The Middle Ages (500-1400), especially the years between 500 and 1000 (known as the Dark Ages), was a stormy period in European history. Peace and order were in short supply after the fall of the Roman Empire in 486, as tribes of invaders from the east and north laid waste to one region after another. These tribes, including the Vandals, Visigoths, and Huns, were collectively known as barbarians and were feared for their cruelty and destructiveness.

Plagues and famine also occurred regularly during the medieval era. Natural conditions —seasons, climate, the hours of daylight and night, distance, and terrain—controlled people's lives much more than they do today. A strict class system determined how most people would live and die, depending on their inherited place in the social order.

Medieval people worked hard just to survive, and most spent their time securing the...