1 9th century AD, according to St. Augustine's point of view, the vast majority of ancient scholars believe that human beings are in the sixth and last stage of history, which is the "doomsday" predicted by the Bible in Revelation, so it has the meaning of darkness. Historians generally believe that the term "Dark Age of the Middle Ages" was invented by Petrarch, the 14 humanist in the Italian Renaissance. He traveled around Europe, rediscovering and publishing classic Latin and Greek works, aiming at restoring Latin language, art and culture from Roman classics. He thinks that the changes and events that have taken place 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 period of classical culture stagnation the "dark period".
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 Protestants in16th century and17th century, Protestants also wrote the corruption of Catholicism 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. As for the "dark period", many negative views in modern times come from the works of Kant and Voltaire in the Enlightenment in 17 and 18 century.