Dark Ages Dbq

The Dark Ages, a time of cultural and economic deterioration, were vital in establishing the new era of progression during the Middle Ages. During the Dark Ages, the plague ravaged across European settlements and wiped out more than a quarter of Europe’s population. The crusades, Christians battle for possession of Jerusalem that occurred during the Dark Ages, were unsuccessful. This left the Holy Land in the hands of the Islamic Empire, and tensions between major religions high. During the period between 1300-1600 C.E., Eastern Europe, known as Russia, and Western Europe, known as England, became vastly different than each other in several ways. To begin, Russian population fell under the dome of the Eastern Orthodox religion, while the English …show more content…
Repeatedly the church scammed its practicers into paying to see a relic that was completely fabricated. Most of the time, reliquaries in England were used as a ploy to make money, instead of for religious purposes. The people who observed these reliquaries were completely unaware of the fact that there was not a real holy object inside. In fact, these Catholics believed that they were honoring God by spending their money on relics. The money raised went straight to the church and the Vatican. On the contrary, the Eastern Orthodox Church did not use relics as a way to extort money from its worshippers. Relics in the Orthodox Church were deeply important and sacred. Similarly to the followers of the Roman Catholic Church, the worshipers of the Orthodox religion thought of relics as a way to honor God. However, the Orthodox Church did not try to gain fortunes by cheating its followers using fake relics, unlike the Roman Catholic church. Another way the two religions differ is the leader of the church. In England, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church was the Pope. The Pope was the most powerful person in England, both politically and religiously. Furthermore, the Pope had authority over all other …show more content…
Russia’s government was primarily a feudal system, while England's government was a monarchy. A notably large difference in these governments was the person in charge. In Russia, the land’s most powerful leader was the prince and later the czar. Russia’s first major territory, Novgorod, was like a very small kingdom with a prince in charge. It was called a principality. In Russia’s feudal system there were also boyars, next in command to princes. Princes couldn’t take boyar’s land if it was given to them, making some of the boyars just as powerful as the prince. Nevertheless, this all changed after the rule of the Mongols. In 1237, Batu Khan invaded Russia with a Mongol army, who were a group of barbaric soldiers. He succeeded in conquering the territory, therefore Russia's history was forever changed. Russia lived under Mongol rule for three centuries. This was until Ivan the Great took back Russia from Mongol Reign. His actions paved the way for the first czar in Russia, Michael Romanov. A czar is the Russian equivalent of a ceaser. On the contrary, England’s most powerful leader in the government was the king. Nonetheless, the actual person in England who held the most power was the Pope. This brings light to the great divide in how the government was seen by the people. In Russia, government was the all ruling force of the empire. Alternatively, English people saw their government as lesser to their