Middle Ages: The Dark Ages

Even though the “Dark Ages” are said to be dark and gloomy, there were actually many innovations in the Middle Ages that still influence our world today. For many years, historians knew very little about this time period because of lack of sources and therefore thought that people living in this time were uneducated and lived in the dark, resulting in the name “Dark Ages”. However, this is a misnomer, because, as historians soon discovered, there were many things that happened in the Middle Ages that were unknown until primary sources were discovered later. So, although historians named this time period the “Dark Ages” because of little knowledge of it, many advancements and innovations occurred throughout this time that further influenced …show more content…
The actual definition of “Dark Ages” is outdated and isn’t accurate for this time period. According to Document A, the term “Dark Ages” was originally used to describe the lack of historical knowledge of the time period. This supports the idea that the “Dark Ages” is not an appropriate title for this period because when more knowledge about this time period was discovered, it showed how this age wasn’t really “dark” at all. Therefore, the use of the term “Dark Ages” to describe the Middle Ages is incorrect as this term was originally used to express the intellectual depression, or lack of knowledge of this time …show more content…
The Magna Carta showed the strong belief in religion of the people. In the Magna Carta the people said that they wrote this “at the prompting of God” which expresses how much they believed in their faith. Since, a period of “Dark Ages” would have little to no religious beliefs, their beliefs show that this time period is not appropriately described as “Dark Ages”. Additionally, in the Magna Carta, the foundation for Democracy is created. This foundation for Democracy still influences today’s world and is important to our everyday lives. Furthermore, since Democracy is such an important idea in today’s world, it shows how the Middle Ages were not “Dark Ages” because of the many advancements and ideas that occurred within it. Subsequently, both the religious ideas and the political advancements, found in the Magna Carta, during this time period made it clear that this was a time of learning and not