The Dark Ages have been misunderstood. History has identified the period following the fall of the Roman Empire as a descent into barbarism - a terrible time when civilization stopped. This episode concentrates on the Vikings and their inventive craftsmanship, the expansive Carolingians' art of exquisite finesse and richness, and the skillful hardworking ingenious Anglo-Saxons. Januszczak shows the Viking skill in making ships and their attacks on Christian centers such as Lindisfarne not only to loot but to defend their own Norse gods. He visits the Jelling stones that commemorated the Danes' conversion to Christianity. Januszczak concludes that in the Dark Ages it was not the sword but the written word, whether in wood, stone, or what he considers the greatest masterpiece of all art, the Lindisfarne Gospels, that defined the age.


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