The Dark Ages is a historical periodization traditionally referring to the Middle Ages, that asserts that a demographic, cultural, and economic deterioration occurred in Western Europe following the decline of the Roman Empire.

The term employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery to contrast the era's "darkness" (lack of records) with earlier and later periods of "light" (abundance of records). The concept of a "Dark Age" originated in the 1330s with the Italian scholar Petrarch, who regarded the post-Roman centuries as "dark" compared to the light of classical antiquity.

The Dark Ages Collection features:

HISTORY OF THE LATER ROMAN EMPIRE, by J. B. Bury

THE STORY OF THE GOTHS, by Henry Bradley

THE DARK AGES, by Charles Oman

VISIGOTHS PILLAGE ROME, by Edward Gibbon

HUNS INVADE THE EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE; ATTILA DICTATES A TREATY OF PEACE, by Edward Gibbon

THE ENGLISH CONQUEST OF BRITAIN, by John Green & Charles Knight

ATTILA INVADES WESTERN EUROPE; BATTLE OF CHÂLONS, by Edward Creasy & Edward Gibbon

FOUNDATION OF VENICE, by Thomas Hodgkin & John Ruskin

CLOVIS FOUNDS THE KINGDOM OF THE FRANKS: IT BECOMES CHRISTIAN, by Francois Guizot

PUBLICATION OF THE JUSTINIAN CODE, by Edward Gibbon

AUGUSTINE'S MISSIONARY WORK IN ENGLAND, by Venerable Bede & John Green

THE HEGIRA; CAREER OF MAHOMET: THE KORAN: AND MAHOMETAN CREED, by Washington Irving & Simon Ockley

THE SARACEN CONQUEST OF SYRIA, by Simon Ockley

SARACENS CONQUER EGYPT; DESTRUCTION OF THE LIBRARY AT ALEXANDRIA, by Washington Irving

EVOLUTION OF THE DOGESHIP IN VENICE, by William Hazlitt

SARACENS IN SPAIN: BATTLE OF THE GUADALETE, by Ahmed ibn Mahomet Al-Makkari

BATTLE OF TOURS, by Edward Creasy

FOUNDING OF THE CARLOVINGIAN DYNASTY; PÉPIN THE SHORT USURPS THE FRANKISH CROWN, by Francois Guizot

CAREER OF CHARLEMAGNE, by Francois Guizot

EGBERT BECOMES KING OF THE ANGLO-SAXON HEPTARCHY, by David Hume