EARLY DARK AGES COMPARED TO MODERN TIMES

EARLY DARK AGES (FALL OF ROMAN EMPIRE IN 476 - 1000 AD) COMPARED TO MODERN TIMES (20TH C. - 21ST C) Name: Course: Professor Name: (June, 13, 2013) Early Dark Ages (fall of Roman Empire in 476 - 1000 AD) compared to modern times (20th c. - 21st c) So how dark were the Dark Ages (c. 400AD - c. AD100)? This is one question that has occupied many discourses of historians for long. There are those who would want to think that the Dark Ages were not that dark, on the other hand there are those who have sustained that those ages were just dark. The term "Dark Ages" is applied to refer to this historical period because it was thought that that time was without some documented history and there are very few archeological finds that can be attributed to those ages. The term "dark" is hence used to describe those days because of lack of knowledge about those ages just like the term was used to describe Africa as the "dark continent" at the time. However, with some significant discovery of some materials written during that period, there is some new light that illuminates that darkness, and now more than ever, many historians are careful when refereeing to those days as the "Dark Ages".[Ingram, James (Rev). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle London: Everyman Press, 1823 (originally written approx A.D 890)] The term "Dark Ages" is seen by many today as a hangover from an era that is less enlightened. The Anglo-Saxon and the Venerable Bead actually did write something about that era. One can safely say that that period of humanity that is described as the "Dark Ages" of between 475 AD and 1000 AD is indeed the most maligned of all. The term "dark ages" is however now almost as ancient as that period itself. The term was coined by Italian Scholar Petrarch as a lamentation on the decline of the Latin literature. The term would later be taken up by the protestant reformers in the 16th century, and later by the members of the "Enlightenment" of the 18th century as was used as a derogatory term bearing even broader implications since they say their own "enlightenment" as being absent from the earlier period.[Bishop, Morris. The Middle Ages Chicago, IL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001.] [Hoyt, Robert S. Life and Thought in the Middle Ages Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota, 1967.] But were the "dark ages" as dark? Precisely not. If anything, this was an era of great progress and yes, light. This was a period that classical education began. Universities were born then, and the models that were developed in that classical education are still in use today in some schools. The universities of the Early Middle Age taught law, medicine, arts and theology which is the study of religion. Besides this classical structure that was based on the Ancient Greek history, these medieval universities were also extensively influenced by the Islamic education which was proliferating then. Universities of the early days exclusively admitted men; nevertheless, education of women did exist, as those convents of the day did educate the young women from a very young age.[Europe. Glimpse of the Dark Ages; or, Sketches of Social Condition of Europe, from the fifth to the Twelfth Century Oxford; Oxford University Press, 1789.] Another cardinal reason that dispels the notion that the era was a really dark period is that it was then that the scientific foundation was laid. The science of this period in the West was slow; however, it was steady and indeed high quality. The foundation that was laid in this period was the backdrop on which further advancements in the field of science occurred during the High Middle Ages. Suffice it to say that the study of science in the Early Middle Ages is the basis on which our scientific knowledge of today is anchored or founded on. There has been a notion that the rise of Christianity during that period actually killed off ancient science, the growth of natural science was somehow suppressed by the medieval Christian Church which prohibited dissection and autopsies, however these are just historical myths which even if they were true can only mean that there were already legitimate attempts in the realm of science.[Bishop, Morris. The Middle Ages Chicago, IL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001.] The Carolingian Renaissance happened in the Early Middle Ages. This was a period of great advancements in the field of literature, the arts, architecture jurisprudence, and scriptural studies. The Carolingian empire was the rebirth of the culture of the Roman Empire. It was during this time that the Vulgar Latin the common lingua franca of then started to get replaced by various dialects which then became Europe`s most spoken languages, which necessitated the creating of schools as a vital tool of spreading knowledge amongst the common people. What`s more is that it is this period that gave birth to the Western Classical Music. It was in the Early Middle Age that algebra arrived courtesy of the Islamic people of the East who were studying the religion. It was then that the world was introduced to the very first book of algebra - The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing that was written by Al-Khw?rizm? (790-840). The Arabic title of this historic book introduced the world the word "algebra". Indeed the world algorithm was derived from al-Khw?rizm?`s name. It was this book that gave the world the first systematic solution of linier and quadratic equations. Another misconception on the Early Mi...