Why Were They Called the “Dark Ages”?

The term “Dark Ages” conjures images of a bleak, backward world, a period of human history marked by ignorance, barbarity, and intellectual stagnation. The term is typically used to refer to the era spanning roughly from the fifth to 10th centuries, but at times has referred to the entire Middle Ages, from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE all the way to the beginning of Europe’s Renaissance in the 15th century.  But were these centuries really so dark? Was the period — sandwiched between the advanced societies of classical antiquity and ...Read More