sign in sign up
<<
Home , Germania, Germania (book), Germanic peoples, Ostrogoths, Stilicho, Theodoric the Great

Lecture 15: Germanic Invasions and the “Fall” of

Topics: Nomads and Empires after Rome

Period from 200-700 CE Questions: What effect did “” have on the , and vice versa? How did the Roman Empire “fall”? In Europe, what emerged in its place? How do these developments compare to China after the end of the Han ? Internal Problems of the Late Roman Empire

economic decline crisis of authority external threats provincial elites East/West differences

Solution: Division or Unity?

Diocletian (284-305 CE): tetrarchy = 2 senior + 2 junior

Constantine (306-37 CE): unity new Eastern capital =

After 395 CE, 2 emperors: East and West Roman Europe

Christianization progresses threaten - frontier Northern capitals: , ,

Roman in Trier Germanic Peoples

Tacitus (55-117 CE) How does describe them? Correcting some misconceptions:

Germanic tribes long in contact with Romans

Roman frontier was not impermeable

Agricultural: often migrated in search of land

Germanic “tribes” not fixed ethnic units

Not all “barbarians” were Germanic

Some Germanic peoples settled within Roman Empire (as “federates”) before Rome “falls”

A pair of fibulae (early 5th c. CE) Movement!

Note: separate groups and

340s: Goths and Vandals In the east, north of Danube, near Convert to (Arian)

Huns push Goths westward: split into two groups

Battle of Adrianople, 378: & defeat Romans & kill , the Roman general (d. 408) Settled as federates in ()

After 390: , led by Alaric, in Vandals: move north of Visigoths into and First as army in imperial succession conflict ca. 415: fight with Visigoths Then rebel when not paid; held off After 401, Visigoths move toward 439: move into North Raid all over Empire by sea 410: Alaric & Visigoths sack Rome 455 sack Rome After 415, settle in southern Gaul as federates, and also move into Spain Independent kingdom (until 533 CE) Huns = Asiatic nomads The Last Western

Attila the Hun (d. 453 CE)

476 CE - kills Roman Emperor of the West

Church in Ravenna (5th c. CE)

A Hun embroidered on silk, Mongolia (1st c. CE) The Ostrogoths

Theodoric “the Great” (490-526 CE) of Italy

Germanic king recognized by E. Roman emperors

Bicultural society: small Ostrogothic population in a sea of Romans of all classes

Each under own law

Similar kingdoms emerge elsewhere in Roman Europe:

Gaul = , under Clovis So. Gaul along Rhone = Spain = Visigoths Britain = several -Saxon kingdoms A New Europe Justinian (d. 565 CE) = last Roman Emperor to try to reclaim west

Hagia Sofia, Constantinople

533 CE - destroys Vandals 535-55 CE - war in Italy destroys Ostrogoths Also destroys Italy!

from 586 - Longobards () in Northern Italy The Christian Church

Bishops Monasteries

Ivory diptych (mid 5fh c. CE)

Gregory “the Great” Bishop of Rome (590-604 CE) Papacy

charity morale leadership literacy

Archbishop’s throne from Ravenna Germanic Europe: A New Society

Massive instability

Population decline Kingdoms Economy contracts Germanic law De-urbanization Christian Epidemics Rural

Literacy declines Subsistence-level agriculture

Europe Germanized Romanized Christianity Crown of Recceswinth, the Visigothic king of Spain = The Roman Empire

Constantinople Greek-speaking Urban & Commercial Orthodox Christianity

Byzantine Icon “Falls” in 1453 CE

Hagia Sofia