Night In The Middle Ages Analysis

Words: 498
Pages: 2

The Middle Ages, which is a period in European history beginning in the 5th century and ending around the 13-15th century, have often also been referred to as the Dark Ages (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2017). In this essay I will examine some of the different aspects of how night time and darkness were viewed during medieval times.
Firstly, it should be noted that one cannot make undue generalizations about the whole Middle Ages due to the various misconceptions surrounding the time period itself as well as difficulty in interpreting the sources that exist. As Classen (2003) points out in his review of Jean Verdon’s book Night in the Middle Ages, despite the author’s excellent use of various primary sources to support his arguments, the wider conclusions that he arrives at seem to be based more on his own personal beliefs and are sometimes very doubtful, representing a general misunderstanding of medieval culture. Furthermore, the practice of labeling the whole medieval period as a barbaric Dark Age has been largely dismissed by scholars from the early 20th century onwards (Mommsen, 1942), largely due to the implications of doing so (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2016).
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Most of these worries were small, commonplace ones, everyday fears such as being robbed by roaming outlaws whilst travelling on the poorly maintained roads during darkness, leading to people seeking shelter in inns for the duration of the night (Beale, Jr., 1906). To add onto the previous statement, Le Goff (1982) describes farm labor in Western Europe being organized by the working day, which lasted from dawn to dusk, with night labor being mostly banned and subject to fines, unless dealing with urban areas, where the rules were different in regards to working at such an