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 The
early days of the Germanic intrusion into the Roman Empire
 Some of the Germanic "Greats" The textual material on the page below is drawn directly from my work,
A Moral History of Western Society, © 2024, Volume One, pages 165-179. |
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A Timeline of Major Events during this period
258 Salian Franks invade in the lower Rhine region … then are permitted to settle northern Gaul as "foederati" 267 Goths cross the Danube and sack Byzantium The Goths are gradually Romanized and Christianized (but Arian Christian) They are allowed to settle across the Danube as refuge from the Huns 378 But they are treated poorly – leading to Fritigern's rebellion Saxons from the shores of northern Germany take control of the lower Rhineland from the Franks 410 Saxons cross to Britain after Roman troops are withdrawn They then come in number to Britain under British king Vortigern ... to help fend After Alaric, Visigoths settle southern Gaul with their capital at Toulouse then move into northern Spain against the Suebi and Vandals 428 Gaiseric leads thousands of Vandals from Spain to North Africa "vandalizing" as they go (Augustine also dies as a result) 455 Gaiseric leads his Vandals on a similar attack on Rome The Roman navy is unsuccessful in its counter-attack on the Vandals (468) 466 Under Euric (466-484) the Visigoths also rule much of France The Alemanni settle in today's Alsace and the upper Rhineland The Burgundians settle southeastern Gaul 476 Roman "patrician" Odoacer and his foederati bring Italy stability to Frankish king Childeric (r. 458-481) allies with Odoacer in extending power into Alemanni territory (Upper Rhineland) 488 Ostrogoth Theodoric fights Odoacer for control of Italy (488-493) 490s Theodoric murders Odoacer (493); Ostrogoths take control of Italy But will lose that position under Byzantine Emperor Justinian (535-554) All of Gaul is brought to newly Trinitarian Frankish rule under Clovis also establishing the Merovingian dynasty ... which rules system 500 Saxon spread is stopped by the Celts at the battle of Mons Badonicus (c. 500) possibly the basis of the tale of King Arthur and his court at Camelot 565 But Saxon expansion resumes under Aethelberht of Kent (r. 565-616), driving the Celts into Wales and Cornwall Papal missionary Augustine brings Aethelberht to Trinitarianism 568 Lombards begin to migrate under Alboin to Northern Italy 580 At this point hundreds of thousands of Lombards are in northern and central Italy But the pope was able to maintain his independence … in part due to Lombard lack of political unity 616 Northern Britain is brought under rule of Edwin of Northumbria (616-632) … beginning the "Christianizing" of that huge region |
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The Early days of the German intrusion into the Roman Empire
The Germanic tribes migrating into central Europe from the Northeast (under pressure from the Asian Huns coming in from further East) had found the eastern half of the Roman Empire a solid barrier to expansion. But as they slid west, they found a very different dynamic: only a very weak Rome trying to hold its own ... an easy pickoff. Within the Roman Empire there was very little stopping them. Whole regions seemed largely deserted, either because the inhabitants had fled before the approaching tribal groups, or because the owners had abandoned their farms even earlier due to economic failure. Other groups such as the Celts of Britain (and Gaelic Brittany) tried to hold out from mountainous regions they had escaped to. Others just simply allowed themselves to be integrated into the social-political complex of the invading tribe. In any case, by 500 it was accurate to say that there was no longer a Roman Empire in the West. Rather the region seemed to be a loose patchwork of various tribes – themselves often in contention for dominion in the land. It is clear that the German "barbarians" did not produce the Roman collapse. They merely moved into the Roman political vacuum in the West once they understood that it was there, that there was no longer any real Roman counter pressure to hold them back as they scrambled for grazing and farming lands for their own growing populations. When they did move into the Roman domains, they attempted to capture the glory of the Rome that they once envied. But it was no longer there to be grasped. In consequence their own traditional ways took over where they settled. The Goths (Visigoths and Ostrogoths)
In the East – along the Danube River near the Black Sea – it was the Goths who first troubled Rome, crossing the Danube in 267 to sack Byzantium (well before it became Constantine's capital city). They were eventually driven back across the Danube – but allowed by Aurelian to settle in the old Roman province of Dacia (north of the Danube) which the Romans had abandoned – establishing a Gothic kingdom there. At this point some of the Goths were entered into the ranks of the Roman armies. In the early 332 Constantine attacked and crippled the Gothic kingdom – and then settled Sarmatians just north of the Danube in order to act as a buffer to the Goths. But then two years later he expelled the Sarmatians after they revolted against Roman authority.1 Gradually the Goths were Romanized – and brought into Christianity as Arians. And the ranks of the Roman armies were composed heavily of Germans. With the appearance of the Huns into the area (376) the Goths were given permission to settle on the south side of the Danube. But (as we saw above) they were treated shabbily (no famine relief) and, led by Fritigern, rose up in revolt – leading eventually to the Battle of Adrianople in 378 in which the Emperor Valens was killed and the Roman legions decimated. The Franks
Actually, the first group to enter Roman territory – and take a permanent position within the Empire – were the Franks (in particular the Salian Franks). This name probably included a number of separate tribes located just east and north of the lower Rhine River as it enters the North Sea. During the 200s they raided deep within Roman territory on several occasions (even reaching Spain during a raid in 250) before being expelled by Roman forces. They settled the lower reaches of the Rhine (today's Netherlands) where they raided shipping to Britain. Finally they were settled down by the legions – though not removed from the territory. In 258 Salian Franks were permitted to settle in northern Gaul as "foederati," offering military service to Rome in exchange for the privilege of settling just within the Empire's northern borders (on the Roman side of the Rhine River). Not much is recorded about them as they seemed to have caused the Romans no particular concern, mostly serving to protect the northern borders of the Empire from other Germanic tribes (including other Frankish sub-tribes ... although more importantly the more violent Saxons). Mostly the resettlement program of the Salian Franks worked ... for, like most of the German tribes, their desire was ultimately to move in and take for themselves the benefits of higher Roman civilization – not to destroy it. They really come into history only with the dazzling conquests of Childeric and his son Clovis ... who finally succeeded later in bringing all of Gaul under Frankish rule (late 400s/early 500s) ...forcing the Visigoths to have to abandon to the Franks that portion of their once-extensive kingdom north of the Pyrenees Mountains. The Vandals, Alans, and Suebi
With huge pressure coming their way from the Huns – and with the obvious deep decline of Roman military power in the West – Germanic Vandals, allied with Iranian Alans, were able to defeat the Franks … rendering the Franks unable at this point to be able to hold back the Germanic pressure on the Roman borders. Thus the Vandals and Alans were able to cross the frozen Rhine at the beginning of 406 and head westward … plundering as they went. They soon established themselves in what is today Southern France … but then in 409 continued even further South into the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal). Then pressure from the ever-expanding Visigoths forced the Vandals to move again, this time across the Straights of Gibraltar (429) … where they then spread themselves eastward across the north African coast, taking Carthage ten years later. Besides the Iranian Alans, another group – the Suebi – accompanied the Vandals in this sweep across Western Europe, the Suebi finally settling themselves in the northwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula. Visigoths
Following Alaric's sack of Rome in 410 the Visigoths settled themselves in southern Gaul, first as Roman foederati and then as an independent German kingdom (418) with their capital at the city of Toulouse (in today's southern France). From this base they would later extend their domain south across the Pyrenees Mountains into Hispania (Spain) where they secured their position against the Germanic Suebi and Vandals who had just moved there, forcing the Suebi to come under Visigothic rule and, as we have just seen, the Vandals (those anyway that did not submit themselves to Visigothic rule) to move out of Hispania and into coastal North Africa. Ostrogoths
Ostrogoths went their own way under Theodoric, who defeated Odoacer (who himself had just overthrown the last Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476) and thus took control of all of Italy and the area across and north of the Adriatic Sea. The Ostrogoths assumed Roman character as much as possible and brought a degree of political strength back to the lands they ruled. But in the mid-500s they fell before the expansionistic program of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Justinian I. The long war (535-554) with Justinian not only badly destroyed social life in Italy, it exhausted the Byzantine Empire ... leaving the Byzantines susceptible to conquest, first by the Persians and then by the Arabs. And the Visigoths themselves were also thus unable to ward off a new Germanic tribe anxious to take control of their lands: the Lombards. The Alemanni
Just to the north of the Alps, in the upper reaches of the Rhine River (today's Alsace and northern Switzerland) was another Germanic tribal confederation ... a people who suffered terribly from the cruelty of the Emperor Caracalla who turned them into dedicated enemies of the Romans. In the mid-200s they made raids into Roman Gaul and into Italy north of the Po River. Finally they were defeated in battle in 268 and driven back across the Rhine. But they would continue to trouble Rome, fighting – but defeated – at Argentoratum (Strasbourg) in 357 and then again in 366, after having crossed the frozen Rhine. They remained intact as a people ... and finally in the confusion caused by Alaric at the beginning of the 400s they were able to move successfully across the Rhine to settle the area of Alsace. In 451 the Alemanni would be part of Attila's alliance that was defeated by Aëtius. But they again would still hold their position around the upper Rhineland region. The Burgundians
The Burgundians (who might have been a sub-group of the Vandals) moved west – possibly from the Baltic coast of today's Poland – towards the Rhine Valley, initially locating themselves between the Franks to the north and the Alemanni to the South. They would serve as foederati in the Roman legions ... although Roman General Aëtius had to call on his Hun allies to break their growing power ... killing the majority of the Burgundian tribe in the process. But Aëtius then resettled the remnant group ... who then became Roman allies again (against Attila). Then with the total collapse of Roman authority in Gaul, the Burgundians expanded their reach south to the area that today constitutes Southeastern France. But eventually they would be absorbed into the Frankish kingdom (when not upon occasion also quite independent in operation!). The Saxons
There is some uncertainty about the name "Saxon" as to whether it refers to a particular ethnic or tribal subgroup of the Germanic peoples ... or whether it was simply a term applied to a group of Germans that as fishermen and sailors (ultimately "pirates") raided ships operating in the North Sea. At some point "Saxons" (coming from the Baltic shores of southern Denmark?) drove the Franks south of the Rhine basin and took control of the coastal region along the North Sea coast of the European continent. They are closely associated with other Germanic peoples of the region, the Frisians, the Angles and the Jutes. It is indeed from this broader association that they produced the label "Anglo-Saxon." The beginning of the Anglo-Saxon migration to Britain
Eventually this group crossed the North Sea to settle in the Roman province of Britain. Tradition2 states that Saxons led by Hengest and Horsa were invited in the mid-400s by British (Celtic) King Vortigern to help ward off the attacks of the Picts and Gaels ... attacks that had begun after the withdrawal of the Roman Legions in 410 (to help fight Alaric). However – according to some accounts – following their victory over the Picts, a dispute arose with Vortigern about payment. They thus felt free to take land for themselves – and thus established the kingdom of Kent. Others hold the opinion tat the Saxons, simply seeing how defenseless the Britons were, sent word back to their kinsmen on the continent to come and help them take possession of the land. In any case a mass migration of Saxons now got underway, filling the ranks of a growing Saxon presence in Britain. Establishing Saxon England
The advance of the Germanic Saxons against the Celtic British was steady ... until the Battle of Mons Badonicus (c. 500) when the British3 halted the Saxon progress ... at least for a while. By the end of the 500s the Saxon expansion resumed (aided by in-fighting among Celts), the Saxons – particularly those under King Aetheberht and starting from their base in Kent – drove the Celtic population further West into Wales and Cornwall ... as well as across the water to Brittany in France. At around this time other Saxon kings were establishing their rule in the regions of Sussex, Wessex, Essex, East Anglia, Mercia and Northumberland. But they would end up fighting each other as often as they would be taking on the Celtic kings and their people.
The Saxon invasion of Britain – late-400s? The Lombards
North German Lombards – joined by a variety of other German tribes – migrated south at the beginning of the 500s and settled along the upper Danube. Then in 568 under a very capable king, Alboin, they migrated west down into a very exhausted northern Italy, greatly weakened by the Ostrogoth-Byzantine war (the "Gothic War"). Sadly, the Roman army found itself totally unable to offer any kind of effective defense against so large a German enemy (568-569) ... there being perhaps as many as half a million Germans on the move. Consequently, city after city quickly fell to them. By 580 they occupied nearly all of northern and most of central and southern Italy. The great Roman cities of Rome and Ravenna held out – but little else of strategic value in Italy. A Lombard Kingdom was immediately established ... on the basis of a number of Lombard duchies located here and there around the Italian peninsula ... shared with the Byzantines, with Byzantine Italian holdings also scattered here and there – which included the city of Rome itself. But it was a very loose arrangement, as the Lombard dukes were careful to protect their relative independence ... and thus Lombard kingship was normally a very unstable political office. Also the independence of the Popes at Rome weakened the position of the Lombard king. And the division among the Lombards between those trying to hold onto their traditional German gods and culture and those who had become Christian and Latinized constantly roiled Lombard politics. The Lombards would remain in control of Italy for the next two centuries – although, divided into 36 duchies, the Lombards lacked the political unity that Italy sorely needed. But this division served to keep the city of Rome independent – and still dominant in religious matters and influential in political affairs throughout the West. 1The Sarmatians were a people of northern Iranian descent that had earlier migrated westward as far as an area reaching from Southern Poland to Eastern Romania. 2Derived from Ecclesiastical History of the English People, composed by the English monk Bede around the year 730. 3This resistance was most likely the basis for the medieval development of the legends concerning King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. |
Europe and the Middle East
around 500
Wikipedia
Replica of the helmet found
at Sutton Hoo (England), in the burial of
an Anglo-Saxon leader, probably
a king, about 620 in the Early Middle Ages
British Museum
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Leadership problems
The Romans had always been fairly accommodating to non-Romans whom they had come to have some degree of ascendancy over. It was natural for the Romans during the 200s and 300s to suppose that they could continue this policy with the Germans. Indeed, they found the Germans to be excellent fighters willing to serve the interests of the Roman imperial armies. But what began to change this relationship was not so much a change in the Germans themselves as it was a change in the talents of the Roman leaders. The personal character of Roman emperors had been variable, bad mixed in with the good. But it seems that Rome was increasingly experiencing a long run of incompetent emperors. Everyone sensed this. And this in turn brought forward a number of bold leaders willing to challenge Roman authority. We have already met Alaric and Attila as excellent examples. But there were others. Gaiseric (or Genseric) and the Vandal Kingdom (r. 428-477)
The Wendels or Vandals were a small tribe allied with the Alans – who in the early years of the 400s crossed into Gaul. But the resistance of the Franks was so intense that they moved on through Gaul and crossed the Pyrenees into northwestern Spain. Conflicts with the Suebi (who had also recently migrated to the area) forced the Vandals into southern Spain. Here also troubles with the Visigoths – an even stronger German tribe which had moved to the area – brought the death in battle in 428 of their king Gunderic. At this point his half brother Gaiseric (born c. 390) was named king by the Vandals and Alans. Gaiseric had already made the decision that the Vandals had to leave Spain – even preparing a fleet prior to the events which made him king. Thus in around 428 or 429, Gaiseric led approximately 80,000 Wendels or Vandals from Spain to Carthage in North Africa where he ravaged Roman power there (Augustine died during the long Vandal siege of Hippo Regius 430 431 which subsequently became Gaiseric's capital). Eight years later he forced Carthage to submit – and made it his new capital. He had captured the large fleet of Carthage – and added it to his own, giving himself a very large navy. His intentions were to challenge Rome for control of the Western Mediterranean. He forced Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica into submission – and then for the next several decades raided Roman shipping at will. Finally in 442 Gaiseric secured from Valentinian III recognition of his kingdom as independent (not under Roman authority) – and some semblance of peace resulted. When in 455 Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III was murdered, Gaiseric took the position that the peace treaty he had made with Valentinian was no longer valid. He sent his fleet off to Rome – which was totally unprepared to deal with the Vandal attackers. It was only three years since Attila had ravaged Italy and nearly assaulted Rome (Pope Leo I had persuaded Attila to leave Rome alone). Rome was defenseless – and for two weeks the Vandals "vandalized" Rome – although with Pope Leo's intervention (again), Rome was spared from arson and slaughter of the population. In 468 the Romans sent a huge fleet to attempt to crush the Vandals and end their control (or piracy) in the Mediterranean. But instead the Roman fleet was destroyed by Gaiseric's navy. This merely emboldened Gaiseric – who subsequently invaded Greece. But this time his victorious streak failed him and he had to retreat back to Carthage (but taking 500 hostages whom he hacked to pieces and threw overboard on the trip home). Finally in 474 he made peace with the Byzantine Empire. Three years later he died at Carthage. Euric and the Visigothic Kingdom (r. 466-484)
Although the Visigoths had been critical support of Aëtius in his battle with Attila, the battle had cost the Visigoths the loss of their king, Theodoric. His son Theodoric II took the throne in 453 by killing his older brother, Thorismound. In 458 Theodoric lost to the Roman Emperor Majorian much of the Visigothic territory in Spain and in Septimania (today's French Mediterranean coastal region) but was able to regain the territory with Majorian's assassination in 461. But then in 466 Theodoric himself was assassinated ... by his own younger brother Euric. As king, Euric was successful in forcing other Visigothic chieftains under his direct rule ... and establishing the Visigothic Kingdom as fully independent of Roman authority. To the south from his capital at Toulouse, he drove the Suevi into the northwest corner of the Spanish peninsula thus taking over most all of Hispania. And he extended Visigothic control north into Gaul ... all the way up to the borders of the Frankish kingdom in the north of Gaul. This marked the height of the Visigothic kingdom ... for by the time of his death in 484 he and Odoacer had come to hold much of Roman Western Europe between the two of them. But his death would also mark the beginning of Visigothic decline ... at the hands of the expansive Franks. Childeric and the Frankish Kingdom (r. 458-481)
In the continuing chaos which followed the sack of Rome by the Visigoth leader Alaric in 410 and then the sacking again of Rome in 455 by the Vandals, the Franks under their king Childeric I (reigned 458-481) – in cooperation with the Gallo-Roman forces of Aegidius – were able in 463 first to fight off the Visigoths under Odoacer and then some Saxons along the Loire River valley. Subsequently Childeric allied with Odoacer in fighting off invading Alamanni attempting to invade Italy. Consequently, Childeric succeeded in stretching Salian Frank rule from the Lower Rhine in the North to the Somme River in the South (a region eventually to be known as Austrasia). Odoacer ... the last Roman patrician (r. 476-493)
Odoacer was born (434) along the Danube River among the Scirii tribesmen who had just invaded the area a few years earlier. He entered service in the Roman army in around his thirtieth year and rose quickly within its ranks as a leader of a band of foederati. In 475 the Western Emperor Nepos was driven from his throne by the military commander Orestes who had built his support among thousands of foederati with promises of good land in Italy. Orestes's son, Romulus, was placed on the imperial throne. But Orestes did not deliver on his promise of land. The following year Odoacer led a group of disgruntled foederati in revolt. They captured the imperial capital at Ravenna and forced Romulus to abdicate. Odoacer refused the imperial title, declaring himself simply patrician (military commander) in the "West" (at this point little more than Italy was still under Roman control in the West). Nepos appealed to the Eastern Emperor Zeno to restore him to the imperial throne. But there was initially no enthusiasm from Zeno in this matter – or from the Roman Senate which, pleased by the stability brought to Italy by Odoacer, asked Zeno to recognize Odoacer as a patrician entrusted with care of the "diocese" of Italy. He created a strong Italian German army and, upon Nepos's death, brought Dalmatia (opposite Italy) under his control. He then drove the Vandals from Sicily – and formed an alliance with the Goths and Franks to hold back the expansionist German Burgundians, Alemanni and Saxons in the north. But eventually Odoacer's power grew to the point that it embarrassed Zeno, who then decided to deflect the growing power of the Ostrogothic king, Theodoric, by directing him into action against Odoacer – promising him the rule of Italy should he defeat Odoacer (a policy designed by Zeno to move the Ostrogoths away from the Eastern Empire and get rid of the growing power of Odoacer at the same time). In 488 Theodoric and his Ostrogoths invaded Italy and defeated Odoacer in a series of battles. Odoacer took refuge in Ravenna where he remained impregnable – but also hungry. When disease broke out among the besieging Goths, a peace (493) was declared between Odoacer and Theodoric. But Theodoric personally murdered Odoacer at a supposedly friendly banquet the following month. The net historical effect of Odoacer was to end for all times the fading tradition of Roman rule in Italy and the West. The West was no longer Roman – but instead, German (Visigoth, Frank, Alemanni, Burgundian, Saxon, Vandal, etc.). The Ostrogothic King Theodoric "the Great" (r. 475-526)
Theodoric was born (454) in Pannonia (today's Western Hungary), son of Theudemir, one of the kings of the Ostrogoths (East Goths). He was sent as a Gothic "guarantee" (hostage) of peace to the Byzantine court in Constantinople where he lived for ten years. Upon his return to Pannonia, he began the conquest of neighboring kings including Macedonia. This gained him recognition as a foederati, titled holder of Roman territory in the Balkans to which his Ostrogothic kinsmen were entitled to settle. This Roman privilege was intended to pacify the barbaric tribesmen, even making them allies of the Roman imperium. But Theodoric preferred instead to use his power to consolidate his people's hold over his neighbors. He also attacked Roman lands at will – though not with any definitive success. Theodoric's murder of Odoacer meant Ostrogothic dominion over Italy. But this proved to be a quite lasting time of peace and stability for Italy – the first in a long time. Bureaucratic corruption, brigandage and other social diseases were brought under control. The Italian economy began to revive and urban life underwent restoration. Indeed, Italy became a food exporter under the stimulus of such peace. But toward the end of his reign some unwise political or diplomatic decisions began to undermine his legacy. As an Arian Christian he had generally been tolerant, even supportive, of the Catholic Christianity of the Italians. Yet when the Eastern Emperor Justinian began to take action to suppress Arian Christianity in Byzantine lands, Theodoric began to be cruelly reactive to the Catholic Church in his own Italian lands. Unfortunately, he is also remembered for his execution in his last years of the philosopher Boethius.4 The Frankish King Clovis (Chlodwig) (r. 465 511)
Childeric's son Clovis I, who came to power in 481, stretched Salian Frank rule even further than had his father, eliminating the power (and lives) of other Frankish kings in Gaul (including his own brothers). In 486 he defeated a Roman army under Syagrius at Soissons, thus establishing unquestioned Frankish ascendancy over northern Gaul. He then allied with the Ostrogoth King Theodoric and went on to defeat the Alamanni in 496. He then secured Paris as his own capital. The Catholic archbishop of Reims, Remigius, was quick to recognize Clovis as a possible solution to the anarchy that ruled over the Gallo Roman world. Also, his Burgundian princess wife, Clotilda, had been working to bring him from paganism to Catholic Christianity (perhaps he himself had been considering Unitarian Christianity. In any case, he finally decided to cooperate with the Roman church by converting and being baptized into Trinitarian or Catholic Christianity in 496 (or was it 507? ... accounts vary). This made him the first of the major Germanic leaders to move to the Catholic or Trinitarian Christian confession. His people then followed him into a similar baptism. This gave the Salian Franks special standing with the Catholic Church. 4Boethius (c. 480-524) was a Roman senator and scholar who spent much of his time translating the Greek classics into Latin … as well as demonstrate the connection between Christianity and the works of Plato and Aristotle. In fact, it was Boethius who was most responsible for having the works of Aristotle preserved for later (Renaissance) study. |
Go on to the next section: The Roman Church Survives in the West
Miles
H. Hodges
