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Is there any difference between the "Middle Ages" and the "Dark Ages"?

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You have uncovered the dirty secret of historians, which is that they just make up stuff as they go along and use words and terms that have no certain meaning. –  Tyler Durden Oct 8 '14 at 15:07
@TylerDurden :-) Although I wouldn't go so far as to say that feudalism itself never existed; as is en vogue in some modern historiographic circles. –  LateralFractal Oct 10 '14 at 3:35

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The "Middle Ages" or medieval period generally refers to the entire time span between classical antiquity and the modern era in Western history. The Middle Ages lasted approximately AD 500 - 1500, from the fall of the (Western) Roman Empire to the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the discovery and colonization of the New World. The Middle Ages are often partitioned into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages.

The "Dark Ages" in the context of medieval Europe refers to a period roughly synonymous with the Early Middle Ages, AD 500 - 1000, but exact limits have changed reflecting developments in the related historiography. The centuries immediately following the fall of Rome were marked by barbarian invasions, population decline, cultural and economic deterioration, and (to modern historians) a lack of records, hence the "dark" moniker.

This concept originated with the Italian poet Petrarch in the 1330s and referred the whole medieval period, but has since been pared down. However its use is now the subject of controversy among historians, who increasingly consider it misleading and biased by Renaissance era thought.

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And here I always thought that the time of the Inquisition was the dark ages... –  noocyte Oct 12 '11 at 5:07
Well, if you look at the Wikipedia article, "Dark Ages" in its modern use includes everything up to the 13th century. It is a period with only few written records so that it is "dark" to historians (which is the primary reason for th ename). But that is connected to a general cultural decline of course. –  Wladimir Palant Oct 12 '11 at 8:21
I should note the use of "Dark Ages" has evolved and is becoming somewhat controversial. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages_%28historiography%29 –  Travis Christian Oct 8 '14 at 14:07

Dr. Susan Snyder, my medieval and ancient history professor, argued that the term "Dark Age" was inappropriate for the early Middle Ages because we still have some records from it and some innovation took place. If we said "Dark Age" in class, we had to be referring to the Greek Dark Age, a period with some actual gaps in the historic record. We lose track of almost all connection between pre- and post-Dark Age writing forms, almost as though people lost the ability to write during that period. (Linear B disappeared entirely, Linear A influences later writing in Cyprus.)

Regarding the Middle Ages, Snyder is an enthusiastic Medievalist, thus her offense to the term "Dark" in reference to it. But most people probably mean the early Middle Ages when they say it.

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Note that "Dark Ages" is a therm with high ideological charge. Is the manichaean historical vision of the "enlightened" ilustrated from the XVIII century that oposses the Middle Ages (supposedly an age of barbarism) to the movement initiated by the french revolution, as if the Ilustrated Movementet had arisen by spontaneous generation.

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The "middle ages" are anything between the collapse of Rome (400 AD) to its re-emergence in Rennaissance Italy (1400). Rennaissance means "rebirth".

The "dark ages" are the period in the middle ages which were relatively undocumented. This would definitely include 400 AD to 700 AD, and some extend it to 900 AD.

The "viking period" is 700 AD to 900 AD. Some authors include that period as the dark ages, others do not.

The "medieval period" is either the time between the dark ages and the Renaissance, 700 AD to 1400 AD, or it is the time between the end of the viking predations and the Renaissance (900-1400 AD), depending on the writer.

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