Editing Dark Age (section)

==Invasions==
The Germanic 'barbarian' invasions continued from the end of the Roman Empire well into the Dark Ages. Even though Rome "officially" fell to Odoacer in 475, it was still relatively livable until further nomadic invasions razed the city almost completely. Roman holdouts in Britain had to contend with continuous and savage attacks from the Jutes and Saxons, which formed the backdrop of the earliest Arthurian legends. The Byzantine Empire, another Roman holdout, faced attacks from the Bulgarians, Hungarians, Persians, and the new Muslim armies from Arabia. The rest of the former Roman Empire was in constant flux, whether they be petty warlords duking it out or nomadic opportunists looking to raid the still-disorganized European mainland. It's believed that one of the driving forces for all this raiding and invasion was the Winter of 536, where volcanic dust clouds covered the planet and caused a brutally long winter, resulting in widespread famine followed by a mass outbreak of plague. These dire circumstances resulted in nomadic tribes attacking anyone they could to survive, which was everyone due to how weakened society had become.

Starting around the early 700s, the relatively new Umayyad Caliphate had begun conquering Europe, seizing nearly all of Iberia. While the other Mediterranean European countries were under the protection of the Byzantine Empire, the south of France was vulnerable and became the site of significant clashes between the local Frankish tribes and the invading Muslims. During this time period, Frankish statesman Charles Martel was able to rally the Franks at the battle of Tours and beat back the invasion; his grandson Charlemagne would succeed in uniting the remainder of Western Europe under the Carolingian Empire, the closest the West had been to a unified state since Rome. While the Carolingian Empire didn't last, it laid the groundwork for the two future states of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

Around 793 the [[Viking]]s began to show up and would remain an active element for centuries to come. While most of these attacks were short yet violent raids for the sake of pillaging and taking slaves, eventually the Vikings conquered a sizable chunk of England and established the "Danelaw," ensuring a long-term presence that would last even after the petty English kingdoms got their shit together and ousted the Norse warlords. France fared somewhat better, as the French monarch was able to convince the invading vikings to settle down in the province of Normandy in exchange for their fealty. This would have long-term consequences, as said Normans ended up claiming the English crown for themselves, leading William the Conqueror to invade England in 1066; this typically marks the end of the Dark Ages and the beginning of the High Middle Ages, as the various European powers were finally starting to stabilize and more formal governance was being established. It's also the point where the iconic heavy cavalry in full armor became a thing, as the invention of stirrups made cavalry considerably more practical, while mail armor began to encompass more of the body than the mere "chain shirt" that had existed since Roman times.