I asked for the following:
“Tell me the year - or even the century - in which the “Dark Ages” ended and which saw the dawn of an age of “more religious, personal, and academic freedom, sparked technological advancements and thriving economies in the West, even more with New World wealth and resources.””
I got:
“You don’t advance a society when its brightest minds are shackled in fear that they will be accused of heresy and burned or imprisoned for their writing or discoveries.”
And when and where exactly did that happen?
“You don’t advance knowledge by banning books with which you disagree.”
When did the banning of books coincide with no advancement in society? Give me an exact example.
“And you certainly don’t grow an economy by crusading against your own people that might believe differently than the state or the majority religion.”
But every historian talks about how the crusades did “grow an economy” from East to West. Also, if a society thinks a crusade against its own members, then the growing of the economy is not the major issue now is it?
“It should be obvious, especially from our perspective. Look at the prosperity and rapid growth of America. What was the primary difference between us and the rest of the world - freedom from both religious and state despotism.
“There was not a specific year, or even century, but a gradual decline in the despotism of religion and the state.”
Really? Where? When? Name the place and time. It certainly wasn’t with the end of the Dark Ages.
“If I had to pick a moment, I think the invention of mass communication - the printing press starting in the late 15th century, is a good place to start, but one of many factors.”
Movable type presses did not end but instead helped make more possible the despotism of the state. Also, the economy had been rapidly growing for more than 300 years before that. The ‘Dark Ages” ended 300 before that as well. Thus, your “pick” makes no sense when compared to your earlier claims.
“Historians claim anywhere from the 13th to the 14th as the end of the Dark Ages.”
That is laughably wrong. I have a PhD in Medieval History. No reputable historian claims the ‘Dark Ages’ ended in the 13th to 14th centuries. This may be more your speed on this obvious fact: http://www.amazon.com/Search-Dark-Ages-Michael-Wood/dp/0816047022
That’s why Ker wrote in 1904: “The Dark Ages and the Middle Ages — or the Middle Age — used to be the same; two names for the same period. But they have come to be distinguished, and the Dark Ages are now no more than the first part of the Middle Age, while the term mediaeval is often restricted to the later centuries, about 1100 to 1500, the age of chivalry, the time between the first Crusade and the Renaissance. This was not the old view, and it does not agree with the proper meaning of the name.” W. P. Ker, The Dark Ages, (New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1904), 1.
And Christopher Snyder refers to the “so-called Dark Ages” in 1998: “Historians and archaeologists have never liked the label Dark Ages...there are numerous indicators that these centuries were neither ‘dark’ nor ‘barbarous’ in comparison with other eras.” C. Snyder, An Age of Tyrants: Britain and the Britons A.D. 400–600, (Univ. Park: Penn State Univ. Press). 1998), pp. xiii–xiv.
As Ralph Raico wrote: “The stereotype of the Middle Ages as ‘the Dark Ages’ fostered by Renaissance humanists and Enlightenment philosophes has, of course, long since been abandoned by scholars.” http://mises.org/daily/2404
I suggest you read a good book.
“It certainly varied throughout Europe.”
Not as much as reliable knowledge about history varies on FreeRepublic.
Who decides which historians / history is reputable?
You must have many leather-bound books.
I especially enjoyed this deep thought. Your train of thought sort of derailed.
But every historian talks about how the crusades did “grow an economy” from East to West. Also, if a society thinks a crusade against its own members, then the growing of the economy is not the major issue now is it?
I will mark you down as pro crusade, and pro religious genocide.
I suggest you read a good book.
I read a good one every day. But thanks for the advice.