Sorry all, but I must interject here. I believe Fred's characterization
of the Medieval Period is inaccurate.

Most scholars agree that the term "dark ages" is a misnomer in the worst
way possible. At best it can be restricted to the Early Medieval Period,
and even then only in the Roman West; scholastics in the Byzantine East
were alive and well. At worst it is epoch-centric slander that is
borderline criminal in nature. Some of the more prolific thinkers active
during the Late Ancient and Medieval Period include Augustine, Aquinas,
Ambrose, Dante, Al-Farabi, Francis of Assisi, Chaucer, Luther, and the
anonymous writers of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Song of
Roland, to name only a few. If anyone would like a bibliography from the
period, please contact me off list and I would be more than happy to
distribute one.

Back to Fred's point that they 'enthusiastically destroyed the...
ancient world', there were pockets of that no doubt, but to paint all
the peoples of the period from ca. 300 to 1300 as such is too broad a
stroke by a wide margin. But I believe Stephanie did a wonderful job of
representing that fact.

Now back to grind....

Chris


-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Grevin, Fred
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [RM] Basic Advice on Archival Digitization Project - OT
Historical Fact

But they still enthusiastically destroyed the civilisation of the
ancient world, and replaced it with what has been called the "dark
ages".

During that time, and for most of the subsequent middle ages, reading
was confined almost exclusively to clerics, few of whom actually read
the Greek and Roman classics.

Best regards.

-----------------------------------
Fred Grevin
[log in to unmask]
By BlackBerry

----- Original Message -----
From: Records Management Program <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed Apr 02 17:03:02 2008
Subject: Re: [RM] Basic Advice on Archival Digitization Project - OT
Historical Fact

Fred said:  "What happens when the next "single Superpower of the world"
is a theocracy that believes our civilisation is the work of heathens
and must be destroyed? Real-world example: the destruction of the
civilisation of the ancient world by Christianity, CE 200-1300."

Ah, but the Roman Catholic Church preserved many classical texts.  In
fact, the Irish monks painstakingly copied Greek & Roman classics (in
addition to religious works); then, the Irish repopulated libraries all
over Europe after barbarians swept through and nearly destroyed
everything.  The monks hid the books from invaders, often at the cost of
their own lives.

Slainte (cheers)!

Stephanie McCutcheon, CRM, MLIS
Records Manager
Legal Department
Midwest ISO
317.249.5536
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