Unit 7:
Government and Politics
“The Dark Ages”
(c. 500-1500 CE)
Were the “Dark Ages” really dark?
“The Dark Ages is a term applied in its widest
sense to that period of intellectual depression in
the history of Europe from the establishment of the
barbarian supremacy in the [late] fifth century
(400s CE) to the revival of learning at about the
[middle] of the fifteenth (c. 1450 CE), thus nearly
corresponding in extent with the Middle Ages.”
- The American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of
General Knowledge, 1883
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Background
• The time period following the fall of Rome in Europe is
sometimes known as the “Dark Ages.”
• The term implies that the time between the fall of the
Roman Empire and the European Renaissance was a
period of decline for Europe.
• This time is also called the Middle Ages because it falls
in the middle of two important time periods: Classical
Period (Greece & Rome) and the European
Renaissance.
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Roman Empire in 117 CE
Frankish
Kingdoms
Avar Kingdom
Parhae
Byzantine Empire
Sassanid
Empire
Sui China
Silla
Harsha’ Empire
Chalukya
Ghana
Axum
States and Empires in 600 CE
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Yamoto
Japan
Carolingian
Cordoba Caliphate
Parhae
Byzantine
Silla
Gurjara-Pratihara Tang China
Heian Japan
Abbasid Caliphate
Ghana
Axum
Srivijaya
States and Empires in 800 CE
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Scandanavian
Kingdoms
Russia
England
France
Spain
Portugal
Poland
H.R.E.
Mongol Empire
Hungary
Rum
Almohad
Caliphate
Koryo
Sung China
Ayyubid
Caliphate
Kamakura Japan
Delhi
Sultanate
Mali
Ethiopia
Oyo
Angkor
Benin
Zimbabwe
States and Empires in 1237 CE
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Union of Kalmar
Russian States
Scotland
England
PolandHoly Roman
Lithuania
Empire
Hungary
France
Portugal
Castile
Khanate of the Golden
Horde
Jagatai Khanate
Ottoman Emp.
Korea
Timurid Empire
Granada
Ming China
Ashikaga Japan
Marinids Hafsids
Mamluk Sultanate
Mali
Ethiopia
Oyo Benin
Zanj City-States
Vijayanagara
Siam
Majapahit
Zimbabwe
States and Empires in 1400 CE
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Why “Dark”?
• The metaphor of “dark” and “light” was originally used by
Christians to describe the “darkness” people lived in
before God sent Jesus Christ to bring “light” to the world.
• Petrarch was an Italian scholar during the 1300s who
loved Greek and Roman writing.
• He used the terms “dark” and “light” to describe learning
instead of religion. He believed that Europe was in the
“dark” after the “light” of the Greek and Roman empires
were gone.
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Why “Dark”?
Historians, and others, since Petrach continued to use the
phrase “Dark Ages.”
They argued that during the centuries following the fall of
the Roman Empire, Europeans lived in a time that:
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•
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•
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Had no central government
Had a bad economy
Was repeatedly invaded
Did not support learning
Created very little culture (art, literature, architecture, etc.)
Was basically a miserable place to live
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Today
• Today many historians disagree with this term.
• They think it is not the proper way to describe this period of
time.
• But, people continue to use term “Dark Ages.”
• What do you think?
Was Europe really in a “Dark Age” for almost one thousand years?
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