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<p>[QUOTE="Sealgair, post: 5296721, member: 97867"]A general comment, not narrowly coin-related: “Dark Ages” in scholarly circles has not been used since the mid-20th century, though, like “mediaeval”, it is still found as a very sloppy reference even today. In fact, the DA term, even in respect to Europe, has never been particularly good. It nominally refers to periods after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, but that itself largely ignores the fact that the RE then was a pretty sad version of its former self and had been for centuries. When “the enemy at the gates” finally arrived, the gates were flapping on their hinges. What WAS going on, broadly speaking, was an extended period of consolidation of knowledge, represented by encyclopedists like Isidore of Seville, and dozens of commentators on classical and slightly later scholars. Changes were in time marked by the reintroduction of Greek works, especially the scientific ones, through the Moslem expansion starting in the 7th c. and later in Moslem Spain, and notably the emergence of major monastic centers like the many Irish institutions such as St Gall (in Switzerland). Later, the humanistic Greek texts came back, the forerunners of universities in the modern sense, and the beginnings of codified legal systems (distinct from those based on the desires of a particular ruler). So, even in southern Europe, the term “Dark Ages” is a romantic Victorian one, dark only when contrasted to an over-enthusiastic view of “the glory that was Greece and the grandure that was Rome”.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Sealgair, post: 5296721, member: 97867"]A general comment, not narrowly coin-related: “Dark Ages” in scholarly circles has not been used since the mid-20th century, though, like “mediaeval”, it is still found as a very sloppy reference even today. In fact, the DA term, even in respect to Europe, has never been particularly good. It nominally refers to periods after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, but that itself largely ignores the fact that the RE then was a pretty sad version of its former self and had been for centuries. When “the enemy at the gates” finally arrived, the gates were flapping on their hinges. What WAS going on, broadly speaking, was an extended period of consolidation of knowledge, represented by encyclopedists like Isidore of Seville, and dozens of commentators on classical and slightly later scholars. Changes were in time marked by the reintroduction of Greek works, especially the scientific ones, through the Moslem expansion starting in the 7th c. and later in Moslem Spain, and notably the emergence of major monastic centers like the many Irish institutions such as St Gall (in Switzerland). Later, the humanistic Greek texts came back, the forerunners of universities in the modern sense, and the beginnings of codified legal systems (distinct from those based on the desires of a particular ruler). So, even in southern Europe, the term “Dark Ages” is a romantic Victorian one, dark only when contrasted to an over-enthusiastic view of “the glory that was Greece and the grandure that was Rome”.[/QUOTE]
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