I don't know which book you read , but i would sugest you to find different author.
That one sunds like someone that had all things twisted
Did you ever had chance to se Roman toiletes?They were not just holes, they had runing watter in it. After fall or WRE, barbarians (Saxons, Allemanni,Goths,etc...)neglected almost everything that was unknown and new for them(civilized) .They kept only their tribal ideas(hence fiefdoms and petty internal fights)
Universities and hospitals were invention of Ancient world (not just romans).
Only ones that kept them alive were ERE and eastern nations.While in Europe ,when they needed to go , they would grab first tree.
Hospital and University in Baghdad or Cordoba (for example) were established before any in Europe.They were part of great mosques, but they still existed.
Soap was used by Easterners 500 years before Europe,they only started to use it(in very limited way) after First crusade.Constantinopole had runing watter , public baths and libraries till it's fall.While at same time London had open sewage in middle of the streets till 18-19 century(yuck).
It was noted by catholic monks visiting Moorish Cordoba , that just one household library there contained more books then whole Western Europe at that time.
And eye surgeries(or any complicated) were common in those same areas way before medieval Europe even knew about them. Not to mention that in East there were using some version of checking accounts already.
I am not gonna even start how much advanced Chinese were in comparison to Europe at that time.
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