The Middle Ages : The Dark Ages

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.

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.

In the year 476 A.D., Rome officially fell as the greatest and most thriving empire at the time. The time period following this downfall was called the Middle Ages, more infamously recalled as the Dark Ages; but were these years truly as dark as historians say? These medieval times lasted for approximately one thousand years, could such a long time period have been all that dreadful? The answer will soon become clear. The Middle Ages deserved to have the alias of the Dark Ages because there were several severe illnesses, the monarchs were cruel, and the crusades brought the death of many.

In my opinion “The Dark Ages” is not an appropriate term to describe the Middle Ages. One reason why I don’t think it is an accurate term is because it is misleading and may make you think that it was just some long-time period where nothing important even took place. Well, that is wrong and many things actually did happen during the time period.

The Middle Ages was an age where the church was at the top of the social ladder, from England to Spain, the Church controlled the citizens. Due to the lack of literacy in the country and the fear of going to hell, the Church could easily influence and manipulate the people of the Middle Ages. The Church being this time was extremely corrupt due to the fact that they knew that they could make the citizens believe in most things that they said. The Church could also strip power away from anyone under its rule, as it could

The term dark ages been used by lots of people the famous Italian scholar Peter Ark in a sense invented it because he was comparing this to the earlier classical time. Which he saw was The Dark Ages was a rough time to be living, Europe was besieged by plague, persecution, and war. Sadly they had little no peace and the majority of the citizens died from day to day. 410AD the empire falls, Rome had never been conquered by foreign enemies in the Imperial period. At that moment the citizens were helpless and were starving. Rome gradually imploded from within external threats both natural and Man- made only aided its self destruction. Diseases such as smallpox and measles entered the European population for the first in the 2nd 3rd centuries in

Europe fell into the Dark Ages in 410 AD, when the Mother of the World fell to economic and social troubles. Rome had supplied food, language, and knowledge of architecture and farming, et cetera. So much, in fact, that Europe was conquered immediately after Rome fell. The Visigoths are a tribe of nomadic barbarians from Germany, who are more commonly referred to as the Goths. They were the ones who conquered Europe after the Mother of the World’s demise.

A reason for the for the Middle Ages to be called the Dark Ages is because of all the invasions. The assaults were very barbaric and contained a lot of violence with much destruction left in it's path. Document 7 says, "... they sacked town and village, and laid waste in the fields.

No, the “Dark Ages” were not dark if you were to look at the sources. The first reason why it wasn’t is that they had a lot of

Is it appropriate to call the middle ages the dark ages? In my opinion, no; it is not at all appropriate. The middle ages has been overlooked for years, The dark ages name was created because people thought the people of that time discovered nothing. This was thought because the middle ages was between two major advancements in society; hence its name, the middle ages. Three major points explain why the dark ages, weren't so dark after all.

Have you ever wondered if the Middle Ages was a “Dark Age”? In my opinion I don’t know why they call it the “Dark Age” they should be calling it the “Great Age”, because in that age that is when our ancestors brought everything to life and made this world into starting to become great one with so many achievements. I think just because the Middle Ages has the “Dark Age” part at the end that why so many people who don’t understand what really happened think that it was a “Dark Age.

The Dark Ages were the entire period between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance; they were in fact the start of universities and scientific foundations. During medieval times, mainly right after the fall of Rome, society had a fairly hard time; trying to figure out what to do, many peasants started to farm. Society prospered from what they could personally grow and harvest, and whatever animals they could use, both for hard work and for food. All of this went relatively well, until the plague, or Black Death, happened in all of Europe, especially England. Millions of people died and those who survived were badly scarred. However, during the time of the plague, the Catholic religion flourished. Thus creating the second bright spot during the Dark Ages. Priests prayed for the well being of both the sick and the healthy, and many people converted to Catholicism as well. Additionally, during the dark ages, education for peasants was hard to come by since it was reserved for royalty, and church hierarchy. However, towards the end of the thirteenth century the Church started offering education for children from common homes as well. Plus, many scientific foundations came in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In fact some scientists, such as Aristotle, helped find new discoveries, and medicines for disease. As one can see the "dark ages," were not dark, but the start of something bright, that no one during that time would ever forget for years to come.

The time period 500 AD - 1500 AD was called The Dark Age for Europe.the name dark age was created by a mane named Petrarch (Movie Talk - Dark Age) who was an Italian scholar in 1300s. Even though this time period was called the dark age, there were some good and bad things happening at the same time. Historians have been debating for many years if Europe was really in a dark age. Some of these events are the plague and the crusades.

Well, the Dark Ages in Europe truly were a Dark Age. For evidence, we can go to Textbook Passage #1, where it says that from 476 to 1100, Europe was “a time of turmoil and confusion, of ignorance and lawlessness”. It then goes on to say how Europe was a dangerous, barbaric, and unorganized mess. And when we think of the Dark Ages, were not surprised to see this point of view. But I’m not done yet, because another passage, Abbey of Xanten Records, actually supports this. It talks about the events that took place during their time. And in it we hear of earthquakes, villages on fire, and a full on Heathen invasion attacking the Christians. Ironically, more than 12,000 Heathen lives were lost, even though they launched the attack. Now with these two documents, you probably have a pretty good idea that the Dark Ages were dark.

The Middle Ages, or the Dark Ages, are what Manchester calls, “The densest of the medieval centuries.” (3)* Of course, this isn’t necessarily the only way to put it. It is known that this time period is called the “Dark Ages” because of its lack of development. It cannot be considered an influential time period, as it did not have the same importance as the preceding and succeeding eras.