The Dark Ages?

Auguste Comte, The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte, tr. Harriet Martineau (London: George Bell and Sons, 1896), vol. III., 123:

We shall see that the entire spiritual movement of modern times is referrible to that memorable season in human history, which Protestantism is pleased to call the dark ages. . . . It is an exaggeration also to attribute to the Germanic invasions the retardation of intellectual development during the Middle Ages; for the decline was taking place for centuries before the invasions were of any engrossing importance. . . .