No its “dark” as in “half of biggest empire in history of mediteranean collapsed leaving way for small kingdoms to squabble” or dark as in “Cities are so depopulated that people who left in them are sometimes able to fit themselves and their homes in fortified amphitheaters” or maybe even dark as in “these giant wonders of architecture were made in far centuries past by giants, now we use them as quarries”.
Now, of course it depends on the region. For example after the fall of the roman empire in the west the Britain had it by far the worst.
Ceterum_Censeo_ on
Here I thought it was dark because there weren’t enough candles, that’s why nobody wrote anything down.
/s
robotical712 on
… And why don’t we have much writing from this period? Were they just having too much fun?
fringeguy52 on
Turns out when an empire collapses and is replaced by many smaller kingdoms the record keeping institutions of said empire fall too
dracarys289 on
I think it was dark because it was night time
camilo16 on
No, it was early modern propaganda to slander what came before.
guitar_vigilante on
This is a reinterpretation of the term from if I recall the 19th century, so it’s not an “always has been” case. The origin of the term comes from Renaissance writer Petrarch, who was comparing the relative darkness of medieval Europe to the glory and light of the Roman Empire as he understood it.
Modern medievalists as such eschew the term altogether rather than using either the original version or the “lack of documentation” version.
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No its “dark” as in “half of biggest empire in history of mediteranean collapsed leaving way for small kingdoms to squabble” or dark as in “Cities are so depopulated that people who left in them are sometimes able to fit themselves and their homes in fortified amphitheaters” or maybe even dark as in “these giant wonders of architecture were made in far centuries past by giants, now we use them as quarries”.
Now, of course it depends on the region. For example after the fall of the roman empire in the west the Britain had it by far the worst.
Here I thought it was dark because there weren’t enough candles, that’s why nobody wrote anything down.
/s
… And why don’t we have much writing from this period? Were they just having too much fun?
Turns out when an empire collapses and is replaced by many smaller kingdoms the record keeping institutions of said empire fall too
I think it was dark because it was night time
No, it was early modern propaganda to slander what came before.
This is a reinterpretation of the term from if I recall the 19th century, so it’s not an “always has been” case. The origin of the term comes from Renaissance writer Petrarch, who was comparing the relative darkness of medieval Europe to the glory and light of the Roman Empire as he understood it.
Modern medievalists as such eschew the term altogether rather than using either the original version or the “lack of documentation” version.
Those dastardly sea people.