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Explain Why The Dark Ages Is Not Appropriate For The Middle Ages

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Madeline Kate Marcelle Ms. Garcia History ll 29 February 2024. Why the Dark Ages is not an appropriate term for the Middle Ages For many years now, historians have argued on whether the term “Dark Ages” is appropriate for the European Middle Ages (500-1454 AD); the term was first coined by the Italian scholar Petrarch, also nicknamed the “Father of Humanism”, during the Renaissance because he believed that this era lacked “good literature at that time” (Hughes). The Renaissance was a golden age for the arts, sciences, literature, philosophy, and much more that helped advance European culture. It also revived Roman and Greek ideas and brought them back to a new light (Hughes). Those of the Renaissance viewed the fall of the western half of …show more content…

They cared about knowledge, which was assumed by Petrarch to be “lost” and preserved for future generations; they pursued learning and began to advance their education through the preservation of Roman knowledge by Byzantium, the developments produced during the Northumbrian and Carolingian renaissances, the cathedral schools run by the clergy, and the development of universities and the seven liberal arts; proving that knowledge did not die with Rome and instead continued to be pursued. The people of the Middle Ages also proved that the arts did not die with Rome and instead thrived. They made several new types of architecture and styles of the visual arts including but not limited to Romanesque Architecture, Gothic Architecture, the illumination of manuscripts, and stained glass; all of which held Christian theological symbolism and were criticized for it by the humanists. Humanists criticized it because it focused on putting God first and not man instead of the naturalist view of putting man before God and showing only the visible world and not the religious. Therefore, as illustrated by the advancements made in education and the arts, the “Dark Ages” is not an appropriate term for the European Middle Ages because it was coined by the prejudice and criticism …show more content…

Accessed 1 Mar. 2024. The. Bosanquet, B. “The Dark Ages and the Renaissance.” Ethics, vol. 12, No. 1 -. 2, Jan. 1902, p. 195, https://doi.org/10.1086/205913. Accessed 9 Feb. 2024. “Carolingian Renaissance | European History.” Encyclopdia Britannica, 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Carolingian-Renaissance. Crump, Charles. The Legacy of the Middle Ages. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1951. De Luca, Lisa. “Basilica of Saint-Denis: The Cradle of Gothic Architecture.” TheCollector, 2 Feb. 2021, www.thecollector.com/gothic-architecture-saint-denis-basilica/. Historian, The. “10 the Byzantine Empire Accomplishments and Achievements.” Have Fun with History, 7 July 2023, www.havefunwithhistory.com/the-byzantine-empire-accomplishments/. “How Dark Were the Dark Ages?” HistoryExtra, www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/dark-ages-term-what-when-how-obscure/. Hughes, Tristan. “Why Was 900 Years of European History Labelled “the Dark Ages”?” History Hit, 2018, www.historyhit.com/why-were-the-early-middle-ages-called-the-dark-ages/. “Italian Renaissance Art - Naturalism.” Artyfactory.com, 2019, www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/italian-renaissance/italian-renaissance-art-naturalism.htm. Kennedy, D. J. St. Thomas Aquinas and Medieval Philosophy. The Encyclopedia Press, Inc, 1919. La Monte, John. The World of the Middle Ages : A

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