The debate

Take a look at the images below. Put them in chronological order based on the level of realism and skill of the artist. Which one is the oldest?

I’m guessing many of you picked the Cantigas de Santa Maria. However, the oldest one is “Woman with wax tablets and stylus.” In fact, it is the oldest by about 1,200 years. From the Roman town of Pompeii, the painting dates to the first century CE. The Cantigas de Santa Maria, on the other hand, is from the thirteenth century CE. The top image is the “Last Supper.” It was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the late fifteenth century CE.

Do these three paintings tell us anything about the European Middle Ages?¹ Were they indeed the “Dark Ages”? Obviously, these are only three paintings. I even might have chosen these three to convince you the Middle Ages were backward. But historians do this all the time. They may pick and choose evidence to support their worldview.

Over the last five hundred years, historians have engaged in the “Dark Ages” debate. They argue whether Europe entered a dark age after the fall of Rome in the 400s CE. They also debate how long the period lasted. Let’s look at this question from three perspectives: the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the modern period.

The Renaissance and Enlightenment view of the Middle Ages

Generational eye-rolling is pretty common. You and your friends may even make fun of the music and fashion of your parents. New generations often try to separate themselves from those who came before.

European learning and art thrived during the Renaissance. Renaissance means “rebirth” in French. Many scholars of that time looked down at the pictures and music of the Middle Ages.

Francesco Petrarca is better known as “Petrarch.” He was a humanist in the 1300s.² He wrote about the greatness of ancient Greece and Rome. Petrarch believed that his society was moving backward from those achievements. He described Europe after the fall of Rome as “dark.”

In 1343, Petrarch wrote, “there is perhaps a better age in store; this slumber of forgetfulness will not last for ever.” He believed future generations would return to “the pure radiance of the past” (Petrarch 453-7). The “darkness” of the Middle Ages would come to an end. Europeans, he felt, would soon regain the greatness of Greece and Rome.

Many later scholars shared Petrarch’s views. One of the most well-known Enlightenment³ historians was Edward Gibbon. He wrote The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in the late 1700s. In it, Gibbon said Christianity caused Rome’s collapse. It was also responsible for the loss of Roman achievements. He said that while trying to eliminate “pagan” beliefs in Rome, Catholics also snuffed out Rome’s greatness.

Modern views of the Middle Ages

During the 1800s, historians repeated this idea of the “Dark Ages.” By the mid-twentieth century, though, opinions were shifting. Some scholars and writers argued there never were any Dark Ages. Yet, the term has not disappeared.

Some critics say the use of “Dark Ages” has been outdated and wrong. Others, though, have come to its defense. Medieval historian Alban Gautier wrote that “Dark Ages” can be a useful term. He argued that historians should use it under two conditions: First, it should only refer to c. 410-610 CE. Second, it should not be considered a negative label. Instead, “Dark Ages” should be considered a description of a period that left behind few written records. In other words, the Dark Ages weren’t dark because they were bad; they were dark because our knowledge of them is limited.

The debate continues

So why does this debate still rage? Scholars in every era have different motives. Renaissance scholars wanted future generations to see them as the people who brought forth a “rebirth” of the classical world. They wrote about Greco-Roman society in glowing terms. It was a beacon of art, literature, and culture. By combining Greco-Roman culture with Christianity, they believed they could create a brighter future. By contrast, Enlightenment scholars tended to be anti- Catholic. The Enlightenment celebrated reason and science. Many of its authors, like Gibbon, were strong critics of religion. They saw the Dark Ages as a time of superstition.

Many later scholars accepted the arguments of Petrarch and Gibbon. They continued to celebrate the Romans and Greeks. Meanwhile, they portrayed the Middle Ages as backward and violent. They ignored the cultural achievements of the period. Today, the debate continues. More and more scholars, though, argue history can’t be easily divided into clear “ages.”

What do you think? Was there ever a “dark age” of medieval history? Were the cultures of classical Greece and Rome superior? Or do you think Europe was simply changing into something new?

1 The Middle Ages was a period in Europe from the fall of Rome in the fifth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

2 Renaissance humanism was a movement that focused on studying classical authors to improve humanity. Some rejected the focus on Christianity and religion during the medieval period while others incorporated aspects of Christianity into their classical studies.

3 You’ll learn more about the Enlightenment later. For now, just know that it was an intellectual movement from the seventeenth to nineteenth century that emerged from the ideas of the Renaissance.