Why was it called the Dark Ages?

Question

Was it called the Dark Ages because the Light of Christ was not on the Earth during this time?

I did not mean dark as with no light bulbs.

Answer 1

Maybe, but it's also a fact that war was never ending in the old days. Constant wars.

Also, poor treatment of people, especially women. Poor health conditions.

Answer 2

No, it is called the Dark Ages for mostly non-religious reasons, I believe. Actually, Europe, which is usually the place we're referring to when we say dark ages (you wouldn't use that term for the same time period in, say, South America), was Christianized up to the borders of the Roman empire by the time of Rome's fall. The last remaining outposts of pagan religions existed outside of the Empire's domain.

Instead, it refers to the lawlessness that prevailed after the final fall of the Roman Empire. Also, at this time there was a drastic drop in the amount of literate people. Knowledge was horded by the select few. Death and disease began to take a high toll once again because those with medical knowledge were cast out of Christian society as "witches" or "heretics" (how you can be a heretic without participating in the religion you're supposedly commiting heresy against, I still don't understand) because they knew more than the Church did and few wanted to join up, as it were.

It is more acurate to refer to the period 500 C.E. to 1500 C.E. as the Middle or Medieval Ages, the time between great cultural developments when human invention and motivation to better our lots in life stagnated severely. There is the Low Medieval period, the Middle Medieval period (what most think of when they think Medieval, thus why it's also refered to as the Middle Ages), and the High Medieval period.

Answer 3

Those who are blaming Christianity or religion for the dark ages are confusing the dark ages with the middle ages. The dark ages in Western Europe were brought about by Rome first retreating to its own shores, then being over-run by barbarians. The whole empire was eventually overrun. Paganism took over much of Europe (the Roman Empire had been 'christianized', at least in name). The period was dark, in many senses. Yes, christianity retreated and almost disappeared for a while from some areas. Knowledge decreased, techonology decreased. Just such luxuries as central heating and running water (hot and cold) existed in Brittain in the third century. It was never to be known again until the 20th century! During the later Roman period a large proportion of the population could read and write, and knew something about what was happening in the world. During the dark ages, very few people could read or write, and each culture or nation was almost totally ignorant of the rest of the world. This was in part due to the loss of the Roman Empire's enforced peace, as well as the loss of Christianity, which had become a vehicle of learning. Many of the forms of Christian religions that did survive were paganized, and showed very little inclination for learning. After the Renaissance, all this changed dramatically.

Answer 4

From Wikipedia:
"In historiography, the term Dark Ages or Dark Age most commonly refers to the European Early Middle Ages, the period encompassing (roughly) 476CE to 1000CE.

This concept of a "Dark Age" was created by Italian humanists and was originally intended as a sweeping criticism of the character of Late Latin literature. Later historians expanded the term to include not only the lack of Latin literature, but a lack of contemporary written history and material cultural achievements in general. Popular culture has further expanded on the term as a vehicle to depict the Middle Ages as a time of backwardness, extending its pejorative use and expanding its scope."

Sigh...I guess everything isn't about Christianity after all...
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Xoom: With all due respect back to you, I think I will accept the Wikipedia encyclopedia, which is researched by unbiased educators, over an opinion about rumors and exaggerations. Thank you kindly though... He isn't challenging the fact that the Dark Ages happened, he is asking why it was named as such.

Answer 5

Many of you blame religion for the dark ages. Everything that claims to be religious is not Christianity. Just as radical Islamists do not represent all of Islam. It was called the "Dark Ages" because radical religous zealots stifled cultural, spiritual, and scientific growth. These religious zealots have nothing to do with true Christianity. And to the "atheist" I would say that there will be no atheists in hell. They will quickly become believers ... too late!!

Answer 6

Is the contrary. The Church of Christ and Feudal State are so powerful that ideas are prohibited. 1000 years of slow development of humanity, yes deserves the name of Dark Ages.
Is like Fidel Castro living for 1000 years.

Answer 7

because religion/church controlled society. and they punished academia as much as possible. the Dark Ages were a period of religious rule, academic extinction...most people coudln't even read during those times.

when the church was eliminated from public policy and and removed from political power, and academia was free to move forward without religious persecution, we had a new age -- the age of enlightenment.

imagine that -- people got smarter when religion and bible-nonsense FINALLY was put in its place and removed from power. colleges were formed for the first time and the church could no longer punish people for scientifically challenging silly church notions (like the earth was the center of the universe and all the other silly crap in the bible...)

Answer 8

If you are serious, "dark ages" because the mighty Roman Empire declined,Church became more dominant and authoritative, there was a cultural stagnation and degeneration, and the emergence of Feudalism, ...!

Answer 9

Because of the lack of information during that period.

There was less written during that period than the roman era 2000 years ago. It left parts of that era in question as to what truly happened and they called it the dark ages simply because of the lack of info.

Answer 10

it was called the dark ages because almost no books were written (in Europe) during this long period, except christian books written by religious leaders. the vast majority of people didn't even know how to read ... the church was "the law" during this time. libraries had long since been burned by Christians. medicine had been reduced to christian incantations and rituals ... and people believed in crazy myths and whatever they were told by the church