Transcript Byzantines to Barbarians

The Byzantine Emperor Justinian
Constantinople (founded 330)
The Spread of Christianity
Fatal
Division
Constantine
Result
The
development
of
two
was
the
halves
had
Empire
horrible
divided
for
would
the
into
and
West
the
two
insoluble
empire
independent
gradually
infinancial
half,
drift
halves
each
apart
crisis
ruled
left
and
in
the
by
the
a
65% of all revenue came from
co-emperor,
Western
become,half
by
West
with
very
395,the
weak
basically
eastern
and
the East but 66% of the entire
emperor
independent
vulnerable—just
in Constantinople
political
asentities
the as
army
Troops
was
went
stationed
unpaid,
insupplies
the West
Germans
the were
senior
renewing
partner their
could not be purchased, bribes
attacks on the frontier again
could not be paid to barbarian
chiefs, etc.
FEUDALIZATION
• Cities declined further and power of large rural
landowners increased
– In the West, cities declined rapidly and urban dwellers
fled into the countryside
• Gradually fell under the control of large landowners
– In exchange for oaths of loyalty and annual fees
and rents, these immigrants were granted small
plots of land and military protection of landlord
• Aristocrats and peasants constructing a network of
relatively stable and independent cells that
survive the collapse of the Western
Empire and serve as foundation for
the Middle Ages
CHURCH AND STATE
• In the West, church leaders adopted an
independent attitude towards the state
• What remained of towns and cities
looked to Church, not the corrupt state.
for protection and justice
SHIFT OF LOYALTY
• Because of the leadership of the Church, German
barbarians tended to be generally respectful towards
church leaders
• Many Roman citizens had come to view the state as
parasitic
– Robbing and persecuting them and giving absolutely
nothing in return
– In their eyes, local church leaders and large
landowners were the only people they could trust for
protection and justice
THE GERMANS
• Begin to migrate out of their homeland in
Scandinavia and NE Russia around 500 BC
– 100 BC occupy most of modern-day Germany
– Primarily raised sheep and cattle
– Raiding
KINSHIP
• No formal political organization
– Tied together by bonds of personal loyalty
• Kinship and Lordship
• Kinship
– Based on clans (large group who were blood relations)
– Group of clans would join together to form a tribe
• Maintained cohesion with myth that they all were
descended from a legendary hero or god
– Major function was mutual protection
• If a person was killed or injured, his kin were
expected to get vengeance from the offender or from
the offender’s kin group.
LORDSHIP
• Relationship between leader and his retinue of warriors
– Voluntary relationship
• How it worked
– Leading man would issue a call to all young warriors
who wanted to fight with him
• Those who answered call would swear to serve
leader faithfully in return for his protection and share
of spoils
• Members of different clans would join these bands
• Formed groups of companions, bound to one another and
to their leader by oaths
– Took place outside traditional ties of kinship
DIFFERENTIATION
• Before they began their migration around 500 BC, Germans had
a similar language and culture
– But after the migrations began, different groups became
isolated from one another and differences in language and
culture developed.
• By 300 AD, two distinct major groups of Germans had developed
– West Germans (Saxons, Franks, and Alemanni who settled
along the Roman border of the Rhine River and supported
themselves by farming)
– East Germans (Goths, Vandals, and Lombards who lived in
Hungary and southern Russia and supported themselves as
nomadic horsemen and herders)
WEST GERMANS
• Large, with red or blond
hair, worn long, and blue
eyes
• Lived to hunt and fight and,
during peaceful times,
drank until they passed out
• No central government
– Might choose war leader
in times of emergency,
but– otherwise--unity
provided by kinship and
lordship
MUTUAL INFLUENCE
• Since the beginning of the Roman Empire,
Romans and German barbarians had influenced
each other
– Germans began to enlist in the Roman army in
the 3rd century AD
• Did not join individually
• Joined in units known as Foederati
–War bands who fought for Rome under
their own chieftains
– Trade developed between
two groups
MILITARY SITUATION
• Germans constantly pressed against Roman
borders
– Sometimes broke through and caused trouble
• Always ultimately driven back across the
border
• Situation sometimes became confusing
German Foederati fighting
German barbarians
“MILITARY DEMISE”
• Manpower shortage caused Rome to relax eligibility
requirements in the army so that most soldiers were
German mercenaries by 420 AD
– Many became officers and some even became
some commanders
• Called Patricians
–Emperors became their puppets
• But the problem remained
– Disloyal, ill-disciplined, poorly equipped German
mercenaries
– Rome did not really have an army anymore
INVASION
• Up until 400, Germans satisfied to
launch periodic raids into the empire
• Around 400, entire tribes and groups of
tribes (nations) began to move into the
empire simultaneously
• Captured huge chunks of territory,
settled, set up independent
kingdoms
THE HUNS
• Huns forced huge German migration
– Nomadic people from Gobi Desert
– Expert horsemen
– Entered northern Europe
– Terrorized German tribes who lived there
– Germans migrated to escape them
INVASIONS
• Visigoths cross Danube River 375 and
ultimately settle in Spain
• 200,000 Sueves, Vandals, and Alans
sweep into Gaul and then Spain in 406
– Occupy huge chunks of these provinces
– Vandals cross Strait of Gilbralter
• take control of North Africa and
Sicily
THE West “END”
Romulus
Augustulus
• In the years that followed, Angles
and Saxons took Britain
• Franks took a large portion of Gaul
• Ostrogoths invade Italy
• In 476, the patrician Odovacar
deposed the last pupper emperor,
Romulus Augustulus, sent imperial
regalia to Constantinople, and made
himself king of Italy
• Western Empire “finished”
Barbarian Invasions
Many barbarian
kingdoms would
not last long but
they did mark the
way for the future
Europe, as a unified
unit, was finished
forever—replaced
by a multitude of
small, competing
entities
“Wild animals run from the dangers
they actually see, and once they
have escaped them, worry no more.
We, however, are tormented alike by
what is past and what is to come.”
– Seneca
HUNS
The Huns appear in history in the 3d cent. B.C
Nomadic and pastoral people who originated in N
central Asia, Gobi Desert
Appeared in Europe in the 4th cent. A.D., and
Built up an empire there.
Organized in a predominantly
military manner.
Divided into hordes
Undertook extensive independent campaigns, living off
the countries they ravaged.
Huns described as short and somewhat Mongolian
appearance.
Military superiority due to small, rapid horses
-on which they practically lived, even eating and
negotiating treaties on horseback.
Invaded lower Volga Valley c.372--advanced westward
Pushed Germanic Ostrogoths and Visigoths
Precipitated great waves of migrations that destroyed the
Roman Empire…
…and changed the face of Europe.
They crossed the Danube, penetrated deep into
the Eastern Empire
Forced (432) Emperor Theodosius to pay them
tribute
Attila, their greatest king, had his palace in
Hungary
Most territories that now constitute European
Russia, Poland and Germany were tributary to him
Paid as Roman general in chief.
When Rome refused (450) further tribute, the
Huns invaded Italy and Gaul
Defeated (451) by Aetius, but ravaged Italy
before withdrawing after Attila’s death (453)
Later movements are little known
The word Huns has been used as an epithet,
as for German soldiers = destructive
militarism.
ATTILA
King of the Huns (445–53).
After 434 he was coruler with his brother, whom he
murdered in 445.
In 434, Attila obtained tribute and great concessions
for the Huns in a treaty with the Eastern Roman
emperor Theodosius II,
But, taking advantage of Roman wars
with the Vandals and Persians, he
the Balkans in 441.
invaded
Turned back & invaded (452) N Italy but abandoned plan to
take Rome itself
Withdrawal, credited to the diplomacy of Pope Leo I
Motivated by shortage of provisions & outbreak of
pestilence.
Soon afterward in Hungary, Attila died of a nasal
hemorrhage suffered while celebrating his marriage
Attila inspired fear and was harsh, but a just ruler to his own
people
Encouraged presence of learned Romans at his court
Often called the Scourge of God
THE GOTHS
• Divided into two sub-groups
– Visigoths (lived along Danube River)
– Ostrogoths (lived in southern Russia)
• Developed more advanced form of political
organization than other Germans
– United under strong kings
• Established close contact with Eastern
Roman Empire
– Exposed to Roman/Greek civilization
– Reason why they were first tribe to
convert to Christianity, first to become
literate, and first to assume a veneer of
civilization
Ostrogoth King
OSTROGOTHS
(East Goths), division of the Goths, one of the most
important groups of the Germans
Ancestors of Goths were the Gotar of S. Sweden
By the 3d cent. A.D., Goths settled in region N of
Black Sea
Split into two divisions
Names reflect areas in which they settled
Ostrogoths settle in Ukraine
Visigoths (West Goths) moved further west
Ostrogoths subject to Huns until the death of Attila
Ostrogoths chose Theodora-the-Great as king (471)
Byzantine emperor, Zeno, commissioned Theodora to
reconquer Italy from Odoacer
Ostrogoths entered Italy (488)
Defeated and killed Odoacer (493)
Set up Ostrogoth kingdom of Italy
-Ravenna as capital
Justinian to send Belisarius to reconquer Italy.
Crushed Ostrogoth kingdom, but
Ostrogoths rebelled under leadership of Totila.
552 Byzantine general Narses defeated Totila, who
fell in battle.
Ostrogoths lost national identity, and the hegemony
over Italy passed to Byzantium, and
Shortly afterward to the Lombards.
VISOGOTHS
In 401 Alaric began attacks on Italy
First halted then successful w) invasion
Visigoths became masters of Italy
Negotiations between Alaric and Emperor
Honorius failed
410 Visigoths sack Rome
Alaric dies soon afterward
•Under Ataulf, Visigoths left (412) Italy and went into S Gaul
and N Spain
•Increased territories in Spain (evacuated by Vandals)
•Extended influence
•Height of Visigothic power reached under Euric (466–84)
•Completed conquest of Spain
•In 507, Alaric II defeated by Franks
•Lost all possessions N of Pyrenees
•Toledo became new Visigoth capital, and
•History of the Visigoths became essentially that of Spain