World Lit Only By Fire
Yes, Middle Ages and Dark Ages both describe the rough period between the Fall of Rome and about 1,000 B.C. and both can be viewed as accurate. Middle Ages is a little generous, or maybe just a little vague. The only information you get from this title is that it was a transition time; not the beginning and not the end. And if you know a little information already, you can figure out it was the age between the Roman Civilization and The time Europe was semi re-organized by the church around 1,000 B.C. But consider the Dark Ages. This is the description I prefer. Not only do you get the idea of a transition from light to dark, dark to light. You also get the idea that there was “light” in Roman times which was lost for at least 700 years. You can imagine a time of disease, death, famine, and extreme hardship. In essence they want back to the stone age…to a “World Lit Only By Fire.”
Manchester’s book is really a second hand source…or something like that. He reads original manuscripts and interprets them, analyzing their purpose and the actual affect they had on society. He did this with Papal Bulls and Luther’s texts. But another maybe even more telling tool he used was revealing the classes of society. For hundreds of years during the Dark Ages there were the serfs and the nobles. However, Manchester does not get upset at their ignorance. His attitude to the Dark Ages is one of almost humble arrogance. (Contradictory? I think not. However, he wouldn’t have been as humble if he lived then, but probably not as intelligent either.) Anyway, he gives us an pretty unbiased view of his opinion of the Dark Ages. Is it perfect? No. Does he think he’s right? Oh yeah, no question.
The Catholic Church enjoyed immense power during the Dark Ages. They promised the poor miserable serfs salvation and in return, the serfs gave them a tithe, gave offerings and in general, did whatever the church said. They key to this power is un-enlightenment. No one could read...
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