Byzantine trade bring devastating plague to the region?). However, these few attempts at serious historiography are overshadowed by the film’s florid, overstated narration. Early in the program and very briefly, one on-screen historian is permitted to question whether the sixth through eleventh centuries in Europe really were a “dark age” (and to point out how the whole notion was created by Renaissance thinkers eager to distinguish their own contemporary period). Yet the rest of the program is spent completely undermining this nuanced observation. Again and again, the narration stresses the “chaos” of this “backward” and “barbaric” era of “darkness” when the “light” of Roman greatness was extinguished and “human progress” was halted.
The film’s problems are of overgeneralization and simplistic interpretation, not inaccuracy. The historical content contained in the documentary is quite good, even if sometimes limited by gross simplification (for example, Charlemagne “founded” the Holy Roman Empire). The segment on disease is particularly informative. Too often, the Black Death of the later Middle Ages is viewed as a singular catastrophe that came out of nowhere. The Dark Ages dramatically describes how virulent plague first came to the Mediterranean world in the early 6th century and killed 25-50% of the population, with endemic outbreaks occurring periodically over subsequent centuries.
