If these two or three sophomoric cliches make up much of your historic worldview, you are possibly a 10th grader taking non-AP General History class in a public school.
Of course,this is just a guess.
There are no cliches in my post.
If you think the Middle Ages were a balanced and reasonable time, and that the Enlightenment was a step backward, you need to pick up a history book yourself. You could start with that 10th-grade AP class ...