Argumentative Essay: The Not So Dark Ages

The “Not so” Dark Ages

Most teachers would tell you that the Dark Ages were only a time of, sickness, war, and famine; but, the Dark Ages weren’t all that terrible. Research has shown that during these “dark” times people learned to adapt and prosper. To some extent we agree with is that there was famine, war and sickness. Yes, there were reasons why the Dark Ages were dark; however, light came from the darkness. From 476 to 1000 Europe had become a poverty-stricken farming community (Roehm) Families had lacked food and it was hard for people to grow crops. Not to mention that the food the could grow and hopefully trade was most likely stolen by highway robbers (Roehm). One instances where people starved can be found in an excerpt from “Annals of Xanten” written by monks, “A great famine in Saxony so that many were forced to live on horse meat.” Although these starving times only drove people to work harder. According to Cassar from Stamford University, many exciting and new innovations began to pop up. People invented new and better ways to farm like the heavy plow, horse collars, and metal horseshoes. These improvements in farming lead a chain of events that made the dark ages light. The improvements lead to more food which caused a growth in people raising moral. This being only one reason of many that the title

There were tribes like the Huns, the Goths, and the Vikings that ransacked and destroyed most of the region, but not all of this was bad. Even with people under constant fear of being attacked, Farmers developed new ways of farming (Cassar). Doctors improved medicine and surgery (Richer of Rheims). Government officials created laws, and rules about stealing and counterfeiting money (J.P. Migne). Document G shows Gothic castles were being invented that were a combination of art and building. The dark ages were ravaged by war, but it is astounding to see what people did in spite of that