Read by 29 September 2010

The "Dark" Ages

This week we are scheduled to look at the Dark Ages, the Vikings, and Monasticism. Obviously we are not going to do that in detail over the course of an hour and fifteen minutes.

What I would like you to think about prior to class is what does it mean for the "Dark" Ages to be dark. How dark were they anyway?

Some things to consider:

1. The people living in what we now call the Dark Ages didn't seem to realize that they were living in a particularly dark or difficult time. Why not?
2. The first time that the term Dark Ages seems to have been used is in 1602. How is that significant?
3. False Comparison #1. The period called the Dark Ages is often called dark in contrast to the periods that came before (particularly classical Rome) and the period of the Renaissance. But things are not so simple. Normally people romanticize aspects of the past that they are fond of. When such people (including us) look back on classical Rome we tend to think about its magnificent buildings and roads. We imagine ourselves near Caesar's palace or in a Senator's villa. But what was life like for the average Roman? Actually, there was so much violence in ancient Rome that wealthy individuals wouldn't not go out at night without body guards. Many people lived in tenement apartments that were fire traps. Outbreaks of disease were common and as many as 30% of the Roman Empire was made up of slaves. Keeping these conditions in mind will help you put the Dark Ages into a more historically accurate context.
4. False Comparison #2. When people speak of the Dark Ages they are often comparing Medieval Germany and France with classical Greece and Rome at their zenith. A better comparison would be to compare Medieval Germany and France to the Germanic tribes who roamed the woods of Europe wearing war paint in the first century A.D. Against this backdrop, Medieval Europe doesn't look so dark after all.

One of the most famous quotations from the Middle Ages may help us put this issue in context. Around 1130 A.D., Bernard of Chartes said: "We are like dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants, and so are able to see more and to see farther than the ancients." This has often been quoted to show that people in the Middle Ages thought of themselves as dwarfs compared to the ancients. There is a bit of truth in this, when the comparison is to the very best of ancient culture. Nevertheless, it is important to balance this out by noting that Bernard also claimed that his generation was "able to see more and farther than the ancients". This is not the saying of someone who is despairing about the collapse of his own culture.