Dark Ages reenactment is generally considered a sub-branch of Medieval reenactment focussing on the 1st millennium AD beginning with the fall of the Roman Empire and ending with the High Middle Ages.
The term 'Dark Ages' is much used. Some groups define it as the period between the collapse of the Roman Empire, and the establishment of the main European Christian kingdoms - approx 400 - 750 AD (CE), whereas others include the Viking period as well (extending as far as 1066 AD). Some people call the later half of this period 'Early Medieval'.
Most reenactment groups focus on a smaller time period, sometimes restricting their interest to a particular century, or even a specific decade, depending on how authentic the reenactment and encampment is intended to be. Typically Dark Ages reenactment groups focus on a specific time period and culture within this range, such as Vendel Age Vikings or the Picts.
The largest Dark Age event in the UK is the Battle of Hastings Reenactment.
Famous quotes containing the words dark and/or ages:
“Of a truth, Knowledge is power, but it is a power reined by scruple, having a conscience of what must be and what may be; whereas Ignorance is a blind giant who, let him but wax unbound, would make it a sport to seize the pillars that hold up the long- wrought fabric of human good, and turn all the places of joy as dark as a buried Babylon.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“A man at work, making something which he feels will exist because he is working at it and wills it, is exercising the energies of his mind and soul as well as of his body. Memory and imagination help him as he works. Not only his own thoughts, but the thoughts of the men of past ages guide his hands; and, as part of the human race, he creates. If we work thus we shall be men, and our days will be happy and eventful.”
—William Morris (1834–1896)