Things School Didn't Teach You About The Dark Ages

I thought it was the dark ages because there were so many knights...

The term 'Dark Ages' was originally coined by historians as there was a lack of contemporary written sources for the period, thus making them 'Dark' to us.

Could you do more videos on the Middle East’s Golden Age during the Dark Ages? That was pretty cool!

It is a surprisingly ancient notion that people who want to be in power are usually the last people who should elevated to such a position.

In the UK the guilds still exist, but as ceremonial and charitable bodies connected to cities and various professions, which elect their own leaders, which is why some UK cities still have guildhalls. They also sometimes intervene in job rights, much like the later unions. In my local area stonemasons were brought in from India, to build a Hindu temple. When the Stonemasons Guild, found out they were not being paid the UK rate for the job and had no proper accommodation, they intervened and forced the employers to pay a proper wage per hour and provide proper living conditions.

The Islamic Golden Age serves as both an example and a warning. It is an example of how society can blossom and grow when the education and ideas are freely exchanged and valued. The fall of the Islamic world when the religious zealots took over and denigrated anything that didn't follow their own narrow beliefs is a dire warning to modern societies that letting opinions trump facts is a very dangerous path to go down.

4:38 It is important to remember why the Carolingian Renaissance was so clerical. After the Fall of Rome the new elites were germanic warriors, the middle class generally vanished since society was now rural and the low classes were illiterate even at Roman times. So the only social class really interested in maintaining knowledge after the Fall of Rome was the Clergy. Charlemagne himself was illiterate until later in his adult life when he started his whole renaissance project. 6:19 Europe was a mess after the death of Louis the Pious. No Emperor after him had enough power to maintain Charlemagne's project, for the Empire was divided and decentralization increased a lot. This without taking into account the effect of viking raids.

so instead of the 'dark' age it should be something like the 'age of citations needed'

There is confusion when you conflate the Dark Ages and the Medieval period as one and the same. For example, Britain went through a very real dark ages between 5th and 7th centuries, when contemporary records almost completely disappear. This is long before they entered what we think of as feudal, medieval England.

If anyone wants to follow this up there are two books on the subject i recommend. God's Philosophers by James Hannam Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science by Jim Al-Khalili

It is fascinating how scaling down curriculums to fit everything into schooling has such an impact on attitudes and perceptions. But it also shows just how tough it can be to determine what is in and what is out.

1:44 heh heh heh....masterbaker.

This is the kind of content I subscribed for. Bravo. You didn't even have to walk off camera.

During the dark ages in England, the King or Sovereign was elected by a group of nobles known as the "Witan", who still often elected a late King's off-spring, sometimes his eldest son but often another was selected if they were viewed as the best candidate for the country. They didn't want an idiot after all - they needed a leader, someone who could defend the realm, balance the economy, ensure that food production was plentiful, and that the church was protected from the heathens. It was William I who introduced "primogeniture" the policy and practice of passing the crown to the eldest son (and if he was an idiot, he likely got murdered by the next in line).

What an interesting and informative video. Seriously thank you! You blew my mind! In school I only learned (very very briefly) that the Middle East had advances in math and astronomy but I didn’t know any details. The details are important! Again thank you!

It’s great to see the Middle Ages get some of the recognition it deserves, so often it’s portrayed overly negative.

I thought the general time span covering the so-called 'Dark Ages', was roughly 400ce to 1000ce. The Romans didn't all leave Western Europe en masse, or on the same schedule. And, what is referred to as the 'Late Middle Ages' (roughly 1200ce to 1500ce), saw many advances that made the Renaissance possible. Many of the things you touched upon, happened during that 'late' part of the Middle Ages - not, so much, the 'Dark' ages.

The knowledge that the Islamic world got from ancient Greek and Roman texts, was often translated by Jewish scholars, who had had contact with all three civilisations, having been forced out of parts of the Holy Land, after the Masada Rebellion in Roman Palestine.

Another great vid 👌 thanks for the brain food!

Awesome. I love learning new things and this was definitely NOT taught in school!