Bah! That's just feudal / monarchist propaganda.

Tribal societies were doing just fine during the Dark Ages, with trade and their own culture. They didn't want to work as slaves for someone else's benefit (serfdom); nor did the village-clan-tribe system system reach a pinnacle in just one man (kingdom).

These freedom-loving people weren't warmongers, they just wanted to avoid being subjucated. Unfortunately, they were trampled by royalty and the lick-spittle chroniclers that accompanied them.

Just because they didn't feel the need to demonstrate their martial prowess, raise vanity structures or invent taxation, there's no reason to denigrate them.

Oh, and aristocrats do more plundering than any "rebels".