The Middle Ages: The Age Of Faith

Three of the world’s most powerful religions had gone to war during the Crusades, the same war that is responsible for an estimated 1.7 million deaths. The Crusades were a series of Christian military expeditions that lasted through nine Holy Wars. The first crusade, in 1095, was called upon by Pope Urban II in an attempt to stop the Muslim expansion to the Holy City of Jerusalem. Through this, the Christian, Catholic, and Muslim churches will go into a time of warfare as an attempt to both show their religious superiority and have a religious expansion. The western side of Europe was the most significantly impacted by the Crusades because of the 4th Crusade, the foreign influence from the East, and Europe’s economic relations with the world.

The term “Dark Age” was used to by an Italian Scholar named Petrarch, who compared the “dark” to the classical period before. Medieval Europe was from 500 to 1500 AD, which included the Crusades and the Black Death. Europe, during the time 500 to 1500 AD, was a dark age because there was violence, war, and disease. Europe was in a dark age.

The Middle Ages is often referred to as the Age of Faith and it is correct to do so, as during this period religion dominated all aspects of life from architecture, literature, art and music. The dominant religion during this period was Christianity. The middle ages saw "the emergence … of Christian literary forms… a popular religious culture centred around processions, icons, and relics" (George Holmes 42).

The Middle Ages occurred between the fall of Roman Empire and the fall of Constantinople (400-1500 C.E). Historians establish numerous attributes to give reasoning why the Middle Ages is believed to deserve multiple labels. This was a time of darkness that correlates with chaos, unorganization and violence. However, this was also a time when the adaptation of feudalism developed and prospered, and faith within the Catholic Church and other religions bloomed and expanded. The Middle Ages in Europe can be viewed as a Dark Age, an Age of Feudalism, and an Age of Faith.

In the Years between 500 AD to 1450 AD were considered the Middle Ages that started after the Roman Empire fell. During that Time there were crusades, Plagues, warfare, constant killing, and little advancements. People are always in a constant argument about the real label for the Middle ages; some say Age of Faith, the Golden Age, or Age of Feudalism. However the strongest argument for the correct label is the Dark ages.

In the 1300's, an Italian scholar named Petrarch used the term, "dark ages" to describe Europe in the middle ages.People think that Petrarch used this term to describe Europe in the middle ages, because it seemed as if everything was turning/going bad. Not everyone agrees with him, some people think that the middle ages in Europe was in a growth age instead of a dark age. There were good events, like economic growth and education got more significant. But, there were lot's of bad things like, government order and the Black Death, so it is a debatable topic.

The dark ages were a time where chaos ruled everything and no one felt safe. The term dark age came from an Italian Scholar named Petrarch. He called it the dark age because he compared it to the classical period before. In the dark ages many terrifying things happened like the Black Death, the crusades, the viking attacks, and many more. Europe was in a dark age from 500 to 1500 AD.

The Dark Ages “According to their custom the Northmen plundered…and burned the town of Dordrecht…the Northmen, with their boats filled with immense booty, including both men and goods, returned to their own country “(Document 3). This was from a chronicle of articles written by the Anglo Saxons who inhabited great Britain in the 9th century. The chronicle of Anglo Saxons was a book of their history and what happened during their lives. The Middle Ages was a time period between the 5th and 15th century. The age started after the Western Roman empire fell and ended when the Eastern Roman Empire fell.

The term Dark Ages relatively defines as when a civilization faces starvation, war, disease, internal struggles, less innovative people, and unvalued education. This term was coined by a famous Petrarch-Italian scholar named Thomas Aquinas,when he compared the dark age to the classical period which was in a Golden age. The term Golden age occurs when a civilization has new inventions, efficiency, education, high literacy, a big population, good health, impressive architecture, peace, surplus of food, and enforced laws. The time period of Medieval Europe was 500 AD-1500 AD with the events of the black death epidemic, the crusades, harsh government, and a small amount of people going to school to get an education. The lapsed events clearly

Was it a Dark Age? The term “dark ages” describes a period during Medieval Europe when inventions and ideas stopped, violence increased, and disease killed many people. The term “dark ages” came from an Italian scholar named Francesco Petrarch. He compared it to the Classical Age that thrived before. The dark ages occurred during Medieval Europe, which lasted from 500 AD to 1500 AD.

Many people cannot agree on whether the European Middle Ages were “Dark Ages” or an “Early Renaissance”. A Dark Age is a time during which a civilization undergoes a decline, while a Renaissance is a new period of growth or activity. Even though there is an equal amount of evidence for both the Dark Ages and the Early Renaissance, some pieces were more effective than others. The European Middle Ages were an Early Renaissance because citizens started to begin new lives as different roles, the feudal system was slowly being forgotten, and the Magna Carta was published.

Beginning with fall of Rome in 476a.d. the first half of this millennium is referred to as the “dark ages”. In society, all power flowed from the king with the approval of

By The Middle Ages, one understands a relatively long historical period extending from the end of the Roman Empire to the 1500's. The conquest of The Roman Empire by Germanic tribes, and synthesis of Germanic and Roman ways of life formed the civilization which we call medieval (medieval-from Latin words; medium (middle) and aevum (age)). Medieval civilization was greatly influenced by the Muslims in Spain and The Middle East, and by Byzantine Empire and Christians in Southeast Europe.

Religion experienced a lot of progress and transformation throughout the Middle Ages. Christianity held consistent popularity and other religions such as Islam were on the rise in participation. After the fall of Rome, there was no unified state or government in Europe and the Catholic Church used that opportunity to become a large powerhouse. The Roman Empire had effectively split into three different worlds: Muslim, Byzantine, and western European. Various Kings, Queens, and other leaders looked to the Catholic church for power and protection in exchange for alliances. Meanwhile, the Islamic religion was growing in wealth, power, and people. With the prophet Muhammad’s death in 632, Muslim groups took under large parts of land and united them under a single caliph. The Byzantines were still operating from Constantinople, just under a smaller rule and rural life assumed greater importance in the backbone of their society. Religion was largely involved in the Middle Ages’ art and architecture. Massive Cathedrals were built and even books were a work of art before the invention of the printing press. In addition, their economy was directly affected by religious activity such as missions and conquests. Overall, the general trends marking the progress religion in the Middle Ages are inclusion of everyone, a building of a community, and the opportunity of becoming equals with other practitioners.

When people associate things with the word “dark” there mainly referring to things that are evil, bad or have an evil look. So when you put the label “Dark ages” on the Middle ages, you make the assumption that it was not a good time. But you’d be mistaken, it was completely the opposite. Though not much revolution took place in the early Middle Ages, the people were happy and content, and "the Dark Ages" just doesn’t fit with that, it’s not a accurate label to put on the Middle Ages.