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The term Old High German (OHG) is used as a label for the very earliest period in German language and literature. It covers historical, geographical, and linguistic elements, and similar to most of our knowledge of this period, it contains much that is inexact or only partially recorded for future generations. The word old is used to cover everything from the first, unrecorded beginnings of German through the middle of the 11th century. The early part of this period—roughly from the end of the Roman Empire in a.d. 476—is also known, somewhat unfairly, as “the Dark Ages,” a time when Europe was divided into meandering and warring tribes, each with its own dialect and shifting allegiances. In this period, Latin was the dominant language of scholarship, the Christian Church was the guardian of all written knowledge, and the earliest surviving Germanic texts are mostly scraps of Bible translation, commentary, or other functional pieces. There is not much in the way of pure literature until the time of the great king and emperor Charlemagne (from the year 780).