Did the Early Middle Ages Never Exist

Some fringe historians claim we are living in the wrong century because nearly 300 years of history were completely fabricated. This theory argues that the entire era of Charlemagne was a massive forgery to rewrite the timeline.

The theory suggests that Holy Roman Emperor Otto III and Pope Sylvester II conspired to push the current date to the year 1000 for prestige. They allegedly faked documents and archaeological records to bridge a 297-year gap that supposedly never happened. While historians have thoroughly debunked this with astronomical and textual evidence, the idea remains a fascinating look at how fragile our perception of time can be. It implies that everything we know about the Early Middle Ages might just be a carefully constructed historical lie.