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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Old age in the Dark Ages
— the status of old age during the early Middle Ages | | Author(s) | Chris Gilleard |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 29, part 7, October 2009 |
| Pages | pp 1065-1084 |
| Source | http://www.journals.cambridge.org/aso |
| Keywords | Ageing process ; Life span ; Christianity ; Histories. |
| Annotation | The position of old age in the societies of pre-Roman Europe from the 5th to the 10th centuries is reviewed. The author draws on both primary and secondary literary and material sources of the period to suggest that living beyond the age of 60 was an uncommon experience throughout the early Middle Ages. Not only was achieving old age a minority experience, it seems to have been particularly concentrated among the senior clergy. This, together with the growing importance of the Christian Church as the institution that stabilised post-Roman society, the decline of urban living, and its attendant culture of leisure and literacy, and the transformation of kinship into a symbolic 'family under God' contributed to a more favourable status for old age, or at least one that was particularly favourable for older men. This was based not so much upon the accumulation with age of wealth and privilege, but upon the moral worth of old age as a stage of life. The early Middle Ages, the so-called 'Dark Ages', was in this respect a relatively distinctive period in the history of old age. With all around instability and the future uncertain and often threatening, survival in old age was a rare but frequently revered attainment. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-09101205 A |
| Classmark | BG: BG6: TS: 6A |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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