TEXT: 1                                                                                Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.76                                                      Stéphane Gesbert
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  The Dark Ages: 950-1050 AD
  "After day comes night. The time of men will pass and they will return to where they came from." – The Necronomicon
  Players and keepers are not usually acquainted with the
  “Dark Ages” era that serves as a setting for Cthulhu Dark
  Ages adventures. This chapter provides some general
  historical context. Many “props” for a realistic Dark Age
  setting can be found in the glossary. Particular historical
  points are dealt with in the scenarios. When in doubt,
  apply friendly stereotypes...
  The year 955 was a turning point in the history of the
  Occident. That year, Otto the Great crushed the Magyar
  cavalry on the banks of the river Lech, thereby putting an
  end to the age of invasions.
  In the Dark Ages that followed, the Occident struggled
  hard to recreate its unity, a foundation on which, one
  century later, a new civilization would grow that would
  become our modern world.
  The Dark Ages describe the twilight zone before the last
  age of History - ours. And while feudal warlords shared
  the land, defining a new temporal order, a monastic reform
  was silently sweeping through the Christian world, bearing
  a new spiritual order.
  The World
  Scholars of the Dark Ages pictured the universe as being
  made of several spheres revolving around a spherical
  earth, and carrying respectively the stars, the planets, the
  sun and the moon.
  MAPPA MUNDI
  The few world maps of the Dark Ages pictured the earth’s
  surface as a disk. The northwest quadrant represented
  “Europe” and the southwest quadrant Africa, the two being
  separated by the Mediterranean Sea. This Occidental half-
  disk was separated from the Oriental half-disk – Asia – by
  the river Don to the North, and by the river Nile to the
  South. At the center of everything lay Jerusalem.
  Thanks to the mild climate that prevailed in the Dark
  Ages, the Occident was covered by one vast primeval
  forest, except for flatland moors, mountain tops and
  Mediterranean scrublands. Birches were then covering
  Greenland and Iceland.
  People of that time were basically forest dwellers.
  Wherever they looked they saw a tree line, and wherever
  they walked or rode they crossed the forest, and often got
  lost on the way (maps and the compasses were yet to be
  invented)!
  Time
  Dark Ages people relied on the cockcrow to give the signal
  for dawn, or listened to the bells sounding the canonical
  praying hours in a nearby monastery. Observation of the
  position of heavenly bodies was often accurate enough to
  know the time.
  The only “clocks” were the sundial, the sandglass, and the
  clepsydra. Nighttime was mainly measured in terms of
  “candles”.
  The year was naturally divided into seasons and into
  weeks with the Sunday rest, and punctuated by religious
  fetes, celebrations and fasting periods.
  In the Dark Ages clerics kept track of the year, the month
  (kalendes) and the day of the month, and computed the
  date of Easter, etc. New Year's Day did not start on the
  January 1st, but varied from place to place. At the
  Chancery of the King of France it was the first of March.
  In Germany and England, it was customarily Christmas.
  According to the most widely accepted chronology, the
  world would be 4952 years old in 1000 AD, and scholars
  thought they were living history’s last age: the sixth age.
  Languages
  Occidental languages were split into two groups: Romanic
  languages - Italy, France, Spain - and Germanic languages
  - the Germanic Empire. Each language group was in turn
  subdivided into a patchwork of dialects.
  Except in Italy and to some extent England, the majority of
  laymen were illiterate.
  Since Latin was the language of the Church, of clerics and
  of monks, it was de facto the most widespread of
  languages. Indeed monastic and Episcopal schools
  dispensed lower and higher education in Latin. Clerics –
  ministers, ambassadors, interpreters, jurists, and secretaries
  – conversed in Latin and wrote all letters and legal
  documents in Latin. Monks chanted in Latin and priests
  preached in Latin. Of course, laymen didn’t grasp a single
  word of it!
  Religion
  Catholicism was the official religion of the occidental
  world. There were churches everywhere. Parishes were
  landed estates, and the priest was supported by the tithe
  levied on the believers. The priest was a servant of the
  parish owner.
  Priests implemented the mission of the Church to baptize,
  celebrate mass, give the sacraments, communicate the faith
  and uphold morals in their rural parishes. Besides that,
  Church imposed a few duties like Sunday mass, the
  observance of fetes and fasting, and rules for births,
  weddings and deaths. Non-observance of these rules was
  sometimes followed by physical punishments (e.g. pulling
  out teeth).
  In short, priests were in charge of the cura animarum - the
  care of souls. Note that most of them lived with a
  concubine. Itinerant officers of the local ecclesiastical
  authority supervised parish priests in their mission. A
  priest was not allowed to cross parish lines to administer
  penance without the bishop’s permission.
  
  Stéphane Gesbert                                                                   Utilities                                                                                             2
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  From the humble parish priests to depraved popes, the
  whole clergy was integrated to the feudal system.
  Archbishops for instance had the same worries and
  ambitions as their lay counterparts. There were even
  warrior-bishops who fought with maces!
  EXORCISTS
  In 250 AD, the Church instituted a new order of low-
  ranking priests: the exorcitate. Upon a successful exorcism
  the exorcist was promoted to full-fledged priest. Exorcism
  consisted of a solemn address to the demon to leave the
  body, backed up by three sacramentals: water, salt and oil.
  PILGRIMS
  Pilgrimage, together with the cults of saints and relics, is a
  characteristic of the Dark Ages. The supreme pilgrimage
  was the journey to the Jerusalem (six months of travel
  from South France).
  HERMITS
  Hermits lived in solitude, tried to attain exaltation trough
  cold and hunger, or by accomplishing some exhausting
  work.
  The most widely accepted Christian belief was that of the
  immortality of the soul, and the concept of eternal
  punishment in the pits of hell. However, only few lived a
  pious life in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, while
  the vast majority of people believed they could buy their
  way into heaven with testamentary gifts. Another common
  practice among the most privileged was to obtain salvation
  of the soul by becoming monks on their dying beds!
  HERESIES
  Around 1000 AD appeared the manichean heretic
  movement, embracing peasants, nobles and clerics alike.
  Manicheans rejected the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and did
  not believe in the necessity of baptism and other Christian
  rituals. They did believe however in a self-created universe
  and in the harmlessness of adultery!
  Christianity had not yet eradicated the pagan spirit
  (paganum animum): everywhere people tried to invoke
  rain by way of magic, and worshipped ancestors, nature’s
  spirits and heavenly bodies. They celebrated New Year's
  Day on the first of January by offering a feast dressed as
  stags or cows, and going on a roof or at a road crossing to
  read the future. They were afraid of the dark and of the
  demons of the night.
  Some women believed that they could fly to the clouds,
  travel great distances and combat other flying women. The
  first records of demon worshippers also appear in the tenth
  century.
  Germanic and Slavic people only reluctantly adopted
  novelties like the wheeled plough and water mills. They
  feared the nature spirits’ anger, and appeased them with
  little effigies, offerings and invocations.
  CONVERSIONS
  Many pagan kingdoms were Christianized during the Dark
  Ages. This process was usually initiated at the highest
  level, and then forced upon the rest of the population
  through large scale baptism and the eradication of the old
  cults and their priests or priestesses.
  Why did heathen leaders convert to Christianity in the first
  place? One common problem of paganism was its lack of
  structure, hierarchy and decorum. Conversely, Christianity
  had plenty of those, hence it was able to provide newly
  formed nations with a unified spiritual identity that
  strengthened the power in place.
  Monks
  In the tenth century monasteries experienced a rebirth. The
  reforming movement, the aim of which was to “free
  Church from the hands of laymen”, started in the abbey of
  Cluny. Cluny depended directly on the Holy See in Rome,
  and was not owned by a lord, as was still the custom.
  Clunisian monks lived under the strict Rule of Benedict of
  Nursia, sixth century founder of western monasticism. In
  1000 AD, there were hundreds of abbeys and priories, and
  thousands of monks submitted to Cluny. This praying
  community set an example of sanctity in the spiritual
  chaos of the Dark Ages. Great abbots became very famous
  and very influential men. They were often travelling,
  accompanied by escorts of armed monks.
  The wealth of some abbeys was such that they were not
  too vulnerable to the vicissitudes of the time, like famine.
  On the other hand the same wealth sometimes corrupted
  the good monks, some of whom took wives and indulged
  in gluttony and sloth. This decline in monastic values
  eventually prompted the Cistercian Benedictine reform – a
  return to basics - in 1098 AD.
  Monasteries also functioned as hostels for the most
  privileged and the most indigent. Exemplary monasteries
  like Cluny had a hostel outside their walls, with two
  dormitories (one for men, one for women), latrines and a
  refectory. Monasteries also lodged pilgrims, travelling
  priests and monks, and the poor in the chaplaincy - the
  house of the poor - outside the cloister. Indigent travelers
  and pilgrims were sometimes given a provision of some
  sort (e.g. one denier) before leaving the monastery.
  According to the Benedictine rule, monks had to spent
  time in prayer (six to seven hours a day), work (e.g.
  pulling up the weeds in the garden, kneading bread at the
  bakery) and charity. Apart from two short periods of time
  monks were not allowed to talk to each other (they actually
  developed a sign language of a few hundred words). Daily
  chores were entrusted to lay brothers called conversi, or
  barbati because they were not required to shave, or
  illiterati because they could not read.
  The monastery employed many professional artists to
  account for the numerous paintings, jewel-stained book
  covers, ivory carvings, the embroidered fabrics, the crown-
  shaped lights made of bronze, gold or silver, and so forth.
  Some abbeys even housed a workshop that minted deniers
  - a kingly right inherited from Carolingian times. In fact,
  many monks were skilled craftsmen.
  MONKS
  The abbot was the father for life of the community. All
  monks had to obey him without question and delay. He
  was sometimes seconded in his duties by a prior.
  
  3                                                                                Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.76                                                      Stéphane Gesbert
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  The hospitaller insured the service in the hostel, and
  carefully planned welcoming ceremonies. Other monks
  and servants assisted him in his task.
  The almoner was in charge of the chaplaincy and cared
  for the sick of the neighborhood once per week, helped by
  a few servants. In prosperous monasteries, the almoner
  also organized food distribution to the poor. Clothes worn
  by monks for more than a year were given away.
  The bursar was the most important officer in a monastery.
  He was in charge of the clothing, the bedding, and the
  lighting. He was qualified for collecting the rent in money
  coming from the abbey's lands, and the dues in kind.
  The cellarer was in charge of the storeroom and had a
  flock of subordinates. The refectory monk directed the
  service in the refectory; the loft monk supervised the corn
  lofts, the water mill and the bakery; the constable ran the
  stables, and the gardener took care of the vegetables
  garden and the orchard.
  The sacristan was the officer responsible for the church
  and the liturgical furniture. The preacher was master of
  ceremonies and librarian. The precentor was the choir
  master.
  The infirmarian cared for the sick and performed the
  ritual bleeding of healthy monks for the Annunciation
  Day. The most accepted treatment against illnesses
  consisted in feeding the sick with meat!
  NUNS
  Nuns, just like monks, were served by lay sisters, but male
  priests acted as chaplains!
  Monks slept in a dormitory where candles or oil lamps
  were left burning at night. A monk's bed consisted of a
  simple wooden frame, with a felt carpet, a straw mattress,
  a linen sheet and a cushion filled with straw. In winter
  each monk got a blanket of hairy fabric or goat or lamb
  skin.
  Monks were required to wash their faces and hands
  everyday. They took two warm baths per year in large
  vats, one before Christmas, the other before Easter. Monks
  also shaved their beards once per month.
  COSTUME
  Monks wore a plain black habit with an outdoor hood or
  cowl and a scapular (long narrow sleeveless outer cloth
  draped over the basic tunic). They had simple shoes or
  sandals, wore a leather belt and carried a knife. The belt
  also served as a disciplinary aid in self-flagellation. Each
  monk also received from the abbot a pen, a needle, a
  towel, and a writing tablet.
  The nun’s costume was similar to the monk’s, with the
  hood being replaced by a “wimple” and a head veil. Habits
  were white, black, or mixed.
  DIET
  Lunch consisted of two meals: one of beans or peas, and
  one of “herbs”. Now and then monks were also served
  eggs and cheese. On Sundays and Thursdays, fish was
  added to the regular menu. Bread - one pound per monk -
  was a constant, as was wine - one cup. Supper (cena)
  consisted of bread with fruits or “oublies”, a sort of thin
  pastry. On fast days (most of the year except for fetes and
  the period from Easter to Pentecost) supper was the only
  meal.
  Novitiate lasted for about a year. The novice was a man
  willing to “embrace the rule”. The monastic order also
  welcomed “oblate” children - often second-born sons
  noble families - brought to the monastery by the parents
  with an appropriate dowry. Finally, monasteries also
  educated gifted peasant boys especially chosen by the
  abbot, such as Gerbert of Aurillac, who eventually became
  Pope. Boys and novices were not allowed to mingle with
  the monks until they had taken the vows.
  One kind of monastic school located outside the cloister
  was open to peasant children, and another kind was
  reserved to oblate children, who were taught to read Latin
  and to calculate. Saint Gall, Reichenau and Fulda had
  famous schools. Teaching was strictly oral, and consisted
  of simple arithmetic and catechism.
  Farmers
  Most farmers of the Occident were feudal tenants: their
  lord granted them plots of land (“tenures”) for cultivation
  in exchange of certain services, among which the
  obligation to cultivate the lord's mansus.
  Every tenant had a few strips of land to cultivate.
  Ploughing was done with the swing plough or the wheeled
  plough, and harvesting was done with the sickle. Once the
  ears of the corn were cut, the hay became common
  property until the new harvest. In the Dark Ages rotation
  of crops was unavoidable, for lack of a proper fertilizer.
  The biennial rotation widespread in Mediterranean regions
  consisted in sowing a field every other year only. In
  northern Europe the 3-year rotation prevailed.
  THE SOCIAL PYRAMID
  Farmers represented about nine tenths of the population of
  the Occident (in contrast to three-quarters in Byzantium).
  Some 45000 souls therefore supported a cathedral city of
  5000 souls, working the soil or the sea all about. Such
  cities were at least 50 miles apart, two to three days’
  marching.
  Some 4500 peasants in surrounding villages supported a
  town of some 500 souls, residence of a local warlord and
  his garrison of 10 to 20 warriors. Towns were at least 5-7
  miles apart, a two hours walking.
  Farmers actually showed a wide spectrum in conditions,
  from quasi-slaves - serfs – who could be sold as property,
  to freemen or colonists, who benefited from reduced rents
  and obligations. A few possessed a plough or a harrow and
  a team to pull it, but the majority had to rely on their own
  strength to pull the plough.
  The most gifted farmers went into service with the lord as
  squires or as sergeants (from serviens, servant) who
  collected taxes and fines, and dealt with merchants. Large
  abbeys delegated the administration of their domains to a
  mayor (villicus). In the Empire there were also “ministers”,
  i.e. favored servants who fulfilled courtly or knightly
  functions for their lord.
  RURAL CALENDAR.
  March: prune vineyard; April: animals pasture, weeding,
  plant and prune fruit trees; May: gather fodder for horses
  
  Stéphane Gesbert                                                                   Utilities                                                                                             4
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  and fasten vines; June: ploughing, sheep shearing; July:
  hay-making; 
  August: 
  harvest; 
  September-October:
  gather and press grapes, sow; November: put wine in
  barrels, thresh wheat, take pigs to graze in the forest;
  December: slaughter pigs.
  COSTUME
  Men wore breeches and a long shirt that fell down to the
  thighs, in the fashion of their ancestors. Women wore very
  simple dresses and children wore one-piece smocks.
  Wooden soled shoes and small boots were quite common,
  but the most common footwear consisted of strips of cloth
  intertwined around feet and lower legs - socks.
  DIET
  The basic diet consisted of rye, oats, barley, and to a lesser
  extent wheat: farmers who could afford the lord’s oven
  baked their own bread; the others ate porridge day in day
  out, seasoned with herbs or peas. Corn was also used to
  brew ale, which was safer than water. The fruits of the
  forest and the products from their vegetable gardens
  complemented the farmers’ diet. If they could afford to
  keep livestock, they may even have eggs and milk, and
  occasionally boiled or salted pork.
  Farmers sold surplus at village fairs where they could earn
  a few deniers for paying off taxes, i.e. the dues, the tithe
  and the “tallage”.
  Blacksmiths (about one in every other village) were simple
  tenants like most farmers, and paid their dues in kind to
  their lord with the weapons and the horseshoes they
  crafted.
  HUTS AND TIMBER HALLS
  A representative southern Europe village would consist of
  one street flanked by stone houses, and one tower at each
  end (Catalonia).
  In northern Europe, wood prevailed, and a village was a
  cluster of huts, silos, ditches and timber halls (Brittany).
  About one village out of two had a stone church with a
  cemetery.
  The basic design of buildings was rectangular with a roof
  of thatch or shingles that sometimes extended to the
  ground. The only opening was the door. Sizes varied
  greatly: the smallest huts had no walls as such, and larger
  timber halls had one or two rows of vertical posts that
  supported roof beams, thus defining aisles and bays. The
  central fireplace was at ground level, and marked by
  stones.
  Close to the houses and within the village stockades,
  farmers kept fenced vegetable gardens, fruit trees, and
  hemp beds.
  Villagers hunted in the surrounding forest, gathered fruits,
  beechnut for oil, moss and dead leaves for litters, wood for
  their houses, fences, and tools,  and for their lord’s castle,
  roadwork and bridges. They even left their animals to
  graze in the forest.
  There were also “woodsmen” who led a nomadic life on
  the fringe of the village community, in the lord’s forest:
  some were coalmen and produced charcoal for ovens, or
  the ash for making glass and soap. Others made creeper
  ropes and ground tree bark to produce the tan for tanning
  leather. A few were specialized in collecting honey and
  wax from wild bees.
  Warlords
  The feudal anarchy arising after the downfall of the
  Carolingian Empire had seriously eroded the prerogatives
  of kings, and tore apart the very fabric of their kingdoms.
  Kingdoms broke up into principalities, and principalities
  broke up into fiefs: much of the old power of counts and
  princes shifted to the benefit of small warlords and
  religious immunities. New strongholds and castles
  sprouted everywhere: on the site of an antique institution,
  an outpost, a vicus, etc.
  These warlords all had different origins: many descended
  directly from an ancient lineage of clan chiefs or
  landowners. Lords either lived with their great lord, or
  were “housed” (casati) on a fief of their own. There were
  also bold adventurers who simply took over land with ten
  or twenty companions, and settled in before anybody could
  throw them out. A Dark Ages dictum said: “no land
  without a lord”!
  PORTRAIT OF A WARLORD
  A shaven man with short hair, tunic falling to his knees,
  baldric girded around the loins. He is equipped with a
  horn, a small whip, a sword, a flintstone and the iron to
  strike it, the oak branch to set afire, spurs. For his war-
  horse: a fur saddle with stirrups, a cloth cover on the
  croup, and a bridle. His battle gear consists of a sword, a
  lance, a helmet, a chain mail and a shield.
  DIET
  Unlike his tenants, the lord’s table was abounding with
  meat (served by an attendant on a large slice of superior
  bread) and wine. Apart from one knife, everybody ate with
  his or her hands.
  Housed warlords had two things in common: above all
  they were “knights”, i.e. heavily armed horsemen and
  military leaders. Secondly, a warlord possessed a
  stronghold where he and his clan could hide from enemies
  and happily oppress inferiors. It was usually a timber hall
  with one storeroom and a corn loft or an upper floor for the
  lord’s chamber.
  During the Dark Ages however, a new type of stronghold
  appeared in France: the moat-and-bailey stronghold.
  A MOAT-AND-BAILEY STRONGHOLD
  The stronghold was built on raised ground or a man-made
  earth moat, right over ground water. It consisted of a
  square wooden tower with a first floor hall raised on a
  basement, and possibly one or two extra storeys, all
  connected by an interior ladder-like stairway. The top of
  the tower was used by a watch. Windows were simple
  openings that could be covered with boards. The basic
  furniture of Dark Ages strongholds were large beds, long
  tables consisting of planks laid across trestles, and
  benches.
  The basement was dug into the moat, where food stocks
  were kept along with the lord’s “treasure”. The well was
  usually located in the basement.
  
  5                                                                                Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.76                                                      Stéphane Gesbert
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  The ditch surrounding a moat was reinforced by a wooden
  palisade (in some yet rare instances, a stone wall) and a
  gatehouse. The outer defenses enclosed a “bailey” with
  outbuildings like the communal oven and the kitchen,
  latrines, stables, kennels, and the barn.
  It took a hundred workers about a month to build a moat-
  and-bailey stronghold with a 100 feet diameter, 50 feet
  high moat.
  In his spare time the lord played war games: he hunted,
  played chess, or participated in tournaments. These
  battlefield simulations, not necessarily reserved to the
  aristocracy, were far more informal and improvised than
  later in the Middle Ages. Therefore tournaments were
  rather dangerous, if not as deadly as the ancient Roman
  games they originated from.
  Princes
  Great lords rivaled kings in terms of power and riches.
  Their main obligation to the king consisted of the military
  aid they owed him, but in practice they did pretty much
  what they wanted. In fact, principalities - not kingdoms -
  were the real political hearts of the Occident.
  PORTRAIT OF A GREAT LORD AND HIS LADY
  A bearded man, wearing a large lustrous cloak attached to
  the right shoulder by a precious broach and under the
  cloak, a blue shirt falling to the calves. He wears red
  “chausses” and black pointed shoes with a golden rim. His
  lady wears a long linen or silk veil (pallium) covering the
  head and closed at the neck by a jewel. The veil opens on a
  long embroidered shirt hiding the feet, with wide sleeves
  and golden braids. Underneath she wears a skintight
  chemise.
  The prince’s main residence was his palace. The staff
  consisted of servants, guards, clerics and craftsmen.
  Princes were on the move most the year, meeting their
  peers or making pilgrimages, stopping off at their many
  country castles.
  THE PALACE
  Typically a palace would consist of a defensive wall
  enclosing 
  domestic 
  dependencies, 
  a 
  long 
  timber
  warehouse, a chapel and a stone or brick building with the
  ceremonial room (aula) on the first floor where the prince
  discussed matters of politics and religion with visiting
  vassals, bishops and abbots.
  A CASTLE
  The first floor of the stone tower was without openings and
  used as storeroom. The second floor was the living room
  of the lord and his suite and was provided with a fireplace
  and groined bays. Inside the defensive walls one found
  barracks for the garrison (provided in part by vassals and
  allies), shelters for the servants and the craftsmen, and
  barns.
  During the Dark Ages, war mainly took place between
  lords, between princes and vassals or between king and
  lords: Apart a few notable exceptions there were strictly
  speaking no “international” wars.
  The reasons to wage war were material ones: land,
  strongholds, cities, etc. Therefore war basically consisted
  of sieges, burning down entire villages, and slaughtering
  and raping at will.
  Note that great lords wore heavy armor, rode fast battle
  horses and were worth their own weight in silver coins.
  Therefore they only “accidentally” died on the battlefield
  and when caught, the enemy usually preferred to hold
  them for ransom.
  Cities and Trade
  In the Occidental society of the Dark Ages there was little
  room for trade. Everything was basically produced or
  gathered on the spot. Money only played a small part in
  the economy.
  There were many reasons for this economic stagnation, the
  main one being the downfall of Carolingian Empire that
  had caused a fragmentation of centralized power and a
  disruption of established trading routes and posts. Muslims
  controlled Spain and Sicily . Vikings had devastated the
  ports of the North Sea. The Danube was still unsafe for
  navigation because of the Hungarians, despite their recent
  conversion to Christianity. Last but not least, Church
  condemned trading under the principle that “deniers do not
  produce deniers”.
  The network of Roman roads was antiquated and only
  practicable by beasts of burden. Wheeled vehicles were
  only used for short distances. Moreover, local lords
  imposed multiple tolls on travelers and traders.
  Rivers constituted in fact the most practical and
  dependable communication route. Towns along large
  navigable rivers were usually situated at regular intervals,
  corresponding roughly to a day of travel. The most
  important towns had a bridge.
  In Germany and in the North of France, cities of the Dark
  Ages only survived as cathedral cities, that is residences of
  lay or clergy lords, and all activities were tied to the daily
  life of these lords.
  Just like any feudal lord, the bishop was the master of the
  personnel and he owned all the property in his diocese.
  The city inhabitants were more or less under the same
  juridical conditions as country tenants. They were lodged,
  fed, clothed and armed by the bishop.
  A CATHEDRAL CITY
  The heart of a city was the cathedral district, which
  exhibited a cathedral, the bishop’s palace, the tower of the
  lay lord (burgrave) was responsible for the city’s
  protection, monasteries and Episcopal schools supervised
  by the chancellor, who issued licenses to teach. The
  schools provided higher education to form clerics.
  Close by one found the houses of the garrison's miles, the
  shelters for clerics, servants and other laymen in service of
  the bishop, the covered market and the shops of the
  craftsmen.
  A description of the Arras market around 1000 AD lists
  the following goods: woolen cloth, fish, corn, fruits, dye,
  ash, wooden platters, salt, wine, cattle, wax, lard, knives,
  iron, scythes, spears, lamb skins, cat skins, rabbits, leather,
  honey, butter, cheese, gold and slaves.
  
  Stéphane Gesbert                                                                   Utilities                                                                                             6
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  The city often still had ancient Roman walls and buildings.
  Streets were narrow and tortuous, winding in the shadow
  of two-storied houses.
  The Dark Ages saw the advent of “outside burgs”
  (forisburgus) as merchants' warehouses progressively
  outgrew the city walls. Merchants obtained new
  “privileges” from bishops. In fact townsmen - burgess -
  were about to transform the cities of the Middle Ages into
  real economic centers.
  In Italy the lords preferred to reside in cities rather than in
  their countryside castles, in the fashion of their Roman
  ancestors. Cities like Milan and Venice were relatively
  large and well developed compared to their relatives in the
  rest of the Occident.
  In the Dark Ages, most Jewish merchants were still based
  in far away countries like Syria, Egypt and Byzantium.
  Jews 
  who 
  lived 
  in 
  Occidental 
  cities 
  acted 
  as
  moneychangers or usurers, practices 
  forbidden 
  to
  Christians but nonetheless essential for society. They
  bought vital goods, ovens and mills, precious metals, and
  some even administered the finances of bishoprics.
  The Jews formed a strong community bound together by
  language, religion and common interests derived from
  their mercantile activities.
  The Christian attitude towards Jews generally oscillated
  between indifference and esteem, although a latent anti-
  Semitism was always there, ready to raise its ugly snout
  when some natural or unexplained disaster hit the
  Christian community.
  In the Dark Ages Vikings ruled the northern seas: they
  colonized Greenland and discovered North America, and
  they built huge settlements and warehouses in north
  Germany.
  At the beginning of the tenth century, the Swedish Vikings
  – the “Russ” - were well established in Russia. As soon as
  the snow melted, Scandinavian boats navigated the Dniepr
  from Kiev to the Black Sea and Constantinople. There the
  “Russ” traded honey, furs and slaves for spices, wines and
  silks.
  A GORODA
  Russian cities like Novgorod or Kiev (there were about a
  hundred of them) consisted of a wooden palisade enclosing
  three districts: the merchants, the craftsmen and the
  soldiers’ districts. Craftsmen worked metals, leather and
  bone, and made oil and cloth. Around this core grew lively
  suburbs where hunting, farming and gathering products
  (furs, honey, wax) were exchanged against iron and salt.
  EXPORT
  The Occident exported salt, wine, corn, fish (salted or
  smoked); linen, black woolen cloth from the Rhine,
  reddish woolen cloth of the Swabs, precious Flemish cloth;
  wood from the Trentino and Appenino forests; sickles,
  knives, Frankish weapons, Bohemian tin, copper and silver
  from Harz, Bohemia and Slovakia, Slavic gold, brass, lead,
  iron from Brescia, Carynthia and Styria, etc.
  Byzantium exported products from the Black Sea and the
  Orient, silk, spun gold, wines, spices, perfumes, incense,
  slaves, black fox fur, etc.
  Technology
  The sack of Rome in 410 AD marked the end of the
  Roman Empire, and thus the beginning of the Middle
  Ages. Most technological and scientific advances of the
  one thousand year old civilization were lost to the
  barbarian kingdoms, or survived in some crude form - and
  so it was in 950-1050 AD. The Christian Occident only
  started to rediscover the lost knowledge via the Arabs of
  Spain and Sicily, whose science was based on that of
  ancient Greece, Persia, and India.
  The above is particularly true of medicine. Although the
  medical science of the Romans would appear rudimentary
  by today’s standards, they did perform simple surgery and
  dentistry, knew how to cauterize and suture wounds, and
  how to disinfect them with wine (which was incidentally
  also the “anesthetic”). In contrast, health and hygiene in
  the Dark-Ages Christian world devolved to a messy affair
  of total ignorance, dogmatic misinterpretation of the
  Roman 
  legacy, 
  and 
  many 
  folkloric 
  half-truths.
  Occupational diseases and poisoning were commonplace,
  and child delivery was a death-defying business for both
  mother and baby. Infectious diseases were completely
  misunderstood and thus unstoppable, untreated battlefield
  injuries often resulted in massive infections and ultimately
  death, and so on and so forth.
  In the Dark Ages only the Arabs were intelligent enough to
  preserve the Roman legacy and even to advance it: the first
  medical faculty ever was established in 978 AD in
  Baghdad, many medical treatises were written, and there
  are records of surgery to remove tumors and gallstones,
  etc.
  A major technical breakthrough of the Dark Ages was the
  use of draught horses for ploughing, made possible by the
  introduction of horseshoes and rigid horse collars. Horses
  were put to good use in the fields: hitched up in line, they
  pulled the plough and the harrow much faster than oxen,
  and they were more resistant too. But both horses and oxen
  were expensive, so most farmers had to rely on manpower
  or donkeys.
  Milling the corn and the hay was done in water mills, and
  there were special beer-mills to mill hops, iron-mills for
  the iron industry, and fuller’s earth-mills for the textile
  industry. Again, renting the lord's mill was expensive,
  hence many farmers still relied on the ancient custom of
  hand-milling. Some mills were floated in the middle of
  rivers to increase their power.
  One corn mill was sufficient to support the needs of about
  50 peasant families.
  Iron ore, copper, salt, gold and silver were traditionally
  dug up in opencast mine pits (in some places galleries
  were dug, and gold was also sought in riverbed sands).
  Miners were simple tenants like most farmers.
  Ore was melted in primitive ovens. Iron was so rare in the
  Dark Ages that the need for weapons left little over for
  agricultural tools: wooden tools - ustensilia lignea -
  predominated.
  
  7                                                                                Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.76                                                      Stéphane Gesbert
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  Mineral salt was extracted from pits by first dissolving it
  with water. The mixture was hauled out of the mines with
  cranes and then boiled in big cauldrons until complete
  evaporation of the water. Salt was of course produced in
  coastal salterns too.
  Textile production was tied to the exploitation of the land,
  since it depended on wool, linen and hemp. The women
  dyed fabrics with natural dyes like madder and vermilion,
  and made clothing. Their tools were the distaff, the spindle
  and a simple upright loom operated by one person.
  Leather was typically made from ox, goat, lamb and wolf
  skins. Fur coats were made from lamb, marten, mole, otter
  or beaver skins. Both leather and fur were processed by
  specialized craftsmen.
  Glass working was uncommon during the Dark Ages, and
  most glass artifacts were luxury goods. The technology
  was not yet advanced enough to produce either clear glass
  or sizeable glass panels.
  
  Stéphane Gesbert                                                                   Utilities                                                                                             8
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  A Quick Tour of the World
  ARAB WORLD: vast urbanized empire, spanning North
  Africa, two-thirds of Spain, Sicily and the Near East, with
  the fabled capital Baghdad. The Arabs were unequalled
  scholars in Mathematics, Medicine, Alchemy, and
  Astronomy. Despite the unifying Islamic culture, the Dark
  Ages saw the rise of political fragmentation in the Arab
  world. In the Dark Ages, occidentals considered Muslims
  as ordinary neighbors, and there wasn't any particular
  animosity directed towards them.
  Cordoba
  Cordoba in Spain was the second largest city of the
  Occident, with over hundred thousand inhabitants, one
  order of magnitude more than western capitals like Paris,
  London, Rome or Aachen. The city counted more than
  hundred thousand houses, seven hundred mosques, seventy
  libraries, and one university (still to be invented in the
  Occident). The streets were paved and lit at night! Near the
  Great Mosque and its thousand columns, streets were even
  covered with carpets. The brick houses were built in the
  style of North Africa and the Middle East: the largest ones
  were two storeys high, enclosing gardens and fountains,
  and equipped with a well or water cisterns.
  Baghdad
  Baghdad was one of the largest and wealthiest cities of the
  world. A triple circle of ramparts, 360 towers, and four
  gates defended the “Round City” as it was also called. On
  a moat at its very center stood the great palace and the
  great mosque. Suburbs surrounded the city with the huge
  al-Karkh market to the South, and the city wharves to the
  east, on the river Tigris. Two pontoon bridges crossed the
  river to the east bank and its growing suburb. Baghdad had
  state hospitals and close to thousand official doctors of
  medicine.
  BYZANTIUM: the civilized Eastern Roman Empire,
  center of religious orthodoxy. The centralized political
  administration 
  controlled 
  the 
  economy 
  via 
  large
  corporations. Territory divided into military provinces
  called “themes”, ruled by military governors, and provided
  with a network of castles. Poor road system though (goods
  were carried on the backs of pack animals or women!).
  By 1020 AD, the Byzantine ruled the Balkans, from
  Hungary to Armenia. Commercial relations between
  Byzantium and the Occident (especially Italy) were quite
  frequent, but nonetheless tainted by a definite mistrust.
  Constantinople
  The capital Constantinople surpassed ancient Rome in size
  and in beauty. Constantinoples was Europe’s largest city,
  counting close to a million inhabitants, and defended by a
  fifteen-mile long triple defensive wall with fifty gates. It
  had long avenues bordered with countless marble columns,
  public baths covered with mosaics, many basilisks and
  forums, aqueducts, cisterns and sewers. Constantinople
  was the focal point of trade routes to and from the
  Occident, Scandinavia, Russia, Persia, Ethiopia and even
  China.
  GERMAN EMPIRE: two-thirds of the Holy Roman
  Empire were still virgin forest in the Dark Ages - terra
  incognita! The Empire lay east of the Meuse and reached
  as far as Bohemia. The North Sea coast of the Empire
  extended from the fens of the Netherlands to the great
  northern plain.
  The emperor (Imperator Romanorum Augustus) was
  elected by the nobility of the four duchies: Saxons, Franks,
  Bavarians and Swabs. Bishops and abbots who controlled
  much land and provided part of the emperor’s army held
  the highest functions of the State. German bishops even
  ruled the bishoprics of Bohemia, Hungary and Poland.
  The eastern marches were Christianized in the tenth
  century and colonized in the eleventh.
  Attempts to restore the grandeur of the Carolingian Empire
  yielded mixed results. Nevertheless, the centralized power
  (i.e. the Emperor, imperial bishops and pagus counts -
  judges) was quite well respected, thereby delaying the
  fragmentation of authority by the great nobility, as had
  already happened in France.
  KINGDOM OF BURGUNDY: wealthy kingdom around
  the Rhone-Saone valley, west of the Jura and the Alps,
  including the warm Provence and its Roman way of life.
  KINGDOM OF ENGLAND: Kingdom torn between the
  Danes, the Anglo-Saxons, and the Normans of the duchy
  of Normandy in France. Land divided into shires and
  “hundreds” (“vapnatak” in Danish areas). The formation of
  principalities wasn't felt in England at the same time, or
  with the same force than on the main land.
  Hundreds had the responsibility to enforce local justice
  (Malls were held once per month). The earl was the royal
  officer of a shire responsible for raising military forces and
  implementing royal justice. Shire courts were presided
  over by bishop and sheriff - a minor royal official. The
  sheriff was also sent on “turns” to the local courts of the
  hundreds, and collected the royal revenues and taxes.
  In some regions Danish farmers had settled, keeping their
  own laws and customs.
  KINGDOM OF FRANCE: wine and wheat land of the
  Franks, with numerous cathedral cities, like Paris.
  Formerly Roman Gaul, it extended from the heaths of
  Aquitaine, in the south, to the Ardennes forest in the north.
  Dispute with the Empire about the Dukedom of Lorraine.
  The power of the King - the Duke of France - reposed on
  the sole domains of the crown. France was the birthplace
  of feudalism and feudal institutions.
  France was a patchwork of strongholds in the Dark Ages,
  much more so than Germany or Italy. Strongholds were
  often not more than ten kilometers apart. In the course of
  the Dark Ages, France moved from anarchy to a state with
  large 
  territorial 
  principalities 
  and 
  well 
  developed
  administrations.
  
  9                                                                                Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.76                                                      Stéphane Gesbert
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  KINGDOM OF ITALY: mountainous land of the
  Lombards, still attached to an urban way of life inherited
  from ancient Rome.
  Venice
  Venice was a city entirely living from trade. Venice
  exported heathen Slavs kidnapped or bought on the
  Dalmatian coast, to the harems of Egypt and Syria. Except
  for slaves, the lowest people around were sailors,
  craftsmen and merchants!
  PAPAL STATES
  The Papal States to the South of the kingdom of Italy were
  ruled by the Pope of the Western Church, bishop of Rome,
  Vicar of Christ, from his Holy See in Rome. The clergy
  and the people of Rome theoretically elected the Pope. In
  practice however, he was chosen by Roman nobles, which
  made him the instrument of political factions. Nonetheless,
  the clerical bureaucracy succeeded in maintaining Rome’s
  spiritual power over Christendom.
  Rome, the Eternal City
  In the Dark Ages, Rome was a vast field of antique ruins,
  the remnants of the Roman civilization. Within the city
  walls that once sheltered a million inhabitants, a few
  thousands now lived in small groups scattered along the
  banks of the Tibre.
  The Eternal City attracted a constant flow of pilgrims, the
  bread 
  and 
  butter 
  of 
  Rome’s 
  clerics, 
  innkeepers,
  pawnbrokers, and nobles that lived in strongholds built on
  ruins.
  RUSSIA: the Russian Empire - centered on Kiev - was a
  creation of the Swedish Vikings, and consisted of
  principalities. A prince was a sort of supreme judge with
  limited powers otherwise: he was responsible for the
  defense of the city and the land. An assembly of nobles
  and bourgeois supported the prince in his duty.
  The kingdom of Kiev united Slavs and Vikings into one
  nation, under the umbrella of the Byzantine culture and the
  Christian faith.
  Kiev
  A great city, capital of a powerful state, Kiev had eight
  markets and forty churches. Hagia Sophia was one of the
  most beautiful monuments of Christendom. Kiev offered
  large warehouses for storing goods. Craftsmen and
  merchants were organized into rich guilds called
  "hundreds", and benefited from special privileges. It was
  for instance possible to obtain credit from local princes or
  other merchants.
  SCANDINAVIAN KINGDOMS: Denmark, Sweden and
  Norway. Viking society originally consisted of clans of
  free farmers organized in small isolated communities, each
  with its own customs and its clan leader. The Viking
  woman had a social status not found elsewhere in the
  Occident, except maybe in Britain. She could possess land,
  strongholds and drakkars.
  Denmark was a unified Christian kingdom, where feudal
  lords held land. The “Danevirke”, a long earth wall
  crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula, separated
  Denmark and Germany.
  Sweden was the only Scandinavian region that failed to
  become a united kingdom during the Dark Ages. Also,
  conversion to Christianity progressed very slowly in
  Sweden, and urban development stagnated.
  SLAVONIC STATES: the Dark Ages saw 
  the
  transformation of the pagan lands of central Europe into
  unified Christian states: Poland, Hungary and Bohemia.
  The Hungarians were originally fierce Asian nomads who
  had invaded the region between the Tisza and the Danube
  around 900 AD, splitting the Slavic world in two.
  Prague
  The largest northern city of the Occident, according to
  Ibrahim Ibn Yakub. A city of whitewashed stone, with an
  important craft industry (saddles, bridles, shields), and a
  big slave market. There, great lords could sell their serfs to
  Jewish and Hungarian traders.
  SPANISH KINGDOMS: there were four Christian states
  in Spain to the south of the Pyrénées, squeezed between
  the powerful Arab state and the Christian world.
  AND BEYOND: obviously the world was not limited to
  the above. The Vikings had colonized Greenland and
  discovered North America, and struggled with the Beothuk
  Indians and the Inuit. The Arabs had established trading
  routes to dark Africa and its famed gold. Other trading
  routes linked Byzantium and the Arab world to Russia,
  East Africa, India, and China...
  
  Stéphane Gesbert                                                                   Utilities                                                                                           10
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  1000 AD Costs, Equipment & Services
  Listed prices are indicative for new goods. Two important
  factors that influence the price of an item are availability
  and quality.
  FOOD
  12-24 breads, 2 pounds
  1 denier
  2 pounds of cheese
  1 denier
  3 dozens of eggs
  1 denier
  Food and lodging, 1 day
  1-5 deniers
  Horse fodder, 1 day
  3-6 deniers
  CLOTHING
  Woolen pelisse - cheap
  12 deniers
  Monk’s cowl, hooded
  60 deniers
  Short cloak - superior
  120 deniers
  Double cloak, hooded - winter
  140 deniers
  Marten cloak, bonnet - noble
  360 deniers
  TOOLS
  Bucket
  12 deniers
  Awl, plane, auger, file, pliers, shears,
  hammer, saw
  4-24 deniers
  Sickle, hand ax, pickax, spade
  24 deniers
  Swing plow
  72 deniers
  Plow (iron plowshare and colter)
  140 deniers
  WEAPONS, SHIELDS AND ARMOUR
  24 arrows or 12 bolts
  12 deniers
  Scabbard
  24 deniers
  Helm
  72 deniers
  Refer also to the weapon tables above.
  MISCELLANEOUS
  Resinous torch, lamp oil, candle for 2-
  hours worth of light
  1 denier
  Creeper rope, 30-ft
  2 deniers
  Fiber rope, 30-ft
  12 deniers
  6-persons tent, incl. 2 10-ft poles
  360 deniers
  Traveler’s pack: outer wear, water-skin,
  knife, fishing line & hook, felt blanket,
  sack, flintstone & iron, whetstone
  240 deniers
  Warrior gear: war-horse, saddle, horn,
  sword, spear, helm, chainmail, shield
  2400 deniers
  DAILY WAGES
  Farmer, priest, servant
  1-3 deniers
  Craftsman, sailor
  3-6 deniers
  Guard, cleric, mercenary
  4-8 deniers
  Warrior, merchant
  20-40 deniers
  These values represent either equivalent earnings or hiring
  wages.
  ANIMALS
  Farm dog
  12 deniers
  Sheep
  12-15 deniers
  Cow
  24 deniers
  Mule
  36 deniers
  Sow
  12-54 deniers
  Ox
  24-108 deniers
  Horse
  240+ deniers
  War-horse
  600 deniers
  Young slave, boy or girl
  < 3000 deniers
  VEHICLES
  Wheelbarrow
  12 deniers
  Two-wheeled cart
  120 deniers
  Four-wheeled wagon
  240 deniers
  Four wheeled cart (leathered)
  360 deniers
  Four-wheeled carts in the Dark Ages lacked a pivoting
  beam. Oxcarts covered with leather are watertight.
  CONSTRUCTIONS
  Commoner’s hut
  24 deniers
  Commoner’s house
  120 deniers
  Short wooden bridge
  140 deniers
  Fishery
  160 deniers
  Timber hall
  240 deniers
  Water mill
  270 deniers
  Small farm with land
  2400 deniers
  Earth and timber castle: tower, moat,
  stockade, ditch, bailey and gatehouse
  12000 deniers
  BOATS
  Rowboat
  120 deniers
  Raft
  12 deniers
  Viking Drakkar
  9000 deniers
  Norse Knorr
  3000 deniers
  Merchant boat (rowboat/pump optional)
  12000 deniers
  Byzantine merchant ship (incl. rowboat)
  24000 deniers
  
  11                                                                              Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.76                                                      Stéphane Gesbert
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  Dark Ages Glossary
  Abbey: important monastery run by an abbot.
  Alchemy: in the Dark Ages Arabian alchemy or al-Kimia.
  Mystical teachings of Arabic scholars and philosophers
  about the order of nature, the four elements of Aristotle
  (earth, water, air, and fire), and how to control their
  transmutation.
  Ale: alcoholic beverage fermented from yeast, water, and
  malt. Safer than water!
  Allod: land held in full ownership. Inheritance regime
  based on the division of the allod amongst all heirs of
  equal rank, e.g. all sons.
  Armarius: librarian. Books were put in closets (armaria).
  Arts: cycle of seven literary and scientific disciplines that
  formed the base of teaching and culture during late
  antiquity and the Middle Ages (see Quadrivium and
  Trivium). Saint Augustine’s doctrine stated that the sole
  objective of an art should be a better understanding of the
  Holy Scriptures.
  Astrology: scholarly theory by which the celestial
  movement of the stars (and planets) constrain “human
  forces” as well as the forces of nature.
  Auctores: authoritative classical writers, e.g. Cicero, the
  Dark Ages reference for the art of writing, and Virgil, the
  reference in poetry.
  Automaton: self-acting machine. Mechanical wonder that
  imitates the movements of life. One example is the
  animated 
  throne 
  of 
  Emperor 
  Konstantinos 
  VII
  Porfyrogennetos (941), adorned with a golden tree, singing
  birds, and roaring golden lions.
  Ban: power to command, to constrain and to punish.
  Originally a royal power, the ban was usurped by lesser
  lords with the weakening of public authority. E.g.: the
  right to rent out somebody's bull or boar, to force tenants
  to use one's mill, oven or wine press for a fee. Above all,
  the right to exert (arbitrary) justice and levies.
  Benedictine rule: a monastic rule elaborated by Saint
  Benedict of Nurcia in the sixth century.
  Bible, the: the Septuagint is the first major Greek
  translation of the Old Testament, written in Alexandria
  between 250 and 150 BC. The Vulgate is the major Latin
  translation of the Bible, written by Jerome late 3rd, early
  4th century at the request of pope Damasus. There are also
  scattered and partial English translations attributed to
  Bede.
  Boni homines: Freemen recipients of local custom
  (Roman or German), presiding malls. In feudal countries,
  they merely assisted seigniorial courts exercising the ban.
  Books: primarily bound, copied and stored in abbeys. The
  catalogue of a monastic library typically contained the
  books of the Bible, commentaries of the Bible, the works
  of Flavius Josephus, Horacius, Lucan, Perseus and
  Juvenal, poets of late antiquity, historiae and the life of
  saints. In the profane closet, one could find classical
  theatre pieces, Boece’s summary of Plato and Aristotle,
  books treating the seven arts of the Quadrivium and the
  Trivium, quaestiones medicinales and books on the virtues
  of plants.
  Bronze: many monumental bronze doors and statues were
  produced in the Dark Ages. The most famous bronze
  workshop was that of Bernard of Hildesheim.
  Canonical praying hours: prima hora at dawn, tertia in
  the morning, sexta at noon, nona in the afternoon, vesper
  at sunset, etc.
  Castrum: important fortress with many eligible parties, as
  opposed to lesser - and often more recent - strongholds
  belonging to one lineage.
  Chanson de geste: Long epic poem, e.g. “Roland”.
  Charter: manuscript that contained the ownership titles of
  a physical person or moral person.
  Clepsydra: very rare clock working with the water level
  of a slowly emptying recipient.
  Corn: wheat, rye, oats, and barley grain.
  Craftsmen: armourers, bakers, blacksmiths, brewers,
  butchers, 
  carpenters, 
  cooks, 
  furriers, 
  goldsmiths,
  locksmiths, masons, millers, painters, parchment makers,
  saddlers, shoemakers, tailors, tanners, etc.
  Crypt: column-supported, vaulted chapel with curved
  walls, often situated under a church’s choir; usually houses
  the bodily remains of saints (relics).
  Custom: the established custom (consuetudo) was often
  the only recourse against arbitrary seigniorial justice (the
  ban) and unfair taxes (malas exactiones).
  Denier/Penny/Denarius: silver coin in use in the
  Occident. 
  Fictitious 
  monetary 
  units 
  are 
  the
  sou/shilling/solidus 
  (12 
  deniers) 
  and 
  the
  livre/pound/librum (20 solidus). The Byzantine used the
  nomisma, and the Arabs used the dinar, both gold
  currencies.
  Dues (in kind): sheaves, poultry, honey cakes, livestock,
  skins, clothing, etc.
  Exemption: privilege granted by the Pope to a monastery
  that more or less freed it from the control of the bishop.
  Familia: group of servile workers housed and fed by a
  master, and who owed him all their work force.
  Fetes, Christian: the three oldest and most important ones
  are: Christmas (Christ’s birth on December 25th), Epiphany
  (January 6th), and Easter (Christ’s resurrection on the
  Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal
  equinox). Lent (40 days of fasting) and the Holy Week
  before Easter are very important too.
  Feudalism: relations that took place between the
  dominated class (peasants) and the dominant class
  (nobility).
  Feudal system: system of man-to-man ties that structured
  the dominant class (potentes). The practical aspects of this
  system consisted of swearing fidelity (fidelitas) and paying
  homage (hominium) to one’s lord, in exchange for the fief
  (feudum, beneficium).
  Fief: administrative domain of a lord.
  Fish: commonly consumed fishes were salmon, lamprey,
  cuttlefish, carp, trout, eel, barbel, roach, chub, and also
  mullet and herring. Fish was traditionally salted or
  smoked.
  Forest fruits: apples, pears, plums, chestnuts and hop
  cones.
  Frock: outer robe-like garment worn by a monk.
  
  Stéphane Gesbert                                                                   Utilities                                                                                           12
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  Fruits: fruits were very varied, e.g. quinces, peaches,
  medlars, walnuts, hazelnuts, cherries and strawberries.
  Greek fire: incendiary substance made of naphtha,
  quicklime and sulfur, and almost impossible to put out. To
  be flung at enemy buildings with catapults.
  Haus/Domus: house. In the high aristocracy, the “house”
  consists of the direct family, a chaplain, household officers
  (seneschal, constable, marshal, etc.) who were sometimes
  granted a fief for support, a few clerics, servants and even
  prostitutes.
  Hawking: hunting “sport” imported from the plains of
  Asia, and growing in popularity.
  Herbs: vegetables; lentils, leek (eaten raw), cabbage,
  lettuce, chervil, parsley, watercress.
  Historiae: History annals (manuscripts). Men of Church,
  who conceived history in a biblical perspective only, wrote
  historiae.
  Immunity: institution that closed a territory (usually a
  religious domain) to royal officers; the beneficiaries of the
  immunity fulfilled the tasks usually reserved to the public
  authority (e.g. justice).
  Indulgence, partial: the payment of money in lieu of
  penance. Standard practice from the 11th century onwards.
  Itineraria: lists of region and city names. Itineraria are
  inherited from the Romans and regularly updated. Used for
  military expeditions, travels and territorial divisions.
  Joculatores: 
  wandering 
  minstrels, 
  professional
  entertainers. Joculatores might also juggle, ropewalk or
  sell sexual favors.
  Languages, written: most widespread in the Occident is
  Latin (Roman Catholic Church). “Vernacular” languages
  are second best but rising: (Old High) German in the
  Empire, (Old) English in England, (Old) French – a
  simplification of Vulgar Latin – in France and Burgundy,
  “Glagolica” script throughout the Slavic world, and Syriac
  in Western Asia as a replacement of Greek. Arab used in
  the Arab world, including Southern Spain.
  Magyars: heathen Hungarians.
  Maleficia: potion, supposedly magical.
  Mall: public assembly of justice enforcing the “custom”,
  as opposed to seigniorial justice (the ban). Defendants
  were rarely acquitted or executed (nobles were beheaded,
  others hanged), as most were simply banned.
  Mansus: type of landholding. One distinguishes between
  the master’s mansus (representing up to a half of the arable
  land) and the farmers’ tenures.
  Mappa mundi: symbolic world map.
  Mead: alcoholic beverage fermented from honey and
  water.
  Miles: “soldier”, or mounted warrior. A feudal warlord
  typically had 10 to 20 milites in service or hired.
  Music: typical musical instruments are drums, the
  tambourine, flutes and strings. The Dark Ages are also
  famous for the monks’ Gregorian chants.
  Ordeal: severe physical test that a crime suspect had to go
  through to prove his innocence in the face of god (e.g.
  having no marks from putting one’s hand into fire or
  boiling water, or holding a white-hot iron). Another
  favorite of the Dark Ages was the “judicial duel”, whereby
  the duelist who died was decreed guilty. Post mortem!
  Pagus: “country”, district of a county.
  Parish: one village out of two possessed one, and none in
  the frontier marches. Most churches were built in stone,
  and the dead buried next to them. Note that stone itself was
  not used as a decorative element. Rather, mosaics and
  mural paintings embellished surfaces. Parishes provided
  sanctuary to wanderers, fugitives and strangers. Some
  churches had special huts for that purpose. In theory, no
  armed or mounted man was allowed to enter the church.
  Peace of God: movement started by the Church in the
  980s. This movement had two objectives: limit the
  brutalities of the warrior aristocracy, and protect the
  victims of these brutalities. The decisions of the
  assemblies of Peace, expressed in council canons aimed
  above all at protecting the persons and properties of non-
  warring parties (clerics, farmers, and merchants). The
  “Truce of God” forbade to battle from Friday to Sunday,
  during Lent or other liturgical events.
  Priory: small monastery - sometimes with only a handful
  of monks - lead by a prior.
  Privileges, urban: clauses like the inviolability of homes
  against public officials, the suppression of judicial duels,
  and the ban on legal proceedings against burgess outside
  the city.
  Quadrivium: scientific disciplines of the liberal arts:
  music, astronomy, arithmetic and geometry.
  Quaestiones medicinales: very widespread teaching
  technique for medicine consisting of questions and
  answers.
  Reform: aimed at the purification of the morals of the
  clergy, and the independence of ecclesiastic power with
  respect to the secular power.
  Relics: relics come in 3 classes. First are corporeal parts of
  saints and artifacts from Christ’s passion and death, e.g.
  Christ’s crown of thorns at the Cathedral of Notre dame in
  Paris, chunks of the true cross in Paris again (as well as
  three of the four nails), Rome, Brussels, Oviedo, and the
  lance that pierced Christ’s side, of which the blade seems
  to have been lost. Second, articles of clothing or household
  artifacts touched by saints. Third, items that have touched
  first or second class relics.
  Runes: religious and magical ideograms. The runic
  alphabet was used in Germany and Scandinavia.
  Saltus: non-cultivated part of the land - forest or fallow
  land - used for gathering, hunting and rearing.
  Saracens: heathen Arabs from south Spain and Sicily.
  Unequalled scholars.
  Scholasticus: literally “that belongs to the school”; person
  responsible of a monastic or cathedral school. The
  scholastic philosophy designates all of science and
  theology in the Middle Ages.
  Scriptorium: copying workshop in monasteries.
  Slavs: heathen people east of Germany.
  Tariff penance: ancient judicial custom of the Germans,
  adopted by Church, in which sins and crimes were
  inventoried with appropriate punishments, e.g. days of
  fasting (bread and water), prayers or pilgrimages. Hardly
  applied in practice. Secular justice was arbitrary or simply
  lacking, or rooted in personal vengeance and vendettas.
  God was the ultimate judge of course, and life was cheap
  indeed!
  Technographs: authors of artes, i.e. manuals for the basic
  and practical teaching of a discipline.
  Tenure: strips of land attributed to one farmer. A tenant
  owed the dues in kind and the labor service to his lord and
  the tithe to the parish priest.
  
  13                                                                              Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.76                                                      Stéphane Gesbert
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  Treasures: denier chests, jewelry, silver and onyx vases,
  crucifixes, chalices and other liturgical objects in solid
  gold, holy relics in precious reliquaries, wooden statues of
  saints sheeted in gold, ivory sculptures, miniatures,
  magnificent sacerdotal clothes, all in purple and gold,
  precious silken cloth, etc.
  Trivium: literary disciplines of the liberal arts: grammar,
  rhetoric and dialectic.
  Tropes: sacred theatre, in Latin, as opposed to the mimed
  theatre dating back to antiquity, which was partly obscene
  and strongly reproved.
  Venison: small game, deer, wild boar, and bear. Meat was
  spiced with thyme, rosemary and bay leaves. For
  conservation meat was either salted or smoked.
  Vicus: new pole of commercial activity that formed the
  kernel of a budding town (e.g. a stopping-off place to cross
  a river or a mountain pass).
  Vikings: 
  heathen 
  Scandinavians, 
  or 
  Nordmanni.
  Unrivalled sailors, terror of the Occidental world before
  950 AD.
  War engines (from ingenium, “ingenious contrivance”):
  battering rams, catapults, wheeled towers, balistas and
  trebuchets. Heavy catapults can shoot 50-pound missiles
  up to several hundred yards. A large hybrid trebuchet can
  easily hurl a 400-pound stone (or animal carcasses, or
  bundled humans) 100 yards away.
  Wine: reserved to the most privileged and to the
  celebration of the mass. The largest vineyards were
  situated in ecclesiastical domains or on the banks of large
  rivers, since these were major transport routes.
  
  Stéphane Gesbert                                                                   Utilities                                                                                           14
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  A Hundred Years and More
  950-986 Harald Blaatand unifies Danemark and imposes
  his rule on Norway.
  951 Otto I the Great, king of Germany, is declared King of
  Italy. He actually managed to impose his authority 10
  years later.
  954 Hungarian raids in Germany and Italy.
  954-994 Following Aymar, Maieul, fourth abbot of Cluny
  (Abbey founded in 909 by William the Pious, Duke of
  Aquitaine).
  954 France: death of Louis IV; his son Lothaire succeeds
  him under the tutelage of Hugh the Great, Duke of the
  Franks.
  955 Battle of Lechfeld (August 10th): Otto I vanquishes
  the Hungarians.
  959-975 Edgar rules over England. The archbishop
  Dunstan crowns him in 973.
  960-992 After the conversion of duke Mieszko I in 966,
  Poland becomes Christian and has its own bishopric
  (Posen). Mieszko seeks the support of the Empire by
  becoming the “friend of the Emperor”. He places his land
  under the protection of the Pope (985).
  961 The Byzantine, under the leadership of the general
  Phocas, conquer Crete, then Alep (Syria) in 962.
  Nicephorus II Phocas is emperor from 963 to 969, and
  campaigns against the Arabs in Cyprus.
  961-972 
  Kingdom 
  of 
  Kiev: 
  Sviatoslav 
  dominates
  international trade routes and clashes with Byzantium.
  961-976 In Cordoba, Kalif al-Hakam II, son of Abd al-
  Rahman III, continues the work of his father who pacified
  Muslim Spain (al-Andalus).
  962 Otto I crowned emperor in Rome by the Pope John
  XII: The Ottonians restore the Holy Roman Empire.
  963 Otto I deposes the “unworthy” Pope.
  969-976 Apogee of the Byzantine Empire under the rule of
  John I Tzimiskes. Russians thrown out of the Balkans;
  eastern Bulgaria becomes a Byzantine province. John also
  conquers Syria and Palestine.
  973-983 Empire: Otto II succeeds to Otto I, and marries
  Theophano, the niece of the Byzantine Emperor.
  975 A Pisano-byzantine fleet attacks Messina.
  976-1025 Basil II “the killer of Bulgarians”, defeats the
  Bulgarian King Samuel after a 20 year war. He promotes
  the propagation of the orthodox faith in Russia by giving
  his sister to the Russian prince Vladimir in 989.
  977-1002 Abusing the youth of the new Kalif Hisham II,
  son of al-Hakam II, who is only 10, the vizier Almanzor
  establishes the Arab domination over Spain (Omeyyad
  dynasty).
  978 First teaching hospital: medical faculty of 24
  physicians established at the al-Bimirastan al-‘Adubi by
  ‘Adud-ad-Dawla, in Baghdad.
  978-1015 Vladimir I “the Bright Sun” becomes sole ruler
  over the Russian princes of the Kingdom of Kiev. He
  marries the sister of Basil II, Princess Ann, and after his
  baptism in 988, Kiev becomes a religious center of
  orthodoxy.
  978-1016 The king Ethelred vainly tries to stop the Danish
  invasion of England, started in 980, by paying them large
  tributes (Danegeld). The Danes conquer England in 1013.
  982 Vikings discover Greenland. In 984, Erik the Red of
  Iceland reaches Greenland and establishes colonies.
  983 (spring) Mistav, prince of the Obodrites (Slavs), takes
  Hamburg and the Weletabs attack the bishoprics of
  Havelberg and Brandeburg.
  983 First custodial prison sentences (Britain): introduced
  under law of King Alfred for breaking a pledge. Prisoners
  to be fed by relatives unless they had none.
  983-1002 Empire: Otto III is ruling. Until 995 though, he
  is put in minority by his mother Theophano and
  grandmother Adelaide. In 996 he makes his cousin Bruno
  Pope (Gregory V) and is crowned emperor in Rome.
  985 The vizir Almanzor takes Barcelona.
  985-1014 Sven Forked-Beard Christianizes Denmark and
  leads the Danish army against the Anglo-Saxons in 994.
  Anglo-Saxon priests define the Danish Church.
  986 France: death of Lothaire: his son Louis V the “lazy”,
  associated to the throne since 979, succeeds him.
  987 Death of Louis V the “lazy”. At the request of the
  archbishop of Reims Adalberon, the overlords reject
  Charles, Duke of Lower-Lorraine and Lothaire’s brother,
  and elect Hugh Capet, who is crowned by the prelate.
  987 Crowning in Orleans of Robert the Pious, son of Hugh
  Capet, “associate” King.
  987 Institution of the Peace of God.
  987 Almanzor takes Coïmbra.
  988 Almanzor takes Leon.
  988 Charles, son of Louis IV, Duke of Lower-Lorraine and
  Carolingian pretender, takes the cities of Laon and Reims
  with the support of his bishop Arnoul. Laon is taken back
  in 991 and Charles dies in captivity in Orleans (992).
  988-1004 Abbon, abbot of Fleury-sur-Loire.
  991 (June 11th) Deposition of Arnoul bishop of Reims and
  election of the monk of Aurillac, Gerbert; formation of the
  “party of monks” that wishes to relieve their institution
  from the authority of bishops and only depend on Rome.
  992 First commercial treaty between Venice and
  Byzantium.
  992-1025 Duke Boleslas I Chobry the Brave, son of
  Mieszko, rules in Poland. Friendly relationship with
  Germany at first, but from 1003 to 1018 conflicts arise
  because Germany is opposed to Boleslav’s conception of a
  unified western Slavic state under Poland’s rule.
  993 January 31st, first saint canonization: bishop Ulrich,
  died 973, canonized by Pope John XV.
  994-1049 Odilon, abbot of Cluny.
  995 Eudes II becomes count of Blois at his father’s death.
  He seizes the county of Champagne in 1023 and tries to
  occupy in 1032 the kingdom of Burgundy-Provence.
  995-1022 Olof Sköttkonung, of the Upsal dynasty rules
  over Sweden and is baptized in 1008.
  996 Death of Richard the First; his son, Richard II, Duke
  of Normandy.
  996 (October 24th) France: death of Hugh Capet; Robert
  the Pious succeeds him.
  996-997 Uprising in the Champagne country.
  997 Almanzor takes Compostelle.
  
  15                                                                              Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.76                                                      Stéphane Gesbert
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  997-1038 Etienne I founds the Christian kingdom of
  Hungary, with the help of German knights and Benedictine
  monks.
  999-1003 Pontificate of Sylvester II (Gerbert of Aurillac).
  1000 (about) Leif Erikson, son of Erik the Red, discovers
  Vinland (“land of pastures” in North America) on the basis
  of a rumor, but fails to establish a lasting colony.
  1000-1035 Sancho the Great, king of Navarre, joins
  Castile and Aragon to his kingdom to better resist to
  Muslim Spain. He extends his influence to Catalonia and
  in Leon.
  1002-1024 Empire: Henry II the Saint rules (crowned
  emperor in 1014). He conquers Bohemia and becomes
  king of Italy in 1004.
  1002-1031 At the death of Almanzor, rival factions fight
  for power and provoke the fall of the Omeyyad caliphate
  of Cordoba in 1031. Christians attack – this is the
  beginning of the Reconquista.
  1002 At the death of his uncle Henry I, duke of Burgundy,
  Robert II the Pious disputes the duchy to Henry’s adoptive
  son and eventually entrusts it to his second son, Henry, in
  1015.
  1005-1029 Gauzlin, abbot of Fleury-sur-Loire.
  1006-1028 Fulbert, bishop of Chartres.
  1007 Foundation of the Bishopric of Bamberg; christening
  missions to the Slavs in the East.
  1016 Pisa and Genoa ally to attack the Arabs in Sardinia
  and Corsica.
  1016-1035 Knut the Great, son of Sven, King of Denmark,
  of England and of Norway (1028). He marries Ethelred’s
  widow. After his death, his sons rule over England until
  1042.
  1016 Beginning of the Norman expeditions in South Italy
  and Sicily.
  1017 France: Hugh, son of Constance of Arles and Robert
  the Pious, is crowned and associated to the throne.
  1019 Kingdom of Kiev: Iaroslav the Wise consolidates the
  Russian unity. First compilation of the Russian code
  (Russkaja Pravda), a mix of Byzantine law and Slavic
  custom.
  1023 Robert the Pious and the emperor Henry II meet in
  Ivois (Ardennes).
  1024-1039 Empire: Conrad II rules (crowned king of Italy
  in 1026 and emperor in 1027).
  1024 Knut the Great occupies the March of Slesvig.
  1025 Poland: Boleslas I crowned King.
  1025+ Decline of Byzantium because of rampant
  feudalism: the state grants lands to maintain its army,
  church and bureaucracy.
  1025-1034 Poland: Mieszko II must renounce to the crown
  because of Conrad II’s opposition, and recognize Conrad’s
  sovereignty in Poland (1033).
  1026 France: death of Hugh, designated heir to Robert the
  Pious. His second son Henry is crowned associate king in
  Reims (1027).
  1031 France: Henry I succeeds to Robert the Pious.
  1031 Spain: after the dislocation of the caliphate of
  Cordoba begins the reign of the Clan Kings (reyes de
  taifas). Their short-lived kingdoms have uncertain
  frontiers.
  1033 The Kingdom of Burgundy is incorporated to the
  Empire.
  1033-1036 The monk Guido of Arezzo introduces the
  modern musical notation Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si.
  1035 Spain: death of Sancho the Great, his domains are
  split amongst his 3 sons; Castile and Aragon become
  independent.
  1035-1047 Magnus the Good becomes King of Norway
  after deposing Sven, son of Knut the Great.
  1038 Poland: heathen insurrections and Czech attacks
  drive Casimir I out of the land. He returns with the help of
  the Germans, restores the State and the Church in Krakow.
  1039-1056 Henry III marries Agnes of Poitou and is
  crowned emperor in 1047. Bohemia and Hungary become
  German fiefs.
  1040 the clergy proclaims the Peace of God.
  1040 Pagan insurrection in Hungary.
  1042 Edward the Confessor, son of Ethelred, organizes a
  centralized administration of England with the help of the
  Normans.
  1044 Earliest known formula for gunpowder, published in
  the 
  Chinese 
  “Complete 
  Compendium 
  of 
  Military
  Classics”.
  1046 Synod of Sutri: the Pope Clement II intends to purify
  the clergy and forbid the marriage of priests.
  1054 Schism between the Western and the Oriental
  Church.
  
  Stéphane Gesbert                                                                   Utilities                                                                                           16
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  Natural Disasters and Occult Events
  “Even a god cannot change the past” – Agathon, c. 445 BC
  950 The Byzantine Theodorus Philetas translates the “Al
  Azif” 
  from 
  Arab 
  to 
  Greek, 
  and 
  renames 
  it
  “Necronomicon”.
  954 Abbot Adson writes a “small treaty of the Antichrist”
  for Gerberge, Queen of France; it prophesizes that
  Judgment Day won’t take place “before all the kingdoms
  of the world are separated from the Roman Empire”.
  956 Great epidemic in France and Germany.
  968 Famine in the Balkans (land of the Greek).
  978-984 The Chinese compile an encyclopedia of 1000
  volumes.
  983 Rebellion of the pagan Obrodites living along the
  lower Elbe; they succeed in establishing a pagan state that
  will last until the twelfth century!
  984 (June 20th) A kind of white comet is seen at noon in
  Thuringe, moving slowly across the sky.
  991-1052 First wave of neo-manicheism (heresies).
  992 Two “northern lights” (aurora borealis) observed
  above Germany during Walpurgis night and New Year’s
  eve.
  994-997 Holy Fire epidemic consumes Burgundy and
  France.
  997 The Anti-pope John XVI is made prisoner by the
  Emperor Otto; his ears, his tongue and his nose are cut off
  and his eyes are pierced.
  998 (February) In Germany a celestial body moving
  through the night sky suddenly explodes and falls to earth,
  while the moon turns to a bloody red.
  998 Seismic activity felt across the northern part of the
  Germanic Empire.
  998 Feast of All Souls celebrated for the first time in
  Cluny.
  1000 (millenium of the incarnation of Jesus) Terrible
  earthquake in Europe. The remarkably preserved body of
  the emperor Carlus Magnus is miraculously exhumed, and
  the relics are elevated in Aix. A man possessed by “bees”
  spreads Manichean heresies and eventually drowns himself
  in a well.
  1002 (December) One evening people observe “the
  apparition or the body of an enormous dragon throwing
  bundles of lightning”.
  1003 Strange inundations. Birth of a monster drowned by
  his parents. A leviathan as large as an island is spotted
  offshore.
  1005-1006 Draughts and floods cause a major famine in
  occidental Europe.
  1010 Destruction of the church of the Holy Sepulchre in
  Jerusalem by the “prince of Babylon” (caliph of Baghdad).
  Cosmic signs, disastrous draughts, excessive rains,
  epidemics, and horrible plagues.
  1014 Bright comet visible from September to December.
  1017 Manichean heretics corrupt the people of Aquitaine.
  1023 (January 24th) Solar eclipse; two “stars” are seen
  battling around the constellation of the Lion.
  1023/1024 Heresy in the Capetian capital Orleans: a sect
  of 14 Manichean “clerics” – who worship a devil
  appearing either as a black man or as an angel of light –
  refuse to be converted and choose to die on the pyre.
  1028 Impious Christians burn down Jerusalem. A witch,
  accused of cursing count Guillaume, is tortured and
  crucified.
  1030-1033 (millenium of the redemption of Christ)
  Apocalyptic climate and locusts swarms waste crops from
  the Orient to the Occident and cause the Great Famine.
  Widespread 
  cannibalism 
  and 
  “ghouls” 
  desecrate
  cemeteries.
  1033 (June 29) Solar eclipse; nobles try to kill the pope.
  1040 Widespread pagan revolt in Hungary.
  1044 The star “Bosphorus” (Lucifer) is observed moving
  up and down.
  1045 Holy Fire epidemic in the North of France.
  1046 (November) A heavenly body falls onto the fortified
  town of Saint Florentine; crops are two months late!
  1050 The Patriarch Michael of Constantinople condemns
  the blasphemous “Necronomicon”.
  
  17                                                                              Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.76                                                      Stéphane Gesbert
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  Who’s Who
  God
  The One and Only almighty creator, known to Christians
  as God the Father, YHVH (pronounced “Yahveh”) in
  Hebrew, and Allah to Muslims (Koran 29:46).
  Kings and Emperors
  Charlemagne’s descendants
  Louis IV, King of France 936-954
  Lothaire, King of France 954-986
  Louis V the Lazy, King of France 986-987
  Capetian kings (France)
  Hugh Capet 987-996
  Robert the Pious 996-1031
  Henry I 1031-1060
  Kings of Germany
  Otto I the Great 936-973
  Otto II 973-983
  Otto III 983-1002
  Henry II 1002-1024
  Conrad II the Salian 1024-1039
  Henry III 1039-1056
  Spanish kings
  Sancho, King of Castile, Navarre and Aragon 970-1035
  Ferdinand, King of Castile 1033-1065; Garcia, King of
  Navarre 1035-1054; Ramiro I, King of Aragon 1035-1063
  Monks
  Abbon of Fleury (945-1004): monk, scholar and abbot of
  the monastery of Fleury-sur-Loire (988). Very learned in
  the liberal arts, especially the Quadrivium, and author of
  numerous educational pamphlets. Abbon and Odilon of
  Cluny are the leading figure of the reforming monks
  around 1000 AD. Mortally wounded in a fight with
  rebellious monks.
  Adalberon (c. 920/30-989): bishop of Reims (969). He
  played an important role in the political intrigues that
  marked the beginning of the reign of Hugh Capet.
  Aimoin of Fleury (970-?): successor and biographic
  author of Abbon. Author of a history of the Fleury abbey
  and the “Miracula sancti Benedicti”.
  Anselm 
  of 
  Canterbury 
  (1033/34-1109). 
  Famous
  scholasticus who tried to explain Faith by using the
  ontological proof of God’s existence.
  Fulbert of Chartres (960-1028): founder of the school of
  Chartres, and bishop of Chartres in 1006. High quality
  teacher.
  Gerbert of Aurillac (940-1003): first scholasticus of
  Reims and friend of the archbishop Adalberon of Reims,
  Gerbert soon went into service with the Ottonians. Under
  the name of Sylvester II he was Pope between 999 and
  1003. Scholar specialized in the Quadrivium. Using the
  works of Boece, Gerbert taught his students notions of
  logic and Aristotle’s ten categories: substance, quality and
  quantity, relations, position, place, time, state, action and
  emotion. Gerbert brought back from northern Spain a
  treasury of Muslim science in mathematics, astronomy and
  music, and diffused this knowledge into Christendom.
  Gerbert also taught the Occident how to calculate, by re-
  introducing the usage of the abacus.
  Ibn Sina or “Avicenna” (980-1037): last famous Arab
  philosopher of note and doctor, perhaps the most
  remarkable man of the Orient. Author of numerous books,
  including the Book of Healing (a scientific encyclopedia)
  and the Canon of Medicine.
  Liutprand of Cremone (912-972): bishop of Cremone,
  cleric and writer at the service of Otto I and Otto II, author
  of the “History of Otto”.
  Maieul (906-994): fourth abbot of Cluny  (954). Famous
  for being captured by the Saracens in 972.
  Oddon of Meung: author of a long epic poem on the
  virtues of plants.
  Oliba (971-1046): count of Berga and Ripoll (988-1002),
  abbot of Ripoll, Cuxa and Bishop of Vic, in Catalonia.
  Prestigious clergyman, founder of Monserrat (1023), and
  reformer of numerous monasteries. He took part in the
  creation of the Truce of God.
  Peter Damian (11th century): cardinal notorious for
  writing a manual praising flagellation, in spite of Saint
  Augustine’s advice to congregates not to flagellate
  themselves too enthusiastically nor frequently.
  
  Stéphane Gesbert                                                                   Utilities                                                                                           18
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  Ready-to-play adventurers
  Name
  Sex
  __
  Age
  __ Occupation
  STR
  DEX
  Dexterity
  %
  Dark Ages
  APP
  Charisma
  %
  Hit
  Points
  Magic
  Points
  CON
  INT
  Idea
  %
  POW
  Luck
  %
  SIZ
  EDU
  Know
  %
  __
  __
  SAN
  99 –Cthulhu Mythos :
  Damage Bonus :
  Weapon
  Skill.% Dmg
  Range
  #Att Weapon
  Skill%
  Dmg
  Range
  #Att
  � 
  Fist (50)
  __
  1D3
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  � 
  Kick (25)
  __
  1D4
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  � 
  Head Butt (10)
  __
  1D6
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  � 
  Grapple (25)
  __
  spec
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  INVESTIGATOR POINTS
  � 
  Accounting (10)
  � 
  Grapple (25)
  Own Language (EDU x5):
  Write Language (01):
  Art (05):
  � 
  Head Butt (10)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Hide (20)
  � 
  Persuade (15)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Insight (05)
  � 
  Pilot Boat (01)
  Other skills
  � 
  Bargain (05)
  � 
  Jump (25)
  � 
  Potions (01)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Climb (40)
  � 
  Kick (25)
  � 
  Repair/Devise (20)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Conceal (15)
  � 
  Library Use (EDU x2)
  � 
  Ride (05)
  � 
  __________
  Craft (05):
  � 
  Listen (25)
  Science (01):
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Natural World (10)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Navigate (10)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Cthulhu Mythos (00)
  � 
  Occult (05)
  � 
  Sneak (10)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Dodge (DEX x2)
  � 
  Other Kingdoms (01)
  � 
  Spot Hidden (25)
  SPELLS
  � 
  Drive horses (20)
  Other Language (01):
  � 
  Status (15)
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  Fast Talk (05)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Swim (25)
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  First Aid (30)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Throw (25)
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  Fist/Punch (50)
  � 
  Own Kingdom (20)
  � 
  Track (10)
  _____________ _____________
  Name Leoda the Bonesetter
  Sex
  F
  Age
  33 Occu BohemianWitch
  STR
  10
  DEX
  13
  Dexterity
  65%
  Dark Ages
  APP
  11
  Charisma
  55%
  Hit
  Points
  Magic
  Points
  CON
  9
  INT
  16
  Idea
  80%
  POW
  16
  Luck
  80%
  SIZ
  10
  EDU
  13
  Know
  65%
  10
  16
  SAN
  80
  99 –Cthulhu Mythos :
  99
  Damage Bonus : none
  Weapon
  Skill.% Dmg
  Range
  #Att Weapon
  Skill%
  Dmg
  Range
  #Att
  � 
  Fist (50)
  __
  1D3
  -
  1
  � 
  Sling
  56
  1D4
  60
  1
  � 
  Kick (25)
  __
  1D4
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  � 
  Head Butt (10)
  __
  1D6
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  � 
  Grapple (25)
  __
  spec
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  INVESTIGATOR POINTS
  � 
  Accounting (10)
  � 
  Grapple (25)
  Own Language (EDU x5):
  Write Language (01):
  Art (05):
  � 
  Head Butt (10)
  � 
  Slavic
  65
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Hide (20)
  � 
  Persuade (15)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Insight (05)
  35
  � 
  Pilot Boat (01)
  Other skills
  � 
  Bargain (05)
  45
  � 
  Jump (25)
  � 
  Potions (01)
  56
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Climb (40)
  � 
  Kick (25)
  � 
  Repair/Devise (20)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Conceal (15)
  � 
  Library Use (EDU x2)
  26
  � 
  Ride (05)
  � 
  __________
  Craft (05):
  � 
  Listen (25)
  50
  Science (01):
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Natural World (10)
  55
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Navigate (10)
  30
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Cthulhu Mythos (00)
  � 
  Occult (05)
  35
  � 
  Sneak (10)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Dodge (DEX x2)
  26
  � 
  Other Kingdoms (01)
  � 
  Spot Hidden (25)
  SPELLS
  � 
  Drive horses (20)
  Other Language (01):
  � 
  Status (15)
  Disembodiment _____________
  � 
  Fast Talk (05)
  35
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Swim (25)
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  First Aid (30)
  70
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Throw (25)
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  Fist/Punch (50)
  � 
  Own Kingdom (20)
  � 
  Track (10)
  _____________ _____________
  
  19                                                                              Cthulhu Dark Ages 1.76                                                      Stéphane Gesbert
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  Name Brother Deusde
  Sex
  M
  Age
  40 Occu Benedictine Monk
  STR
  10
  DEX
  8
  Dexterity
  40%
  Dark Ages
  APP
  10
  Charisma
  50%
  Hit
  Points
  Magic
  Points
  CON
  13
  INT
  11
  Idea
  55%
  POW
  12
  Luck
  60%
  SIZ
  9
  EDU
  15
  Know
  75%
  11
  12
  SAN
  66
  99 –Cthulhu Mythos :
  99
  Damage Bonus : none
  Weapon
  Skill.% Dmg
  Range
  #Att Weapon
  Skill%
  Dmg
  Range
  #Att
  � 
  Fist (50)
  __
  1D3
  -
  1
  � 
  1D4
  S
  1
  � 
  Kick (25)
  __
  1D4
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  � 
  Head Butt (10)
  __
  1D6
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  � 
  Grapple (25)
  __
  spec
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  INVESTIGATOR POINTS
  � 
  Accounting (10)
  30
  � 
  Grapple (25)
  Own Language (EDU x5):
  Write Language (01):
  Art (05):
  � 
  Head Butt (10)
  � 
  Italian
  75
  � 
  Latin
  46
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Hide (20)
  � 
  Persuade (15)
  55
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Insight (05)
  � 
  Pilot Boat (01)
  Other skills
  � 
  Bargain (05)
  � 
  Jump (25)
  � 
  Potions (01)
  � 
  Sign Language
  46
  � 
  Climb (40)
  � 
  Kick (25)
  � 
  Repair/Devise (20)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Conceal (15)
  � 
  Library Use (EDU x2)
  65
  � 
  Ride (05)
  � 
  __________
  Craft (05):
  � 
  Listen (25)
  65
  Science (01):
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Natural World (10)
  � 
  Astronomy
  51
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Navigate (10)
  30
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Cthulhu Mythos (00)
  � 
  Occult (05)
  45
  � 
  Sneak (10)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Dodge (DEX x2)
  16
  � 
  Other Kingdoms (01)
  � 
  Spot Hidden (25)
  50
  SPELLS
  � 
  Drive horses (20)
  Other Language (01):
  � 
  Status (15)
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  Fast Talk (05)
  � 
  Latin
  51
  � 
  Swim (25)
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  First Aid (30)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Throw (25)
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  Fist/Punch (50)
  � 
  Own Kingdom (20)
  � 
  Track (10)
  _____________ _____________
  Name Vinglo of Corneilhan
  Sex
  M
  Age
  19 Occu Foolish Warrior
  STR
  13
  DEX
  16
  Dexterity
  80%
  Dark Ages
  APP
  14
  Charisma
  70%
  Hit
  Points
  Magic
  Points
  CON
  12
  INT
  11
  Idea
  55%
  POW
  6
  Luck
  30%
  SIZ
  12
  EDU
  11
  Know
  55%
  12
  6
  SAN
  30
  99 –Cthulhu Mythos :
  99
  Damage Bonus : +1D4
  Weapon
  Skill.% Dmg
  Range
  #Att Weapon
  Skill%
  Dmg
  Range
  #Att
  � 
  Fist (50)
  __
  1D3
  -
  1
  � 
  Long Sword
  60
  1D8
  L
  1
  � 
  Kick (25)
  __
  1D4
  -
  1
  � 
  Javelin
  55
  1D6
  25
  1
  � 
  Head Butt (10)
  __
  1D6
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  � 
  Grapple (25)
  55
  spec
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  INVESTIGATOR POINTS
  � 
  Accounting (10)
  � 
  Grapple (25)
  55
  Own Language (EDU x5):
  Write Language (01):
  Art (05):
  � 
  Head Butt (10)
  � 
  French
  55
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Hide (20)
  � 
  Persuade (15)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Insight (05)
  � 
  Pilot Boat (01)
  Other skills
  � 
  Bargain (05)
  � 
  Jump (25)
  45
  � 
  Potions (01)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Climb (40)
  � 
  Kick (25)
  � 
  Repair/Devise (20)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Conceal (15)
  � 
  Library Use (EDU x2)
  22
  � 
  Ride (05)
  45
  � 
  __________
  Craft (05):
  � 
  Listen (25)
  Science (01):
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Natural World (10)
  40
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Navigate (10)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Cthulhu Mythos (00)
  � 
  Occult (05)
  � 
  Sneak (10)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Dodge (DEX x2)
  52
  � 
  Other Kingdoms (01)
  11
  � 
  Spot Hidden (25)
  SPELLS
  � 
  Drive horses (20)
  Other Language (01):
  � 
  Status (15)
  25
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  Fast Talk (05)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Swim (25)
  45
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  First Aid (30)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Throw (25)
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  Fist/Punch (50)
  � 
  Own Kingdom (20)
  50
  � 
  Track (10)
  50
  _____________ _____________
  
  Stéphane Gesbert                                                                   Utilities                                                                                           20
  Copyright © 1997-2001, 2002 S. Gesbert
  Name Bella «Redhair»
  Sex
  F
  Age
  26 Occu Fisherwoman
  STR
  12
  DEX
  14
  Dexterity
  70%
  Dark Ages
  APP
  15
  Charisma
  75%
  Hit
  Points
  Magic
  Points
  CON
  17
  INT
  9
  Idea
  45%
  POW
  12
  Luck
  60%
  SIZ
  13
  EDU
  9
  Know
  45%
  15
  12
  SAN
  60
  99 –Cthulhu Mythos :
  99
  Damage Bonus : +1D4
  Weapon
  Skill.% Dmg
  Range
  #Att Weapon
  Skill%
  Dmg
  Range
  #Att
  � 
  Fist (50)
  __
  1D3
  -
  1
  � 
  Large Knife
  15
  1D6
  S
  1
  � 
  Kick (25)
  __
  1D4
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  � 
  Head Butt (10)
  __
  1D6
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  � 
  Grapple (25)
  __
  spec
  -
  1
  � 
  __
  __
  __
  __
  INVESTIGATOR POINTS
  � 
  Accounting (10)
  � 
  Grapple (25)
  Own Language (EDU x5):
  Write Language (01):
  Art (05):
  � 
  Head Butt (10)
  � 
  English
  45
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Hide (20)
  � 
  Persuade (15)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Insight (05)
  � 
  Pilot Boat (01)
  31
  Other skills
  � 
  Bargain (05)
  30
  � 
  Jump (25)
  � 
  Potions (01)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Climb (40)
  � 
  Kick (25)
  � 
  Repair/Devise (20)
  40
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Conceal (15)
  � 
  Library Use (EDU x2)
  18
  � 
  Ride (05)
  � 
  __________
  Craft (05):
  � 
  Listen (25)
  30
  Science (01):
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Net Crafting
  40
  � 
  Natural World (10)
  35
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Navigate (10)
  30
  � 
  __________
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Cthulhu Mythos (00)
  � 
  Occult (05)
  � 
  Sneak (10)
  25
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Dodge (DEX x2)
  28
  � 
  Other Kingdoms (01)
  � 
  Spot Hidden (25)
  55
  SPELLS
  � 
  Drive horses (20)
  Other Language (01):
  � 
  Status (15)
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  Fast Talk (05)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Swim (25)
  55
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  First Aid (30)
  � 
  __________
  � 
  Throw (25)
  60
  _____________ _____________
  � 
  Fist/Punch (50)
  � 
  Own Kingdom (20)
  � 
  Track (10)
  _____________ _____________
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Cthulhu Dark Ages (CoC)/core/CoC - Dark Ages - 950-1050 AD.pdf