The curse.
"One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion. So now people assume that religion and morality have a necessary connection. But the basis of morality is really very simple and doesn't require religion at all." -- Arthur C. Clarke, born
1917
I think you've misunderstood the dark ages. If anything it was a period of destruction of the established elites including the church and the wealthy, and their replacement with a new elite based on raw military power.
"The World"???!!! That's Eurocentrism, if I may. WHAT IF, in fact, it was the other way around? IF, at this period of time, Europe counted for nothing precisely because of the reasons you mentioned...?
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"One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion. So now people assume that religion and morality have a necessary connection. But the basis of morality is really very simple and doesn't require religion at all." -- Arthur C. Clarke, born
1917