Reply To: The Taproom

As I said earlier, and I repeat, naming historical periods is a game in which no real rules apply. The idea of calling everything post-Roman the ‘Middle Ages’ is in reality neither helpful nor accurate – middle of what, for instance? And where have the ‘Dark Ages’ suddenly gone? – they were certainly still there when I was at school…

As far as I’m concerned, the Dark Ages end in 1066 (yes, an Anglo-centric viewpoint I confess – almost as bad as looking at the whole of history from an entirely Euro-centric viewpoint); the early Middle Ages then ensue until about the mid/late 13th century. After that come the so-called High Middle Ages (a particularly silly name when you stop and think about it), which last until circa 1450, followed by the late Middle Ages. This is, of course, all entirely subjective, and entirely my own opinion (which means being ‘wrong’ doesn’t worry me). It would be more accurate anyway to describe the Middle Ages as consisting of Feudal and post-Feudal periods.

Of course, since history comprises one continuous stream of events all such labels have no special relevance anyway, beyond compartmentalising it into bite-sized chunks for the purposes of research and education.