Why can historians call the dark ages the dark ages?

Answer 1

The concept of a Dark Age was introduced by http://wiki.answers.com/wiki/Petrarch in the 1330s. Writing of those who had come before him, he said, "Amidst the errors there shone forth men of genius, no less keen were their eyes, although they were surrounded by darkness and dense gloom." Christian writers had traditional metaphors of "http://wiki.answers.com/wiki/Light_versus_darkness" to describe "good versus evil." Petrarch was the first to co-opt the metaphor and give it secular meaning by reversing its application. Classical Antiquity, so long considered the "dark" age for its lack of Christianity, was now seen by Petrarch as the age of "light" because of its cultural achievements, while Petrarch's time, lacking such cultural achievements, was seen as the age of darkness. As an Italian, Petrarch saw the http://wiki.answers.com/wiki/Roman_Empire and the classical period as expressions of Italian greatness. He spent much of his time traveling through Europe rediscovering and republishing classic http://wiki.answers.com/wiki/Latin and http://wiki.answers.com/wiki/Greek_language texts. He wanted to restore the classical Latin language to its former purity. http://wiki.answers.com/wiki/Renaissance_humanism saw the preceding 900-year period as a time of stagnation. They saw history unfolding, not along the religious outline of http://wiki.answers.com/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo's http://wiki.answers.com/wiki/Six_Ages_of_the_World, but in cultural (or secular) terms through the progressive developments of classical ideals, literature, and art. Petrarch wrote that history had had two periods: the http://wiki.answers.com/wiki/Classical_antiquity period of the Greeks and Romans, followed by a time of darkness, in which he saw himself as still living. Humanists believed one day the Roman Empire would rise again and restore classic cultural purity, and so by the late 14th and early 15th century, humanists such as http://wiki.answers.com/wiki/Leonardo_Bruni believed they had attained this new age, and that a third, http://wiki.answers.com/wiki/Modern_Age had begun. The age before their own, which Petrarch had labeled dark, thus became a "middle" age between the classic and the modern. The first use of the term "Middle Age" appeared with http://wiki.answers.com/wiki/Flavio_Biondo around 1439. In other words, it was a dark period in human history.

Answer 2

The phrase comes from Protestant historians, especially Henry Hallam (1777-1859). He used it the refer to the Middle Ages (476-1453) and argued that the Catholic Church restricted progress in this period. Modern historians use the phrase to refer to the Early Middle Ages (476-1000). There was population decline and deurbanization during this period, possibly connected to a global decline in temperature and consequent decline in agricultural productivity.

Answer 3

The term "Dark Ages" has been obsolete and out of use since the 1970s. No historian ever uses that term any more. It was never used to describe the whole of the Middle Ages - that is an entirely false idea.

It used to be applied to the period between the collapse of the western Roman Empire and 1066, on the basis that so little was known about that era (due to an acute shortage of documentary and archaeological evidence) that it was "dark" in the sense of mysterious and unknown.

After the mid-1970s more intensive and scientific archaeological techniques meant that more information on the period became available, more finds were made and better knowledge of the period became widespread. The period then became known as the Saxon/Viking era.

Up until very recently this Saxon/Viking era was not included with the Middle Ages, but was treated as completely separate - in Scandinavian countries (where the Vikings originated) it still is so treated today. Today it has become fashionable to include the Saxon/Viking era with the medieval period - some people use the term "Early Medieval".

Many historians, however, still begin the medieval era in 1066 and treat the Saxon/Viking period as separate; others begin the medieval period with the collapse of the western Roman Empire. There is definitely no agreement on this point.

But there is agreement that "Dark Ages" is a term long abandoned and forgotten.

Answer 4

Because it was the fall of the Roman empire due to the conflict between the king and the pope. Religious tolerance was not present and

Answer 5

The period before the fall of the Roman Empire is called Ancient Times. The period since the exploration of the Western Hemisphere began is called Modern Times. The rest is in the middle.