Middle Ages, the Dark Ages?
The Middle Ages includes the centuries ranging from the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476 A.D.) to the discovery of America (1492).
It is conventionally divided into Early Middle Ages (from 476 to year one thousand) and Late Middle Ages (from the year one thousand to 1492). When the term "Middle Ages" was coined to indicate this thousand-year period of history, it was decided to define it the Middle Age, i.e. standing between Classicism and Renaissance, giving it a purely chronological meaning, whilst for the following age (XVI century) the term "Renaissance" is used in order to indicate the cultural, economic and scientific recovery of society.
It was during the Renaissance that the stereotype of the Middle Ages as the "dark ages" was born, as it was characterised by wars, epidemics, superstitions and cultural backwardness. As a matter of fact, after a period of destabilisation caused by the so-called "barbarian invasions", the medieval centuries were full of cultural and technical advances which subsequently led to the success of the Renaissance and to the Scientific Revolution.
During this period the first universities were born, cathedrals were built, amanuenses (fig. 1) guarded and transcribed antique classic manuscripts, the vernacular languages spread; thanks to technical innovations water mills (fig. 2), windmills and dams were built; the heavy plough (fig. 3), the winch and horse shoes were invented; compasses and eyeglasses were discovered (fig. 4).
Bibliografia
- C. FRUGONI, Medioevo sul naso. Occhiali, bottoni e altre invenzioni medievali, Bari-Roma 2014.
- J. LE GOFF, Il Medioevo raccontato da Jacques Le Goff, Bari-Roma 2015.
VR