Many people refer to the period of 400 1000 as the dark ages after the fall of rome when society in western europe shut down people went back to simple primitive ways terms like savages and barbarians are often used as they squabbled and fought against each other killing mercilessly for a bit of land the only beacon of hope the growing light of christianity. A unique and enlightening look at europes so called dark ages the second volume in the penguin history of europe defying the conventional dark ages view of european history between ad 400 and 1000 award winning historian chris wickham presents the inheritance of rome a work of remarkable scope and rigorous yet accessible scholarship drawing on a wealth of new material and featuring a thoughtful synthesis of historical and archaeological approaches wickham agues that these centuries . A unique and enlightening look at europes so called dark ages the second volume in the penguin history of europe defying the conventional dark ages view of european history between ad 400 and 1000 award winning historian chris wickham presents the inheritance of rome a work of remarkable scope and rigorous yet accessible scholarship drawing on a wealth of new material and featuring a thoughtful synthesis of historical and archaeological approaches wickham agues that these centuries . The inheritance of rome illuminating the dark ages 400 1000 penguin history of europe amazonin wickham chris books. A unique and enlightening look at europes so called dark ages the second volume in the penguin history of europe defying the conventional dark ages view of european history between ad 400 and