Episode #88 – Are the Dark Ages a Myth?

There are few periods in history as hotly contested as the so-called “Dark Ages”. Traditionally, the 5th to 10th centuries in Europe have been characterized as “bizarre and monstrous”. But is this perception justified? Also, if there was a “dark age” should it be understood as a global phenomenon? Tune in and find out how Chinese paper, the biggest domed roof in the world, and Matt Damon movies all play a role in the story.

Works Cited

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Bartlett, Robert, et al. The Medieval World Complete. Thames & Hudson, 2010.

Burckhardt, Jacob, and S. G. C. Middlemore. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. Modern Library, 2002.

Daileader, Philip. The High Middle Ages. Teaching Co., 2001.

Lopez, Robert S. The Tenth Century: How Dark the Dark Ages? Holt, Rinehart and WInston, 1966.

Manchester, William. World Lit Only by Fire: Medieval Mind and the Renaissance – Portrait of an Age. Macmillan, London, 1993.

Mommsen, Theodore E. “Petrarch’s Conception of the ‘Dark Ages’.” Speculum, vol. 17, no. 2, 1942, pp. 226–242., doi:10.2307/2856364.

Oman, Charles. The Dark Ages, 475-918. Rivingtons, 1901.

Treadgold, Warren. Renaissances before the Renaissance: Cultural Revivals of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Stanford University Press, 1984.