SvennoJ said:
We did get the Viking raids in the Netherlands. However, I think it was mostly a 'friendly' version of history that we got. For example with the Vikings, sure they raided (and pillaged, raped and killed) but the focus was on their great excursions and where they reached. Same with the Romans and everything else in old times, always focusing on the victors, even the crusades were a fun excursion... Except the Spanish inquisition, couldn't really spin a positive on that one. Kinda funny, crusades were good but then in the dark ages religion became the villain that never recovered. The Dutch colonies were all people fleeing from religious prosecution after all... |
Well, there's often also a lot of truth to the 'friendly' version of history as well. The middle ages are often depicted as a violent and dark period, while the reality is a lot more nuanced. This is especially true for the Vikings, who are usually seen as some of the most violent and brutal people in history, while in reality they weren't really all that different from others and were actually mostly concerned with trade. It makes sense that schools would react to this by highlighting their more positive sides.
Btw, the term 'dark ages' is a (rather negative) synonym for the early middle ages, which are roughly the years 500-1000. The crusades only started a century after that.
