The early English Church … The size, wealth and power of the church led to increasingly great corruption in the course of the middle ages. The Dark Ages reflects the ill-consequences of this set back. Read the full-text online edition of The Church in the Dark Ages (1959). The year 476, however, is a rather artificial division. The Dark Ages … The Early Middle Ages commenced with the deposition of the last western Roman emperor in 476, to be followed by the barbarian king, Odoacer, to the coronation of Charlemagne as "Emperor of the Romans" by Pope Leo III in Rome on Christmas Day, 800. 2. Far from preventing learning, the Catholic Church actually furthered education more than any other institution in the world. Let's first clarify that the "the Dark Ages" refers to the early Medieval period, and the term was probably coined by secular humanist historians (like Petrarch) because of the lack of Latin literature and contemporary written history from this time. The Middle Ages would not have been the same without the church, it was essential to everyone's life. An age when the lights went out, leaving only darkness. Little or nothing is known of individual people at this time. As well as the tithes you would have to pay to be baptised – if you weren’t baptised you couldn’t be buried on Church land which in turn meant you’d be unable to pass through the gates of heaven. The Church in the Middle Ages Each section of this Middle Ages website addresses all topics and provides interesting facts and information about these great people and events in bygone Medieval times including Churches in the Middle Ages. Home » Browse » Books » Book details, The Church in the Dark Ages . Although it had light elements, such as saints, it also had dark parts. Thus, they viewed it as a period partly "in the dark." In response to this dissent arose … This period is dark because we don't have much knowledge about the period (the same reason the European Dark Ages have been so-called). The Dark Ages is generally considered as the early medieval period of the European history. But many still want to hold on to the Golden Age's evil twin brother: the Dark Age, an age where the church was so fallen and its understanding of the truth so twisted that we have virtually nothing to learn from those who lived through those dismal days. The hierachy of the church was, like everything else in the Middle Ages… After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Europe faced a drastic political, economic and social set back. However, if and as we learn more of the period, through archeology, historical records, etc, light is shone on the period and someday the notion of the "Greek Dark Ages" will likely be a thing of the past.