The Catholic Church, nor any other Church, ever declared war on "the Dark Ages". The Dark Ages were actually the apex of Catholic Power in Europe. The Renaissance came about through a non-ecclesiastical movement among merchants in northern Italy.

Troubadours were itinerant minstrels in the middle ages who, notwithstanding the romantic notion of "wandering minstrels", traveled a regular circuit on a yearly basis. They entertained wherever they could gather an audience, and were sometimes invited into the homes of the royal and rich. Their songs were, most often, musical settings of the news of the day, and also (sometimes predominantly) the gossip of the times. If you combined an anchorperson from a network news broadcast with an anchorperson from one of the tabloid news programs, gave them a decent singing voice, and a lute to strum, you'd have a medieval minstrel.

The patterns change becuase more men and women have to marry when they are older. As couples waited for economic security before marrying, both men and women tended to be of an older age at marriage. The late marrying age of males may have contributed to widespread prostitution, which was often regulated. Rape was a fairly common crime and received a relatively light punishment. The Church became more vocal in condemning homosexuality, suggesting that it may have become more common

Monks did several jobs. They sometimes acted as doctors for local people and they provided a place to stay overnight for travelers. Many spent their lives copying books or writing religious books since they were one of the few that could read and write. They also took in male children that had been orphaned or abandoned by parents. These children, in turn, would become monks. They conducted religious services.

The medieval Church was very important for a number of reasons.

First of all, it provided religion in a time when nearly all people were religious. I think the people of the Church would regard this as the most important thing it did.

The Church constrained the kings and nobility. When they passed the limits of what the Church allowed them to do, they could be excommunicated, and oaths of allegiance to them could be cancelled. There was always someone around who would like to replace a king with himself.

The Church provided a place where people could rise above the stations into which they were born. There were popes who had been born into the families of farmers.

The Church provided for the poor and oppressed. Most people could go to monasteries for refuge, and the idea of sanctuary was even applied to those who were guilty of crimes.

they influenced society and the way the people ran the government

Because back in the Middle Ages they didn't have satellites. They just estimated the landscape. So that is why the were not perfect.

Leeches were used as part of the bleeding process and to clean wounds. Modern medicine has found that the leech actually does secrete a chemical into a wound that helps it heal and some doctors have started to use leeches.

Different monks had different responsibilities and tasks, according to their vocation. They all spent several hours of the day at prayer, in contemplative meditation and attending holy services in the monastery church. But apart from this, their tasks varied. Some were scribes who wrote out books or manuscripts by hand, these volumes being religious works, histories, social chronicles, health care and a variety of other subjects. Others farmed the surrounding monastery land, ploughing, sowing crops or tending livestock. Still others were 'physics' or 'apothecaries', who ran infirmaries to tend to the sick or injured, both within the monastic community and for the local population, providing medicinal aid and conducting rudimentary surgery. Some monks were tutors to lay brethren and also to the local populace, educating them in theology, health care, agricultural practices and so on. Others helped to run and maintain the monastery or abbey, as cooks, cleaners, builders, stonemasons, administrators etc. In short, they provided a complete service in every aspect of civilised living, both for themselves and for the surrounding community.

Celibacy? it was formally nailed down during the Council of Trent, which solidified a variety of church practices and was talked about by catechists as though it was something current- like the UN or Watergate (then brand new) not something historical such as Gettyburg address or an obsolete treaty. They used to say- The Council of Trent decrees... present tense! the Council of Trent took place in Italy ( not England) in Elizabethan days! OK, Shakespeare survives too, but that"s literature, not religious doctrine.

A town charter established the town as such, and specified certain things about it. It nearly always granted the town the right to have a permanent market. It often made the town free from all obligations to feudal lords, so it was directly subject to the king. It might have granted rights to the citizens; for example, the charters of towns might have said fugitives could move there without fear of being taken away for their earlier crimes. In times when there were serfs, it might have specified that all people in the town were free of the serfs' obligations. It might have freed the town from certain taxes or obligations; examples of towns that had special status in regards to import duties were those called the Cinque Ports.

stool ball is a cricket game but with a basket ball.

There was a belief that Latin was the language of great writing and civilized society. Any other language, some believed, was inherently inferior. Latin was also a language educated people could use anywhere.

The finest medieval manuscripts were made on vellum, which is a membrane on the inside of a mammal skin and was usually made from cattle or sheep. Paper, for most of the middle ages, was made of vegetable fibers that did not last as well as vellum, but some of the less expensive manuscripts were made on it. During the late middle ages, and abundance of linen rags lead to the invention of rag paper, which was far more durable than either earlier papers or vellum, and also had much better burst strength.

The Wikipedia article on vellum (link below) says that vellum is more durable than paper, but it certainly is nowhere nearly as durable as neutral rag content paper. I have handled paper from the Gutenberg Bible, the Nuremberg Chronicle, and other books of that time, that are without any obvious indications of deterioration.

The medieval church provide a lot of help services during the middle ages.

For example, monasteries and convents provided places where people could seek refuge. If a woman was abused by her husband, she could get a place to live where she was safe, be she serf or queen.

The Church had its own court system in many countries, which were often a good deal more lenient than the secular courts. In England, a person could qualify for transfer to ecclesiastical court if he or she could read a certain psalm, which proved literacy, and one result was that criminals taught other criminals how to read that one psalm. In Spain, people could qualify for ecclesiastical court if they were heretics, so some people confessed to get the more lenient treatment. This was true even during the Spanish Inquisition, providing the person repented.

Churches and monasteries ran schools.

Monasteries ran hospitals.

Monastic groups ran inns to give shelter to pilgrims and other travelers. Other monastic groups protected people on the roads.

The Church provided families with upward mobility. If a family member went into the Church, it meant that others in the family could benefit in a number of practical ways.

The Church provided many people with a better living than they otherwise would have had.

The Church provided spiritual guidance, and there were other benefits.

I would say sanitation was more of a problem than "pollution" in the modern sense. The causes of disease were poorly understood. and in urban areas drinking water sources might not be well protected from contamination. Diseases like cholera were a problem in Europe well past the middle ages, and was often spread by contaminated drinking water sources. Sanitation issues my have contributed to the the ubiquitous consumption of ale. Medieval ale was fairly low in alcohol, and because the liquid was cooked in the brewing process it was much safer to drink than water (although medieval people may not have clearly understood this, and certainly did not understand why).

Trash and refuse are issues in any urban environment, As urban populations grew over the middle ages cities developed methods to deal with them. Many cities had regular trash cart services, and we have many examples of cities passing ordinances about keeping streets free from clutter and garbage. Sewer systems were very rare in medieval Europe, outhouses were the common solution. These were periodically mucked out and the contents taken to dump sites outside of the cities, where the material could be used as fertilizer.

People often used chamber pots inside their houses to go to the bathroom. They would throw these contents out into the street. The contents would mix with manure from horses and oxen. People with money would often wear high heels to walk in the streets, even men.

Diseases like the Black Death were common at these times and the sanitation problems help spread it. People did not understand that about microbes at all as they could not see them.

Byzantine Empire had arisen from the ruins of the (Eastern) Roman Empire as the most consolidated, organized and stable province from all of the Romans' civilizations. But in its a greatest times, it was barely shallow of the Roman Empire, having about 1/2 of the population and 1/3 of the territory. The fortune of the Eastern Roman Empire was rather luckier than the western part and it never lost its ruling elite, senate, aristocracy and dynasty as it had happened to Rome. The sense of direct lineage of various Eastern Roman institutions was helping to survive and transform into new medieval state. Rome lost not only the dynasty, but also senate and most of the aristocracy. Without the ruling elite, there was also very limited drive to maintain army and once strong and feared roman legions were history. On top of it, during the last decades of the Roman empire, its navy disintegrated and was unable to secure Mediterranean that was a vital for the Roman economy. On the other hand, Greek-Byzantine navy was consolidated and remained the most powerful in the world until Crusades.

Beside army and navy that was able to protect Constantinople, Byzantine territory was not entirely overrun by migrating nations and its leadership never allowed foreigners to take control of command as was in the case of the west. Byzantine state was much smaller and never overextend its defenses. The lost wars of Justinian and inconclusive and nothing bearing conquests of his reign taught entire generations of rulers not to expand the Byzantine territory too far. The Balkans was taken by Slavs, Egypt and Levant by Persian and Arabs, so Byzantine was left with smaller, but defensive territory. The downfall of Byzantine Empire started, when all its resources were invested into conquering Bulgaria in 1018 and it has never reaped the benefits of extending the empire. Byzantine empire was one of the first states in history that used diplomacy to prevent conflicts and negotiate treaties as one of the means of survival of the state.

The one of the last element that helped Byzantine empire to outlive Rome was the location of the capital itself that was considered unconquerable until IV Crusade. Constantinople was a terminus of Asian long distance trade and a financial capital of the Mediterranean and Europe where various trading goods were exchanged and thus generating a significant profit for the treasury. The fall of Constantinople coincide with the rise of Venice and Genoa and was closely related with economical decline of the city. When Constantinople was undisputed commercial center of the world, it has unique position among economically depressed cities of the post-roman era. Once this position was challenged, the fortune of the state was in peril and eventually lead to end of the Byzantine state.

The Vikings.

Fiefs were earned by the peasants when they worked on the lord's manor. Knights were also given fiefs in return for their military work. The peasants also had to pay a church tax called a tithe, or in other words, the canon law.

The Church at this time was seen as a corrupt force. Priests contradicted their vows (chastity, poverty, and obedience,) which caused unrest amongst the people later during the Renaissance Era. In addition, priests were able to purchase their offices, meaning they could work their way up the ladder of success through bribery. During the era in which the Church was at war with the Muslims, the Church would often call on crusades. After this event however, the Pope would address his subjects, saying that they need money to form another Crusade to fight off whatever enemy was a threat. It turns out that the Church didn't need a Crusade, but they kept the money for themselves (needless increase in taxes.) Back to the "Priestly Vows." Chastity, which means no tolerance for intercourse, was neglected by many Abbots, Monks, Priests, and even Bishops. These "prominent religious figures" molested boys, payed prostitutes, and committed adultery. Poverty, which means a life devoted to poorness, was also neglected. The Pope, bishops, and Priests lived in wealthy estates, and had luxurious meals day in and day out. Lastly, obedience was also denied. After you look at what the Priests, Abbots, Monks, Bishops, and the Pope did, you could conclude that they do not maintain the obedience with God. In short, the criticisms are the following: They did not follow the 10 commandments completely, they did not support freedom of speech and ideas that conflicted with the Church's, they killed people who went against the Church (heretics,) and they inflicted torture amongst many human beings (physically and mentally.) I think we can all agree that these actions go against what God wants for us. These are some of the criticisms of the Medieval Catholic Church.