The Time Before The First Millennium

Personally, when thinking of the middle Ages, I tend to have the misconception that it is a period of darkness with no progress. However, R.W. Southern’s book, ‘The Making of the Middle Ages’, offers an in depth study of the development of history in the world today. Observing that this book was published during the 1950s, Mr. Southern’s interpretation of the ‘Middle Ages’ was very distinctive in comparison to other historians of his time. He explores the significance of the Middle Ages as a separate sector in the study of history by which the audience will notice that previous categories of studied history is set aside, as we are no longer focusing on the usual ‘Classical Greece’ and ‘Rome’

As you have read, many things attributed to the rise of the Empire. Many things also attributed to its fall as well. These included poor leadership, economic trouble, as well

Clearly the most apparent issue that subsisted throughout the entirety of the Third Century Crisis was the constant change in leadership that the empire faced. Rome had never truly established a mode of succession for positions of authority, and so there was often a vie for power amongst the megalomaniac members of Roman society. Several methods of succession, such as heredity and merit, were attempted since the beginning of the time of the emperors, but there was not much consistency overall in their use (Gregory 22). This matter of succession would continue to be a dilemma up until the fourth century, when

The author of this book quickly and polemically describes the period from 400 A.D. to 1400 A.D. as the "Dark Ages" even though this term is not used in scholarly research. He claims that the decline in living standards are not only due to crumbling political institutions and infrastructure but to disease, isolation, and religious oppression. Manchester describes just how the medieval mindset emphasizes just how savage medieval people were and how they imposed horrific punishments on one another. Christians butchers one each other during mass. This author claims that this was not civilization but it was a shadow of the Roman empire. There are some movements that destroyed the medieval mindset and the first one was the Renaissance, where new art and ideas were widely

Rome, one of the most enormous and powerful empires to ever exist also eventually crumbled. There are many beliefs to why this happened, such as the increasingly weak boundaries, lack of assurance on the emperor's, an increasingly horrible economics system, and a backlash on the new origin of Christianity to name a few. What was known as one of the biggest empires known to date also eventually came to it’s unfortunate end.

The time period between 400 AD and 1400 AD was not a Dark Age for Europe and not a time of cultural decay and decline. It was not a Dark Age for the following reasons: Cathedrale Notre Dame’s construction, the laws of currency that were established, and how Europe prospered during this time period. Cathedrale Notre Dame’s construction showed how far culturally Europe got by the late Middle Ages. “Common features of gothic Cathedrals included architectural innovations. (Document G: Gothic Cathedrals)” This piece of text shows me that Europe developed their architectural design; gothic architecture which originated in France.

After the Fall of Rome, the Dark Ages occurred during the Middle Ages in Western Europe, France, Germany and Italy. The term “Dark Age” is an accurate description for Western Europe despite the formation of feudalism and the united church. The severity of disease, such as the plague, killed millions of people and lead to society not having the desire to prosper with education . These reasons, among others, demonstrate that Western Europe was truly a Dark Age.

In William Manchester’s “ A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age” He demonstrates the change in the "Dark Ages" from the dependence on religion to independent thinking. Ancient concepts were questioned and proven wrong after thousands of years, and the power of the what finally surpassed the authority of the Pope. Manchester expresses the transition within Europe from the Medieval Times to the Renaissance that included multiple changes in the intellectual, religious, and political aspects of life.

The term “Dark Ages” is one of the most common terms used to refer to the period known as the Middle Ages. Encompassed in this time frame are the years 400 A.D. and 1400 A.D., which mark the beginning and end of the Dark Ages. During this age, rural towns that were smaller and less populated were common. Since invasions were also an issue, towns tried to provide security and safety to the townspeople by using the feudal lord's armies as guards. It was also during this time that a new religious movement called Monasticism developed.

Many people debate over whether Medieval Europe (500 AD-1500 AD) was a growth age or a dark age. The Term dark age came from a famous Italian scholar, Petrarch, and it means that there was violence, no new inventions, lots of diseases, war, not much trade and much more violence in the world. Based on The Black Death and The Crusades. We believe that Europe at this time was a “dark age”.

Some refer to the Middle Ages as the “Dark Ages”. I could not find this more wrong. I think that even though documentation of this area is void, doesn’t automatically mean that it was void of advancements too. Today, I will use three documents: a picture of Joan of Arc, a map of the major trade routes of Afroeurasia, and an excerpt from the Magna Carta. With these I will prove that the Middle Ages were not just a Dark Age in history.

The time period between 400 CE to 1400 CE in Europe could be objectively proven to be a ‘Dark Age’ for the first six centuries, but starting in the 11th century, advances in technology and education started to create upwards growth in culture and quality of life; therefore, this millennium was more of a ‘transition period’ than a ‘Dark Age’. Document A, an excerpt from the textbook “The Record of Mankind”, stated that from around 476 CE to 1100 CE, most of Europe became overrun with “turmoil and confusion, . . . ignorance and lawlessness”. The textbook explained the cause of this barbarism to be from an absence of government, which could have maintained peace and order (Document A). Crime increased exponentially; this contributed to a decline

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

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.

The Middle Ages, often referred to as the Dark Ages, was regarded to be a time of despair, disease, and death. Just as the name the “Dark Ages” suggests, this period of European history seemed to be surrounded by darkness and hopelessness. Unfortunately, the majority of people only see this side of the Middle Ages when, in fact, the Middle Ages was a much more important era. Especially during the late Middle Ages, one can find a change in orthodox social structure, political instability mostly concerned with succession to the throne, and economic changes and how those changes went hand in hand with the change in society. After certain demographical changes and turning points such as the Hundred Years’ War, Europe began to transform