A QUICK LESSON REGARDING THE MIDDLE AGES

The concept of the early medieval period as the "Dark Ages" is generally considered to have originated with Petrarch, the  14th-Century Italian scholar, to refer to the decline of Latin literature. It was later taken by Renaissance scholars, protestant reformers (16th century) and then the members of the Enlightenment (18th century) as a derogatory term with much broader implications, because they saw their own "enlightenment" as absent from the earlier period.  Providence College Professor of English, Anthony Esolen, vividly demonstrates why the "Dark Ages" would be better described as the "Brilliant Ages."