mr. janes 8th grade history class

1. The “Dark Ages”

2. Please write these questions down on a new sheet of paper.
1.What is meant by an “intellectual depression”?
2.What was the “barbarian Supremacy”?
3.What is meant by the “revival of learning”?
4.How long did the Dark Ages last according to this
statement?
Warm up!

3. “The Dark Ages is a term applied in its widest sense
to that period of intellectual depression in the history
of Europe from the establishment of the barbarian
supremacy in the fifth century (400 AD) to the revival
of learning at about the beginning of the fifteenth
(1400 AD), thus nearly corresponding in extent with
the Middle Ages.”
- The American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of
General Knowledge, 1883
WARM UP
READING

4. 1. WAS THE TIM PERIOD BETWEEN 400 AD & 1400 A “DARK AGE” FOR
EUROPE”? PLEASE EXPLAIN YOUR ANSWER.
2. WAS THIS A TIME OF CULTURAL DECAY? PLEASE EXPLAIN YOUR
ANSWER.
BURNING QUESTIONS

5. Background

6. •The metaphor of “dark” and “light” was originally used by
Christians to describe the “darkness” people lived in before
God sent Jesus Christ to bring “light” to the world.
•Petrarch was an Italian scholar during the 1300s who
loved Greek and Roman writing.
•He used the terms “dark” and “light” to describe learning
instead of religion. He believed that Europe was in the
“dark” after the “light” of the Greek and Roman empires
were gone.
Why “Dark”?

7. Historians, and others, since Petrarch continued to use the phrase
“Dark Ages.”
They argued that during the centuries following the fall of the Roman
Empire, Europe was in a state of cultural where. A time that:
•Did not support learning
•Created very little culture (art, literature, architecture,
etc.)
•Was repeatedly invaded
•Had no central government
•Had a bad economy
•Was basically a miserable place to live
Why “Dark”?

8. CHRISTIANITY DURING THIS TIME PERIOD EXPLODED IN POPULARITY.
PEOPLE OF THE DARK AGES LOOKED TO THE CHURCH FOR SALVATION
FROM THE ISSUES OF EVERYDAY LIFE...
A.HUNGER
B.FRESH WATER
C.GERMAINIC ATTACKS: THE VIKING ATTACKS WERE THE MOST FEARED
D.DEATH AND DISEASE
E.HOPED FOR ETERNAL LIFE
THE CHURCH USED THESE ISSUES AS A WAY TO CONTROL THE MASSES.
THE CHURCH USED LATIN IN ITS MASSES WHICH FEW PEOPLE COULD SPEAK.
THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN IN LATIN AS WELL. THIS PREVENTED PEOPLE FROM
QUESTIONING THE CHURCH AND ITS ACTIONS.
RISE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
& ESTABLISHMENT OF POWER

9. THE CHURCH IS ONE OF THE FEW PLACES WERE EDUCATION IS
ENCOURAGED.
YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN WHO ENTERED INTO THE CHURCH TO
STUDY WHRERE TAUGHT TO READ AND WRITE. NO MATTER THE
SOCIAL CLASS THEY CAME FROM, ALLL WERE TAUGHT.
MANY CHURCHES TRANSLATED THE ANCIENT GREEK AND ROMAN
STORIES AND HISTORY BOOKS INTO CHURCH LATIN, THERE BY
SAVING IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD.
THE MUSLIM KINGDOM OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL ALSO WHERE
KNOWN TO HAVE SAVED THE ANCIENT TEXTS AS WELL
GLORIES OF THE CHURCH
9

10. THE TALES OF HOMER
THE ILLIAD AND THE ODYSSEY
THE ANEID
SONG OF ROLAND
STORIES BY HERADOTUS
(INCLUDED SOME EARLY HISTORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT)
HISTORY OF ALEXANDER AND HIS CONQUEST
EXAMPLES OF BOOKS SAVED
10

11. ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS-HAND
DRAWN AND WRITTEN BIBLES
11

12. 12

13. BOOK OF KELLS
13

14. 14

15. •Today many historians disagree with this term.
•They think it is not the proper way to describe this period of
time.
•But, people continue to use term “Dark Ages.”
•What do you think:
Was Europe really in a “Dark Age” for almost 900 years?
Today