Germanic Invasions(378 – 565 AD)

Visigoths; Ostrogoths; Franks, Burgundians, Vandals

Arian Christians

E.A. Freeman, The Early Germans

Baron, comitatus, retinue of warriors, royal clan

times of emergency – migration, conflict, tendency to recognize suzerainty of the King. On entering Roman Empire, these “emergency” kings used their dealings with Roman inhabitants to make their positions permanent.

Foederati (barbarians settled inside the empire as allied forces), dediticii (inferior status, not citizens, but granted hospitalitas), hospitalitas (Roman natives of settled regions were forced to surrender 2/3 their land to foederati)

The Franks became foederati in 358, when Emperor Julian let them keep the areas in northern Roman Gaul, which had been depopulated during the preceding century. Roman soldiers defended the Rhine and had major armies 100 miles (160 km) south and west of the Rhine. Frankish settlers were established in the areas north and east of the Romans and helped the Roman defence by providing intelligence and a buffer state. The breach of the Rhine borders in the frozen winter of 406 and 407 ended the Roman presence along the Rhine when both the Romans and the allied Franks were overrun by a massive tribal migration of Vandals and Alans.

Movement of the Huns

The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part of Scythia at the time. By 370 AD, the Huns had arrived on the Volga, causing the westwards movement of Goths and Alans. By 430, they had established a vast, but short-lived, empire on the Danubian frontier of the Roman empire in Europe. The Huns defeated the Alans in 372 AD. Either under Hunnic hegemony, or fleeing from it, several central and eastern European peoples established kingdoms in the region, including not only Goths and Alans, but also Vandals, Gepids, Heruli, Suebians and Rugians.

Visigoths asked for asylum within the limes. Rebeled by 376 (80,000) due to poor treatment. 378 AD Battle of Adrianopolis, Visigoths defeated the Imperial army of Byzantium.

The Goths were Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. In his book Getica (c. 551), the historian Jordanes writes that the Goths originated in southern Scandinavia, but the accuracy of this account is unclear. A people called the Gutones – possibly early Goths – are documented living near the lower Vistula River in current Poland in the 1st century, where they are associated with the archaeological Wielbark culture. From the 2nd century, the Wielbark culture expanded southwards towards the Black Sea in what has been associated with Gothic migration, and by the late 3rd century it contributed to the formation of the Chernyakhov culture. By the 4th century at the latest, several Gothic groups were distinguishable, among whom the Thervingi and Greuthungi were the most powerful. During this time, Wulfila began the conversion of Goths to Christianity.

In the late 4th century, the lands of the Goths were invaded from the east by the Huns. In the aftermath of this event, several groups of Goths came under Hunnic domination, while others migrated further west or sought refuge inside the Roman Empire. Goths who entered the Empire by crossing the Danube inflicted a devastating defeat upon the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. These Goths would form the Visigoths, and under their king Alaric I, they began a long migration, eventually establishing a Visigothic Kingdom in Spain at Toledo. Meanwhile, Goths under Hunnic rule gained their independence in the 5th century, most importantly the Ostrogoths. Under their king Theodoric the Great, these Goths established an Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy at Ravenna.

Led by King Alaric, Visigoths invaded Italy, sacked Rome in 410 AD. The Praetorian Prefect at Rome at this time, Stilicho was a Vandal.

406 AD, Dec. 31, Vandals crossed Rhine. Seized Carthage, 455, sacked Rome, led by King Gaeseric,

Franks and Burgundians invaded Gaul and settled in NW and Central Gaul respectively

430s Huns invaded; The Huns, especially under their King Attila, made frequent and devastating raids into the Eastern Roman Empire. In 451, they invaded the Western Roman province of Gaul, where they fought a combined army of Romans and Visigoths at the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields (Battle of Chalons), and in 452, they invaded Italy. After the death of Attila in 453, the Huns ceased to be a major threat to Rome and lost much of their empire following the Battle of Nedao (c. 454).

450 Battle of Chalons; Aetius, last Roman general in the West, defeated Attila with help of Visigothic King Theodoric. Attila retired to Danube region and was later murdered by his wife and nobles in a coup. With this the Hunnic empire imploded.

A son of King Theodemir, an Amali nobleman, Theodoric was born in Pannonia, after his people had defeated the Huns at the Battle of Nedao. Growing up as a hostage in Constantinople, Theodoric received a privileged education and succeeded his father as leader of the Pannonian Ostrogoths in 471 AD. Settling his people in lower Moesia, Theodoric came in conflict with Thracian Ostrogoths led by Theodoric Strabo, whom he eventually supplanted, uniting the peoples in 484.

Subsequently, Byzantine Emperor Zeno gave him the title of Patrician and the office of Magister militum (master of the soldiers), and even appointed him as Roman Consul. Trying to achieve further aims, Theodoric frequently ravaged the provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire, eventually threatening Constantinople itself. In 488, Emperor Zeno ordered Theodoric to overthrow the German Foederati Odoacer, who had likewise been made patrician and even King of Italy, but had since betrayed Zeno, supporting the rebellious Leontius. After a victorious three-year long war, Theodoric killed Odoacer with his own hands, settled his 100,000 to 200,000 people in Italy, and founded a Kingdom based in Ravenna. Although promoting separation between the Arian Ostrogoths and the Roman population, Theodoric stressed the importance of racial harmony. Seeking to restore the glory of Ancient Rome, he ruled Italy in its most peaceful and prosperous period since Valentinian, until his death in 526.

By 476 AD, Ostrogoths invaded Italy, Odoacer (a Herulian serving in the Roman army), deposed the boy emperor, Romulus Augustulus. Odoacer was recognized by emperor in the East as “patrician” (commander of the West). He was succeeded by Theodoric (493-526), the first German King recognized by “Eastern Roman Emperor.”

GERMANIC SETTLEMENT AT THE END OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE:

In Africa were the Vandals (sack of Carthage 439 AD; lost by 442); in Spain and southern Gaul, the Visigoths; in northwestern Spain, the Suevi; in southeastern Gaul, the Burgundians; in Britain (by 440), the Saxons and the Jutes; in Italy, the Heruli. Only in the northern part of Gaul was the shadow of the Roman authority preserved by the governor, Syagrius, who still maintained himself for ten years longer against the invaders, but was at last conquered by the Franks under Clovis (A.D. 486).

Justinian 527-565 AD, reconquest led by Belisaurius, retook Carthage, Rome, Ravenna, Balaeric Islands, locations in Spain. However, two front war with Sassanid Persians and the plague undermined the offensive.