I am so very glad to have found this site.

After reading the posts here, I had to comment. It was during the "dark ages" that the basic social and political groundwork was being laid for the Magna Carta, and from the principles and ideas of the Magna Carta arises the US Constitution, esp. the Bill of Rights. The perpetuation and codification of saxon (angle, jute, fris) tribal law and custom in this period was essential to the development of the body of principles which we today associate with a just government.

Unlike the leges barbarorum of the continenent, the anglo-saxon laws are largely without Roman influence and likewise are genuine expressions of teutonic legal thought. A general perspective is that the evolution of law in England after the period of Saxon domination was a process of codifying and "organizing" saxon tribal law.

This evolving system of laws becomes more and more refined through the development of the Magna Carta, the revolution in one of Englands important colonies- revolutionaries who were really mostly fighting for their "rights as englishmen"- and finally to the system of laws we currently have in America.

Dark Ages? IMO, hardly. The period refered to as the dark ages was the laying of the foundation of our current freedom and rights.

What is important to notice, but often escapes notice, is the emergence of England and the Continental Powers from the "dark ages" and the very different paths each took. Paths which lead both to the Enlightenment, but really what was the Englightenment? For the English world it was very much the re-manisfestation of ancient anglo-saxon principles, likewise on the continent there manifested the ancient princples of the leges barbarorum, the foederati of times long gone.

I can say this because we see the paths leading from the Enlightenment its self. In the english speaking world, especially America, the Enlightenment meant individual freedom, self-determination, and independence- as evidenced by the results of the American revolution, the spread and establishment of common law in America, the Bill of Rights etc. On the continent, especially in France, the Enlightenment meant perpetuating despotism- as evidenced by the results of the French Revolution- the reign of terror, the rise of Napoleon, and from the rise and conquests of Napoleon we directly get the ideas associated with benevolent despotism, and the Napoleonic code.

That is important to note. The difference between a philosophy of benevolent despotism and a philosophy of individual sovereignty; ancient anglo-saxon custom contrasted with the leges barbarorum. Individual soveriegn states vs Foederati. Not a criticism or advocacy of either. Both are improvements on what was before them, both of them have marked great progress in the west. Just a commentary pointing out that without an English "dark ages", there would be no America.

I could go on forever, this stuff is fascinating to me.