Actually, this is a myth perpetrated by Petrarca (petrarch) the italian poet, who looked with disdain on all things that came before him. He invented the word "gothic" (the goths were barbarians) and "middle ages" as disparaging terms because he believed, with so many of his times, that there were the ancient romans and greeks, who were civilized, and then of course themselves, who were civilized, and everything in between was just barbaric crap.
Try going into any medieval cathedral and see if it seems barbaric to you.
The fact is that the middle ages was an era where towns had already begun to spring up, with special 'charters" that kept them out of the hands of the lords, and which were independent and under the king. The whole myth of the "renaissance" is a complex one to unravel. Everyday life was much the same, and so was the food. There were knights and serfs, and just as terrible laws concerning ownership of people. Just look at the history of the Borgias and the Medici.
Anyway, among other things, i also recommend you read Stephen Jay Gould's book "the Hedgehog, the Fox and the Magister's Pox" to see what renaissance "science" was like. It was the renaissance mentality that persecuted Galileo, by the way, not the medieval.
The "middle ages" was actually a time where people (who could afford it, but this goes for all times) were quite refined in their tastes, and loved beauty and literature and even (yes, oh yes) bathing and good food etc. etc. etc.
