<P> The term was originally intended to denote an intermediate period between Classical Antiquity and the Modern era . In the 19th century scholars began to recognize the accomplishments of the period, which challenged the image of a time exclusively of darkness and decay . Nowadays the term is not used by scholars to refer to the entire medieval period; when used, it is generally restricted to the Early Middle Ages . </P> <P> The rise of archaeology in the 20th century has shed light on the period, offering a more nuanced understanding of its achievements . Other terms of periodization have come to the fore: Late Antiquity, the Early Middle Ages, and the Great Migrations, depending on which aspects of culture are being emphasized . Today, on the rare occasions when the term is used by historians, it is intended to be neutral and express the idea that the period often seems' dark' from the scarcity of historical record, and artistic and cultural output . </P> <P> The idea of a Dark Age originated with the Tuscan scholar Petrarch in the 1330s . Writing of the past, he said: "Amidst the errors there shone forth men of genius; no less keen were their eyes, although they were surrounded by darkness and dense gloom". Christian writers, including Petrarch himself, had long used traditional metaphors of' light versus darkness' to describe' good versus evil' . Petrarch was the first to give the metaphor secular meaning by reversing its application . He now saw Classical Antiquity, so long considered a' dark' age for its lack of Christianity, in the' light' of its cultural achievements, while Petrarch's own time, allegedly lacking such cultural achievements, was seen as the age of darkness . </P> <P> From his perspective on the Italian peninsula, Petrarch saw the Roman and classical period as an expression of greatness . He spent much of his time travelling through Europe, rediscovering and republishing classic Latin and Greek texts . He wanted to restore the Latin language to its former purity . Renaissance humanists saw the preceding 900 years as a time of stagnation, with history unfolding not along the religious outline of Saint Augustine's Six Ages of the World, but in cultural (or secular) terms through progressive development of classical ideals, literature, and art . </P>

Who called the middle ages the dark ages