How was the middle ages dark?

Answer 1

The light of reason was almost snuffed out

Answer 2

All the above are good, so I'll just add a bit. Even the Roman Catholic Church was split asunder during the dark ages and Popes actually went to war against others of the church.

I just got through reading all the posts again and doing some more checking. The Dark ages were from CE 476 to 1000. The Roman Empire fell in CE 390 to 400. So something is wrong with some of the guesses.

Answer 3

It was a time when the Roman Catholic church gained political power. They refused to let the common person read the Bible, it was kept in Latin which they couldn't read. The church told you what to do and anyone who disagreed or believed otherwise were killed, mostly by burning.

Being forced to follow a religion they didn't even understand, much less believed in led to a lot of superstition. People who tried to see the world in a new way (as in, not flat) were heretics and burned.

Science was stomped flat, and European leaders hired the influence of the Church to wage wars.

During the same time, plagues were common, and since science and thinking were basically outlawed, no one knew how to stop it, so the "black plague" decimated cities. The Church had no idea what was going on, so it said it was punishment from God, which led the people to more superstition and attacking anyone who was doing anything different, which turned into whitch-hunts.

In short, learning ended, past knowledge faded, and religion was replaced by totalitarianism that forbade people to know the God they said they speak for.

Answer 4

After the Roman Empire collapsed internally and was overrun by barbarians, a lot of the great science history and literature of Europe was destroyed. If the Irish and Islamics hadn't preserved them, much would have been irretrievably lost.

Here's a link to give you some information on how the Irish saved Western Civilization:

Answer 5

The middle Ages where known as the dark ages becaues everything revolved around the Catholic Church and they did not have alot of knowledge or science. Religion was the mail influence and caused many wars that crushed many Empires. One empire that survived souly on skill was the British Empire.

Answer 6

Religion was dominant, literature, sciences, previous developments and all sorts of texts or educational stuff were burned. What wasn't burnt, you were forbidden to read. Learning was forbidden. People were burnt as heretics or witches, people were drowned and hung regularly. Wars were fought, many people died. Many people lived in poverty. Also, there were very many deadly diseases! For example, the Black Plague.
Seriously, people were set back a lot in learning and technologies because of the Dark Ages!

Answer 7

nobody had electric lights , so everybody had to go to bed early. Actually it was called the dark ages because of the lack of literacy and as a result there was a trememdous amount of knowledge lost.

Answer 8

There was a lack of knowledge and literecy among the general population. The church carried the torch of Roman knowledge technology etc... and eventually centuries later was able to once again share it with the general population.

Answer 9

-Romans
-Witch Hunts
-Monarchy
-No Religious Freedom
-Lack of Science
-Black Plague
-War

Answer 10

I agree with Firefly. It is a reference to the opression of learning and religion. It was a terrible time for any one who was different or believed differently than the christian church.