Why did the Italian poet and scholar Petrarch call the time period between the fall of the Roman Empire (c 476) and (c 1330s) the Dark Ages? He thought it was a time of intellectual growth due to classical learning. He thought it was a time of intellectual darkness due to the loss of the classical learning. He thought it was a time of intellectual darkness due to the rise of religion. He thought it was a time of intellectual darkness due to the loss of the life from the Black Plague.