I took a class awhile back about Europe at the end of the Middle Ages--the 14th and 15th centuries, ending with the Renaissance and Reformation. You have to wonder how their civilization survived at all, with all the wars, famine, cultural stagnation, and political upheaval, not to mention the Black Death. It occured to me that it sounds a lot like present-day sub-Saharan Africa. I wonder if in 500 or so years they'll look back on this time as their own Dark Age.