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The Barbarian West: The Early Middle Ages, A. D. 400-1000
Maps. 159p.
157 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
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November 22, 2020
As I had enrolled in a Zoom Seminar that would look at Rome during the Middle Ages, I thought it was the time to pull out this book that has been sitting in my shelves for a while. It only has 160 pages so I thought it would be a quick and simple introduction to those Dark Times as they unfolded in the Eternal City.
This book however assumes that the mind that is going to read it is not as Dark as mine is, for rather than provide an overall clarity, as it focuses on a few points here with a sharp Led spotlight, it created in the cavernous enclave that my mind is, some distorting and disorienting shadows. Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading this, even if at times the writing seemed somewhat cryptic. In spite of those mystifying shadows my understanding of these Dark Ages took on a grisaille tone.
The book is not recent. It was first published in 1952, and at that time it must have provided some new insights into familiar issues to historians, for Wallace-Hadrill often claims that ‘some recent research shows’.. which always led me to wonder whether those ‘recent findings’ had held any sway.
As I did not gain an overall clear picture, I will just mention a few snippets that both entertained me but also reinforced my impression of the complexity of the period. For example:
This read made me realized a bit more deeply the very complex challenge that Christianity posed for the Roman system of thought – the Romans had been able to accept and adapt other divinities and creeds (except for the Jews) but this time not only were they not able to absorb this unfamiliar creed but were absorbed by it after subverting it.
I got a better sense of the Burgundians. Before this group of Barbarians did not enter my head until their descendants of a millennium later –that luxurious Burgundy Duchy. These early Burgundians were amongst the most barbarian of all, confronting their cousins in the most irritating manner.
Arianism. I was somewhat familiar with this creed as it was followed by the Visigoths who settled in the Iberian Peninsula but had not realized what a considerable and worrying threat this represented to the Catholics. The Arrian menace explains to a considerable extent the success of the Franks (Catholics) versus the other Goths--not just the Visigoths but the Ostrogoths too. The See and the Franks got along and managed to sandwich in the Arrian Barbarians.
For my Zoom seminar on Rome, it helped to see the difference between the Ostrogoths and the Lombards. The former was perceived as allies, not so the rugged Lombards. I also identified two Lombard churches that I would like to visit: one in Bobbio and one in Benevento. Eventually the Lombards converted to Catholicism in 653.
I had never heard of Queen Thudelinda of the lovely name (578-628). She was twice queen of the Lombards (although she was from Bavaria and Catholic) -- successively (with Authari and with Agilulf). She was the founder of San Dalmazzo in Pedona.
Gold moved around considerably. First it travelled from Western Europe to Byzantium and resided as church treasure, but then the Muslims brought it back to the West – . The various Barbarians, though, in spite of knowing about money and loving gold still to a great extent through barter.
The Muslims did not use horses until a few years after their defeat in Poitiers in 732. This means that their swift conquest of the Iberian and Aquitaine territories were done in the most rudimentary manner.
As I proceed in my Zoom Seminar and do more reading on this obscure period, I may revisit this book. The author’s intended audience was clearly one that did not need to be narrated the basic unfolding events, but one which wanted to know his insightful opinion on several of aspects of this complex period. Unfortunately, I don’t belong to that more sophisticated and targeted audience
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March 24, 2020Hmm... not really a history nor a collection of essays, but something in-between. J.M Wallace-Hadrill, a different person I now realise from Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, discusses the Ostrogoths & Vandals,the Lombards, the Franks, the Franks (again), the Visigoths in Spain, and then doesn't for my money quite tie it all together with a gift bow. Volume comes complete with two scrappy maps and occasional waspish comments of which I have fecklessly recorded no examples so you'll have to take that on trust I fear.
It struck me a bit like one of those courtly dances of previous times in which everyone moved in a stately way so that their towering wigs didn't fall off, touching fingers with their partners, changing partners and turning round. There is a like sense here of touching on lots of points, brushing over personalities and events like a time travelling bird or butterfly, stinging occasionally when the author comes against some egregious stupidity of misinterpretation.
Wallace-Hadrill is quite clear that Theodoric's noble ancestry was a fake, more recent books I've read, W-H wrote in the 1950s, like Burn's History of the Ostrogoths take it seriously. W-H is clear that his leadership was down to his strong right-arm - an idea he likes to repeat so I soon suspected that he was right handed , I felt he was more likely to be right, I presume the early histories of the barbarians were written for a Roman readership rather than a barbarian one.
W-H doesn't see the end of Rome as an abrupt event but more as a slow process - a descent down a staircase, an important step in his view was the Vandal occupation of Africa and the interruption of grain exports, though he admits it is hard to be certain about trade in perishable goods in such ancient times, but his vision is of western Europe turning in on itself, away from a market economy to one that strove to be autarkic and would have made David Ricardo curse with disgust. So towards the end we see Charlemagne as estate manager, moving from manor to manor consuming whatever it had to offer. Naturally this is a bit unRoman even though it involves lots of roaming. On the Franks I learnt that the Salian Franks were the salty Franks because they lived by the sea - this was originally a witty observation by Julian the Apostate, which goes to show how careful you have to be about making jokes, even bad ones, as they can be very sticky. In passing Pope Gregory the great sounded interesting, although perhaps sadly W-H did not pause to discuss the state-capture of the Papacy by the Roman and central Italian aristocracy - but then I suppose they weren't barbarous enough even if they were western (relatively speaking).
Visigothic Spain, if not a great place to go on a time-travelling holiday, again promised to be a particularly interesting place. Partly because their language apparently made a very limited impact on Spanish, yet they did not disappear over night even in the event of the Arab conquest, many surrendered W-H says and made treaties with the in-comers that preserved their local authority in return for paying taxes, Muslim Spain emerges as even more of a patchwork than I had thought. The Visigoths were at first Arians who persecuted Catholics, they later converted to Catholicism, then began persecuting Arians and Jews. The inspiration for the latter move apparently the Byzantine Empire.
Indeed the Byzantine Empire emerges as a huge influence on the barbarian west as a role model - at least in external form such as coinage, kingship and the unity of church and state, as well as written law codes. The coronation of Charlemagne emerges in W-H's view as an accident. Charlemagne just happened to wear his crown to Church (as you do when you've got a nice hat) whereupon the Pope who happened to be conducting the mass, paused to kneel down and adore him (as you would if Charlemagne wandered into your church in the middle of mass) and since this is what the Byzantine Patriarch of Constantinople did when he saw the Byzantine Emperor this meant, purely coincidentally, that Charlemagne was an Emperor, since if he wasn't the Pope wouldn't have adored him quod erat demonstrandum. Much later successive Popes and Emperors would engage in a terrible struggle known as the investiture conflict over the question of whether the Secular power was superior to the Spiritual authority or vice versa which only goes to prove that none of the participants had read this book - consider yourself warned .
This was a sneaky book, which reminded me that despite moving from Charlemagne to Charles the bald, to Charles the fat, to Charles the simple - at which point the Carolingians luckily ran out of Charleses before the Charles the incontinent and Charles the flatulent came on to the scene, the Carolingians were a pretty interesting bunch developing new models of authority and control, and also incidentally that all roads in the scholarship of this period eventually lead to Francois Ganshof.
It struck me a bit like one of those courtly dances of previous times in which everyone moved in a stately way so that their towering wigs didn't fall off, touching fingers with their partners, changing partners and turning round. There is a like sense here of touching on lots of points, brushing over personalities and events like a time travelling bird or butterfly, stinging occasionally when the author comes against some egregious stupidity of misinterpretation.
Wallace-Hadrill is quite clear that Theodoric's noble ancestry was a fake, more recent books I've read, W-H wrote in the 1950s, like Burn's History of the Ostrogoths take it seriously. W-H is clear that his leadership was down to his strong right-arm - an idea he likes to repeat so I soon suspected that he was right handed , I felt he was more likely to be right, I presume the early histories of the barbarians were written for a Roman readership rather than a barbarian one.
W-H doesn't see the end of Rome as an abrupt event but more as a slow process - a descent down a staircase, an important step in his view was the Vandal occupation of Africa and the interruption of grain exports, though he admits it is hard to be certain about trade in perishable goods in such ancient times, but his vision is of western Europe turning in on itself, away from a market economy to one that strove to be autarkic and would have made David Ricardo curse with disgust. So towards the end we see Charlemagne as estate manager, moving from manor to manor consuming whatever it had to offer. Naturally this is a bit unRoman even though it involves lots of roaming. On the Franks I learnt that the Salian Franks were the salty Franks because they lived by the sea - this was originally a witty observation by Julian the Apostate, which goes to show how careful you have to be about making jokes, even bad ones, as they can be very sticky. In passing Pope Gregory the great sounded interesting, although perhaps sadly W-H did not pause to discuss the state-capture of the Papacy by the Roman and central Italian aristocracy - but then I suppose they weren't barbarous enough even if they were western (relatively speaking).
Visigothic Spain, if not a great place to go on a time-travelling holiday, again promised to be a particularly interesting place. Partly because their language apparently made a very limited impact on Spanish, yet they did not disappear over night even in the event of the Arab conquest, many surrendered W-H says and made treaties with the in-comers that preserved their local authority in return for paying taxes, Muslim Spain emerges as even more of a patchwork than I had thought. The Visigoths were at first Arians who persecuted Catholics, they later converted to Catholicism, then began persecuting Arians and Jews. The inspiration for the latter move apparently the Byzantine Empire.
Indeed the Byzantine Empire emerges as a huge influence on the barbarian west as a role model - at least in external form such as coinage, kingship and the unity of church and state, as well as written law codes. The coronation of Charlemagne emerges in W-H's view as an accident. Charlemagne just happened to wear his crown to Church (as you do when you've got a nice hat) whereupon the Pope who happened to be conducting the mass, paused to kneel down and adore him (as you would if Charlemagne wandered into your church in the middle of mass) and since this is what the Byzantine Patriarch of Constantinople did when he saw the Byzantine Emperor this meant, purely coincidentally, that Charlemagne was an Emperor, since if he wasn't the Pope wouldn't have adored him quod erat demonstrandum. Much later successive Popes and Emperors would engage in a terrible struggle known as the investiture conflict over the question of whether the Secular power was superior to the Spiritual authority or vice versa which only goes to prove that none of the participants had read this book - consider yourself warned .
This was a sneaky book, which reminded me that despite moving from Charlemagne to Charles the bald, to Charles the fat, to Charles the simple - at which point the Carolingians luckily ran out of Charleses before the Charles the incontinent and Charles the flatulent came on to the scene, the Carolingians were a pretty interesting bunch developing new models of authority and control, and also incidentally that all roads in the scholarship of this period eventually lead to Francois Ganshof.
November 14, 2013
In J.M. Wallace-Hadrill's `The Barbarian West' the author attempts to discuss the major histories of all major Germanic tribes during a 600 year period in 163 pages, not including the 12 page bibliography & 8 page index. Because of this every sentence is heavily laden with information, much of which the author already assumes the reader knows or which he had very briefly mentioned in a prior page. The book is far too dense to serve as an introduction to the period, as the author notes in his preface. "The reader who requires a balanced introduction to the early Middle Ages will do best to turn without delay to the general books cited at the end of this volume, which, so far from seeking in any particular to replace, I gratefully build upon." (Preface) As a novice to this time period, I found the book a little challenging and it took some effort to read. The Book became to me, simply, a list of information put into paragraph form that the author divided into seven chapters. Chapter One: Introduction-
In the year 376 A.D. northern tribes from beyond the Danube were in motion. This wasn't the first time so the Roman Empire was slow to react to the reports, but they were anything but normal, "The Huns, the most terrible of the barbarian peoples, had been stirred to life and were sweeping south towards the Imperial frontiers, refugees streaming before them." (p.9) The Imperial frontiers had long been stretched to a point where defense against threats was a burden big enough to cause economic & social problem. Problems such as labor and spending modified the structure of the Empire. 1st labor; Defense of an immense frontier combined with the need to exploit food producing land & to make every able-bodied man the object of state supervision proved to be a self-destructive process. An age long reliance on slave labor wasn't conducive to inventiveness or labor saving methods, the slave population would bear no more work than it could avoid. 2nd Spending; No Emperor would have considered fiscal discipline for a minute because lavish households and grand towns were the Roman way of life. Emperors continued to live beyond their means because to do otherwise was not to live at all. A lack of adaptiveness showed in Roman social activity. Take the increased demand on the soil & decreased productivity and add to it endemic plague & war casualties, and the Empire saw no alternative to settling the land and army with barbarian refugees. Chapter Two: Mare Nostrum- During the 3rd century in south-eastern Europe there formed two barbarian confederations. To the east were the Ostrogoths and to the west the Visigoths. The Ostrogoths were comprised of the East Germans: Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, Gepids, Lombards and they controlled the Steppe-lands between Crimea and the Don & Dniester rivers. The Visigoths were comprised of the West Germans: the Franks, Alamans, Saxons, Frisians, Thuringians and they controlled the lands between the Danube and Dnieber rivers. Both Groups were hard living pastoral peoples and likely would have died if they didn't trade with the Empire. It was the unexpected arousal of the non-Germanic Huns that broke up the confederation & created a mass exodus to the eastern empire, which was unable to stop them or provide for them. This led to armed conflict and in August 378 A.D. near Adrianople, the Imperial forces were defeated and the Emperor Killed. The eastern provinces were open to raids, and both the Huns & the Goths took advantage. The western empire knowing it was in danger took what means it could to save itself by surrendering power of the Emperors to the barbarian chieftains and by the complete barbarization of the army. The Goths learned their Christianity from bishop ulfilas. He preached among them 341-348 & translated the scriptures into their language. Ulfilas was an Arian who believed in the divinity of God but not Jesus, so it follows that the Goths share this belief. Western Catholics did not like this. In 410 A.D. Alaric, chieftain of an Arian people finally took Rome. He didn't have much interest in it afterwards because he needed food more than plunder, and there was little or none in Rome. Rome was supplied with corn & oil from Africa. The Visigoths tried to reach Africa, always the barbarian goal, but failed and retreated along the Mediterranean coast. Tribes searching for food move fast and in a generation or two settled among the Romans on the western lands that were to become, in general, their permanent homes. Chapter Three: Italy and the Lombards- In the 6th century the Emperor Justinian undertook the re-conquest of Italy after a successful campaign against the Vandals in Africa. The war took 20 years & in the process Italy was ravaged from end to end, part of this was due to famine & plague. Had the re-conquest gone as well as the one in Africa & had the barbarian rule in Italy been harsher, Justinian would have been welcomed as a liberator. His renewed rule over Italy was soon tested as the Lombards invaded and settled. The north Italian plains on which the Lombards descended in 568 A.D. were not at all prosperous. The Lombards were distrustful of the Romans & went out of their way to avoid them when possible. They were able to keep their culture and language longer than most groups by bringing with them their wives and children. They were constantly ready for war, raiding neighboring territories for goods. "They were the wicked people, the people a man could not trust to keep an agreement, the destroyers of churches and monasteries." (p.52) Chapters Four & Five: The Franks- Tournai was taken by the Franks in 446 A.D. and is where they established themselves. In 482 A.D. Clovis succeeded his father childerick as leader of the Merovingian house of Franks in Gaul. About 503A.D..8 years before his death, he converted to Catholicism. In 639 A.D. the last great Merovingian king, Dagobert, died. He had been a Frankish hero who united Franks & Germans against the Avars, a nomadic group of warriors related to the Huns. His descendants were aristocrats not warriors. The Arnulfings who later become the Carolingians eventually take advantage of this. In 751 A.D. with support of the church Pepin, a Carolingian and father to Charlemagne, seizes the throne and remains king until his death in 768 A.D. From 779 A.D.-791A.D. of Charlemagne's rule is referred to as the great central period. It was a time of military conquest and the rapid development of his Christian mission. 792 A.D. & 793 A.D. were bad years because of bad harvests, famine, trouble in Saxony, Italy, Spain, as well as a plot against him by his bastard son Pepin `the hunchback'. The Eight years between 793 A.D. and his Imperial coronation, he painfully re-imposed his authority over Saxony, Spain, & the middle Danube lands of the Avar. By the Imperial coronation of Christmas day 800 A.D. he had extended his power of the Franks beyond anything his ancestors had achieved. Chapter Six: Spain and the Visigoths- The Sueves who settled in the north west of Spain were the 1st barbarian kingdom in western Europe. This was enough to cause the Empire to invite the Visigoths intervention, by the 6th century they had control over central & southern Spain. At war with themselves, a group led by Athanagild called upon Imperial help from Africa. The Empire began a military occupation of south and south-eastern Spain that would last from 554 A.D. to 629 A.D.. The Arab invasion of Spain was a repetition of the past, but instead of turning to Imperial forces, the dispossed family of Witiza looked to the Arabs for help against Roderick. After preliminary raid Tarik, the Arab governor of Tangier, crossed into Spain in 711 A.D. with a force of 700, most of which were Berbers, to a world in decay. Since the departure of the Empire and the Devastated Visigoth armies were made worse by plague & locust swarms the Arabs easily conquered and ruled from 711 A.D. to 850 A.D.. Chapter Seven: Imperium Christianum- Louis `the Pious' received from his father an empty treasury, rebellious followers, & a plague and famine stricken countryside. His friends were fierce reformers who believed Charlemagne did little to help them. His idea of a Christian Empire is best expressed through his plan for the future. In 817 A.D. he conceived the Ordinatio Iperii, He did not plan to leave equal shares to his three sons and nephew. Lothaire the eldest was to get the biggest share and the Imperial title, though he did not wait to claim it & took a co-Emperor title. The next oldest Pepin would receive the kingdom of Aquitaine, Toulouse, & parts of Burgundy. Louis `the German' his third son would receive Bavaria & the Eastern Marches. Bernard, his nephew would continue to rule Italy. All three were to acknowledge Lothaire as their leader and pay him annual tribute & make no wars he would disapprove of. In the event one of them died without an heir the Kingdom would revert to Lothaire. However none of this came to fruition because 1) Bernard rebelled and lost his eyes & kingdom, and his family was exiled to France & 2) the Empress died and Louis remarried and produced another heir Charles `the Bald'. The new Empress tried to secure a good inheritance and his step-brothers tried to prevent one, resulting in strife and once again the west was at war with itself. In his last years, and during the reign of his sons the Empire, subjected to many divisions, showed that linguistic differences became more clearly marked. The Language of East & West Franks had developed towards modern German & French. As early as 843 A.D. the Imperium Christianum no longer existed and the Franks would never know peace again.
In conclusion though the author provides excruciating amounts of detail on these groups mentioned, his focus is almost solely on the Empire and the Roman Church. Instead of an in depth look at these cultures, he wants the reader to see only their ties to Rome. "Hence, as at the beginning so at the end, the vivid contrast stands; early Medieval men could live like barbarians; but they could think that they were Romans." (P.163)
In the year 376 A.D. northern tribes from beyond the Danube were in motion. This wasn't the first time so the Roman Empire was slow to react to the reports, but they were anything but normal, "The Huns, the most terrible of the barbarian peoples, had been stirred to life and were sweeping south towards the Imperial frontiers, refugees streaming before them." (p.9) The Imperial frontiers had long been stretched to a point where defense against threats was a burden big enough to cause economic & social problem. Problems such as labor and spending modified the structure of the Empire. 1st labor; Defense of an immense frontier combined with the need to exploit food producing land & to make every able-bodied man the object of state supervision proved to be a self-destructive process. An age long reliance on slave labor wasn't conducive to inventiveness or labor saving methods, the slave population would bear no more work than it could avoid. 2nd Spending; No Emperor would have considered fiscal discipline for a minute because lavish households and grand towns were the Roman way of life. Emperors continued to live beyond their means because to do otherwise was not to live at all. A lack of adaptiveness showed in Roman social activity. Take the increased demand on the soil & decreased productivity and add to it endemic plague & war casualties, and the Empire saw no alternative to settling the land and army with barbarian refugees. Chapter Two: Mare Nostrum- During the 3rd century in south-eastern Europe there formed two barbarian confederations. To the east were the Ostrogoths and to the west the Visigoths. The Ostrogoths were comprised of the East Germans: Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, Gepids, Lombards and they controlled the Steppe-lands between Crimea and the Don & Dniester rivers. The Visigoths were comprised of the West Germans: the Franks, Alamans, Saxons, Frisians, Thuringians and they controlled the lands between the Danube and Dnieber rivers. Both Groups were hard living pastoral peoples and likely would have died if they didn't trade with the Empire. It was the unexpected arousal of the non-Germanic Huns that broke up the confederation & created a mass exodus to the eastern empire, which was unable to stop them or provide for them. This led to armed conflict and in August 378 A.D. near Adrianople, the Imperial forces were defeated and the Emperor Killed. The eastern provinces were open to raids, and both the Huns & the Goths took advantage. The western empire knowing it was in danger took what means it could to save itself by surrendering power of the Emperors to the barbarian chieftains and by the complete barbarization of the army. The Goths learned their Christianity from bishop ulfilas. He preached among them 341-348 & translated the scriptures into their language. Ulfilas was an Arian who believed in the divinity of God but not Jesus, so it follows that the Goths share this belief. Western Catholics did not like this. In 410 A.D. Alaric, chieftain of an Arian people finally took Rome. He didn't have much interest in it afterwards because he needed food more than plunder, and there was little or none in Rome. Rome was supplied with corn & oil from Africa. The Visigoths tried to reach Africa, always the barbarian goal, but failed and retreated along the Mediterranean coast. Tribes searching for food move fast and in a generation or two settled among the Romans on the western lands that were to become, in general, their permanent homes. Chapter Three: Italy and the Lombards- In the 6th century the Emperor Justinian undertook the re-conquest of Italy after a successful campaign against the Vandals in Africa. The war took 20 years & in the process Italy was ravaged from end to end, part of this was due to famine & plague. Had the re-conquest gone as well as the one in Africa & had the barbarian rule in Italy been harsher, Justinian would have been welcomed as a liberator. His renewed rule over Italy was soon tested as the Lombards invaded and settled. The north Italian plains on which the Lombards descended in 568 A.D. were not at all prosperous. The Lombards were distrustful of the Romans & went out of their way to avoid them when possible. They were able to keep their culture and language longer than most groups by bringing with them their wives and children. They were constantly ready for war, raiding neighboring territories for goods. "They were the wicked people, the people a man could not trust to keep an agreement, the destroyers of churches and monasteries." (p.52) Chapters Four & Five: The Franks- Tournai was taken by the Franks in 446 A.D. and is where they established themselves. In 482 A.D. Clovis succeeded his father childerick as leader of the Merovingian house of Franks in Gaul. About 503A.D..8 years before his death, he converted to Catholicism. In 639 A.D. the last great Merovingian king, Dagobert, died. He had been a Frankish hero who united Franks & Germans against the Avars, a nomadic group of warriors related to the Huns. His descendants were aristocrats not warriors. The Arnulfings who later become the Carolingians eventually take advantage of this. In 751 A.D. with support of the church Pepin, a Carolingian and father to Charlemagne, seizes the throne and remains king until his death in 768 A.D. From 779 A.D.-791A.D. of Charlemagne's rule is referred to as the great central period. It was a time of military conquest and the rapid development of his Christian mission. 792 A.D. & 793 A.D. were bad years because of bad harvests, famine, trouble in Saxony, Italy, Spain, as well as a plot against him by his bastard son Pepin `the hunchback'. The Eight years between 793 A.D. and his Imperial coronation, he painfully re-imposed his authority over Saxony, Spain, & the middle Danube lands of the Avar. By the Imperial coronation of Christmas day 800 A.D. he had extended his power of the Franks beyond anything his ancestors had achieved. Chapter Six: Spain and the Visigoths- The Sueves who settled in the north west of Spain were the 1st barbarian kingdom in western Europe. This was enough to cause the Empire to invite the Visigoths intervention, by the 6th century they had control over central & southern Spain. At war with themselves, a group led by Athanagild called upon Imperial help from Africa. The Empire began a military occupation of south and south-eastern Spain that would last from 554 A.D. to 629 A.D.. The Arab invasion of Spain was a repetition of the past, but instead of turning to Imperial forces, the dispossed family of Witiza looked to the Arabs for help against Roderick. After preliminary raid Tarik, the Arab governor of Tangier, crossed into Spain in 711 A.D. with a force of 700, most of which were Berbers, to a world in decay. Since the departure of the Empire and the Devastated Visigoth armies were made worse by plague & locust swarms the Arabs easily conquered and ruled from 711 A.D. to 850 A.D.. Chapter Seven: Imperium Christianum- Louis `the Pious' received from his father an empty treasury, rebellious followers, & a plague and famine stricken countryside. His friends were fierce reformers who believed Charlemagne did little to help them. His idea of a Christian Empire is best expressed through his plan for the future. In 817 A.D. he conceived the Ordinatio Iperii, He did not plan to leave equal shares to his three sons and nephew. Lothaire the eldest was to get the biggest share and the Imperial title, though he did not wait to claim it & took a co-Emperor title. The next oldest Pepin would receive the kingdom of Aquitaine, Toulouse, & parts of Burgundy. Louis `the German' his third son would receive Bavaria & the Eastern Marches. Bernard, his nephew would continue to rule Italy. All three were to acknowledge Lothaire as their leader and pay him annual tribute & make no wars he would disapprove of. In the event one of them died without an heir the Kingdom would revert to Lothaire. However none of this came to fruition because 1) Bernard rebelled and lost his eyes & kingdom, and his family was exiled to France & 2) the Empress died and Louis remarried and produced another heir Charles `the Bald'. The new Empress tried to secure a good inheritance and his step-brothers tried to prevent one, resulting in strife and once again the west was at war with itself. In his last years, and during the reign of his sons the Empire, subjected to many divisions, showed that linguistic differences became more clearly marked. The Language of East & West Franks had developed towards modern German & French. As early as 843 A.D. the Imperium Christianum no longer existed and the Franks would never know peace again.
In conclusion though the author provides excruciating amounts of detail on these groups mentioned, his focus is almost solely on the Empire and the Roman Church. Instead of an in depth look at these cultures, he wants the reader to see only their ties to Rome. "Hence, as at the beginning so at the end, the vivid contrast stands; early Medieval men could live like barbarians; but they could think that they were Romans." (P.163)
May 17, 2017
I learned a lot about the early Middle Ages from this short book, but I think its audience is other historians, and it seems to be having an argument with proponents of a belief that the Middle Ages were a major failure because they didn't realize the dream of a unified Europe that recreated the Roman Empire, and it tosses off a lot of interesting information along the way. The book shows how medieval Europe evolved from the collapse of the Roman Empire, and how the landed interests did not care who or what governed them, or who their allies were, or what happened to anyone else, as long as they maintained their property and privileges. Come to think of it, this kind of sounds familiar. Care to cast a vote for establishment politicians, anyone?
June 27, 2018
I made it through! But I struggled with so many unexplained references to places and people completely unknown to me. Some maps and modern equivelents would have helped. For instance, an obscure place name could have easily been clarified as "now known as the south of France" or "located near present-day Berlin," etc.
One slim volume covering 600 years of history obviously can't go into detail about everything, so I don't blame the author for my lack of understanding. But I did feel like he was being super cynical in his analysis of everyone's motives. I started feeling as if every ruler and religious figure in the entire period was completely corrupt. Which can't have been true. A few of them MUST have had good intentions, even if they failed in fulfilling them. But Wallace-Hadrill would probably say I'm being naive.
One slim volume covering 600 years of history obviously can't go into detail about everything, so I don't blame the author for my lack of understanding. But I did feel like he was being super cynical in his analysis of everyone's motives. I started feeling as if every ruler and religious figure in the entire period was completely corrupt. Which can't have been true. A few of them MUST have had good intentions, even if they failed in fulfilling them. But Wallace-Hadrill would probably say I'm being naive.
July 9, 2022
2.5/5. It was ok I guess and since it was short (160 pages and a decent but old bibliography). Each chapter covers a different barbarian group (Lombards, Visigoths, Franks etc). Quite a bit on religion as (due to the difference between the Catholics in the former Roman empire and the Arian Christian barbarians). Personally I would struggle to recommend it but it has reprinted quite a few times so it must have something going for it.
October 30, 2025
Dense, short, but engaging, probably worth a re-read but then there are newer and more comprehensive works to attempt. Felt like a good introduction. Raised some interesting questions on the politics of the period, discussed the nature of religion and legitimacy, the methods by which early medieval rulers maintained loyalty at the cost of state integrity, and so on.
September 11, 2018
Excellent survey of Western European history from late Roman times up to the eve of the High Middle Ages.
August 6, 2020
He makes the subject interesting, to the degree this subject can be interesting. I was interested; that's why I read it!
January 22, 2024
aburrido.
August 16, 2009
Read this for world history at Normandale Community College and, for a history book, really liked it! Primarily a political history from 400-1000, the fall of the Roman Empire and the subsequent establishment of the Christian Kingdoms, particularly in France & Germany.
Keep thinking its worth reading again, but like all history books I get bored...
Keep thinking its worth reading again, but like all history books I get bored...
August 27, 2009
This look at the barbarian history of western Europe after the fall of Rome is full of interesting info, but it is written in an awkward style and the author presumes more familiarity with the history than I had. The frequent jumps in time and place left me struggling to keep up.
August 12, 2011
The author has a somewhat pedantic writing style but I guess that should be expected as this book is more an academic treatise than a casual read. I found the book to be an informative discourse on this period of western European history and its effect upon our modern society.
January 12, 2023
Muy recomendable reseña sobre la primer edad media hasta el año 1000. Muy interesante la explicacion sobre el rol de los monasterios y los eclesiasticos en el antiguo orden feudal. Por ultimo obra de lectura muy amena para lo farragoso del tema
March 23, 2007
Definitive material on the Middle Ages.
June 17, 2013
A rather dry look at the place of different "barbarian" groups in the development of Europe--the Lombards, the Franks, The Visigoths and others
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