One of the reasons why historians called the middle ages, the dark age because it ended the great Roman Civilization. During that period the barbarians such as Huns, Goths, and vandals had destroyed the Roman Empire. They had destroyed many of the beautiful artworks and buildings of the Roman Empire.

Middle Ages was also a period of hardship. It was a time of invasions and use of lethal weapons. Some of the weapons used during the period were long bow, cross bow, swords, lances and pikes. Series of invasions took place like that of Vikings. These frequent invasions had made the people homeless. Another notable event were the crusades.

Europe was hard hit by an epidemic known as the bubonic plague or Black Death during 1300s. It had nearly wiped out a third of the population of Europe.

One of the features of the middle ages was the rise of Feudalism. The upper classes controlled the lower classes. The king gave land grants to his trusted nobles. The nobles would then distribute these lands to the lower strata of society. The peasants were the lowest in the ladder. They had no rights and were just like slaves.

It was a time of the prominence of the Roman Catholic Church. The churches and governments ruled the lands. There were no schools and the old arts and crafts were lost. Knowledge was concentrated only in monasteries and the common man was excluded.