Today begins an epic saga entries on the extinction ("fall" is sooo seen) of the Roman Empire and the barbarian invasions. But those who are holy patience to read the things I put on here know that I'm fussy about who said what, so to not make a CopyPaste of another site and long roll on how much the Germans are cool we will discuss the most recent books are on the subject, namely, one that takes the apocalyptic title The fall of Rome and the end of civilization , 2005. Or do tomorrow, because today we have to do a review of what has been said before on the subject. In a previous post said why you have to do historical divisions. And why were always inaccurate or incomplete. The principle of the Middle Ages is the typical case of this.
From the second sack of Rome in 455 almost all the Roman emperors ascended the throne under the protection of a king "barbaric." Thus Avitus is sponsored by the Visigoth Theodoric II; Mayoriano, Libyan Severo, Anthemius and Anicio Olybrius (the latter named without even being consulted), under the hand of Ricimer, Swabian origin. Glicerio will be protected from the Burgundian Gondebad. Julius Nepos only receive his appointment from Constantinople. But his reign will last approximately one year. Will be deposed by Orestes, a general of Hun origin, which will on the throne to his son Romulus Augustus, to be deposed, as we have seen, by Odoacer . (More: here ).
Odoacer in 476 gets tired of the pantomime of pretending that the emperor and served for something and decide not to name any, sent the imperial insignia to Constantinople and he is exercising power in Italy. End
Until the nineteenth century and based on the chronicles of Roman authors, which of course were horrified, spread an image too rupture : as if the simple Failure to nominate the emperor, the world changed overnight.
Then came Henri Pirenne (1862-1935). A Belgian historian Jacques Pirenne your child and his disciple Fernand Vercauteren posthumously published his most famous work: Mohammed and Charlemagne . And he lays out the conclusions reached after Economic and Social History of the Middle Ages. More or less, Pirenne was saying this:
policy : many Germans kings Romans who hold diplomas gave themselves or they were granted by the Emperor of the East. There was no awareness of the disappearance of the Roman Empire, but pretended to continue governing in the name of an emperor, as before, only now it was further away, in Constantinople.
In the courts of these kings men of letters are not enlightened citizens and men of the Church, which has not yet achieved the importance it will have later in the monopoly of the written word, in fact, its slow introduction into the government circles has not yet been completed and the Pope, Bishop of Rome, is one of the top four of Christianity with those of Antioch, Alexandria and Constantinople, but not the former.
Trade : During the early years of the Germanic kingdoms goods and passengers continue to flow freely from east to west between Byzantium and the Straits, and north to south between Alexandria and Marseilles. The coins minted by the new kings, maintains the image of the emperors, and the salary of gold remains the basic unit.
Arts : styles remain before the fall of the Western Empire, but with inevitable influences "barbaric."
Given that no large dramatic changes , Pirenne put the beginning of the later Middle Ages, with the expansion of Islam. According to him, broke the unity of the Mediterranean world, weakened the Byzantine Empire and the Mediterranean became Muslim rule, which the West turned away from Byzantium and began to look north. The trade is destroyed. The Catholic religion, to engage directly with a powerful rival, begins to make great importance, clerics gain influence in the courts, and the Pope, after the reduction of large dioceses two (And that of Byzantium was far away), begins to struggle for primacy.
Then came two points raised:
754 : Pope Stephen II consecrates Pepin as King of the Franks and the Romans Patrick. The Pope is interfering in what was an imperial power: legitimate new dynasties.
800 : Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III. The Eastern Emperor is relegated to the background and the Mediterranean world is divided into three main areas : Islam in the south, the Carolingian Empire to the northwest and northeast Byzantium . For Pirenne, then I start the Middle Ages.
Pirenne's thesis has already been overcome in many ways, for example, if you look at the trade, we now know that does not disappear in the Mediterranean even with Islam :
despite the parchment, cheaper, had become the material writing par excellence, the papyrus was used in many foreign ministries that recalled to Rome (at the Pontifical is maintained until the tenth century), and although attempts were made to cultivate it in Sicily, were a failure, so I had to be brought from Egypt in the hands of Islam. Into 750 West mattered spices, dyes, incense, Egyptian sugar, but also had things to offer: slaves needed by the Muslims for their administration and armies, metals such as tin, weapons (Édouard Salin studied the superior quality of steel weapons ex) Yugoslavian coast wood and skins, which were fond of Muslims, precisely because followed Byzantine fashion wear fur imitation of barbarians. About things such as weapons and other "strategic" know that the Papacy condemned several times its sale to Muslims, but everyone became an Olympian, because need the money.
, however, he was right in saying Pirenne the identity and originality of the West comes in opposition to Islam, and when they fail to be emperors in Rome, no one, not even the Romans, he found nothing unusual. And made no sense and after that the world continued.
The problem comes in the last years, when a number of historians who have followed (and exaggerated) in the wake of American Walter Goffart have painted a transition Late Antiquity-Middle Ages too pink , in which the barbarians were going around sightseeing. And that is not. So those people are responsible for our next hero: Bryan Ward Perkins.
And special thanks to HisLibris , from where I got vilely lot for this post.
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