XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: no.spam@no.spam   
      
   Western Europe's Middle Ages lasted 1000 years (from 492 AD   
   to 1492; both figures arbitrarily pulled out of thin air   
   to make the time span an even millennium.   
      
   That is, from the end of the Classic Age (Roman Empire) to   
   the voyage of Columbus, which is when the thinking suddenly   
   matured from childhood. Ie, they put away believing in Santa Claus,   
   the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and "Here there be Tygers"   
   in regions on the fringes of world maps.   
      
   However, society in JRRT's Middle Earth had a Medieval character   
   for over 6000 years! And that's not even counting the First Age.   
      
   There's something compelling about the Middle Ages -- that is,   
   if one can overlook religious persecutions, plagues, serfdom,   
   barbarian ravages, crop failures and local barons' arbitrary justice.   
      
   So I have enjoyed watching a sanitized version of these Dark Ages   
   on TV in the form of _Mike the Knight_. He's a 10-year-old   
   knight-in-training with two friendly dragon companions, a horse   
   named Galahad and a younger sister in training to be a Wizardess.   
   (Ecclesiastical persecution of witches and other practitioners   
   of magic is obviously not a plot element).   
      
   Mike's mother, the Queen has two yappy corgies; obviously a dig   
   at Queen Elizabeth.   
      
   Mike lives near the coast, where Vikings sometimes come ashore   
   in their longboats. Since the Viking age was pretty well over   
   by 1100 AD, and yet the architecture and pageantry are typical   
   of the Later Middle Ages, I have to assume that the era is   
   soon after the Norman Conquest. Of course I'm also being silly   
   for trying to assume any kind of historical accuracy from   
   a children's cartoon, but that's part of the fun.   
      
   And when I've had enough of a kind and gentle rendition of   
   the Middle Ages for a while, I can always turn to a similarly   
   cute version of the early Industrial Revolution in the form   
   of Thomas the Tank Engine.   
      
   SQ   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)