Once upon a time, historians regarded "middle ages" and "dark ages" as synonymous. More recently, though, historians have begun to restrict the term "dark ages" to the actual dark ages, so called for the lack of good historical records after the Roman Empire began its fall, that is, it's gradual descent down a slippery slope into depopulation and chaos. It didn't happen all of a sudden one day. People in the former Roman empire continued to speak Latin and think of themselves as Romans for a long time.
The middle ages, in comparison, is the period between the dark ages and the early modern era, "early modern era" being another name for the renaissance. That's roughly the period of Shakespeare/the Tudors/the grand age of sail.
The dates I'll be using will be Dark Ages (3rd century crisis to AD 800), Middle Ages (AD 800 - AD 1500), and Early Modern (1500 - 1800). Which of these do you like the best?
Dark Ages (before AD 800 or 900)
- Also known as "Late Antiquity," especially in German (Spaetantike)
- Set in the barbarian lands outside of the Roman frontier or during the fall of the Roman Empire
- Frontier between barbarians (peregrines, goths, vandals) and the (remaining) Roman Empire
- A vestigial empire who left behind monumental architecture like bridges, roads, aqueducts, and so on.
- Robes, togas, chainmail dresses, banded armor
- Torches and lamps
- Wooden motte-and-bailey castles and dirt walls, built quickly and not designed to be permanent
- Christianity is one religion among many, rapidly growing but also facing occasional prosecution
- Legendary saints, monks, and martyrs roam the land
- Roman numerals, abacuses
- Scrolls, codices, papyrus
- Short swords, spears, axes, discuses, franciscas, and war hammers
- Very limited technology - keys and locks, treadwheels, carriage-axle odometers, screw presses, isolated cases of geared calculators
- Time kept mostly by sundials and clepsydras.
- Waterpower and slavepower but no windpower
- Bronze is still superior to iron
Medieval Period (800-1500)
- Also known as the "High Middle Ages"
- The crusades against infidels and heretics
- Frontier between Christianity and Islam in the east and in the Iberian peninsula
- Chivalry, romantic love, quests, tournaments
- Tunics, foolscaps, nights in full plate armor, cannons
- Candlesticks, soap
- Stone castles with square towers, designed for practical defense
- The Catholic church develops
- Religious orders, early universities
- Witches are considered a superstition
- Arabic numerals, algorism
- Books and cheap paper, surprisingly high levels of literacy
- Proper broadswords, tiny heater shields
- Clever, but overly large and handmade mechanical devices - mills, looms, traps, etc
- Windpower developed, and horsepower harnessed more effectively, take some of the pressure off slaves
- Refined steel available, superior to bronze
- Fitted stone walls, wells, and castles
- Byzantium survives in Southwest Europe and Asia minor
Early Modern Era (1500 - 1800)
- Also called the Golden Age of Piracy, the Age of Exploration, or the Age of Mercantilism
- The inquisition (which actually stuck around until 1834)
- Conflict between natives and colonists, not just in the New World, but also in Russia, Ireland, the Canary Islands, and North Africa
- Competition between seabound Western Europe and landbound Eastern Europe empires
- Western Europe modernizes rapidly while in Eastern Europe the Holy Roman Empire goes into decline, eclipsed by the upstart Russian Empire and the Islamic Ottoman Empire
- Kings, queens, princes, princesses
- Oil lamps and lanterns
- Poor hygiene caused by overpopulation, periodic flare ups of plague
- Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller
- Grand, Disney-style castles designed more for show than for function, with luxurious living quarters and round towers
- Fencing, boxing, and kickboxing (savate)
- The Reformation brings the concept of redemption by faith alone and sola scriptura, which shifts Christianity from a universal, works-based church into a national, intellectually-focused religion
- Witchhunts begin
- Logarithms and calculus
- Muskets
- Rapiers, bucklers, bracers, and polearms
- Newspapers, journals, pamphlets, beautifully bound printed books
- Beginnings of mechanical revolution - clockwork, cotton gins
- Miniaturized watches and pendulum clocks
- High quality wooden boxes, trunks, chests, and barrels (the sorts of things you picture filled with treasure)
- Silver dollars, also known as doubloons or pieces of eight
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