Phantom time conspiracy theory

A fringe hypothesis claims that roughly 297 years of early medieval history, from 614 to 911, were fabricated, making the present date centuries later than commonly accepted.

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Heribert Illig: A German publisher and historian who proposed that roughly three centuries of early medieval history were invented. Illig formulated and popularized the hypothesis in the 1990s.
Radiocarbon dating: A method for estimating the age of once-living material by measuring its radioactive carbon-14 content. Dated organic remains provide evidence for continuous activity during the allegedly fabricated centuries.
Historical chronology: The ordering and dating of past events using written records, material evidence, and astronomical or scientific methods. The hypothesis challenges the accepted sequence and dates of early medieval events.
Charlemagne in popular culture: The representation of Charlemagne in later stories, symbols, and public memory. The theory recasts a central figure in European historical memory as an invention.
Early Middle Ages: The period of European history following the Western Roman Empire, conventionally dated from about the fifth to the tenth century. The alleged missing centuries fall within this broad historical period.
Dendrochronology: The dating of wood through patterns of annual tree rings, matched across overlapping sequences. Tree-ring chronologies connect European timbers across the period Illig removes.
Anno Domini: A system for numbering years from the traditionally calculated birth of Jesus Christ. The proposed fabrication would alter the historical year count used by this system.
Medieval architecture: The buildings and construction traditions of Europe during the Middle Ages. Illig used architectural dating disputes to support his proposed chronological compression.
Gregorian calendar: The calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to correct accumulated drift in the Julian calendar. Illig connects calendar reform to his claim that chronology contains an artificial gap.
Byzantine Empire: The continuation of the Roman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean, centered on Constantinople. Its records and events provide an independent timeline for the disputed centuries.