The question that many historians have is should the dark ages be called dark or medieval ages? Or middle ages? No one really has the correct answer but I strongly believe that when new ways of torture were invented and when people starve to death or get sick or die however way is possible is not really a bright age, is it? There is nothing darker than death and all that took place during that time was different ways that people died. Let’s see what types of tortures and what the barbarians did to the poor people, and finally see the effect the plague had on the people.
There were many types of new tortures, you see emperors, priests and all sorts of powerful people enjoyed watching people go through extreme pain and finally die. But I am sure that all the people that had to go through tortures could only dream of dying since some tortures could last for three days or more! The stretcher for example was a large table in which the person laid on and got tied on it. Then the table would expand and the person would stretch and until death comes, all of his muscles, bones and all sorts of insides will be torn apart. When a person was accused of being a witch they had a special way of finding out if it was true or not. They tied their hands and feet together and threw them in a lake if they came out on the surface of the water it means that they were guilty because the water resents them so they were executed but if they sank it meant they were innocent, but they died anyway since they sank! There was also the breast ripper a special tool designed to rip and tore apart the breasts of a guilty woman, which was usually guilty of conducting abortions or adultery. Lastly if you didn’t get enough there was the impalement which was a sharp pole which was pushed from the bottom upwards through the victim’s body. The worst part is that it was a slow death it took up to 3 days even more for the victim to die. All of these tortures were being enjoyed by various emperors as a source of entertainment.
Barbarians, Goths, and Vandals during that time were a bit poor and bored so they decided to seize some countries, take some money, some gold and some food so they can have some fun! They went throughout Europe, east and west and basically destroyed it by all means. They destroyed important buildings, works of art from the Roman times, and in general important elements of each countries’ cultures. There wasn’t any education for the people they had to eat one another to survive since the barbarians put Rome in a total lockdown so no food entered the city and the people starved to death.
Finally the plague that was the final kick in the face to the Roman empire and in other countries, killed almost the entire country about 30% of the total population died, 100 million people! The plague had the following symptoms, it began with sudden high fever, the chills, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light and after three days of those symptoms there was extreme pain in the groin, the armpits, and then behind the ears. Following tumors are formed all over the body and violent muscle spasms come before death. There was no treatment for this plague and there had to be a total lockdown of the country so the disease wouldn’t spread although it managed to spread to two other countries and wipe out one third of the population. The emperor Justinian got infected too and even though he was one of the few that managed to survive, but he remained sick in the brain and he turned completely paranoid.
The dark ages are not only dark, they are pitch black dark ages to me! There wasn’t anything bright about tortures or starvations. I believe they should be called dark ages because they are the times that people don’t want to be reminded of or to even think about, they should be kept in the dark and humanity shouldn’t be proud of them by all means.
