That last paragraph is absolute bunk. There was a few centuries of disruption, at the very least. By the 800s, despite dealing with the Vikings, European civilization had equaled or exceeded that of Roman times. By the high middle ages, between the water wheel, the stirrup, the horse plow, sailing ships, and better cultivation systems, and the progress shown in the great cathedrals and castles being built of that era, it had left Rome in the dust. Then the Black Plague hit, and slowed things down for a while.
That last paragraph is absolute bunk. There was a few centuries of disruption, at the very least. By the 800s, despite dealing with the Vikings, European civilization had equaled or exceeded that of Roman times. By the high middle ages, between the water wheel, the stirrup, the horse plow, sailing ships, and better cultivation systems, and the progress shown in the great cathedrals and castles being built of that era, it had left Rome in the dust. Then the Black Plague hit, and slowed things down for a while.