dark ages

noun

1. the period in European history from about a.d. 476 to about 1000.
2. the whole of the Middle Ages, from about a.d. 476 to the Renaissance.
3. (often lowercase) a period or stage marked by repressiveness, a lack of enlightenment or advanced knowledge, etc.

pl n the Dark Ages European history

1. the period from about the late 5th century ad to about 1000 ad, once considered an unenlightened period
2. (occasionally) the whole medieval period

1739, any benighted time in history, period of ignorance; specific focus on the centuries from the fall of Rome to the revival of secular literature is from 1830s.

A term sometimes applied to the early Middle Ages, the first few centuries after the Fall of Rome. The term suggests prevailing ignorance and barbarism, but there were forces for culture and enlightenment throughout the period.