The Dark Ages

Dark Ages
Name
Institution
Dark Ages
Loosely, Wickham, (2014), define the term Dark Age as a period in world history when the Roman Empire fell followed by the beginning of the era of discovery commonly referred to as Italian Renaissance. To be specific, the author lists Dark Ages to be between 500 – 1500 AD when religion ruled Western Europe. From this definition and the excerpt assigned in class, I agree that the term Dark Ages was a truly historical period. Some of the examples supporting this claim include the discoveries made immediately after the fall of Roman Empire. The discoveries and movements that came up after the end of Dark Ages are examples enough to attest to the existence of the period. As highlighted in the reading, some discoveries of as early as 16th, 17th and even 18t centuries are reason enough to believe that Dark Ages was an actual period. With the emergence of middle age, for example, some movements like enlightenment, modernism and nationalistic movements came into existence. Also essential to highlight is that during this Middle Age technological advancements, literature, music and art were made.
As pointed out by some historical evidence from scholarly publications, Dark Ages was not a period of ingenuity but rather a time when creativity was suppressed by religion which was more powerful than the state (Wells, 2009). The excerpt points out that Marin Luther considers Christianity of Middle Age adulterated with medieval concepts as a way of criticizing what religion had become during Dark Ages.

Religious persecution was common between 500 and 1500 AD which according to my understanding limited ingenuity and creativity. Had the individuals who lived during Dark Ages given freedom they would have become just as creative as the people in Middle Ages.

References
Wells, P. S. (2009). Barbarians to angels: The Dark Ages reconsidered. New York: London: W.W. Norton 2009.
Wickham, C. (2014). The inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the dark ages 400-1000. New York: Penguin Books.