Dark Ages Dbq Essay

Something dark is often described as gloomy, lifeless, and dull. The Middle Ages, however, was the opposite of darkness. Although the beginning of the Middle Ages wasn’t very eventful, it was full of life and new ideas. The term "Dark Ages" doesn’t suggest positive developments of the Middle Ages such as King John signing the Magna Carta to help protect the rights of the nobles, the Japanese expressing themselves through poetry, and the flourishing of trade between Japan and China.

The leaders of innovation during a certain time period frequently cause people to rethink the ideas that were considered facts. Revolutionary is the only way to describe these influential acts executed by people who, by extent of these acts, changed the way the world considered logic. During the Renaissance, the trailblazers of progression forced the world to revise the way with which they imagined human knowledge by not only creating masterpieces of art and literature, but also by challenging the beliefs that were deeply ingrained in society.

Have you ever wished to be a knight in the Middle Ages fighting off dragons? In the Middle Ages knIghts were warriors who fought on horseback. The Middle Ages were a period between 500-1500 AD (OI) where a system called feudalism was at its best. In Europe feudalism first spread by the Franks (OI) influenced the economic, political, and social lives of many people.

The term dark ages means that people were in darkness compared to the classical period before them. Before the dark ages people raised glorious structures and had good health. There was a lot of trade and wealth, but now people lived in small towns, and they were isolated. There were lots of diseases, and there was violence throughout the city. Francesco Petrarch was an European scholar comparing present time to the classical period before them.

In the 1300's an Italian scholar named Petrarch came up with the name "Dark Age" to describe the time Europe was going through during the Middle Ages in 500AD-1500AD. Throughout the Middle Ages Europe was going through some rough times, but there were also moments of growth. For example the Black Death was a time of darkness but there were positive times like when universities were built. Although the dark ages were looked at as a negative occurrence, more events show a sign of growth.

Many people debate over whether Medieval Europe (500 AD-1500 AD) was a growth age or a dark age. The Term dark age came from a famous Italian scholar, Petrarch, and it means that there was violence, no new inventions, lots of diseases, war, not much trade and much more violence in the world. Based on The Black Death and The Crusades. We believe that Europe at this time was a “dark age”.

During this age, everything going on was either bad or had a bad side to it. For instance, there was a plague called the Bubonic Plague. (Doc 6). This plague was extremely contagious and dangerous, consequently the doctors had to wear outfits made out of cloth or leather to protect themselves. (Doc 6). This disease killed 25 million Europeans. Moreover, there was also invasions going on during this time. These invasions had many negative effects on Europeans. For instance, the invasions caused trade to cease. (Doc 7). Also, the invasions caused lots of terror, and the terror led to Europeans moving to hard-to-reach areas. (Doc 7). The people who caused all of this; the invaders, were the Moors and Magyars. (Doc 7). Not to mention, there were more invasions during the Middle Ages. These invaders were the Northmen, they caused lots of damage. (Doc 8). They burned down the town of Dordrecht and took many goods back with them. (Doc 8). Similarly, there were slaughters in Rochester, Quentovic, and London. (Doc 8). The Dark Ages is a perfect label for the Middle Ages because many bad events were happening and death was the outcome. Furthermore, everything going on also had a dark side. For example, the religion; the churches had a dark side. Popular cities has large, tall churches; cathedrals. To be exact, these churches were called Gothic Cathedrals because of its architecture style. (Doc 9). These cathedrals

In centuries there were nine wars and it was a dark terrifying history of them. This happen in the 11th century when the war happened. For the nine wars that happened, we called them the crusades. The war was between the Christians and Muslims. The crusade was a negative thing for the nine wars they had and they had to kill the Christians and the Muslims.

The Renaissance is a period in Europe, from the 14th to the 17th century, considered the bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a cultural movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe, marking the beginning of the Early Modern Age. The Renaissance changed the view of man on the world from how man viewed the world during the middle ages. The purpose of this essay is to show how the Renaissance changed the way man viewed the world. The world was changed in the views of Art, Literature, and Science.

to 800 C.E. called the Dark Ages. This fall was due to the invasion by the Barbarians, and since there was no central government to provide protection against these attacks, people began looking to powerful lords and knights for help. This was a time of despair as violence erupted and education became virtually obsolete. Classical Greeks and Roman texts were lost, and the majority of the population could not go to school and therefore were illiterate. In addition, due to the plundering of cities, most people were peasants or farmers. However, it was the Islamic Civilization that reintroduced new ideas and cultural improvements into society. Although some historians

The American Cyclopaedia describes The Dark Ages as a “period of intellectual depression in the history of Europe.” This means that the term The Dark Ages was just another name for the early middle ages in Europe. There wasn’t much evidence about the time available, historians didn’t know much about it and so they say that the period was “in the dark.” Over time, people began using it as a term for all the middle ages. Instead of basing these theories off of their lack of information, historians just assumed that the people and life at the time were “dark” also. Now they have discovered more documents from that time, and so it isn’t seeming as “dark” anymore.

In the year 476 A.D., Rome officially fell as the greatest and most thriving empire at the time. The time period following this downfall was called the Middle Ages, more infamously recalled as the Dark Ages; but were these years truly as dark as historians say? These medieval times lasted for approximately one thousand years, could such a long time period have been all that dreadful? The answer will soon become clear. The Middle Ages deserved to have the alias of the Dark Ages because there were several severe illnesses, the monarchs were cruel, and the crusades brought the death of many.

Wars, attacks and invasions were common during the Middle Ages. The early period had seen the fall of the Roman Empire and this must have contributed to a destabilizing effect. For example, the Turks and Arabs attacked and conquered the people living in Romania, also known as the Byzantine Empire. As stated by Pope Urban II, “They have killed and captured many, and have destroyed the churches and devastated the empire” (Doc 9). As this quote shows the Turks and Arabs completely destroyed the empire. Also, in 842 there was a great slaughter in England that killed many people. as stated by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, “842 in this year there was a great slaughter in London and Quentavic and in Rochester” (Doc 3). As this quote shows, things seem chaotic, out of control and very unsafe during the middle ages. These wars, attacks and invasions caused mayhem but the situation only got worse when the system of government was eroded.

Of course, it would be historically fallacious to say that the Dark Age of Europe had nothing awful happen during its time. However, for what these shoddy events are worth, they are only noted as counterclaims to the accurate interpretation of this time period. Such prominent counterclaims for the Dark Ages of Europe being misleading are; plague, feudalism, and frequent warfare. Plagues in this time period should be most noted as the most influential when describing how the Dark Ages of Europe lives us to its name. The plague (specifically known as

There were many wars and invasions resulting in millions of people dying in the Dark Ages. In Document 1, it explains how Vikings burned villages down to the ground and invaded monasteries. They slaughtered monks to steal their gold and