[quote=@Fabulous Knight] [i]That[/i] didn't happen, either. Economics took a massive hit, but technologically and socially -- things only progressed. [/quote] [quote=@poog the pig] I'd say that technology and social ethics progressed, but only within the realm of the church - the Dark Age is referred to as such for only the common European villager. Nobles upheld a certain amount of high living and reaped the benefits of such progressions, but a vast majority saw none of it. [/quote] [quote=@Fabulous Knight] [i]That[/i] didn't happen, either. Economics took a massive hit, but technologically and socially -- things only progressed. [/quote] I'm not so convinced. Do you think that the King of England who lived in a mud house was more technologically advanced than the Roman Emperor who was building coliseums and palaces wherever? Or that Europe was more technologically, socially and intellectually advanced after the great loss of knowledge following the collapse of Rome and the burning of the Library of Alexandria? And many other similar losses of which we know and of which we don't. The losses sustained in the centuries leading up to and following the fall of Rome are huge. The Church was a very powerful force in the preservation of culture and knowledge for a long time, but it was very selective in what it preserved and what it did not, and very little was disseminated to the masses - leading the illiteracy etc. that Cyclone mentioned - and yes!! Metalworking definitely advanced. Bloody hell, they made an art of it. The one thing that really got better was probably warmaking xDD