Europe in the Middle Ages 2004 saison 01 episode 01

Why were the Middle Ages dark? Isn't it true that this epoch conjures up ominous images of superstition and witch-hunting? Burning pyres and plague doctors hurrying strangely muffled along dark alley-ways in their fight against the Black Death, such are the generally accepted associations we have with this "dark" era. The Middle Ages were in the true sense of the word dark.