Dark Ages Vs Middle Ages

The History Channel’s “Dark Ages” vs. the Middle Ages The time period between 500 CE to 1000 CE has gained many labels over the years ranging from just simply the Middle Ages to the deep and gruesome Dark Ages. Generally, true Historians will make the reference to this time period as the Middle Ages and other people and documentaries who speak of this time call it the Dark Ages. The documentary put on by the History Channel portrays the early middle ages as a time when all hell had broken loose and there was rarely a time of peace that interrupted. This is contrary to the readings and lectures because through them we find that this is actually quite a time for reform where new relationships were and violence was supposedly for a good cause, …show more content…
This was actually a time of great development in Europe where a good relationship was formed between the people, “Barbarians,” and the church (“Marriage of Monks and Barbarians”). This was a time when the church was reformed and surprisingly enough, people like the “thugs” mentioned before played a big part. During this time the people begin to see ascetics form and these are your Christians who have completely removed themselves from the world in order to get closer to God (“Marriage of Monks and Barbarians”). Some of the biggest reformers would be the monks who lived in monasteries because through these places they offered protection and a center for education to start growing again. The “Barbarians” played their role in the church as well. The church loved them because in return for the church taking care of the Barbarians, the Barbarians would fight for the church. This allowed the church to gain more followers and power and the only real violence came from the Barbarians threatening to kill those who would not join the church, literally putting the fear of God into people, or Barbarians one but either way, it worked. King Clovis I who led several of the massacres in the documentary actually put a big impact on the people and Christianity as well. When he was in the middle of a battle he saw he was about to lose, he called on Jesus and in return he won the battle (“Marriage of Monks and Barbarians”). Although the documentary does mention this scene, they left out the importance of it which was the fact the after the victory Clovis and all of his followers were converted and baptized by the Bishop of Reims. So despite the documentary portraying how horrible the Barbarians were and how horrible life during this time period was, it really seems to be quite