The correct answer is B) Kings.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, it was considered the Middle Ages or Dark Ages. Who ruled during this time? Answer: the Kings.
Indeed they ruled. The Kings in different European territories were the ones that ruled during the dark times of the Middle Ages. Of course, the pope exerted so much influence in many of those kingdoms because of the power the Catholic Church amassed during that time.
The Dark Ages was a time ok absolutist monarchs that lived in opulent castles with all the luxuries they thought they deserved, when .on the other hand- common people such as peasants and merchants were suffering poor economic conditions and were oppressed by those European crowns.