This is a popular meme, and its a pile of manure. It trades on
a) identifying the entire Middle Ages are the Dark Ages
b) presuming that religion (that is, the Catholic Church) had power over everyone during that time.
First, dark meant originally dark to historical knowledge. Thus, Darkest Africa isn't dark because it was a bad place, or because the people had dark skin, it was dark because we were in the dark about it.
Second, the Catholic Church as an institution was so weak during the early middle ages that the papacy was often sold to the highest bidder. Secular political leaders exercised a great deal of power over the church, not vice versa. The Investiture Controversy, one of the great issues of the 11th and 12th Centuries, was generated when a pope decided to put a stop to the installation of bishops and other church leaders by monarch. Is this religion ruling the world?
Yes, in the early 13th Century, Pope Innocent III could tell King Henry of France to take his wife back, or else. In the 14th Century, the king of France kidnapped the pope and forced the relocation of the papal palace to Avignon.
Third, there was considerable technological advance throughout the Middle Ages, as recounted here.
The university system was developed in medieval times, and the university system is the reason why a global scientific community developed. That is why science didn't get off the ground in ancient Greece, but did get off the ground in Christian Europe.
1 comment:
you need to read some modern historians, this has all been re thought. The Renaissance is no longer seen as anti-religious or as a bight shining time of advancement. The dark ages are not seen as all that dark.
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