What exactly were the "Dark Ages"

Factual Questions
1

Usually when people refer to the Middle Ages in Western Europe, Often they will call them the “Dark Ages” or “Mid-Evil” times. Why do they refer to them as Dark or Evil? What was so Dark or Evil about them? Anyone know?

2

It’s “ieval,” not “evil.”

So the word is Latin for “Middle Ages.” It has nothing to do with evil = bad.

The “Dark” ages were the centuries after the fall or Rome, named because the light of learning had supposedly gone dark. Lots of small kingdoms, education primative (compared to Rome) and primarily kept alive by monks, etc, though that is perhaps an oversimplification.

3

Ask and ye shall recieve. See here .

Oh and thats medieval, not mid-evil. :slight_smile:

4

Just as a note, a lot of current medievalists don’t like the term “dark ages”. It’s generally seen as dismissive and part of an outdated theory of history.

5

Even if you’re going to use the term “Dark Age” (which is now a rather old-fashioned term), you should note that it’s only part of the Middle Ages. The Dark Age was about 500 to 1000. The High Middle Age was about 1000 to 1300. The Late Middle Age were 1300 to 1500. These are arbitrary divisions, so it’s possible to quibble endlessly about their exact extent. It’s also possible to quibble endlessly about their names.

6

See here as well. Some would date the beginning of the “Dark Ages” to the Vandal sack of Rome in 455 AD. The article notes that the period had started to wane by 800 AD with the accession of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emporer. The darkest (most chaotic and disorganized) period was probably 600-700 AD.

7

Indeed, I once asked a question about the “Dark Ages” on a board full of medieval historians, and the unanimous response was that there were no “Dark Ages.” However, I don’t doubt that two major events occured:

  1. Much of the accumulated knowledge of the Romans was either destroyed or lost, only to be rediscovered by Muslims some 500(?) years later.

  2. Old boundries were lost, as tribal nations flourished. Petty kingdoms were founded by barbarians, and eventually evolved more or less into the nations that we have today.