The Teimani Mesorah is very questionable at best. You have any reference to them before the Rambam?
Only hostorical reference to them before that is the Himyars who took the revenge against the Ethiopians for how the byzantines were treating the jews. Not much else. The European Jewish Tradition is the MOST documented of all groups, by far.
This has nothing to do with the Dark Ages. They were primarily in Italy during that period, where they produced some of the most memorable aspects of our culture during that time. Think about ‘Midrash Tanchuma’ (written almost entirely in italy by italian geonim), Rabba and yerushalmi (who joined these italian communities after they were expelled by the byzantines). There was an expression: ‘From Bari and Lombardi will Torah come and the Word of Hashem from Toranto’. These were famous communities of the greatest rabbis of the those centuries.
The famous 4 captives who brought Torah to Spain and North Africa – were from Bari, Italy.
Just open up an Ashkenazi Machzor and see all the Piyutim of all the Holidays for throughout the year. ALL of them were written by these Italian / Byzantine (includes Egypt, Syria, Greece, Turkey) Jews during the centuries from 550 – 950 CE; who then moved north into France and Germany, The Holy Roman Empire, by the Carolingian Dynasty.
