Was the papacy responsible for the Dark Ages?

A final thing I would add, is that the Papacy was not strong enough to instigate a ‘dark ages' until the eleventh century, when it began to increase its temporal power and centralised its control of the Church across Europe through Pope Gregory VII's reforms. read more

After the fall of Rome (the "Middle Ages", about 476), the papacy was influenced by the temporal rulers of the surrounding Italian Peninsula; these periods are known as the Ostrogothic Papacy, Byzantine Papacy, and Frankish Papacy. Over time, the papacy consolidated its territorial claims to a portion of the peninsula known as the Papal States. read more