Barbarian migrations and the Roman West, 376-568 / Guy Halsall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Halsall, Guy.

Series:

Cambridge medieval textbooks

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rome--History--Germanic Invasions, 3rd-6th centuries.

Rome.

Rome (Empire).

History.

Europe--History--392-814.

Europe.

Physical Description:

xvi, 591 pages : illustrations, maps. ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Summary:

This is a major new survey of the barbarian migrations and their role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the creation of early medieval Europe, one of the key events in European history. Unlike previous studies it integrates historical and archaeological evidence and discusses Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe and North Africa, demonstrating that the Roman Empire and its neighbours were inextricably linked. A narrative account of the turbulent fifth and early sixth centuries is followed by a description of society and politics during the migration period and an analysis of the mechanisms of settlement and the changes of identity. Guy Halsall reveals that the creation and maintenance of kingdoms and empires was impossible without the active involvement of people in the communities of Europe and North Africa. He concludes that, contrary to most opinions, the fall of the Roman Empire produced the barbarian migrations, not vice versa.

Contents:

Part I Romans and barbarians in the imperial world 1

1 How the west was lost and where it got us Saba, Romanus and Guntramn Boso: the problems of government 3

The barbarians' role in history 10

Transformation or fall? 19

Germanism and Celticism 22

The present study 25

2 Defining identities 35

Ethnicity 35

'Men who have nothing human beyond their limbs and voices'? The Roman view 45

The barbarian view? 57

3 The late Roman Empire in the west 63

Ruling Europe: the early Roman solution 68

The 'third-century crisis' 71

The new empire of the fourth century 74

The regions 79

Gender 96

The church 99

The army 101

The late Roman Empire: the problem remains 110

4 Society beyond the frontier 112

West of the Irish Sea: the Scotti 112

North of Hadrian's Wall: the Picti 114

East of the Rhine: the Germani 118

North of the Danube: the Goths 131

Around the African frontier: the Mauri 136

5 Romans and barbarians before 376 138

The frontier 138

The barbarian threat? 144

Roman use of the barbarians 149

Barbarian use of the Roman Empire 150

Barbarians within the Roman Empire 152

Part II A world renegotiated: Western Europe, 376-550 163

6 The Gothic crisis, 376-382 165

Introduction: history and irony 165

The Hunnic storm 170

The Gothic entry into the Empire 175

The Goths rebel 177

The battle of Adrianople and after 178

Trying hard to recreate what had yet to be created: historians and the 'treaty of 382' 180

7 The crisis of the Empire, 382-410 186

The usurpations of Magnus Maximus and Eugenius and the death of Theodosius, 383-395 186

Alaric's Goths 189

Alaric, Stilicho and court politics, 395-397 194

Military withdrawal from the north 195

Alaric's invasion of Italy, 397-405 200

Alaric, king of the Goths? 202

Radagaisus, 405-406 206

The great invasion and Constantine 'III', 406-408 210

The fall of Stilicho, 408 212

Alaric in Italy and the sack of Rome, 408-410 214

The crisis at the peripheries 217

8 The triumph of the generals, 410-455 220

The suppression of the usurpers, 410-413 220

The supremacy of Constantius: the Empire on the offensive, 413-421 224

Competition for authority, 421-434 234

Aetius, Gaiseric and Attila, 434-453 242

The deaths of Aetius and Valentinian and the second sack of Rome, 453-455 254

9 The parting of Gaul and Italy, 455-480 257

Avitus: the Gauls throw the dice again, 455-456 257

Majorian, 456-461 262

The supremacy of Ricimer, 461-472 266

Ephemeral emperors, 472-480 278

10 Kingdoms of the Empire, 476-550 284

Italy: two nations under a Goth? 284

The Vandals in Africa 293

The Visigoths from Gaul to Spain 296

The Burgundian kingdom 300

Gaul: Clovis and the triumph of the Merovingians 303

Where no narrative is possible: Britain 311

11 Provincial society in the long fifth century 320

The material base: society and economy 321

Africa 321

Italy 328

Spain 338

Gaul 346

Britain 357

Survival strategies 368

12 Beyond the old frontier 371

West of the Irish Sea 371

North of Hadrian's Wall 375

East of the Rhine 379

Scandinavia 379

The Saxons: settlements and cemeteries in north-west Germany 383

Change around the North Sea and the Anglo-Saxon migration 386

Politics and migration in the Elbe valley: the Thuringians and Lombards 392

Settlements and cemeteries along the old Rhine frontier: the Franks and Alamanni 399

The Bavarians 403

Around the African frontier 405

Part III Romans and barbarians in a post-imperial world 415

13 Mechanisms of migration and settlement 417

The mechanics of migration 417

Administered settlement: the hospitalitas question 422

Settlement 447

14 New peoples, new identities, new kingdoms? 455

New Peoples? Ethnogenesis 457

Law and ethnicity 462

Archaeology and ethnogenesis 466

Language, names and religion 468

Ethnic change 470

Gender 482

New forms of power? 1: post-imperial rulership 488

New forms of power? 2: aristocracy and nobility 494

15 A changed world: the roots of failure 499

Justinian's wars 499

The roots of failure (1): the barbarians 507

The roots of failure (2): the Romans 512

A changed world, 'partly dependent upon unhistoric acts' 515

Appendix Gildas' narrative and the identity of the 'proud tyrant' 519

A Journals, series, collections and secondary works 527

B Primary sources and authors 529.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780521434911

0521434912

9780521435437

0521435439

OCLC:

166626146