Dark Ages (jan 1, 500 – jan 1, 1000)

Description:

The exact dates of the Dark Ages (aka The Early Middle Ages or Early Medieval Period) are argued up by historians, but it's generally considered to be between late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century.

Cult of Relics:
"If Christianity had been 'imperialized' in the fourth century, it was to some extent 'barbarianized' in the West, during the three centuries beginning about 500. Nothing exactly new was created; but certain elements already present in 'imperial Christianity' were enormously inflated and so transformed. Of these by far the most important was the cult of relics. The popularization of this cult by Ambrose in the fourth century Milan was a decisive event in Christian history. Relics rapidly became, and for some 800 years remained, the most important single element in Christian devotion. They were the Christian's only practical defense against inexplicable suffering, and the constant and malignant activities of devils. Saints were believed to communicate with the world through contact with their earthly remains." Johnson 161-162).

But of course there were relic-forgeries, grave robbing, and professional relic-thieves. Some kings or bishops employed processional criminals so as to gain more relics and thereby power, prestige, and notoriety. It wasn't until the 12th century that doubts began to arise as multiple churches/biships claimed to own the same relics. (Johnson 164-166)

"Eight and ninth century monks believed that under the Romans mankind has possessed virtually the sum of ascertainable human knowledge, nearly all of which had since been lost; the most they could do was to transmit faithfully what had been preserved. . .it was not for monks, however able, to challenge the conclusions of the past: merely to transmit and where necessary translate them." (Johnson 156)

Augustine had "banned the practice of critical re-examination of accepted conclusions 'Rome has spoken; the debate is over' ". (Johnson 156)

Although there was no original thinking during this time, it is precisely because of these monks that we still have copies of the ancient texts, as they produced hundreds of copies. "The monks argued that the more copies they succeeded in making, the more likely it was that one at least would survive; and they were right. (Johnson 156)

"Christianity was not just a carrier of culture; through the agency of the monks it in effect became culture." (Johnson 185)

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