[pythonistic]

The Dark Ages were named such, in retrospect, because of the loss of knowledge and recording of history of that period. Western Europe suffered from a split or break in government (the Eastern Empire was significantly more wealthy), a collapse of civil authority (Germanic tribal migration into Western Empire territory forced by Hunnic invasions to the east, withdrawal of Roman authority and eventual military collapse), and looting and destruction of knowledge centers. Thank the Irish monks for preserving Western Civilization until the Carolingian Renaissance.

We're at risk for creating a new dark age (mid-to-late 20th century onward) though the use of excessive encryption, proprietary file formats, abandoned digital storage media. and abuse of copyright.