The Dark Ages

Timeline:The Dark Ages

410 Alaric the Visigoth sacks Rome

Roman legions recalled from Britannia

443 Angles, Saxons, Jutes invade Britannia

453 Attila the Hun dies

481 Clovis founds the Merovingian dynasty

493 Theodoric the Ostrogoth is King of Italy

533 Justinian’s reconquest of the Western Empire

Hwær cwom mearg? Hwær cwom mago?Hwær cwom maþþumgyfa?Hwær cwom symbla gesetu? Hwær sindon seledreamas?Eala beorht bune! Eala byrnwiga!Eala þeodnes þrym! Hu seo þrag gewat,genap under nihthelm, swa heo no wære. Stondeð nu on laste leofre duguþeweal wundrum heah, wyrmlicum fah.Eorlas fornoman asca þryþe,wæpn wælgifru, wyrd seo mære,ond þas stanhleoþu stormas cnyssað,hrið hreosende hrusan bindeð,wintres woma, þonne won cymeð,nipeð nihtscua, norþan onsendeðhreo hæglfare hæleþum on andan. Eall is earfoðlic eorþan rice,onwendeð wyrda gesceaft weoruld under heofonum. Her bið feoh læne, her bið freond læne,her bið mon læne, her bið mæg læne,eal þis eorþan gesteal idel weorþeð!

Where has the horse gone? Where has the man gone?Where has the treasure-giver gone?Where has the feast-hall gone? Where have the hall-joys gone?Alas, the gleaming chalice! Alas the armored warriors!Alas the majesty of the prince! Truly, that time has passed away,has grown dark under the helm of night as though it had never been.

Now there remains among the traces of that beloved band just a wall, so high!, adorned with serpent-like patterns. The might of ash spears has snatched away the men, the weapon greedy for carnage, notorious fate; and storms beat upon those heaps of stones. A falling snowstorm fetters the earth, winter’s howling. Then darkness comes; the shadow of night spreads gloom and sends from the north fierce hailstorms to the terror of men. The whole kingdom of earth is full of hardship; the dispensation of fate makes mutable the world below the heavens.

Here wealth is temporary. Here a friend is temporary. Here man is temporary. Here kinsmen are temporary. All this foundation of earth will become desolate.

Vortigern invited the Angles hither, and they then came hither to Britain in three ships at a place Heopwinesfleot. King Vortigern gave them land to the south-east of this land on condition that they fought against the Picts. They then fought against the picts and had victory wherever they came. Then they sent to Angel; ordered them to send more aid and to be told of the worthlessness of the Britons and of the excellence of the land. (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle E, 443)

Sutton Hoo

“Sigurðr Fáfnisbana”

“Welandes weorc”