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Another telltale sign that the dark ages weren't actually that dark. The dark ages still brought us: Windmills Prostheses Plow Just to name a few.

quotemstr 7y ago
First of all, the medieval period comes after the dark ages. The world of the 12th century is a very different and much more prosperous one than the world of the sixth century. Second, the dark ages were very, very hard indeed. Ward-Perkins, in "The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization", demolishes the pleasant-transition-period interpretation of late antiquing that's been popular for the past few decades. Material culture collapses: trade volume crashes and Britain (being hardest hit) nearly become illiterate again. Did it work out all right in the end? Yes, clearly. But for several centuries, the level of civilization in Europe was lower than it'd been in a thousand years. A ton of knowledge and literature was lost forever. As late as the seventeenth century, parts of Rome that in 100AD were apartment blocks and fast food joints we'd recognize as such today were still sheep pasture. It does no good to deny that something was lost. It's a cautionary tale: complexity and interconnected civilizations are more fragile than most people think.
- codesushi42 7y ago
  >First of all, the medieval period comes after the dark ages. Untrue, medieval period and dark ages typically refer to the same time period that lasted until the 13th century. But agreed with the rest of your post. It was not an easy time to survive. But not as barbaric and barren as previously thought. And in much of Western Europe (Gaul, Germania etc), life was mostly the same as it had been even during the Roman Empire, generally speaking-- those areas either hadn't been ruled by Rome, or they hadn't exactly been centers of culture and technology even under Roman rule. Sure, Europe ended up being in a backwards state of decay during the medieval period. But much of it had been during the Roman times that preceded it anyway. And yet there were still valuable advancements that were achieved.
  - cygx 7y ago
    Untrue, medieval period and dark ages typically refer to the same time period that lasted until the 13th century. The term 'dark ages' is used by some as reference to the early medieval period specifically, which may also be classified as 'late antiquity' ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_antiquity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_antiquity ). So depending on who you talk to, the dark ages can be synonymous to the middle ages, be just its earlier part, or predate them...

quotemstr 7y ago

First of all, the medieval period comes after the dark ages. The world of the 12th century is a very different and much more prosperous one than the world of the sixth century. Second, the dark ages were very, very hard indeed. Ward-Perkins, in "The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization", demolishes the pleasant-transition-period interpretation of late antiquing that's been popular for the past few decades. Material culture collapses: trade volume crashes and Britain (being hardest hit) nearly become illiterate again. Did it work out all right in the end? Yes, clearly. But for several centuries, the level of civilization in Europe was lower than it'd been in a thousand years. A ton of knowledge and literature was lost forever. As late as the seventeenth century, parts of Rome that in 100AD were apartment blocks and fast food joints we'd recognize as such today were still sheep pasture. It does no good to deny that something was lost. It's a cautionary tale: complexity and interconnected civilizations are more fragile than most people think.

codesushi42 7y ago
>First of all, the medieval period comes after the dark ages. Untrue, medieval period and dark ages typically refer to the same time period that lasted until the 13th century. But agreed with the rest of your post. It was not an easy time to survive. But not as barbaric and barren as previously thought. And in much of Western Europe (Gaul, Germania etc), life was mostly the same as it had been even during the Roman Empire, generally speaking-- those areas either hadn't been ruled by Rome, or they hadn't exactly been centers of culture and technology even under Roman rule. Sure, Europe ended up being in a backwards state of decay during the medieval period. But much of it had been during the Roman times that preceded it anyway. And yet there were still valuable advancements that were achieved.
- cygx 7y ago
  Untrue, medieval period and dark ages typically refer to the same time period that lasted until the 13th century. The term 'dark ages' is used by some as reference to the early medieval period specifically, which may also be classified as 'late antiquity' ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_antiquity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_antiquity ). So depending on who you talk to, the dark ages can be synonymous to the middle ages, be just its earlier part, or predate them...