What happened in Europe after the dark ages?

Answer 1

The Dark Ages have their name because very few people wrote about what was going on, so our history is meager. The most common view is that the Dark Ages began in the 5th century with the fall of the West Roman Empire, and ended in the 11th century. They are also called the Early Middle Ages, and were followed by what some people call the High Middle Ages, or just Middle Ages, which were a time of expanding trade, towns and cities that were increasing in numbers and population, artistic expression, and learning.

This point of view is really a bit too simplistic, if you really want to understand the details of how and why things happened. The decline in learning did not begin with the fall of the West Roman Empire, but about two hundred years earlier, and the Dark Ages began when things were at about their worst. By the middle of the 8th century, things were already improving noticeably, and improvements of all sorts were under way by the beginning of the 9th. In fact, most of the second half of the Dark Ages was in periods called the Carolingian Renaissance (ca. 750-840 AD) or the Ottonian Renaissance (936-1002), in the West, or the Macedonian Renaissance (867-1056), in the East.

From the point of view of the average person, the later half of the Dark Ages merged nearly unnoticed into the High Middle Ages, when the towns and cities grew and trade increased. The important events of the change over included the East-West Schism of 1054, in which the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches separated, the Norman invasion of England, in 1066, and the call to the Crusades in 1095. But as much as these events changed history, they only changed the lives of the people of the time who actively participated in them.

Answer 2

Europe emerged from the Dark Ages when Marco Polo came back from his journey to China. He brought back many stories and items which he showed to the Europeans, including writing a book about his travels. This opened Europe's eyes to the world and made Europe see that there's so much out there. This then gave the continent a sudden desire to go exploring and trading, which eventually led to European domination and the discovery of the Americas.

Answer 3

Marco Polo. Marco Polo traveled to China with his uncle and upon his return brought back many stories, ideas, and souvenirs. He opened Europe's eyes and Europe realized that there is a whole world out there, so they started trading, conquering, etc.

Answer 4

You probably want to hear 'the Renaissance'. It's a common misconception though that the period before the Renaissance should be called 'the dark ages'. In reality there was nothing 'dark' about them. Universities had been established all over Europe, the unknown parts of the world were being explored, the arts flourished and for practically every document from the ancient Greeks and Romans that we still have, we have to thank the medieval monks all over Europe who carefully copied them and kept them in their monasteries - an activity that started around the year 800 AD.

Historians never talk about the Dark Ages; instead, they call the period the High Middle Ages, which does much more justice to that period.

Answer 5

The Renaissance. Things began to develop bit by bit. When the Crusaders came back to Europe they brought back new ideas, math, and a different view of the world. Then, the Black Plague hit in several waves. It changed the social structure of Europe allowing people to move up economically and it created a middle class. With the invention of the printing press knowledge was available to everyone and people didn't have to depend on the church to tell them about God. Michelangelo shows it very well in his Neoplatonic art with Adam touching the hand of God in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. The art, books, Neoplatonic thinking took hold pulling Europe out of the dark ages. Finally the yoke of the church was cast off with the Reformation allowing science to begin and new religious thinking to take hold.

Answer 6

The Dark Ages lasted from the fall of Rome (476) to the Turkish conquest of Constantinople (1453). So Europe emerged from the Dark Ages in the mid 15th century.