Dark Ages

Poul Anderson acknowledges (see here) that War Of The Gods is anachronistic because it puts vikings into the fourth century - as does Hrolf Kraki's Saga. However, in another respect, ...Saga is authentic:

"Hrolf Kraki lived in the midnight of the Dark Ages. Slaughter, slavery, robbery, rape, torture, heathen rites bloody or obscene, were parts of daily life."
-Poul Anderson, Hrolf Kraki's Saga (New York, 1973), p. xix.

Loyalty was to kin, chief and friends. Everyone else was foe or prey.

"To us, their behavior seems insanely egoistic..." (p. xx)

Anderson refused to sentimentalize the characters:

"If nothing else, we today need a reminder that we must never take civilization for granted." (pp. xix-xx)

Anderson, also a science fiction writer, had another way to remind us of this. His Psychotechnic future history has a Second and a Third Dark Ages while his History of Technic Civilization has a Time of Troubles and a Long Night. Anderson refers to "...the midnight of the Dark Ages..." (above) and to a future Long Night. In such an age, we will not be able to do what we are doing now: write or read a blog over breakfast.