Fall of the Western Empire "Migration" Or "Invasion"? the Beginning

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Fall of the Western Empire 1 Fall of the Western Empire "Migration" or "Invasion"? The Beginning of the "Dark Ages" Replacement of a "Worn Out Society" with New Vigorous Peoples Elements of Truth in Both Positions Rural Romans not Very Different From Germanic Peoples Germanic Tribes Move Southward Against the Roman Borders Possible Factors Deteriorating Weather / Climate Crop Failures in North Increased Population The Huns Map Cavalry Force Tribes First Enter Europe ca. 370 The Hunnic Empire (370-469) Rome's Answer: Foederati Battle of Hadrianople (378) Visigoths 2 Established in Roman Empire as Foederati Alaric Invades Italy (409) Sacks Rome (Aug. 24, 410) Impact Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel Aftermath Latifundia vs. Political Engagement Western Roman Empire Gradually Given Over to Germanic Tribes Southern Gaul Granted to Visigoths in 418 Task of Defending Western Roman Empire in the Hands of Germanic Generals The End of the Western Empire Odoacer - Leader of Ostrogothic Foederati (470) Romulus Augustus, Last Roman Emperor in the West Odoacer Attacks and Defeats Romulus Augustus Declares Himself First King of Italy (476) The Germanic Kingdoms Map Continuity with Rome Germans Admired and Wanted to Share in the Wealth and Civilization of Rome 3 Theodoric (454-526) Two-Tiered Government Similar Experiments Tried in Burgundian Kingdom Discontinuity Urban vs. Rural Germanic People Are Primarily Rural Germanic Manors and Villages Dissolution of Roman Cities Rule of Law vs. Personal Justice Rome: Extensive Law Code, Court System, Standards for Evidence, Advocates Germans: Blood Feuds, Trial by Ordeal Tribe vs. State New Opportunities Emergence of the Church Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) Latin Christendom .
Recommended publications
  • The Politics of Roman Memory in the Age of Justinian DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the D
    The Politics of Roman Memory in the Age of Justinian DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Marion Woodrow Kruse, III Graduate Program in Greek and Latin The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Anthony Kaldellis, Advisor; Benjamin Acosta-Hughes; Nathan Rosenstein Copyright by Marion Woodrow Kruse, III 2015 ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the use of Roman historical memory from the late fifth century through the middle of the sixth century AD. The collapse of Roman government in the western Roman empire in the late fifth century inspired a crisis of identity and political messaging in the eastern Roman empire of the same period. I argue that the Romans of the eastern empire, in particular those who lived in Constantinople and worked in or around the imperial administration, responded to the challenge posed by the loss of Rome by rewriting the history of the Roman empire. The new historical narratives that arose during this period were initially concerned with Roman identity and fixated on urban space (in particular the cities of Rome and Constantinople) and Roman mythistory. By the sixth century, however, the debate over Roman history had begun to infuse all levels of Roman political discourse and became a major component of the emperor Justinian’s imperial messaging and propaganda, especially in his Novels. The imperial history proposed by the Novels was aggressivley challenged by other writers of the period, creating a clear historical and political conflict over the role and import of Roman history as a model or justification for Roman politics in the sixth century.
    [Show full text]
  • 037 690305 the Trans
    Horld ElstorY >#9 h. Eoeb Hednesday P.t{. lEE TnAtrSIfIOnAt KII{GDUSs VAI{DI,LS' HEiltLI' OSIBT0ES lfter the Roam defeat bf tbe Vlaigoths at 441b,gs tn t8, rp bart the cqo- uautng eto:y of the collapse of tbe Rccdr &pfre ps fo:nd e pag€ 134 fn t+g"r. Stlllcho rt tll3 bottm of tb3 flrst col:uor rp dlscswr tbat tbe @ercr Bcrorlu a (9*t&3) rypolntect Ure VErSgl Stlllplro es Easter of tbe troops. Eere nas a sltaratlcn rbera a Uerlgqls EA ffid ofE-tbe nttltary forceel It rns not just tbat tbs C'€ina,s ;ffi-:y lrr charge of Ee rrall alorg tbe RhJ.ne, hrt,gon me of tbeo le tn obarge of tbe Rmm arry fneiae tbp r.ratl! Itrs ltke tbe cansLto nose under tbe tmt. far see litt&e ty ltttte rbat is bappentng I Golng to colu.m tvo: trr 406 Cauf. ras ,qP.rnm by Vmdals srd other trlltBs. dgpqf:re-of fn Lgt'51o tberc vas @ lccc'ed evaoratlor € Brltafg.-the..cglete t& troq>J- dates rnay:Er@g$E- sore sdrcAsErt f thl$k tbls is tbe elgplslg dg!g- for tho purposef\r1 evasusticn of the ls1ad. lnd then ln lueust of /+oB Sbilfpl*r l€g Elgl*g at Fcrelusr cdsrt ttt€ @ere did no[ tnrEt brs rnlrrtary c@EQs r.nre Just not golng rtght fcr tie fupire. Rm Sacked I relgn llotlce next that tbe @eror Theodoslus. erperor ll th9 9eg! $o b€99 -hie i" 4OS; ;i"*ua tbe earllest' colleffilf existLne lgggr tbe-lieodoela CodE.; l&eD yan_bave a good rJ"i6W bas to 16rltlply,-fi c1assl$r -md cod,l.$ none-art none latr, "tafc"trcn tbat socLety breatcnp'0gg, due to lncreased ccrlos srd Laltless:eegt lbea people ar€ Uun"":irg tb€r'selvee teet'e ls no need for a lot of lane.
    [Show full text]
  • Jordanes and the Invention of Roman-Gothic History Dissertation
    Empire of Hope and Tragedy: Jordanes and the Invention of Roman-Gothic History Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Brian Swain Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2014 Dissertation Committee: Timothy Gregory, Co-advisor Anthony Kaldellis Kristina Sessa, Co-advisor Copyright by Brian Swain 2014 Abstract This dissertation explores the intersection of political and ethnic conflict during the emperor Justinian’s wars of reconquest through the figure and texts of Jordanes, the earliest barbarian voice to survive antiquity. Jordanes was ethnically Gothic - and yet he also claimed a Roman identity. Writing from Constantinople in 551, he penned two Latin histories on the Gothic and Roman pasts respectively. Crucially, Jordanes wrote while Goths and Romans clashed in the imperial war to reclaim the Italian homeland that had been under Gothic rule since 493. That a Roman Goth wrote about Goths while Rome was at war with Goths is significant and has no analogue in the ancient record. I argue that it was precisely this conflict which prompted Jordanes’ historical inquiry. Jordanes, though, has long been considered a mere copyist, and seldom treated as an historian with ideas of his own. And the few scholars who have treated Jordanes as an original author have dampened the significance of his Gothicness by arguing that barbarian ethnicities were evanescent and subsumed by the gravity of a Roman political identity. They hold that Jordanes was simply a Roman who can tell us only about Roman things, and supported the Roman emperor in his war against the Goths.
    [Show full text]
  • Hospitalitas
    Department of Economics Working Paper Series Hospitalitas Andrew T. Young Working Paper No. 15-41 This paper can be found at the College of Business and Economics Working Paper Series homepage: http://be.wvu.edu/phd_economics/working-papers.htm Hospitalitas† Andrew T. Young College of Business and Economics West Virginia University Morgantown, WV 26506-6025 ph: 304 293 4526 em: [email protected] Latest Version: October 2015 Abstract: Good government requires a constitution that demarcates what political agents can and cannot do, and such a constitution must be self-enforcing. The medieval West was characterized by the estates system, where the political power of monarchs was roughly balanced by that of a landed and militarized nobility. This rough balance of power contributed to a Western tradition of limited government and constitutional bargaining. I argue that this balance has important roots in the fifth and sixth century barbarian settlements that occurred within the frontiers of the declining Western Roman Empire. These settlements provided barbarians with allotments consisting of lands or claims to taxes due from those lands. These allotments aligned the incentives of barbarian warriors and Roman landowners; they also realigned (or newly aligned) the incentives of barbarian warriors and leadership elite as their roving confederacies became stationary kingdoms. Barbarian military forces became decentralized and the warriors became political powerful shareholders of the realm. JEL Codes: H10, P16, P48, N40, N43, Keywords: constitutional political economy, polycentric sovereignty, shareholder states, collective action problems, governance institutions, state emergence † I thank the participants at the 2015 Western Economic Association International meetings in Honolulu, Hawaii for valuable comments and suggestions.
    [Show full text]
  • Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department Of
    Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of History TOWARDS THE END OF AN EMPIRE: ROME IN THE WEST AND ATTILA (425-455 AD) Tunç Türel Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2016 TOWARDS THE END OF AN EMPIRE: ROME IN THE WEST AND ATTILA (425-455 AD) Tunç Türel Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of History Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2016 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would have been impossible to finish without the support of my family. Therefore, I give my deepest thanks and love to my mother, without whose warnings my eyesight would have no doubt deteriorated irrevocably due to extensive periods of reading and writing; to my sister, who always knew how to cheer me up when I felt most distressed; to my father, who did not refrain his support even though there are thousands of km between us and to Rita, whose memory still continues to live in my heart. As this thesis was written in Ankara (Ancyra) between August-November 2016, I also must offer my gratitudes to this once Roman city, for its idyllic park “Seğmenler” and its trees and birds offered their much needed comfort when I struggled with making sense of fragmentary late antique chronicles and for it also houses the British Institute at Ankara, of which invaluable library helped me find some books that I was unable to find anywhere else in Ankara. I also thank all members of www.romanarmytalk.com, as I have learned much from their discussions and Gabe Moss from Ancient World Mapping Center for giving me permission to use two beautifully drawn maps in my work.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Were the Eruli?
    © Scandia 2008 www.scandia.hist.lu.se ABvar Elkgird Who were the Eruli? I. The received view In practically all the standard handbooks covering the history of the Germanic tribes,' the Eruli, or Heruli2 are represented as originating somewhere in Scan- dinavia. Thus A. kippold in Der Kleine Pauly (1967) describes them as a Ger- manic tribe, expelled from Scandinavia by the Danes around A.D. 250. In all es- sentials Lippold agrees with B. Rappaport's long article in the unabridged Pau- lys Real-Encyklopadie, 2nd ed. 1913. The same general picture emerges from the shorter and much less specific ar- ticle by R. Much in Hoops' Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, 2nd ed. 1913. The Eruli are said to have had their original home ("Stamrnsitz") in Scandinavia. Following the sixth-century historian Jordanes, Much declares that the EruIi were driven out by the Danes. After this, part of the tribe settled somewhere in northwest Germany, from where they made an abortive incursion into Gau'l in 287. Another part of the tribe, says Much, accompanied the Goths to the region north of the Black Sea. Much also refers to a very detailed story by the sixth century Greek historian Prokopios, in which a group of Eruli, led by members of their royal family, made a long trek from 1llyricu.m to Scandinavia some time in the beginning of the sixth century. This is described by Much as a "return" ("Riickwanderung") of the tribe to their ancestral home. One of the standard works on the history of the ancient Germanic tribes, by Ludwig Schmidt, has the same story and the same interpretation, both in the first edition (1910) and in the second (1933).
    [Show full text]
  • Of Military Identity in the Late Roman West
    22 | The last legions: The “barbarization” of military identity in the Late Roman West Vedran Bileta Original scientific paper UDK 355.11(37) Abstract Traditional scholarship has argued that during the fourth and fifth centuries the waning Roman Empire came to rely to a large extent on recruits of foreign, barbarian origin for its defence. Such a pro-barbarian recruitment policy resulted in the weakening and collapse of Roman military capability in the West, and in the fragmentation and disappearance of the Western Roman state. The article re-examines the “barbarization” theory, following models postulated by M. J. Nicasie and Hugh Elton, as well as the recent results of identity studies focusing on the ancient world. By using the concept of the “barbarian” in political, rather than ethnic terms, the article presents the “barbarization” process not as a prime suspect for the empire’s fall, but as another way for the Roman state to maximize its resources and bolster its defences. Keywords: Late Roman army; identity in Late Antiquity; “barbarization”; empire studies; frontier studies Sometime in 460s, a group of soldiers left the town of Batavis (Passau), in the Roman province of Noricum, to fetch payment for their garrison. On their way to Italy, they were ambushed by barbarians and killed. As the Batavian garrison did not receive the necessary funds, they disbanded, leaving the defence of the town in the hands of the local saint, Severinus, who turned to barbarian armed bands for protection (Eug. Vit. Sev . 20). This little vignette from The Life of Saint Severinus by Eugippius is considered as the last written record of a functioning Roman army in the West.
    [Show full text]
  • THE NATURE of NOMADIC POWER Contacts Between the Huns and the Romans During the Fourth and Fifth Centuries
    TURUN YLIOPISTON JULKAISUJA ANNALES UNIVERSITATIS TURKUENSIS SARJA - SER. B OSA - TOM. 373 HUMANIORA THE NATURE OF NOMADIC POWER Contacts between the Huns and the Romans during the Fourth and Fifth Centuries by Päivi Kuosmanen TURUN YLIOPISTO UNIVERSITY OF TURKU Turku 2013 From the Faculty of Humanities Department of General History University of Turku Finland Supervised by: Professor Auvo Kostiainen Department of General History University of Turku Finland Reviewed by: Professor Auvo Kostiainen Department of General History University of Turku Finland Dr. Docent Katariina Mustakallio Department of History University of Tampere Finland Dr. Thomas Brüggemann Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg Germany Opponent: Dr. Thomas Brüggemann Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg Germany The originality of this thesis has been checked in accordance with the University of Turku quality assurance system using the Turnitin OriginalityCheck service. ISBN 978-951-29-5586-2 (PRINT) ISBN 978-951-29-5587-9 (PDF) ISSN 0082-6987 Painosalama Oy – Turku, Finland 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1. Overview to the Research 1 1.2. Previous Research 3 1.3. The Aim of the Research 5 1.4. The Methodology 7 1.5. Central Concepts of the Research 11 1.6. Primary Sources 18 1.7. Structure of the Work 21 2. ROMAN AUTHORS’ WAYS OF WRITING ABOUT THE HUNS 23 2.1. Characteristics of the Huns Defined by Environment 24 2.2. Images of Nomads and Nomadic Way of Life 31 2.3. Educated Storytelling and the Accounts of the Huns 37 3. NEW NOMADIC ARRIVALS? THE FIRST DESCRIPTIONS OF THE HUNS 55 3.1.
    [Show full text]
  • Vandals, Ostrogoths and the Byzantine Footprints in Sicily: an Archaeological-Historical Review
    Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry Vol. 19, No 2, (2019), pp. 51-61 Open Access. Online & Print. www.maajournal.com DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3066023 VANDALS, OSTROGOTHS AND THE BYZANTINE FOOTPRINTS IN SICILY: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL-HISTORICAL REVIEW Roksana Chowaniec Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw ([email protected]) Received: 16/04/2019 Accepted: 30/05/2019 ABSTRACT This paper presents the review of historical and archeological perspectives on Sicily in the period of Vandals and Ostrogoths invasions, and Byzantine reconquest of the island, and includes new research (excavations and surveys) and archaeological artefacts discovered recently on archaeological sites Akrai/Acrae in south- eastern Sicily. Sicily as the largest and centrally–located island on the Mediterranean Sea, rich in natural resources and playing a key role in political shuffles, was a natural crossroad of trading routes, a melting pot of diverse cultures. Therefore for many reasons it was a ring of various historical events, including Late Antiquity. Since end of 430 AD, after the Vandals conquered the lands of North Africa, island reentered the mainstream of history and became a disputed land and the main battlefield for the Vandals, Ostrogoths, and the Byzantine Empire, which did not leave its economy and population untouched. The political reshuffling and military actions were signalised in the literature mostly in the context of coastal towns of islands, but recent studies of material culture, settlement distribution and roads, show that it surely influenced the cultural landscape of the entire island. The paper also draws attention on the need to cross scientific disciplines (history and archaeology) which might be useful in solving elusive ancient problem and issues, in this case thanks to the archaeological material culture filling gaps in historical and written source sources associated with presence of Vandals, Ostrogoths and Byzantine Empire in Sicily, with particular interest of its interior.
    [Show full text]
  • The Vandals and Sarmatians in a New Perspective
    CM 2017 ombrukket 7.qxp_CM 09.02.2018 12:41 Side 233 The Vandals and Sarmatians in a New Perspective ROMAN ZAROFF This study discusses the relations between the peoples known as Sarmatians, Alans, Vandals, and other groups in the context of fluid identities and political affinities of Late Antiquity and early medieval Europe. It is argued that the Van- dals underwent a substantial transformation from being dominantely farmers to centre on horse breeding and mounted warfare. In this process, Sarmatian and Alanian influence on the Vandals was crucial. One could speak of a ‘Sarma- tisation’ of Vandal warfare, economy, dressing, and conduct, but also of a Vandal confederation of identities to which other ‘barbarian’ peoples could be con- nected. Introduction The term Vandals denotes an ethnically mixed tribal confederation centred on the Germanic tribe of Vandals who during the 3rd and 4th century C.E. ravaged the Roman frontier and provinces, and who in the early 5th century settled in the north African provinces of the Roman Empire (Schmidt 1964: 308). The history of the Vandals is a widely researched subject with a large body of books, monographs and papers. Therefore, there is no need to elaborate on the history of the Vandals here. however, most of the works written by scholars and researchers in the English, German and french-speaking world focus on Vandals in the context of the Germanic Migration in Late Antiquity and its impact on the Roman Empire. It is often omitted or down- played that sometime from 418 C.E. onward, the rulers of the Vandals were called Rex Vandalorum and Alanorum – King of Vandals and Alans.
    [Show full text]
  • Adrianople: Before and After
    Adrianople: Before and After Corry Atkinson East Carolina University Faculty Mentor: Wade Dudley East Carolina University ABSTRACT The Battle of Adrianople in 378, fought between the Roman Empire and the Goths, is often overlooked in the feld of Roman history. The purpose of this paper is to argue that the Battle of Adrianople is more important to Roman history than conventionally thought, and that it marked a major turning point for the Roman Empire. Throughout this paper I will argue that the Gothic victory at Adrianople caused a domino effect which led to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Using primary sources I show that many of the events that occurred after the battle, and played a role in the collapse of the Western Empire, can be linked together as aftereffects of the Roman defeat at Adrianople. he Gothic victory over the Romans at Adrianople led the Eastern Empire to abandon TAdrianople in 378 brought with it vast the West. Without the help of the East, the changes to the Roman world. The battle economically weaker Western Empire was in had a domino effect on both halves of the no condition to properly defend itself. Thus Empire, but the West suffered the most in 476 the Western Roman Empire fnally severe consequences. The Western Roman disintegrated, and by 493 Italy and Spain had Empire would never recover from the emerged as independent Gothic kingdoms. East’s defeat in 378. The political fallout The major barbarian groups of the fourth that followed Emperor Valens death at century consisted of Germanic confedera- Adrianople created hostilities between East tions who lived close to Roman borders, ei- and West that never dissipated.
    [Show full text]
  • On Foederati, Hospitalitas, and the Settlement of the Goths in A.D
    ON FOEDERATI, HOSPITALITAS, AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE GOTHS IN A.D. 418 This study sets out to re-examine the key concepts of foederati (foedus) and hospitalitas (hospitium) with a view to gaining a fresh in- sight into the procedure of settlement or accommodation of barbarians by the Roman government during the fifth century. Particular atten- tion is given to the establishment of the Visigothic kingdom on Roman territory in 418, this emphasis being justified by the fact that, as the first such barbarian settlement, it provided a test case and a precedent. Such re-examination may be thought timely in view of the recent work of W. Goffart1 who has challenged the theories of E. T. Gaupp2 and F. Lot,3 which effectively held the field from 1844 until 1980. Two key words have been repeatedly used in conjunction with the attitude of the Roman government to barbarian settlements, foederati (and foedus) and hospitalitas (and hospitium). The Goths, for example, were imperial federates who were settled by the Roman government accord- ing to the rules of military hospitalitas. Upon re-examination, however, neither concept provides full understanding of the nature of the agree- ments between the imperial government and the barbarian nations dur- ing the fifth century, above all, of the permanent division and occupa- tion of Roman territory and a tax exemption status. First, there is the question of the applicability of the term foederati to the Visigoths. A standard theory of late Roman history is that the Goths, like all the later barbarians and many others before them, were bound to the Empire by a foedus which made them allies of the Roman empire.
    [Show full text]