Westrom: Von Honorius bis Justinian (UT 735). 2nd Edition. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2018. (original) (raw)

2018

From the fourth century CE onwards, the Western half of the Roman Empire experienced a chain of dramatic events and developments. The last Western emperor was deposed in 476 CE and Justinian abolished the Western court in 554 CE. These events, marking the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages in Europe, are often explained by "barbarian invasions". This book, by contrast, highlights internal Roman conflicts: The empire was not conquered by foreign invaders. Instead, it was hostile groups within the Western Roman ruling classes themselves who dragged the Visigoths, Vandals, Sueves and even the Huns into their conflicts as they sought to use their fighting power against their internal enemies. The prominent role played by these warriors in the internal wars of the fifth century has led to the widespread notion that the Roman West succumbed to barbarian invasions. However, most of these warriors only took advantage of the latitude offered to them. Their goal was participation in the Roman Empire, not conquest. However, in the face of growing chaos, these mercenaries, who were called foederati because they had concluded a foedus, a treaty, with the Romans, increasingly pursued their own interests. The “barbarians” who took advantage of the slow dissolution of the Roman frontier troops during the civil wars by invading the provinces must therefore not be confused with the federate armies inside the Western Roman Empire, offering their services against the grant of money or food in order to give themselves and their families a secure livelihood. It was them who, after the collapse of the central government, finally established their own regna.