Dark Ages

History glossary

Topic: Renaissance, Reformation and the Scientific Revolution · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 5 "Changing Cultural Traditions"

Meaning

'Dark Ages' was a label made by the humanists, scholars of the Renaissance who admired ancient Greece and Rome. They believed that after the Roman Empire collapsed, a 'dark age' began in which the learning of the Greeks and Romans was lost. In their scheme, the Dark Ages ran from the fifth to the ninth century. Recent historians reject sharp breaks like this and think the label is unfair.

Example

The humanists divided the past like this:

  • Middle Ages: fifth to fourteenth century. They split it into the Dark Ages (5th–9th), the Early Middle Ages (9th–11th) and the Late Middle Ages (11th–14th).
  • Modern Age: from the fifteenth century.

Don't confuse with

  • Middle Ages: the whole period from the fifth to the fourteenth century. The Dark Ages were only its first part, from the fifth to the ninth century.

Related concepts

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