Alice Rio for The Dark Ages

Historian Alice Rio discusses her book The Dark Ages, a new history of Europe between 500 and 1000 AD told through the lives of twelve women.

Alice Rio, Chichele Professor of Medieval History at All Souls College, Oxford, visits Topping & Company in Bath to talk about her book The Dark Ages: A New History for Our Times. The book is a sweeping history of Europe between 500 and 1000 AD, told through the lives of twelve women who moved between different cultures, including Balthild in seventh-century Francia, Empress Theodora in ninth-century Byzantium and Subh in tenth-century Muslim Spain. Drawing on written sources and material culture, it challenges the idea of the Dark Ages as an obscure void and reveals a world shaped by exchange across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start.