Professor Anthony Grafton is a renowned historian at the Princeton University. He is noted for his studies about the history of culture and science of Renaissance Europe. In his paper, Dating history: the Renaissance & the reformation of chronology, he first talked about the science of geography that was revolutionized by European explorers in the fifteenth and sixteenth century. As Grafton argued that “While the western understanding of geography expanded during the Renaissance, then, the traditional dating of the past and future remained curiously narrow-minded.”, he then started to talk about his profound study of the scholarship and chronology of one of the most significant classical scholar of the late Renaissance, Joseph Justus Scaliger: “……won renown for his reformation of the traditional approach to chronology. Working in decades around 1600, Scaliger relaid the technical foundations of the field.” According to Grafton, in order to “appreciate the explosive impact of this reformation of historical chronology, we need to look backward”. He looked back to examine the chronology in fourth and fifth century C.E., in the fifth century B.C. Greek, and in the Romans of the late Republic and early Empire.
However, Grafton did not look back to the Middle Ages which was the period between the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the beginning of Italian Renaissance. People generally considered the Middle Ages as very dark era, where nothing happened except for plague, famine, and the well-known black death. People considered this period as stagnation that they believe there was no growth in the socioeconomic prospective. For example, they believe there were no development of new technology and no expansion of towns and city. ...
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...ugh many people considered the Middle Ages as an era where nothing happened, my paper conveys that point that lots of territorial, demographical, cultural, economic, and scientific developments took place in the Middle Age. I hope that people could abandon their stereotype of the Middle Ages and could come to learn this colorful time period.
Works Cited
1. Dating History: The Renaissance & the Reformation of Chronology, Anthony Grafton,
Daedalus, Vol. 132, No. 2, On Time (Spring, 2003), pp. 74-85
2. North, J. (2004) God's Clockmaker: Richard of Wallingford and the Invention of Time. Oxbow Books.
3. The Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History. By Douglass C. North and Robert Paul Thomas. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1973.
4. Church time and merchant time in the Middle Ages, by Jacques Le Goff, Social Science Information 1970 9: 151
An Italian scholar in the 1300s named Petrarch described the time period of 500AD to 1500AD a "dark age" for Europe(Movie Talk; Dark Ages). While most historians agree with this term, many debate that the "dark age" was actually a time of growth and prosperity for Europe. The time period of 500AD to 1500AD consisted of many tragic events such as the Crusades and the Black Death but also good events like the opening of new universities and the Magna Carta. The time was mostly a period of growth and prosperity that still affects our world today.
McEvedy, Colin. The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History. New York: Penguin Group, 1992. 90. Print.
The Medieval Times for Europe, from the 400 AD till 1400 AD, are often labeled as “The Dark Ages”. This time period has begun after a turning point known as Fall of Rome. It caused Rome to divide into two well-known civilizations: Medieval Europe, Islam, and The Byzantine Empire. Also, Medieval Europe led to a well known utopian period of “rebirth” identified as the Renaissance. The time period between 400 CE and 1400 CE wasn’t a “Dark Age” for Europe because of progress in academic success, blossom in architecture, and religious unity along with government. It wasn’t a cultural decay or decline because of the legendary time period it led to.
Norman Davies, a leading English historian, wrote, “There is an air of immobility about many descriptions of the medieval world” (Davies 291). However, these descriptions he refers to do not capture the true essence of the Middle Ages of Europe, which were a continuation and a formation. They were a continuation of old Rome in race, language, institutions, law, literature, arts, and in cultures independent of Rome. Nevertheless, the Middle Ages were not merely a continuation; they were the formation of our world. Many modern-day historians argue that the so-called Dark Ages were a period of ascent rather than of descent, that with the withering of the pagan classic civilization came the first budding of a new culture that was to develop into our modern civilization. James M. Powell, a prominent historian, agreed with this argument concerning the untold progress of this age. Powell believed that the Medieval Ages was a multi-faceted period of time in which the roots of modern civilization began to emerge, and that it was. This time period was critical because, although it seemed to be a dark age, seeds were being planted for future generations such as ours. These seeds have sprouted and have given us templates to work with regarding issues of centralization, the economy, scholasticism, education, expressions of art, and religion.
In the year 476 A.D., Rome officially fell as the greatest and most thriving empire at the time. The time period following this downfall was called the Middle Ages, more infamously recalled as the Dark Ages; but were these years truly as dark as historians say? These medieval times lasted for approximately one thousand years, could such a long time period have been all that dreadful? The answer will soon become clear. The Middle Ages deserved to have the alias of the Dark Ages because there were several severe illnesses, the monarchs were cruel, and the crusades brought the death of many.
Grendler, Paul F. et al. Encyclopedia of the Renaissance, Volume Five: Peucer-Sforza. New York, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1999. Print.
The Middle Ages was a time of great importance. From this time period, we are given unbelievable cathedrals, beautiful art, and exhilarating music. All of these things were done in order to show people's devotion towards God. The cathedrals were built as a place of worship, the art was painted to enhance the look of cathedrals such as stain glass windows, and the music, to praise the Lord with their voices. The main reason people did these types of things was to be with God, in their own way until they made it to heaven, which was known as the Age of Faith.
The Web. The Web. 23 Nov. 2011. The "Middle Ages - Information, Facts, and Links." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans.
Imagine having to bury your own children. How awful would that be? The Middle Ages were a brutal time that included the bubonic plague, many wars and other horrible things. This period is considered to be one of religion and the Catholic Church, but this was overshadowed by chaos and confusion. Although the Middle Ages is often known as the age of faith, a more appropriate title for the time period would be The Dark Ages because of the black death, wars and the collapse of government.
Partridge, Loren. The Art of Renaissance Rome 1400-1600. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1996.
Breisach, Ernst. Historiography; Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. 3rd. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Trans. D. McLintock. London: Fontana Press, 2003. Mommsen, T., 1877. The "History of Rome."
There are many terms used to describe the period after the fall of Rome and before the Renaissance, three main terms being the Middle, Medieval, and Dark Ages. In general, these terms are used interchangeably, but are these fair substitutions? In recent years the term “Dark Ages” is becoming less and less acceptable as a phrase which describes the span of years it is meant to refer to. The use of the term “dark” implies a period of stagnation, which is becoming a questionable concept. In particular, the span of time referred to in this paper is 530-1452 BCE, with specific attention paid to the scientific discoveries and innovations rather than art or literature. These dates are significant because in 529 the Academy and Lyceum in Athens were shutdown by the Byzantine emperor, thus ending the Greek intellectual influence. The date of 1453 is chosen because many Greek texts arrived in Europe in 1453 after the fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Turks, thereby reviving the struggling European scientific fields (Bunch 93). This essay will show that the medieval period was not a so-called “dark age” because of scientific innovation in the Islamic world, and is only referred to as such because of the popular bias in the West of focusing on Europe. In order to make this clear, firstly, two objections to this proposition will be analyzed and clearly refuted. Following these counter arguments, the main weight of historical facts and events in the identification and explanation of Islamic scientific innovation will be presented, showing the inaccuracy of referring to the medieval period as dark. Finally, I will show that the misleading perception of the medieval era as stagnant is due to the modern bias for the superiority of Western...
and Writers. 4th ed. Ed. John Schlib and John Clifford. Bedford. Boston: Bedford, 2009. 1526-1561. Print.
Rice, Eugene E. and Anthony Grafton. The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559. 2nd. ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1994.