Things School Didn't Teach You About The Dark Ages 

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

So I'm born raised and still living in greece to this day. I was one of those bottle bottom glasses kids up until maybe 13, when they finally gave me a good pair. From ages 11 to 18, I was reading so much extracurricular historical fiction from all over the world, books my parents had in the house or that I found interesting, I learned so many things from them, I actually had my parents called to the principal's office in high school, cause I got in trouble for "correcting a professor" one too many times... This just to show you, it's not only the english-speaking world that centers itself throughout history. This just shows how important it is to never, never stop reading. And always read outside your comfort!!!

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.

Hi Mr. Simon, I don't know if you will see this but, I just wanted to say that I really enjoy and appreciate your historical content, for example this video Sir, I am a bit of a history buff myself, and I enjoy general world history, military and modern history, so thank you for the care that you and your writers put into these history videos on your channels Sir. Keep up the hard work you and your team of writers.

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!

The irony being that Simon probably got more views labling this as " Dark Ages " video rather than a " Golden Age " video

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.

On ectopic pregnancies and "treatment." The treatment is abortion. Which was condoned by both the ancient Islamic and ancient Christian worlds. Both holy books contain directions for abortifacients. Always important to remember that the modern religious insistence that abortion is somehow wrong is in direct opposition to the scriptural position that a fetus does not have a soul until its first breath.

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.

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

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

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).

The dark ages are 'dark' because there are fewer records to illuminate it than during the earlier Roman age and the later medieval. The term has no negative connotations for the period, just indicates we don't know much about it.

Actually, a little over 50 years after the fall of Rome, the world literally entered into a dark age. In 535ad, Krakatoa erupted in a massive cataclysm that quite literally plunged the entire world into darkness. Weather patterns changed, crops failed, diseases spread, famine gripped the land and people and animals died.

It may have been the Dark Ages in Britain and western Europe. But Ireland was busy saving civilization during its golden age of enlightenment.

There's one thing I got to realize after I got out of school and started to explore history in a much wider scale, and that is, that the World where way more interconnected, than you are led to believe. You are always told, that farmers where bound to the land, and that they would live and die in the same spot, and that is true for the most part, but that's not to say that they didn't travel, most peasants travelled to the local market and occasionally to the city. It was almost expected for a peasant to at least once in their life to go on a trip to the Holy Land, and it was quite easily accepted by the Lord. Traders also travelled the known World with their wares. As Simon said, the Islamic Golden Age was a foot note, if mentioned at all, and China is not even a foot note, but they had some serious stuff going on too. The Medieval Ages are truly fascinating and saw some of the most defining advancements and inventions in World history. One area, that improved substantially, was metallurgy, leading to better tools, weapons and armour. One tool that was invented in particular, is the heavy plough, but other things where also invented. But the most defining invention of them all, that completely changed the World, is of course black powder.

"Master Baker"? Okay... So, what about a professional who baits for fishing? Ah... childish jokes are so much fun!!!

I am new to your channel & I "liked" & subscribed. I really learned interesting history and look forward to learning more from future works. May I ask you to slow down a little!? With my lousy phone volume & my lousy hearing, Im missing what your saying b/ c you are really speaking quite quickly. Thank you and best wishes.

Dr. Thomas F X Noble of University of Notre Dame makes reference to "high school text books and other sources of fiction"when speaking of western civilization

Roman agricultural productivity was in continuous decline from the 2nd Punic War on. This decline wasn't obvious because Rome was looting from larger and larger areas. Meanwhile there was a significant technological revolution going on in the Middle Ages. Starting with horse collars and plows that could handle the deep northern soils. And according to the Domesday Book, there were more water mills in England in 1086 than in the entire Roman Empire at its peak.

I really love history, and I'm genuinely angry that American public schools don't cover any of this! We didn't learn much about the Middle Ages at all! Let alone whatever was going on in the Middle East!

Mr shaw of JM Robinson and Mr. Ugaste of Providence high school. Thank yall for making history fun, pointing out some events the school curriculum didnt, and teaching in an open-minded "who knows whats actually right, thats why you gotta study" mentality. Yall were the best. Unlike Ms. O'Neil and her meticulous notebook.

It is kinda ironic that people think medieval monarchs were absolutist rulers, in fact most were not and absolutism is for the most part a thing of the renaissance and later, that is for some countries several centuries after the medieval period ended. My country Denmark didn't become absolutist until the early 1700s, up until then the king was partially subject to the nobility and other large landowners, although still with near absolute power, I mean, one of our Kings in the 1200s literally pawned off the entire kingdom to dukes from Holstein.

Also: The world's first public library was created in the Dark Ages in Italy. As were the first pair of corrective lenses/glasses. The mechanical clock, etc.

tbh plato's principle about power should be more widely applied today..

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

I thought it was called ‘The Dark Ages’ because lightbulbs were not invented yet during that time period.

I have read a lot about the dissolution of the monasteries in England and the printers practice of using old vellum manuscripts to make the leather binding for their paper books. the purge of Witchcliffe and Duns at the universities while the same thing was occurring in large scale in Paris for industrial and political purposes, I wonder if The Dark Ages may have become dark because post renaissance vandalism.

We are currently in the Simonian Renaissance, the true Golden Age.

Phil Daileader has some material on this. One point he brings up is that population collapse in the Roman Empire started in the 3rd century, during the Crisis of the Third Century. On the other hand, when Romulus Agustulus abdicated, not much would have changed practically. So, even the "correction" this video offers still misses some big things.

I love your voice, Simon, and that you're always reinventing yourself. Everything you publish is always so interesting.

Thank you for this video! As a former student of medieval history, I can easily agree that it was a much more complex time than we think. And it was only the "dark ages" in Europe. I love that you talked about the Muslim world and the Ottoman Empire in this time period. My history prof once did a couple of lectures on the time of the Crusades from the Muslim perspective and it was truly eye opening.

0:45 - Chapter 1 - (Some) people had the right to vote 4:10 - Chapter 2 - The dark age renaissances 8:30 - Chapter 3 - The islamic golden age

I learned almost everything I know on my own. School didn't teach much and certainly didn't teach anything about the dark ages. School didn't Even teach spelling, grammar, or punctuation. I had to figure that out on my own. After I aced senior music theory in 10th grade school had nothing left to offer me.

"Things I was not taught in school" is my favorite topic.

I love this video! I have been interested in Middle Eastern history ever since I was first introduced to Alibaba and the 4th thieves and the other fabulous tales from the Arabian nights. One of my great heartbreaks is that I never saw a Baghdad before we bombed it the first time😢 I appreciate you highlighting what Islamic leadership could and should look like. I've read some parts of the Quran, and everything I've read is beautiful. People twisting it into ugliness is the work of humans not God

Great vid! I wouldn’t mind one just on the Muslim Renaissance. That’s one I’ve not heard of.

Everyone of a certain age in France and the Netherlands knows that Charlemagne was the villain that started sending children to school. Thanks to the song Sacré Charlemagne by France Gall, and Kareltje de Grote, by Marijke Merkens

We are going through somewhat of a dark age right now, an era of moral decay, decadence, gluttony and science denial.

Amazing video and full easy digestible information, would love to see a video on the muslim golden age please i need to know more 😅😊 thank you

The so-called the Islamic golden age was largely a pooling of the knowledge of the cultures and civilisations that the Muslims had conquered roughly between 632 and 732. Most of the translation work was done by non-muslims from those cultures. When the Islamic empire reached its limits and ran up against serious resistance, the flow of newly conquered peoples and their knowledge dried up. The empire became less diverse as more converted to Islam and the golden age quickly died. Europe technologically overtook Islam during the so-called dark and middle ages.

Boy, the dark ages really liked their “Renae Sauce.” I guess it was the equivalent of today’s ketchup.

My big take away from my Medieval Jewish Thought and Institutions class was that it was way way better to be a Jew in Muslim countries than in Christian ones for the vast majority of the history of the Abrahamic religions, especially during the Islamic Golden Age. In fact the Rabbinic golden age also corresponds to this time when the Mishnah and the Talmud and Kabbalistic exegesis were being written , largely in Baghdad. Meanwhile Jews were being expelled from most Christian European countries or worse tortured into forcible conversion or just outright massacred. One of our most haunting prayers, Unetanneh Tokef, comes from one of these martyrs (probably) who was tortured by an archbishop for not converting and was delivered on a shield to his synagogue on the holiest day of the year (Yom Kippur) where he sang the prayer and died. This prayer is actually quoted in the Leonard Cohen song Who By Fire. Anyways all that to say I'd rather pay some extra taxes to the Caliphate thanks. History always sucks, it just sucks differently at different times depending on who you happen to be.

Another great vid 👌 thanks for the brain food!

Kids learn about the dark ages in school? I just learned about slavery and the holocaust every year

Thanks for pointing out that we have stuff from Ceasar and the likes because it was painstakingly copied (which also makes it obvious that we lost stuff simply because it wasn't copied).

Being from the Iberian Peninsula we are very well aware of the islamic golden age, we almost entirely skipped the dark ages because of their occupation at the time.

One of the things forgotten about the Islamic empire during the dark ages was that their medical practices were light years ahead of Europe at the time. You had a far better chance at survival from basic ailments in iraq than Europe.

The Muslim world had a Golden Age, until their religious leaders turned them away from knowledge, and instead chose to create their own Dark Age. Which they're currently still in.

On the votes thing it is important to remember that places like Spain and Portugal had Cortes Generales (parliament houses) which represented the three "states" of medieval society, nobles and clergymen but also the people. The french had something similar with the Estates General, which also existed in the Low Countries. While there was voter restriction to people who had a certain ammount of money, still the Third Estate wasn't composed by nobility, but of people who had enough money, through businesses for example.

It wasn't dark in the Islamic world. Which in this period alsco covered the Iberian peninsula. Not only was it a rich civilisation in & of itself, it also preserved & extended Greek classical knowledge. Without it the classi cal world would have been lost to us. Hence without Islamic culture the West wouldn't have had access to antiquity & the Renaissance as we know it, wouldn't have existed. This really needs to be foregrounded.

In my studies I learned to distinguish the Carolingian, Scholastic and Humanistic Renaissance, focussing more on the history of philosophy. While the Carolingian Renaissance would focus on PRESERVING and REPLICATING thoughts from the antiquity, the scholastic Renaissance of High Middle Age would go beyond that and SYSTEMATIZE these antic sources. Scholars in this time really went deep into the antic texts and thoughts to understand them, and use them to answer questions which arose at the time. Best and greatest example is St. Thomas Aquinas. Finally, the Humanistic Renaissance went beyond that and ultimately formulated new thoughts which were unheard of before.

Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

Most interesting; thank you very much. You might also find Jay Smith's video about the Islamic Slave Trade interesting. He refers to the role of the Nabateans in desert navigation.

1:45 I think I would've been a great leader! Oh wait you said Baker?

@0:08 Ah the good ol' days. I love that painting.

thank you for teaching the shit our schools and governments don't want us to learn 💜🖤

As a historian specialised in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, I like how it starts off with "The Dark Ages" and immediately ends up talking guilds (i.e. after 1300) and starts using paintings from the 17th century. Are you having us on?

Good morning and thank you

FYI Charlemagne wanted to open education to all his people but it was the constant invasions of Vikings that drained his kingdom of wealth and caused the stopping of his advancements. That is the reason why that advancements ended...the age of the Vikings started in full swing.

Simon i love your content but imma have to sit the rest of this one out its bringing up too much trauma from my AP world history class 😭

thank you for this, it's great you got into the islamic golden age, it's important for today. like u said, it had a profound impact on just about everything science we have now. everyone owes a great debt to them. ifit weren't for the Maya and the Muslims, science would still be 200+ years behind easy.

"Font" is the wrong word unless we're talking about a printing press with movable type. "Script" is more like it.

Are you in a contest to see how fast you can cover the material? Slow down a little please, you are covering very interesting history that deserves more consideration than allowed by your speeding through the topic!

One important aspect missing is that during the Golden Age of Islam, everyone was accepted to learn and teach in Bagdad, that meant muslims, christians, hebrews, hindus were learning and sharing ideas between them. When Europe was under religion boot, the Islam world lead the scientific movement ... fast forward to 11 century and Europe was pushing aside the religious dogma and the Renaissance era begin while Islam world embraced isolationism, religious dogma and the dark age of Islam begun (and remained like that up to this day). Really hope the next event will not happen again exactly but both West and East will push religious dogma aside and fluorish!

The basics of Algebra was known in ancient Egypt and Greece, but the first mostly complete description of it came in 7th Century India, mostly attributed to Brahmagupta. India also came up with zero and negative numbers first, and Arabic numerals were pretty much just a copy of Indian numerals. When it comes to math, the Arabs (though al-Khwarizmi was Persian) real genius was in taking things from many cultures and combining them into a coherent whole.

Members from one party got to elect the primary candidate for the opposing party? OMG! We need that NOW!

Teaching accurate history that holds all parties responsible for their actions in a unbiased manner seems to be a thing of the past, but hopefully it returns in the future

@1:46 If an expert Breadsmith was referred to as a 'Master Baker' in his guild, would a professional fisherman then be called a 'Master Baiter'? Or just Seaman?

I would love to watch an hours long video on the advancements credited to the Islamic Golden Age.

Islamic Golden age, assimilated knowledge from China, India, Egypt and Greece. They were like the Borg. Their version of "resistance is futile" was "convert or die".

1:19 That's not medieval, these are Polish XVIc. magnates by Jan Matejko.

Haha, that picture of a trade guild appears to feature the actor Simon Peg. 01:36 Look, what’s he doing all the way back in those days hehe?

Anglo-Saxon Saxon election councils were called Moot Councils, not Parliaments. Parliament as we know it with that name didn't exist until the 1200s. Also, Saxons didn't have hereditary laws, meaning the oldest son didn't inherit everything, that law came in with William I after the Conquest. Generally, a Saxon man would divide his estate between all of his sons, not always the better option as it caused wars within the nobility class When someone says "moot point" they mean "mute point" to "moot" means something is worth discussing. Moot Councils would meet and discuss then vote in who should be the new Lord or King

Anyone else notice how much Fact Boy talks with his hands? I bet that if his hands were tied he would not be able to speak.

My history teacher said that the "dark ages" are when humanity got smacked with the stupid stick. And that has resonated for me for years.

BONUS FACT: The reason the Islamic world later fell behind in terms of innovation (after getting such a head start!) was Guttenberg’s press. Arabic & Persia script did not lend itself to being set for printing presses, so their books continued to be copied one copy at a time, by scribes, long after Europeans were mass producing books. The subtle nuisances, the swirls & accents, the thing that makes these scripts so pleasing to the eye, slowed the Islamic world’s ability to distribute knowledge, compared to Europe at that time. 🤔

I’ve heard the word “renaissance” more than I ever have in my life during this 14 minute video

Low midevil, Simon were trying to get away from the ideology that they weren’t still full of culture and art. We just don’t know about specific things from lack of written and found history, dark ages gives the impression that this time frame was less educated when that is not the case.

"Remember, clumsiness has it's charm." ~Kelly #QuoteofTheDay. This video was altogether charming, Miss Kelly, and I thank you very much for the perspective, the inspiration, and, as usual, the kick in the pants. ❤

Simón I love your videos! Your content is right up my alley as if you created this channel knowing that I love this shit you talk about!

As a mathematician, the Islamic Golden Age is inspiring for me. Yes, I've read a great deal about it. It's a shame that we can't say that it's the same today. I wonder how historians will view the past 100 years when they sum it up for still wet-behind-the-ears pupils of the future.

It was said that Saxon England was so free of crime that a woman and child could safely travel across the country alone. Criminals were given to Thanes to work off their sentences on farms.

Didn't touch on a lot of issues that had worldwide consequences during this time period. Various outbreaks of Bubonic Plague, The year without a summer, various conquering cultures, that interrupted and interfered with many of the renaissances. Simon has spoken of these separately in other videos. And while Islam had a few bright lights that have passed down a legacy to this day, it also shaped the culture of Slavery over much of the world. You really should note the bad with the good.

There have been discussions about the volcanic eruption in 536 AD as the start of the "Dark Ages."

There were several more renaissancess. There was the 12th century or crusaders renaissance and the Sicilian Renaissance. Both happened as Christians made contact with learning from the Arabic world.

It's such a big coincidence that all Roman schools in north africa(library of Alexandria), all Roman schools in Jerusalem and Syria, suddenly all disapear, and all Persian Empire school's, Budhist Schools and Greek schools all disapear suddenly. And then coicidentally 1 Library appears in Bagdhad because the muslims were so much smarter than the greeks, romans and persions before them. What great intellectuals! Wow amazing!

To be honest, there's a lot of things about certain things that public schools didn't fully teach.

Master baker…..had to rewind and listen again to clear things up.

To my history junkies that may be curious about the Arab Nations and their history; Hikma History has great content, and there are some other great channels that focus more on the history side if it's what you're craving