[wideawake]

Compared to the height of Roman civilization, the world did really ‘go dark’ for quite some time, as de-facto warlords ruled small patches of territorry constantly warring amongst each other. It was not until the reneissance that the light of civilization truly emerged agian.

This is simplistic.

There was a Carolingian Renaissance in the IXth century which united vast swaths of Europe under a single government.

Italy in the 1100s and 1200s enjoyed a standard of living far above that of the average Italian of the Roman period.

The "light of civilization" was doing quite well long before the Renaissance.

Surely you are familiar with Anselm? Or Dante? Or Cimabue? Or Giotto? Or Machaut?

Long before the Renaissance, medieval Europeans had created complex financial and legal systems, composed breathtaking polyphonic music and engaged in philosophical speculation far above the accomplishments of the late Roman period.

[buwaya]

“The “light of civilization” was doing quite well long before the Renaissance.”

Certainly. A millenium is stretching things, 500-700 years is more probably correct as a period of recovery to conditions more or less matching those of late antiquity. But it is certainly true that in terms of population, economy and general culture the decline was profound.

I found this very interesting -
http://www.amazon.com/Fall-Rome-End-Civilization/dp/0192807285

[agere_contra]

Long before the Renaissance, medieval Europeans had created complex financial and legal systems, composed breathtaking polyphonic music and engaged in philosophical speculation far above the accomplishments of the late Roman period.

Not to mention those masterpieces of Gothic architecture, bestriding the landscape of the Middle ages like armies armed with a thousand spears, the Cathedrals.

The climate collapse from 1350 until the 1600's, not to mention the Black Death - now there was something like a dark age, a double whammy that few civilisations could have survived. Civilisation did seem to go a little dim right about then. But no civilisation until the Renaissance? Hardly.

[Borges]

The Medievalist Proffesor at my school would explode into a rage whenever the term Dark Ages was used. He reffered to the term as 'Renaissance Propaganda'. Alcuin being his standard bearer.

[urtax$@work]

Good Info.

Saw a recent DVD on the subject of England and it NOT being
in the Dark, but after Rome left their shores, became a beacon. An island of culture in a sea of Dark. A flourishing of religion and education.

[Clemenza]

Lets not forget the role of the Spanish Scholastics in devising a method for measuring inflation and capital flows for the first time in history.

Have you ever read "The Waning of the Middle Ages?" It is available for free online.

[colorado tanker]

I would also cite the Twelfth Century Renaissance and the amazing heights attained by Gothic art and architecture.

And, unlike Rome, Medieval Europe was able to build a prosperous society without Rome's heavy reliance on slavery.