In fact, the existence of written history is a pretty good indicator of the degree of chaos. It wasn't just Italy that suffered with the collapse of the Roman

In fact, the existence of written history is a pretty good indicator of the degree of chaos. It wasn't just Italy that suffered with the collapse of the Roman system. Written history nearly disappeared from Spain, North Africa, France, Belgium, England, the Balkans, etc... The notable difference is, of course, the surviving East Roman Empire, which continued for another 1000 years. The contrast between conditions in former Roman Western Europe, and the East Roman Empire very much highlight the degree of collapse that occurred.