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History
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Title: Top 10 Reasons The Dark Ages Were Not Dark
Source: [None]
URL Source: http://listverse.com/2008/06/09/top ... s-the-dark-ages-were-not-dark/
Published: Jun 20, 2014
Author: JAMIE FRATER
Post Date: 2014-06-20 07:18:08 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 227
Comments: 4

I believe that we can safely say that the period of man’s history from 476 AD to 1000 AD is the most maligned of all. This period, known to historians as the Early Middle Ages, is still referred to by most laymen as the Dark Ages. In fact the term “dark ages” is almost as ancient as the period itself – it was coined in the 1330s by Petrarch, the Italian scholar, to refer to the decline of Latin literature. It was later taken by the protestant reformers (16th century) and then the members of the Englightenment (18th century) as a derogatory term with much broader implications, because they saw their own “enlightenment” as absent from the earlier period. Hardly a fair judgement on the past. Fortunately for modern students of history, the term is now officially known as the Early Middle Ages – a name which has no connotations at all. So, having given you the background on the terms, here are ten reasons that the dark ages were, in fact, a period of great progress and light.

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#1. To: Ada (#0)

It was later taken by the protestant reformers (16th century) and then the members of the Englightenment (18th century) as a derogatory term with much broader implications, because they saw their own “enlightenment” as absent from the earlier period. Hardly a fair judgement on the past

America was founded on the Enlightenment thinking. Books except those copied by hand by the Roman Catholic Church were forbidden. It was forbidden to have a copy of the Bible. The Church was the government.

The invention of the printing press secured the victory of the Reformation and brought on the right to reason logically outside the realm of what was present in a single translation of the Bible and the Church's addendums.

If it weren't for the Enlightenment we would be burning witches, pagans, and torturing people who disagreed with us. Well we kind of still did all those things after the Enlightenment began, and still do, but that's beside the point.

Deasy  posted on  2014-06-20   14:39:06 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

If it weren't for the Enlightenment we would be burning witches, pagans,

Witch burning was not popular during the Dark Ages but reached its height during the Enlightenment. Here's what Wiki has to say:

"While early trials fall still within the Late Medieval period, the peak of the witch hunt was during the period of the European wars of religion, peaking between about 1580 and 1630. The witch hunts declined in the early 18th century. In Great Britain, their end is marked by the Witchcraft Act of 1735. But sporadic witch-trials continued to be held during the second half of the 18th century, the last known dating to 1782,[3] though a prosecution was commenced in Tennessee as recently as 1833.[4][5][6]

"Over the entire duration of the phenomenon of some three centuries, an estimated total of 40,000 to 100,000 people were executed.[7]"

Ada  posted on  2014-06-21   15:43:42 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

#3. To: Ada (#2) (Edited)

Yes, the Enlightenment to some extent brought on burnings at the stake (like Joan of Arc, an early proponent of personal spirituality, and William Tyndale for translating and distributing unlicensed bibles). It also burdened Europeans with a tremendous weight of cognitive dissonance. I wouldn't blame the spike in witch disposal on the Enlightenment. It was the old, centralized religious authority and people who had benefited from it, resisting change. There were also politically-motivated burnings but it's easy to include them among the authoritarians.

First the church lost its grip on its clergy. Then it lost its grip on its kings. Then it lost its grip on social order and the people themselves. In the process we had hundreds of years of wars to decide whether or not the government should be religiously oriented this way or that

Deasy  posted on  2014-06-21 16:00:43 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

1. The universities were born.
2. Scientific foundations laid.
3. Carolingian Renaissance
4. Byzantine Rensaissance
5. Religious Unity
6. Algebra Arrived
7. Art and Architecture
8. Fantastic Weather
9. Law Becomes Fair
10. Agricultural Boom

This is a great list and it's thought provoking. I agree that the Medieval period brighter than often depicted, but I still take issue with several items on this list: 2, 4-6, 9 and 10.

10. The university system might have taken shape during the Medieval period, but the basics were already there in Rome.
9. Science and culture were both held under the thumb of the Church, which saw texts in the Bible as overriding naturally-observed physical science. This is how Galileo wound up under arrest. Yes, he took the knowledge of the Solar system further but the Greeks knew that the Sun was at the center of the solar system. Its word for Sun, Helios meant "center." In many cases, science was rediscovering what religion had forgotten.
6. Religious unity has never been available to Europeans. From pagan times to the split between Rome and Byzantium, from the various heresies to the advent of Enlightenment decoupling between science and religion, there has never been unity, only an uneasy peace from time to time.
5. I don't count this one as European. Algebra was invented by the Hindus (Aryans if you like) or the Arabs depending on whom one asks. It was the bloody holy wars that made it available to Europeans.
4. Art was almost wholly regulated by the prevailing religious sentiments of the given decade or location. The slightest innovation could be met with ridicule or worse. Yes, the churches and paintings are marvelous. In some ways, the chapels with high spires contained the essence of older religions Europeans had followed before Christianity. In that sense, they are true wonders.
2. Laws on the books were fair, but with punishment for heresy rife, and the feudal system in firm control over individual liberties, one can't possibly in any seriousness describe this as "fair." Nobles were exempted from law, or simply ignored it. Nobles used to sleep with their regional newlyweds to exert their dominion over the land and the seed of the territory.

Deasy  posted on  2014-06-25 09:11:35 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

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