“How “Dark” Were The Dark Ages, Really?”

The Dark Ages has a bad reputation. In fact, it's possibly the only period of history literally named after its bad reputation: the title, as we all learn in school, is a reference to the idea that, after the Roman Empire fell in the West, everyone spent the next few centuries in the metaphorical dark - that is, stumbling about, unable to see the true shape of things, and occasionally braining themselves on the odd barber-surgeon. But how fair is that? Were the 500 years before the Renaissance really all that bad? Advertisement Advertisement Let's shed some light on what…