In the 1300s, Petrarch, an Italian scholar who coined the term "dark age" after the all of Rome during the 500s through the 1500s because he thought it was a chaotic time.(Movie Talk "dark age") The "dark age" took place during all the Crusades. This did help make population smaller and it did increase food supply. This illustrates that Europe was not in a "dark age" as it will be explained. Europe was not in a "dark age" really and it did improve Europe's food and population grew bigger which meant more farming.
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.”
Europe faced many difficulties during the 13th and early 14th century which was considered the dark ages, many things accrued during that time. There was war between England and France which lasted for a hundred years from 1337-1453 these claimed many lives between the British and the French people to this day they have not forgotten the tragedy befallen both countries. The Black Death
Europe in Dark Age Before you say “Europe was never in a dark age.” think of the middle ages right after the fall of Rome, in The Crusades or The Black Death. These are just examples of why Europe was in a dark age. The phrase dark age means unsightly and dreadful, the term comes from Francesco Petrarch, he was an Italian scholar who compared Europe to Asia. The dark ages lasted 500 AD to 1500 AD.
The Middle Ages was a dark time period. It was dark because education and culture were beginning to decline drastically. This is evident in document #1. As it states,”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”. This detail demonstrates that the decline in education caused the civilizations to not reach their best potential and education began to become really rare to find as it was only accessible/available in Churches.
Because of this, Europe was in need of new ways to obtain items. My evidence comes from Document 1. Next, is isolation, Europe’s dark age. They weren’t updated in technology and life was difficult. In the Background it states “Until about 1450, Europe was mostly cut off and isolated from the Silk Roads.
The term dark ages means to be in a time of war, isolation, and sickness, and was first coined by the Petrarch of Italy by comparing it to Rome, the most powerful, wealthy empire known to Europe. During the time of 500 AD through 1500 AD, Europe was in a time of disease, chaos, war and instability. On one hand, people argue that Europe was in a Dark Age, but on the other hand, some historians oppose the idea that Europe was in a growth age. Our own belief is that Europe was in a Dark Age.
Most of the people who died were poor because they could not escape or find protection for themselves. In addition, people lost a lot of money due to the disruption of trade and the downfall of many cities. The Dark Ages had many social and political changes in Europe due to religion, law, and trust/leadership.
From 1450 to 1700 the economy of Europe began to majorly change. Mercantilism was on the uprise which meant Europe began to focus more on their trade and commerce. This lead to many individuals to having a hard time gaining wealth because the government was doing everthing on a large scale. Many Europeans were just barely getting by. Then the poor would have to go to the extremes and beg and steal to make money for themselves.
In 1347, Europe had just been infected by the Black Death. This epidemic killed over 2/3 of Europe’s population and lasted for over five years. The pathogen that caused the Black Death was Yersinia Pestis which causes many forms of plague. The Plague originated in central and south Asia then traveled through trade routes like the Silk Road, all the way to Sicily The Black Death killed most of Europe’s population, thus ending Feudalism by having not enough serfs and workers to run fields and farms. The land owners started to offer more for their work and labor, making the lower class more wealthy, and providing more jobs.
The Silk Road enabled East-West travel and trade, but its decline started in the late 15th century. It was 7000 miles long and helped travel goods, ideas, and cultures. The Silk Road helped with cultural diffusion and the spread of different religions and beliefs. There are many reasons for the fall of the Silk Road and the main ones are new threats, new technologies, and new political policies. Muslim attacks, crusades that took place by the Franks, and geography made new threats.
The age of Faith couldn't be the best because the church manipulated their followers. The Golden Age also couldn't be the best because all the good things came from something bad. The church acted as a good distraction and form of security from chaos, but it had bad intentions. As a result, the medieval period is also known as the Dark
This information should also be pretty accurate because it was written during the Dark Age and it was written where the Dark Age was happening. This article talks about how there was lots of war during the Dark Age and that people always fought for things instead of trading. So far there has been three articles, two of them say that the Dark Age was dark in the fall of economy, and one says that Europe prospered in most of its features (e.g food
The Silk Roads were established by the Han dynasty in 130 B.C. and it was used for over 1500 years until it was closed in A.D. 1453 by the Ottoman Empire, who boycotted trade with China. It was a trade network that connected China and the Far East, with Europe and the Middle East. It cuts across Central Asia and as far Southward as India, as well as ports around the Mediterranean Sea, which shipped goods to cities in Europe and the Roman Empire. The trade network stretches approximately 4000 miles. The Silk Roads might have officially opened up trade between the East and the West in 138 B.C. when Emperor Wu sent Zhang Qian to contact different cultures in Central Asia.
I took a step back for this assignment of identifying my culture to assess my life as an outsider I found many cultural aspects apply but I’ll touch on just a few. Most of my social norms, values and traditions are pretty typical for my background. I have genealogy tracing back all over Europe and my parents were raised in Nebraska and Ohio. So, as you can imagine their small town social norms, values and traditions followed them into the big city while they raised two daughters. My sister and I grew up with a lutheran mother and a previously catholic father.
