Ignorance In The Middle Ages
I do not believe the Middle Ages reflected darkness or embodied ignorance. Even though this period had centuries to produce new technology, they still contributed in the molding of today’s society. Their contribution was the improved innovation on “borrowed” technology.
When people refer to the Middle Ages as “dark,” they might be associating the “darkness” with the looming death that engulfed the period. One famously horrific encounter of death was the plague, Mr. Broedel states “…Europe lost between one third and one half of its population; globally, deaths may have exceeded 100 million people out of a total human population of half a billion” (Broedel, n.d.). Bloody wars riddled the land and famine wreaked havoc on crops, no doubt prompting starvation (Broedel, n.d.). Even though the years appeared to be clouded in "darkness" the community sought out the light. The people of this area equated the light to be the representational element of God. They dedicated years trying to incorporate this “light” into their places of worship. Magnificent cathedrals were constructed, breathtaking panels of colored glass lined the walls, beckoning the light to fill the structure and hand painted intricacies garnished pages of scripture (Broedel, n.d.). …show more content…
This was an era of personal growth, individuals from across the globe sought out knowledge. Universities like the University of Bologna, the University of Paris and the University of Oxford, were some of the first institutions established that helped breed an environment for scholarship (Tucker, 2017, para. 4-7). These universities housed heated debates, dissected Aristotle’s words and religion’s influential principles, it also refined the skills needed to perfect specialized professions. Uneducated peasants mastered the methods of agriculture, by improving the associated tools and
When people refer to the Middle Ages as “dark,” they might be associating the “darkness” with the looming death that engulfed the period. One famously horrific encounter of death was the plague, Mr. Broedel states “…Europe lost between one third and one half of its population; globally, deaths may have exceeded 100 million people out of a total human population of half a billion” (Broedel, n.d.). Bloody wars riddled the land and famine wreaked havoc on crops, no doubt prompting starvation (Broedel, n.d.). Even though the years appeared to be clouded in "darkness" the community sought out the light. The people of this area equated the light to be the representational element of God. They dedicated years trying to incorporate this “light” into their places of worship. Magnificent cathedrals were constructed, breathtaking panels of colored glass lined the walls, beckoning the light to fill the structure and hand painted intricacies garnished pages of scripture (Broedel, n.d.). …show more content…
This was an era of personal growth, individuals from across the globe sought out knowledge. Universities like the University of Bologna, the University of Paris and the University of Oxford, were some of the first institutions established that helped breed an environment for scholarship (Tucker, 2017, para. 4-7). These universities housed heated debates, dissected Aristotle’s words and religion’s influential principles, it also refined the skills needed to perfect specialized professions. Uneducated peasants mastered the methods of agriculture, by improving the associated tools and