Dark Ages Dbq Essay

The first reason the Dark Ages were not as dark as the name claims for them to be, is because during the Dark Ages there were tons of advances in education. The information in Doc A that claims “Europe suffered a decline in commerce and manufacturing, in education, in literature and the arts and in almost all that makes possible a high civilization.” is completely biased. And that the Dark Ages “Did not support learning” (Background Information) which is completely untrue. During the Dark Ages, there were still people learning and teaching. One of them being a monk named Richer, who “went to the town of Chartres, in what is today France, to study.” and “learned the ordinary symptoms of diseases and picked up a surface knowledge of ailments. This was not enough to satisfy my desires. I begged him to continue to guide my studies on a deeper level.” (Doc E). This passage shows that people were not only continuing to educate others, but some were actually begging to be educated on a further level. Also, dozens of monastic schools were established by Charlemagne. Education was still considered and important. And wasn’t being overshadowed by anything. Which means Europe did not have the decline in education described in Doc A.

In the Dark Ages, there were many technology improvements, such as “the heavy plow, the shoulder collar for horses, metal horseshoes, and more efficient water and windmills” (Doc. B) They made many things that were helpful to producing food, and travel. Which means in this “dark” time Europe was actually improving, not declining. Meaning that the Dark Ages wasn’t a dark time, because technology continued to advance. Also, it’s said that the Dark Ages “created very little culture” (Background Information) But this is false because one of “the most famous