The Dark Ages: Are They Really Dark? - Comments

Farce : Nights actually did pillage, steal and torment. They weren't at all gentlemen whose chivalry shined! In fact they began to bribe landlords into giving them their own land in reward for their protection. I've got a link that I'll dig out for you.

I feel like you very blantly ignored a lot about the Dark Ages, and it's a very complex time.

For one, you didn't mention anything about the Library of Alexandria, which is a very huge reason we don't have any records, and a reason learning went down. It's also why we were thrown back- works of major philosophers were burned, and a lot of science and math and astrology advances were too lost. I read a source once (forgive me for not providing the link) that if the Library of Alexandria had been saved, we could be thousands of years advanced today. I was disappointed to see that wasn't listed as a cause, or at least one of the major loses of the Dark Ages.

Also, you completely ignored Asia in this. Like, the Mongols are the ones who brought the Black Death to Europe, and so they're a huge factor in the Dark Ages. They spread it throughout. You also didn't mention the Muslims, who are a huge reason we have ANY documents from that time period. They, through several means, inlcudding some crusades, possessed many documents written by famous philosophers such as Plato. They kept and translated these documents, saving them from too being lost. Of course Europe once again got a hold of these teachings, and this is an influence for the renaissance. Spain, at this time period, was a shinning light to Europe. It was under Moor (Muslim) control and learning was prospering.

During the Dark Ages, China was too in the Warring States period. There was chaos spread across the world. And like other people above commented, I would've loved to seen more about the corruption of the church. Other than those few points, I think this was a rather good article.

I'm also surprised nobody has mentioned England breaking away from the Catholic Church, so that Henry VIII could secure his divorce from Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. That created a lot of events and chaos that happened in the dark ages.

The churches were a cause of a lot of trouble because of the amount of corruption and power they had over people. Peasants paid taxes to the churches, as well as to their Lords or Kings, while the church paid no taxes to anyone. Peasants weren't paid to work the church's land and gained no profit from it, while having to return home to struggle to make due with what they had and what they were growing. This time could have been better spent, many died because they couldn't support themselves, the church being one of the factors.

Also, peasants couldn't read, so it was up to the Popes to tell them what to believe, many of the general population being tricked into giving up much of their wealth "for the sake of god" and other nonsense like that.

As for the records, they were written by those benefiting from the rise of the churches and the battles that ravaged the land. the Popes, Lords, Kings, and a few Knights, did have it well, they were happy, or at least thought they were. Again, there was a lot of corruption, you cannot count on any of those records being true. You did mention that the record keeping was kept to a selective group of people, which just makes the suggestion of the records being false stronger.

Again, you did say that it was a time of hardships, but that wasn't even the worst of it. There were many factors in the Black Plague, as well as many other diseases that swept Europe, sanitation, living conditions, famine, but because of all these things weakening the general population, things like the common cold today could wipe out an entire town.

This was a time definitively categorized as a Stage One country or area, agriculture was a main way of life, however, there was hunting as well, and depending on the region, all of this was different. The Birth and Death rates were far from stable, rising and falling wildly.

Still, not much is known of the Dark Ages, there are many holes in the history and a lot of guesswork. The few records there are may or may not be true, the losers don't get to decide their history, or others.

These are simply my observations, yours are just as right as mine, which just goes to show how screwed up that period of time is, how undecided it is. Great job presenting the information, it was a nice read and its nice to see that people have their own minds lately. However, it seemed you focused more in the minority, that being the Lords, Kings, and such, rather than the general population, the peasants, when coming to the conclusion that the Dark Ages really weren't so dark. I'm sure the majority of the people who lived during the Dark Ages would beg to differ, but, again, that's just me. Again, wonderful job!

Actually, the reason the time period is called the "Dark" Ages is because there was a great decline in cultural and economic output, as in we didn't know much from the time period because literature, art, building, and historical records were few, leaving us 'in the dark' about much in the time period. It's based on the intellectual darkness caused by the fall of the Roman Empire.

Damn middle ages. If the Industrial Revolution happened 200 years earlier, we'd be advanced by 200 years right now.

I’m a major history buff! I immediately loved the topic. I thought that the second paragraph was repetitive. I think the whole article could have used citations.

I wasn’t so sure about the knights pillaging because it violates the chivalric code.

There wasn’t a lot of mention of the church. The church had a lot of problems then so I expected there to be some bit about it.

I don't know if it's just in literature, or as well as historical time periods, but I always learned that the Dark Ages were the period between Old English (with the Saxons and Anglo-Saxons and Beowulf and such) and the Middle Ages or Medieval Period (what with Chaucer and the troupes of minstrels and Eleanor of Aquitaine).
We were taught in my lit class that the Dark Ages are thus named because of how little we know of them, as far as written documents go; knowledge was generally passed orally, through epics and ballads etc.

Interesting article :) I guess that The Middle Ages are pretty much the scariest time in history. The medicine was horrible...even a cold could kill. And comparing our lives to their lives it's obvious how hard their lives was.
Perhaps it was easier for the people born in the families that mattered the most in the countries... ;)

Interesting. I would have to agree with asteroid, that you might have minimalized the harshness of the Dark Ages. I think you did present this fairly accurately though, and it was well written, so good job!
One thing: in text citations usually have the author and a page number following them in parantheses. Also, when one has what appear to be in text citations, one generally is supposed to have a bibliography :P

It seems like you're putting the Middle Ages on a bit of a pedestal when it was an extremely difficult time. I think you hit that too, but not everyone was a hero. Does that make sense? I'm just getting the feeling that you said that everyone had the courage to survive it all when it was more like they were just trying to survive from day to day.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting. I know you're saying it was difficult, but the conclusion seemed to portray the people as more than they actually were.

Oh, and before anyone says I'm assuming things, I'm in AP European History. I've had a few lectures on this, and I just want to be sure this is historically accurate because I'm getting a weird feeling from it.. Other than that, it was written very well. Good job. :)