Middle Ages Were the Dark Ages

It would be appropriate to consider the Middle Ages the “Dark Ages”, for numerous reasons. One of which would be because of the black plague that swept through Europe killing thousands of people and causing great suffering for many people, leaving families devistated. Another would be because of the many battles and wars that broke out leaving thousands more dead. The Catholic Church went through many problems in the Medieval times.

One reason that the Middle Ages could be considered the “Dark Ages” is because of the the black plague swept through Europe. The black plague was a horrific disease that killed one third of Europe’s population. This was not only a terrible disease, but it was even more horrible to cure, doctors thought the only way to cure a patient would be to drain the “bad blood” of the patient. The other dreadful part of the disease is that the Catholic Church blamed the Jews for this disease. Because of their hatred for the Jews, the Church forced them to move to housing that would be on the outskirts of the cities. This actually was to the benefit of the Jews because they were actually farther away from the major outbreaks. The disease spread rapidly, it would go onto ships that were making trade routs to different European countries and it would continue to spread through trade as its main form of travel.

In the Middle Ages there was many wars that broke out. For instance, the hundred years’ war was one war that killed thousands of people. In addition to the thousands of deaths caused by direct combat, attacking knights would go to farms and burn the crops to spread famine throughout the castle. This would completely devastate a castle, and the surrounding territory. Battles between knights were often rather bloody, the weapons that were used such as: arrows, swords, and daggers would leave their victim in a very painful state and would typicaly leave them facing a long death.

The Catholic Church was undergoing a great deal of corruption in the Middle Ages. The Catholic Church charged ten percent of everyone’s yearly salary in a new tax called tithes. This tax could be paid in either money or in goods. As a peasant had little money, they would almost always pay in seeds, harvested grain, animals etc. This usually caused a peasant a lot of hardship as the family would have used those seeds for the following year. The way that the peasant’s houses were build was very bad, and would often fall down from poor building supplies. The Church on the other hand had built the churches out of the best materials available at the time, most of which are still standing today, because of the money that the Church sucked out of the general public. Because of the Great Schism, the general public started questioning the Curch’s realiablility.

In conclusion, it would be appropriate to call the Middle Ages the “Dark Ages”. The Middle Ages brought: disease, anti-Semitism, war, famine, and corruption in the church.