Do you know why the Early Middle Ages between the 5th and 10th centuries is famously nicknamed the Dark Age? It’s actually a term coined by Italian sc

Do you know why the Early Middle Ages between the 5th and 10th centuries is famously nicknamed the Dark Age? It’s actually a term coined by Italian scholar Francesco Pterarca due to the lack of historical records after the fall of the Roman Empire. And it kinda just stuck after that. Although it’s not much, there are still some things that we’re aware of including the good, the bad and the ugly. But in this article we’re only focusing on the latter. Here are some of the worst things about the Dark Ages. 1. Villages Were Ridiculously Filthy Cleanliness wasn’t much of a priority for medieval villagers during the Dark Ages. Not only were they roommates with disease-laden rats, but they also used bodies of water as a catch-all for drinking, bathing and dumping sewage. So when you take all this into account, it’s no wonder that sickness and death was so prevalent back then. And to top it off, no one ever bothered to clean out their rivers, so villages must have stuck really badly back then. The cities weren’t all that better off either! 2. The Justinian Plague Many people have heard of the infamous Black Death that wiped out nearly one third of the European population. But there’s also the lesser known Justinian Plague of the mid 6th century, named after the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I who made a full recovery after contracting the disease. Although the death count is unknown, the Justinian Plague was highly contagious and deadly, lasting for nine long years from 541 - 549 AD. Today, we now know that it was caused by the same bacteria as the Black Death, as confirmed by a 2013 research study. 3. The Weird Medical Practices Although we’ve come a long way, medieval medicinal practices were an absolute joke. Oh, you’re sick? Why don’t we drain your blood and speed up your date with the grim reaper. Is that a cut on your leg? Let’s spread goat droppings all over it so it will produce pus. Back then, doctors believed that being healthy was only possible through a proper balance of four bodily fluids. Not to mention that they relied heavily on astrology to make sense of why certain people suffered injuries or diseases. 4. Poverty Was at an All-Time High Life during the Dark Ages was really rough and a constant struggle, that is if you weren’t a noble or lord. Most peasants lived in extremely small houses usually with only one room that they would share with the rest of the family. There were also laws created by lords that forced peasants to work their entire lives for next to nothing, including the fact that it was illegal to move away from the lord’s land. Not to mention the unfair taxes that only served to make the rich richer, and the horrible physical punishments that followed if they weren’t paid. 5. The Punishments A common belief during the Dark Ages was that crimes and wrongdoings were the result of an individual being possessed by an evil spirit or the devil himself. And one way to get rid of these spirits was by putting a person through intense pain usually via torture. Without getting too graphic, the torture was as awful as you could imagine, like something straight from a Saw movie.  &nbsp;

The Worst Things About the Dark Ages

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