- The upheaval of the Early Middle Ages ended not in a collapse of civilization but in its renewal.
- And the first two early medieval centuries set the patterns for how this renewal would later take place in western and eastern Europe.
- The two centuries after the fall of Rome were a time of turmoil in Europe that would continue for five hundred years - a half millennium that counts as the "early" part of the Middle Ages, As with the upheaval of the early Middle Ages ended not in a collapse of civilization but in its renewal, and the first two early medieval centuries set the patterns for how this renewal would later take place in western and eastern Europe.
- In the Germanic kingdoms that has taken over the western half of the Roman Empire, Roman institutions gradually stopped working, cities ceased to be centers of trade and social life, and warfare became more important that education and culture in the lives of the upper class
- Roman Empire's surviving eastern half contributed to western Europe's chaos by efforts at recon quest, and then itself came under attack by newly powerful neighbors
Chronology:
- Fifth Century: Angles and Saxons invade Britain
- 486: Clovis leads Frankish confederacy against Romans and rival Germanic invaders in Gaul
- 527-565: Reign of Emperor Justinian in the Eastern empire
- 542: Plague hits Egypt, then spreads throughout the Mediterranean area and much of western Europe
- 568: Lombards conquer most of northern Italy
- 570-632: Life of Muhammad
- 595: Missionaries sent by the pope begin to convert the pagans of England
- 711: Muslim invasion of Spain
- 800: Slavs occupy almost all of eastern Europe
