Science of Phantom Time

Suppose the greatest theft in human history was not gold, land or somebody's lunch from the monastery refrigerator. Suppose someone stole reality itself-or, more accurately, manufactured nearly three centuries of it. According to the Phantom Time Hypothesis, the years A.D. 614 through 911 never occurred. They were inserted into the historical record by powerful medieval rulers who wanted to reposition themselves around the symbolically impressive year A.D. 1000.

The theory was popularized by German writer Heribert Illig, principally through his 1996 book Das erfundene Mittelalter: Die größte Zeitfälschung der Geschichte, or The Invented Middle Ages: The Greatest Falsification of Time in History. Illig proposed that Emperor Otto III, Pope Sylvester II and possibly Byzantine emperor Constantine VII participated in manipulating the calendar, manufacturing documents and creating imaginary historical figures. The most famous alleged invention was Charlemagne, a man who supposedly conquered much of Western Europe, became emperor, reorganized government, encouraged education, issued money, built palaces, fathered numerous children and left behind enough evidence to be extremely inconsiderate toward anyone trying to prove that he never existed. Illig's original 1996 volume and publication information are documented in the bibliographic record for Das erfundene Mittelalter.