The word "Middle Ages" was used by humanists in the late15th century. Europe in this period did not have a strong regime to rule. Feudal separatism brought frequent wars, which led to the stagnation of science and technology and productivity, and people lived in hopeless pain. Therefore, the Middle Ages or the early Middle Ages are generally called "dark ages" in Europe and America, and are traditionally regarded as a period of relatively slow development in the history of European civilization.
Another view is that until the 9th century, according to St. Augustine's view, most ancient scholars believed that human beings were in the sixth and last stage of history, that is, the "doomsday" predicted by the Bible in Revelation, so it had a dark meaning. Historians generally believe that the term "Dark Age of the Middle Ages" was invented by Italian Renaissance humanist Francesco Petrarca in the 4th century. He traveled around Europe, rediscovering and publishing classic Greek and Latin works, aiming at restoring the original Roman classical Latin, art and culture. He thinks that the changes and events since the fall of Rome in 4 10 A.D. are not worth studying. Humanists look at history not according to Augustine's religious terms, but according to social (academic) terms, that is, through classical culture, literature and art; Therefore, humanists call this 900-year stagnation period of classical culture "the dark age".
Petrarch divided European history into two stages: one was the period of ancient Rome and ancient Greece; The second is the "dark period". Humanists also believe that one day the Roman Empire will rise again and restore the purity of classical culture. At the end of 14 and the beginning of 15, humanists believed that a modern era had begun, so logically speaking, a "Middle Ages" had been formed.
Therefore, starting from humanists, historians also hold negative views on "the dark ages" and "the Middle Ages". In the reformation of Christian Protestants in16th century and17th century, Protestants also wrote the corruption of Roman Catholic Church into this history. In response to Protestants' accusations, Catholic reformers also gave the opposite picture to the "dark period": a period of social and religious harmony, which was not dark at all. Many negative views about the "dark period" in modern times come from the works of Kant and Voltaire in the Enlightenment in 17 and 18 century.
/kloc-At the beginning of the 9th century, the Romantic Movement changed this negative and one-sided trend towards the "dark period". It gives a peaceful picture: the harmony between society and environment is rooted in the life of nature; At the same time, it also responded to the rationalism in the Enlightenment that rationality completely surpassed sensibility, and the environmental damage and pollution caused by the rising industrial revolution. Through the customs and historical events displayed, we can still see the romantic views about the "dark period" in some cultural activities and festivals celebrating that period today.
In the second half of the19th century after the Romantic Movement, archaeology has made great progress, and many historical documents and cultural relics unknown to predecessors have been excavated and sorted out. The discovery of Sutton Hu Cave 1939 around 625 A.D. and the research by Charles Homer haskins, a famous scholar in the Middle Ages, make "dark period" no longer seem to be an appropriate word. After the middle of the 20th century, the word "dark period" gradually disappeared from the literature of English-speaking professional scholars.
Charlie Haskin wrote: "The continuity of history excludes the possibility of great differences between the following two historical periods-the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Modern research shows that the Middle Ages were not as dark and stagnant as once thought. The Renaissance was neither so bright nor so sudden. Before the Italian Renaissance, there was a similar movement, although it was not so extensive.
So the original "Dark Ages" was changed to refer to the European history from 4 10 (or 455) to 754 (or 800).
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