Education and Culture in the Barbarian West

The period between the fifth and the eighth century, once unjustly and anachronistically known as the “Dark Ages,” was perceived in the past as a period of cultural decline and ignorance. Pierre Riché’s monumental book challenges that notion. By focusing on education and the written culture in the various Barbarian kingdoms of the post-Roman world–from Anglo-Saxon England in the north to Vandal North Africa in the south and from the Frankish Kingdoms of Gaul to the Visigothic Kingdom of Spain, Riché demonstrates how prolific and innovative was the cultural scene of the early medieval West.

He further points out that… show more.