The Dark Ages ●Was the period between 400 AD and 1400 AD a “Dark Age” for Europe? ●Was this a time of cultural decay and decline? The American Cyclopedia “The Dark Ages is a term applied in its widest sense to that period of intellectual depression in the history of Europe from the establishment of the barbarian supremacy in the fifth century (400 AD) to the revival of learning at about the beginning of the fifteenth (1400 AD), thus nearly corresponding in extent with the Middle Ages.” Textbook A 1.What type of document is this? A textbook excerpt. 2.When was it written? Was written in 1965. 3.How long does this textbook suggest the “Dark Ages” lasted? 624 years. 476 to 1100. 4.Why, according to this textbook, were the “early Middle Ages” a “Dark Age”? Europe suffered a decline in economy, literature, art, culture, education. When barbarians invaded there was disorder, chaos, travel was not safe. Government could not keep order. There was violence, theft, decline in manufacturing, commerce, education. Government lost control and it all fell to pieces. A poverty stricken time. 5.What is similar and different about this account and the American Cyclopaedia entry? Similar: see the dark ages as a negative time for Europe. Agree that it is an adequate name for this time period. Use the ‘barbarism’ term. Textbook says it was ‘semi’ whereas the cyclopedia said it was ‘supreme’ barbarism. Mention a decline in education. Differences: time period, one only mentions intellectual depression, the other talks about
