It seems like people so often underestimate dark age intelligence, as if everyone back then just spent their time groping around in mud pits. I'm curious how extreme you could go (in a Sokal affair kind of sense) and get away with it. Start a rumor that in the dark ages people bathed in giant tubs full of chicken blood because they believed it would ward off witches and prevent their souls from decaying. See how long it takes before columnists are solemnly citing this well-known dark-age fact.