Was the Middle Ages “Dark”?
The Middle Ages: Dark Ages, or an era of light? Many scholars have debated about it, but has a decision been decided? The era was from the fall of Rome in 476 A.D., to the Renaissance movement in the 1400’s. There are two sides to the argument. The first thought is that the Middle Ages was an era of darkness, out of which nothing good came. The other idea is that the Middle Ages was a time of great learning, and some of the greatest ideas came out of it. But which era was it? To quote Charles Dickens, “it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness.” In this quotation, he is describing the two-sidedness of the French Revolution. The Middle Ages also had a double-sidedness. In it, both ideas that helped civilization emerged, but also ideas that did not forward the betterment of the human race.
One side of the argument is that the Middle Ages was a time when science and learning flourished. Some of the great ideas that came out of the Middle Ages included the basis of Democracy, and the formation of organized learning, along with new ways to learn. Democracy was founded in Ancient Greece, but new forms were started during the Middle Ages. One nation which started to become a democracy was England. When John Lackland signed the Magna Carta in 1215, the people were given more power in the government. This lead to the forming of Parliament, and the decline of divine right monarchs. Another improvement is the advancement in learning. In the 12th and 13th Centuries, universities emerged. Some of the larger ones were in Paris, Geneva, and Oxford. These allowed for better education for those who could afford it. Also, many new books were written by authors such as Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer. They helped provide works for the people studying to read and analyze. Their books, The Divine Comedy and Canterbury Tales, respectively, as well as the epics Song of Roland and Poema del Cid, and other books led to the advancement of Middle Age society.
The other side of the argument is that the Middle Ages were a dark era, where nothing good occurred. Support for this argument comes from the religious wars fought, the invasions of the Vikings, Moslems, and Mongols, and the Black Death. The religious wars were originally fought with zeal, but eventually they got drawn out and the Christians kept losing battles. Another point was the invasions throughout the Middle ages. In the 10th Century, the Vikings and Moslems invaded Europe. Then, in the 13th, the Mongols took over Russia and Eastern Europe. The citizens of Europe thought that they would be overrun by the hordes and feared the times. The final and main reason that the Middle Ages was the “Dark Ages” was the Black Death. The Black Death killed a third of the population in Europe. The people of Europe thought that God was punishing them. The classification name “Dark Ages” came from Enlightenment thinkers such as Kant, Voltaire and Gibbon. In The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon showed contempt for the “rubbish of the Dark Ages.”
Throughout the course of history, many historians have thought differently about the Middle Ages. Some have said that it was an era of darkness and that nothing good came out of it. Others have said that science and culture flourished in the Middle Ages. Overall, the era was split: At times, the age was the pinnacle of all science and philosophy, and at times the era was truly dark and horrible.
