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Doctor_Impossible_ t1_ixz3ajm wrote

Reply to comment by bangdazap in Simple/Short/Silly History Questions Saturday! by AutoModerator

>When the (Western) Roman empire fell apart, it led to a precipitous economic, cultural and scientific decline in Europe. Hence the "Dark Ages".

No. 'Dark Ages' refers to a lack of written sources from the time, not a cultural or intellectual decline.

>but the fact remains that there was a great decline.

Also wrong. The idea of the Roman empire as some sort of peak is fuelled by people like Petrarch and Gibbon, who were nothing more than Roman empire fanboys.

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LateInTheAfternoon t1_ixz8p1q wrote

Originally, and well into the 19th century, "Dark Ages" meant a time of cultural decline (following the negative view with which Petrarch and other Renaissance scholars held for the time separating them from their venerated ancients). This changed with the rise of professional scholarship in history in the 19th and 20th centuries where instead the lack of sources as well as a perceived lack of quality in the sources (as compared with the illustrious historians of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece) became the important characteristics behind the term "Dark Ages". As of today most historians avoid the term as far as possible in favor for the less judgemental "the Early Middle Ages".

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