>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 t

>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.