[Arthur McGowan]

By the end of the Middle Ages, the rich were sick and tired of subsidizing the feasts and celebrations of the Saints. One of the results was the relentless propaganda against asking the Saints for their prayers and intercession. By fostering hatred for Mary and the Saints, the rich got a huge "tax cut." By slaughtering monks and nuns, and looting and demolishing monasteries, the rich got another gigantic windfall--and helped stamp out vast charitable works for the poor, and vast resources for intellectual life.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The Dark Ages, characterized by oppression, ignorance, and backwardness.

So, the professor is going to say Republicans were in charge?

[Slyfox]

I am reading a book right now by James Walsh called: “The Thirteenth - Greatest of Centuries” and it describes all of the achievements which really put the modern age into gear. I am really amazed.

[moonhawk]

Thank you, Arthur—that was terrific.

[Politicalkiddo]

Q: Why were the Dark ages so dark?

A: Because there were so many knights!

[To Hell With Poverty]

Ping for later

[Irenic]

I never found the Rodney Dangerfield punchline in there.

[familyop]

Things have steadily improved since about the year 370.

[familyop]

...and improved more since the middle of the 1600s.

[Hugin]

Were the Middle Ages, also known as the Dark Ages

Really the early part of the middle ages, the 5th to the 10th centuries. The 11th century on saw Europe becoming more stable, prosperous and powerful. Well, except for that part about the black death and all.

[Eagles6]

Good post.

[motor_racer]

for later reference

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Everything they made was made with hand tool, muscles and brains. The hand tools were made with hand tools, going back to beginning with sticks and rocks.

We know more, maybe, maybe not, we don't know a lot that they knew.

I set out 35 years ago to learn the craft my ancestors practiced, in an Appalachian mountain "holler". I made some functional rifles, but they don't come close to this' Maybe, if I had another 35 years....and didn't have to work to eat.

This isn't middle ages, it's from just before 1800, but they'd been doing work like this for centuries.

[PlateOfShrimp]

Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

[Radix]

Within a generation of Gutenberg's movable type, Europe saw a renaissance, a reformation, the expulsion of Islam from Iberia, the ‘discovery’ of America, and the circumnavigation of the world, and much more.

Giants such as Columbus, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Machiavelli, Luther, and others established themselves as figures of renown who each contributed to changing the world forever.

[kanawa]

Bump

[camle]

did anyone else notice how ‘global warming’ contributed to the expansion of humanity in europe?

[TalBlack]

Even after the PU video many not realize how important Christianity was to it all from the fall of Rome on.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

“We dismiss the achievements of our ancestors and fall short of them. They honored their ancestors and surpassed them.”

Money shot.

[PapaBear3625]

Back in the 4th Century, Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople, which remained a center of learning and culture for the next thousand years, until the Muslims conquered it.

The scholars of Constantinople, fleeing west, sparked the Renaissance in western Europe.

[blam]

Thanks for posting.

I posted this one back in 2003.

The Dark Ages: Were They Darker Than We Imagined?

"Michael the Syrian : "The Sun became dark and its darkness lasted for eighteen months. Each day it shone for about four hours, and still this light was only a feeble shadow...the fruits did not ripen and the wine tasted like sour grapes."