How the concept of "Middle Ages" was created in the Renaissance and how they became unfairly seen as "Dark Ages". Were the Middle Ages really that bad compared to other periods of European history?
An insightful breakdown of how the Renaissance crafted its own myth by casting the Middle Ages as a shadow—this really flips the usual narrative on its head
> But my point is not to compare these historic periods and civilizations but just to show you how quickly a perspective can change. Just by moving the starting and ending dates a bit, a time period in history suddenly goes from looking like a dark age to looking like a golden age.
Yes, by completely changing what a term refers to, one can change whether the thing referred to by the term is bad or good.
I used to think that too, Renaissance is something big and great when it’s just continuing late medieval era. High Middle Ages was a bigger demographic peak then the mayhem of 1500-1600s
An insightful breakdown of how the Renaissance crafted its own myth by casting the Middle Ages as a shadow—this really flips the usual narrative on its head
This was wonderful - enjoy reading your posts!
Thank you, this was a very informative piece, and it clarified a lot of things for me on the perception of the "Middle Ages".
Thank you! I am going to use this for university history classes! With attribution, of course!
What a refreshing perspective - bravo!
Some parts a bit repetitive but overall a really informative read ;)
That's a hugely comprehensive article, thank you.
> But my point is not to compare these historic periods and civilizations but just to show you how quickly a perspective can change. Just by moving the starting and ending dates a bit, a time period in history suddenly goes from looking like a dark age to looking like a golden age.
Yes, by completely changing what a term refers to, one can change whether the thing referred to by the term is bad or good.
I used to think that too, Renaissance is something big and great when it’s just continuing late medieval era. High Middle Ages was a bigger demographic peak then the mayhem of 1500-1600s