yes, so basic, I thought I was getting sitting in a 5th grade class room. Just using the phrase ‘dark ages’ was telling. But this is a group that believes the ‘Great -]pumpkin/-] Apostasy’ was a historical event.
You might want to argue with Petrarch about that.
Or, in fact, pretty much any historian; the 'Dark Ages" spans the time between the high point of the Roman Empire and the 'High middle ages," and refers to the time during which there were few books, fewer scientific advances, True, political correctness would prefer to use ‘medeaval history,’ or “early middle ages,” but Gibbons referred to the 'Dark Ages"–
And the term is still used in the sense that the period of time referred to was a tad backward; following the fall of the Roman Empire, with its scientific advancements, learning, government, infrastructure, etc., the early middle ages were less than lovely. Few read. Fewer wrote. If it were not for the church (and the Muslims) we would have lost everything we had of the learning of the Romans and the Greeks—and we almost lost all that anyway.
Literature went back to more oral than written–this IS, after all, the time of Beowulf. People were conquering all over the place, in the name of religion. Vikings loved this time.
Mostly the ‘dark ages’ refers to the paucity of information we have about what went on during those, roughly, 600 years. If it wasn’t done in, to, or by the church…we don’t know a bunch about it.
And the church wasn’t all that concerned with literature, science or medicine at the time. This is the time of burning of witches.
Now.
What were you saying about ‘those unfamiliar with history?’
, but I agree with my use of them.
