:: wikimiki.org ::

Visigoths

Visigoths

:This article treats the Visigoths on the Continent. The name can also rarely refer to Västergötland, Sweden. The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. Together these tribes were among the loosely-termed Germanic peoples who disturbed the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period. After the collapse of the western Roman Empire the Visigoths played a major role in western European affairs for another two and a half centuries.

Visigoths as "Tervingi"

The naming of this people is problematic. Some time shortly after 291 Mamertinus made a eulogy of Emperor Maximian (285-308) in which he says that the "Tervingi, another division of the Goths" (Tervingi pars alia Gothorum) joined with a band he calls the Taifali to attack the Vandals and Gepidae (Genethl. Max. 17, 1). The term "Vandals" may have been erroneous for "Victohali" because, around 360, the historian Eutropius reports that Dacia was currently (nunc) inhabited by Taifali, Victohali, and Tervingi (Eutr. Brev. 8, 2, 2) [http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/chk/chk04.pdf]. But about a hundred years later the term changes to Vesi. Correspondingly, the other branch was originally called Greutungi (cf. Jordanes' Evagreotingi, i.e. Island Greotingi in Scandza), but this was soon replaced by Ostrogothi ("gleaming goths"), and from the 390s and onwards the earlier terms are only found in epic poetry (Hervarar saga). By the 5th century the two main branches were known as Vesi and Ostrogothi whenever sources cared to specify them more specifically than Goths. When Cassiodorus wrote the history of the gothic peoples in the early sixth century, he interpreted Ostrogothi as "East Goths" and invented the term Visigothi to denote "West Goths." There was some logic in this invention, since, at the time, the Vesi ruled the Iberian Peninsula and the Ostrogothi parts of Italy. This usage has continued to this day, though since the 1970s, modern historians have started to use the contemporary terms instead of Cassiodorus' interpretations.

Early history

The Visigoths first appeared in history as a distinct people in the year 268 when they invaded the Roman Empire and swarmed over the Balkan peninsula. This invasion overran the Roman provinces of Pannonia and Illyricum and even threatened Italia itself. However, the Visigoths were defeated in battle near the modern Italian-Slovenian border that summer and then routed in the Battle of Naissus that September. Over the next three years they were driven back over the Danube River in a series of campaigns by the emperors Claudius II Gothicus and Aurelian. However, they maintained their hold on the Roman province of Dacia, which Aurelian evacuated in 271. Settled in Dacia, the Visigoths adopted Arianism, a branch of Christianity that believed that Jesus was not an aspect of God in the Trinity, but a separate being created directly beneath God. This belief was in opposition to the tenets of mainstream Catholicism, which achieved a religious monopoly in the 4th and 5th century. The Iberian Visigoths adhered to Arianism until 589, when King Reccared (Recaredo) converted his people to Catholicism. For the role of Arianism in Visigothic kingship, see the entry for Liuvigild. They remained in Dacia until 376, when one of their two leaders, Fritigern, appealed to the Roman emperor Valens to be allowed to settle with his people on the south bank of the Danube. Here, they hoped to find refuge from the Huns, who lacked the ability to cross the wide river in force. Valens permitted this, and even helped bring the Visigoths over the river. In return, Fritigern was to provide soldiers for the Roman army. Valens promised the Visigoths farming land, grain rations, and protection under the Roman armies. His major reason to quickly accept the Goths into Roman territory was, of course, to increase the size of his personal army. The selection of which of the Goths might cross the Danube was unforgiving— the weak, old, and sickly were left on the far bank to fend for themselves against the Huns. The ones that crossed were meant to have their weapons confiscated, but the Romans in charge accepted bribes to allow the Goths to retain their weapons. However, a famine broke out in the lands settled by the Visigoths a year later, and Rome was able to supply them with neither the food they were promised nor the land - they herded the Goths into a temporary holding area, often compared to a World War II concentration camp. There was only enough grain left for the Roman garrison, and so they simply let the Visigoths starve. However, the Romans provided a grim alternative: the trade of children for dog meat. When Fritigern appealed to Valens for help, he was told that his people would find food and trade in the markets of the distant city of Marcianople. Having no alternative, the Goths trekked across the Balkan landscape in a death march, losing the sickly and old along the path. When they finally reached Marcianople's gates, they were barred out by the city's military garrison and denied entry. Rioting ensued, which had the following consequences: a) The Visigoths were able to match Rome's military technology through their raiding, b) The Goths were able to obtain the necessary food in this manner, and they grew in number, and c) Valens, after a victorious campaign in Persia, was forced to trek directly from the Persian Wars to a battle with the Goths. The Battle of Adrianople on August 9, 378 erupted. Acting on a false message, Valens was completely unaware of the Goths' numbers. To add to the blazing August heat the Goths set the fields ablaze, and managed to box the Roman infantry in the center of the battlefield so as to only have to fight one Roman army at a time. The Roman forces were slaughtered; the Emperor Valens died during the fighting. The new emperor, Theodosius I, made peace with Fritigern in 379, and this peace held essentially unbroken until Theodosius died in 395. In that year, the Visigoths' most famous king, Alaric I, took the throne, while Theodosius was succeeded by his incapable sons: Arcadius in the east and Honorius in the west. Over the next 15 years, occasional conflicts were broken by years of uneasy peace between Alaric and the powerful German generals who commanded the Roman armies in the east and west, wielding the real power of the empire. Finally, after the western generalissimo Stilicho was murdered by Honorius in 408 and the Roman legions massacred the families of 30,000 barbarian soldiers serving in the Roman army, Alaric declared war. With Alaric and his army at the gates of Rome, Honorius still refused to come to terms, so Alaric sacked the city on August 24, 410. While Rome was no longer the official capital of the Western Roman Empire (it had been moved to Ravenna for strategic reasons) its fall severely shook the empire's foundations.

Visigothic Kingdom in Aquitaine

Ravenna From 407 to 409 the Vandals, with the allied Alans and Germanic tribes like the Suevi, swept into the Iberian peninsula. In response to this invasion of Roman Hispania, Honorius, the emperor in the West, enlisted the aid of the Visigoths to regain control of the territory. And, in 418, Honorius rewarded his Visigothic federates by giving them land in Aquitania on which to settle. This was done probably under hospitalitas, the rules for billeting army soldiers (Heather 1996, Sivan 1987). The settlement formed the nucleus of the future Visigothic kingdom that would eventually expand across the Pyrenees and onto the peninsula. Political strength in a charismatic monarchy depends upon the personal character of the king. The Visigoths' second great king, Euric, unified the various quarreling factions among the Visigoths and, in 475, forced the Roman government to grant them full independence. At his death, the Visigoths were the most powerful of the successor states to the Western Roman Empire. At its greatest extent, before their defeat at the Battle of Vouillé in 507, the Kingdom of the Visigoths included all of Iberia except for small areas in the north (belonging to the Basques) and in the northwest (the Suevi kingdom), plus Aquitania and Gallia Narbonensis in what is today France.

Visigothic Kingdom in Iberia

The Visigoths soon became the dominant power in Iberia. They quickly crushed the Alans and by 429 they forced the Vandals from the peninsula into north Africa. By 500, the Visigoths controlled most of Iberia with the exception of the Suevi kingdom in the northwest and the Basque region. At first the Hispanic territories were governed from the Visigoth capital at Toulouse, in the south of France. At Vouillé in 507, the Franks wrested control of Aquitaine from the Visigoths. King Alaric II was killed in battle, and after a temporary retreat to Narbonne, Visigoth nobles spirited his heir, the child-king Amalaric to safety across the Pyrenees. From 511–526, Visigoths and Ostrogoths were reunited under Theodoric the Great, ruling from Ravenna. The center of Visigothic rule shifted first to Barcelona, then inland and south to Toledo. In 554, Granada and southernmost Hispania Baetica were lost to representatives of the Byzantine Empire who had been invited in to help settle a Visigothic dynastic struggle, but who stayed on, as a hoped-for spearhead to a "Reconquest" of the far west envisaged by emperor Justinian I. There was a gulf in Hispania between Arian Visigoths and their Christian subjects. Among the Catholic population of the peninsula, deep splits had led to the martyrdom of the ascetic Priscillian of Avila by orthodox Catholic forces in 385, and the following generations suffered persecution as "Priscillianist" heretics were rooted out. At the very beginning of Leo I's pontificate, in the years 444-447, Turribius, the bishop of Astorga in Galicia, sent to Rome a memorandum warning that Priscillianism was by no means dead, that it numbered even bishops among its supporters, and asking the aid of the Roman See. The distance was insurmountable in the 5th century. Somewhat later, Pope Simplicius (reigned 468 - 483) appointed as papal vicar Zeno, the Catholic bishop of Seville, so that the prerogatives of the papal see could be exercised for a more tightly disciplined administration. Nevertheless Leo intervened, by forwarding a set of propositions that each bishop was required to sign: all did. As elsewhere, bishops confronted secular military lords over hegemony in the territory. But if Priscillianist bishops hesitated to be barred from their sees, a passionately concerned segment of Christian communities in Iberia were disaffected from the more orthodox hierarchy and welcomed the tolerant Arian Visigoths. The Visigoths scorned to interfere among Catholics but were interested in decorum and public order. The Arian Visigoths were also tolerant of Jews, a tradition that lingered in post-Visigothic Septimania, exemplified by the career of Ferreol, Bishop of Uzès (died 581). Visigothic persecution of Jews had to wait for the conversion to Catholicism of the Visigothic king Reccared, and the same synod of Catholic bishops in 633 that usurped the Visigothic nobles' right to confirm the election of a king declared that all Jews must be baptised. The Visigothic Code of Law (forum judicum) which had been part of aristocratic oral tradition, was set in writing in the early 7th century— and survives in two separate codices preserved at the Escorial. It goes into more detail than a modern constitution commonly does and reveals a great deal about Visigothic social structure. The last Arian Visigothic king, Liuvigild, conquered the Suevi kingdom in 584 and regained part of the southern areas lost to the Byzantines, which his heir conquered completely in 624. With the Catholicization of the Visigothic kings, the Catholic bishops increased in power, until, at the synod held at Toledo in 633, they took upon themselves the nobles' right to select a king from among the royal family. The kingdom survived until 711, when King Roderic (Rodrigo) was killed while opposing an invasion from the south by the Umayyad Muslims in the Battle of Guadalete on July 19. This marked the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Iberia in which most of peninsula came under Islamic rule by 718. A Visigothic nobleman, Pelayo, is credited with beginning the Christian Reconquista of Iberia in 718, when he defeated the Umayyads in battle and established the Kingdom of Asturias in the northern part of the peninsula. Other Visigoths, refusing to adopt the Muslim faith or live under their rule, fled north to the kingdom of the Franks, and Visigoths played key roles in the empire of Charlemagne a few generations later. A list of Visigoth kings was quoted in Spain as an egregious example of rote memorization in school during the time of Francisco Franco's dictatorship.

Kings of the Visigoths

Early kings

- Fritigern (369–380)
- Athanaric (369–381)

Balti dynasty

- Alaric I (395–410)
- Ataulf (410–415)
- Sigeric (415)
- Wallia (415–419)
- Theodoric I (419–451)
- Thorismund (451–453)
- Theodoric II (453–466)
- Euric (466–484)
- Alaric II (484–507)
- Gesalec (507–511)
- Regency of Theodoric the Great (511–526)
- Amalaric (526–531)

Later kings

- Theudis (531–548)
- Theudigisel (548–549)
- Agila (549–554)
- Athanagild (554–567)
- Liuva I (568–573)
- Liuvigild (568–586)
- Reccared I (586–601)
- Liuva II (601–603)
- Witteric (603–610)
- Gundemar (610–612)
- Sisebur (612–621)
- Reccared II (621)
- Suintila (621–631)
- Sisenand (631–636)
- Chintila (636–640)
- Tulga (640–641)
- Chindasuinth (641–649)
- Reccesuinth (649–672)
- Wamba (672–680)
- Erwig (680–687)
- Ergica (687–701)
- Wittiza (701–710)
- Roderic (710–711)

Doubtful kings

- Agila II (711–714?)
- Ardo (714?–718?)

Select bibliography

#Bachrach, Bernard S. "A Reassessment of Visigothic Jewish Policy, 589-711." American Historical Review 78, no. 1 (1973): 11-34. #Collins, Roger. The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710-797. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1989. Reprint, 1998. #Constable, Olivia Remie. "A Muslim-Christian Treaty: The Treaty of Tudmir (713)." In Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, ed. Olivia Remie Constable, 37-38. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. #Constable, Olivia Remie, and Jeremy duQ. Adams. "Visigothic Legislation Concerning the Jews." In Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, ed. Olivia Remie Constable, 21-23. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. #[http://libro.uca.edu/ics/emspain.htm Glick, Thomas F. Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages: Comparative Perspectives on Social and Cultural Formation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979.] #Heather, Peter. The Goths. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1996. #Kennedy, Hugh. Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus. Harlow, Essex: Longman, 1996. #Mathisen, Ralph W. "Barbarian Bishops and the Churches ‘in Barbaricis Gentibus’ During Late Antiquity." Speculum 72, no. 3 (1997): 664-697. #Nirenberg, David. "The Visigothic Conversion to Catholicism." In Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, ed. Olivia Remie Constable, 12-20. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. #Rosales, Juratė. Los Godos. Barcelona, Ed. Ariel S.A., 2nd edition, 2004. (edition in Spanish) #Sivan, Hagith. "On Foederati, Hospitalitas, and the Settlement of the Goths in A.D. 418." American Journal of Philology 108, no. 4 (1987): 759-772. #Velázquez, Isabel. "Jural Relations as an Indicator of Syncretism: From the Law of Inheritance to the Dum Inlicita of Chindaswinth." In The Visigoths from the Migration Period to the Seventh Century: An Ethnographic Perspective, ed. Peter Heather, 225-259. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 1999. #Wolf, Kenneth Baxter, ed. and trans. Conquerors and Chroniclers of Early Medieval Spain. Vol. 9, Translated Texts for Historians. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999. #Wolfram, Herwig. History of the Goths. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

External links

- [http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/visigoths.htm Visigothic Law Code]: text. The preface was written in 1908, and should be read with reservations. Category:Ancient Roman enemies and allies Category:Ancient Germanic peoples Category:History of the Germanic peoples Category:Goths Category:Ethnic groups of Europe ja:西ゴート族

Västergötland

is one of the historical provinces of Sweden (landskap), situated in the southwest of Sweden. "Västergötland" literally means Western Götaland, where Götaland refers to the land of the Geats (a.k.a Goths). In older English literature one may also encounter the similar Vestergotland or the Latinized version Westrogothia. The province borders Bohuslän, Dalsland, Värmland, Närke, Östergötland, Småland and Halland. It is also bounded by the two largest Swedish lakes Vänern and Vättern, and in a small strip to the Kattegat ocean, in which the largest city Gothenburg is situated.

Counties

Provinces serve no administrative function in Sweden today. Instead, that function is served by Counties of Sweden. Currently Västergötland is within the Västra Götaland County, which was formed in 1999, through a merge of Skaraborg County, Älvsborg County and Gothenburg and Bohus County. Västra Götaland County also includes the provinces Dalsland and Bohuslän. The main exceptions are the Municipalities of Habo and Mullsjö, which are part of Jönköping County but still situated with the province Västergötland.

Population

As of 2004 Västergötland had a population of 1,198,806. It was distributed over four counties:

Geography

The southern and eastern part of the province is dominated by hills, belonging to the southern Swedish highlands. The province north and west belong to the central Swedish plains, which in this parts are referred to as the Västgöta-plains or Västgöta-slätten. Along Kattegat lies the archipelo usually known as the Gothenburg archipelago. The southern part of it, belonging to Gothenburg Municipality, is part of Västergötland. The north-west border is marked by Sweden's largest lake Vänern, and the north-eastern border is marked by Sweden's second lake Vättern. Shores by lake Vänern within the province amounts to 330 kilometers; along Vättern to 130 kilometers. The larger river is Göta älv which drains Vänern to the east shore and the Kattegat strait; along the river several important cities and towns have been situated for centuries. The average rainfall is 900 mm by the coast and 600 mm in the plains. The average temperature is -1 °C in January and 15 °C in July.
- Highest mountain: Galtåsen 362 meters
- National parks: Tiveden, Djurö

Cities

- Alingsås (1619)
- Borås (1622)
- Falköping (approximately 1200)
- Gothenburg (1621)
- Hjo (approximately 1400)
- Lidköping (1446)
- Mariestad (1583)
- Mölndal (1922)
- Skara (approximately 988)
- Skövde (approximately 1400)
- Tidaholm (1910)
- Trollhättan (1916)
- Ulricehamn (approximately 1400)
- Vänersborg (1644) The largest city is Gothenburg, located by the eastern shore with a significant harbour commerce.

History

Prehistory and middle ages

There are many ancient remains in Västergötland, and most prominent are probably the dolmens from the Funnelbeaker culture, in the Falköping area south of lake Vänern. The population of Västergötland, the Geats appear in the writings of the Greek Ptolemaios (as Goutai). The province of Västergötland represents the heartland of Götaland, and it is believed that it was once an independent petty kingdom with a long line of Geatish kings. These are mainly described in foreign sources (Frankish), and through legends. It is possible that Västergötland had the same king as the rest of Sweden at the time of the monk Ansgar's mission to Sweden in the 9th century, but both date and nature of its inclusion into the Swedish kingdom is a matter of much debate. Some dating it as early as the 6th century, based on the Beowulf epos; others dating it as late as the 12th century. 12th century Around year 1000 King Olof Skötkonung is held to have received baptism in Husaby, near lake Vänern. However, the christianization was met with heavy opposition in the rest of his kingdom, and so Olof had to restrict the Christian activities to Västergötland. The Christian faith was spread, and by the time the provincial law Västgötalagen was written in the 13th century, Västergötland had 517 churches. The seat of the areas diocese seems to originally have been Husaby, but since 1150 the city Skara (just some 20 kilometers south) permanentely overtook that distinction. From the election of Stenkil in the 11th century, Swedish and Geatish dynasties vied for the control of Sweden during long civil wars. For instance, the Swedish king Ragnvald Knaphövde was elected king by the Swedes, but when he entered Västergötland, he chose not to demand hostage from the powerful Geatish clans and was slain by the Geats near Falköping. Several times, Västergötland was independent from Sweden with kings such as Inge I of Sweden and Magnus the Strong. The area was successively closer tied to the Swedish kingdom. Being in peace with Sweden did not mean being in peace. Located along the borders of Denmark (the so called Scanian lands) and Norway (with the Bohus County), the area was often involved in armed disputed and invaded by hostile armies. Some places and dates of early battles were the Battle of Älgarås (1205), the Battle of Lena (1208), the Battle of Hova (1275), the Battle of Gälakvist (1279) and the Battle of Falköping (1389). Thereafter Sweden was involved in the Sweden-Dano wars; some notable years 1452, 1511, 1520, 1566, 1612, 1676. In 1658 the current borders of Sweden were established when Sweden annected both the Scanian lands and Bohus County. Västergötland became less exposed as it was further from the country borders. Sea side battles at the end of Nordic Seven Years' War in the 1670s were the last of Västergötlands warlike involvations. Sources:
- Nordisk Familjebok (link below).

16th century and after

In 1634 the province was modernized with the establishment of two counties: Skaraborg County (with Skara as capital) and Älvsborg County (Capital first in Gothenburg but after 1679 in Vänersborg).

Heraldry

Västergötland was granted its arms at the time of the funeral of Gustav Vasa in 1560. The province is also a duchy and the arms can be represented with the ducal coronet. Blazon: "Per bend sinister Sable and Or, a Lion rampant counterchanged langued and armed Gules between two Mullets Argent in the Sable field."

Dukes of Västergötland

Since 1772, Swedish Kings have created princes as Dukes of various provinces - with purely nominal titles.
- Prince Carl (1861-1951)
- Crown Princess Victoria (since the succession reform of 1980)

Culture

Tongue

In Västergötland the Götaland dialect of Swedish is spoken. The dialect has several varieties like the ones spoken in Gothenburg and Sjuhärad, but the main dialectal variety is the Western Götaland dialect, Västgötska. The dialect was first delt with as early as 1772, by S. Hofs in his Dialectus vestrogothica, which was a vocabulary with a grammar introduction. [1]

Sights

Sjuhärad] The Läckö Castle is situated on the island Kållandsö in the Vänern lake. It is generally regarded as one of Sweden's finest Baroquecastles. The island was actually the location of a fortress as early as 1298, but the current building was begun on in 1615 during supervision by first Jacob de la Gardie and then finished by his son Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie. Karlsborg Fortress is another impressive building in the province.

Hundreds

Hundreds of Sweden were sub-divisions of the Swedish provinces until early 20th century. Several of Västergötland's hundreds were described already in the first Västgötalagen in the 13th century. Västergötlands hundreds were:

- Ale
- Askim
- Barne
- Bjärke
- Bollebygd
- Eastern Hisingen
- Flundre
- Frökind
- Gudhem
- Gäsene
- Kåkind

- Kålland
- Kind
- Kinne
- Kinner Quarter
- Kulling
- Laske
- Mark
- Mo
- Redväg
- Skånings

- Vadsbo
- Valle
- Vartofta
- Veden
- Vilske
- Viste
- Väne
- Vätle
- Ås
- Åse

Notes

- Nordisk familjebok, Owl edition, volume 33, p. 373 ([http://runeberg.org/nfcm/0211.html]).

External links

- [http://www.vastergotland.com/ Västergötland] - Tourist site
- [http://runeberg.org/nfcm/0208.html article Västergötland] from Nordisk familjebok (in Swedish). Category:Provinces of Sweden

Goths

:This article is about the Germanic tribes. For the late 20th century youth subculture, see Goth. "Gothic" has various other applications, some of them relating to Goths. Gothic The Goths were an East Germanic tribe which according to their own traditions originated in Scandinavia (specifically Gotland and Götaland). They migrated southwards and conquered parts of the Roman empire. Two closely related tribes, the Gutar and the Götar, who remained in Scandinavia and are often called Goths, are separately treated, as Gotlanders and Geats respectively.

History

Our only source for early Gothic history is Jordanes' Getica, (published 551), a condensation of the lost twelve-volume history of the Goths written in Italy by Cassiodorus. Jordanes may not even have had the work at hand to consult from, and this early information should be treated with caution. Cassiodorus was well placed to write of Goths, for he was an essential minister of Theodoric the Great, who apparently had heard some of the Gothic songs that told of their traditional origins, related in turn by Jordanes with the remark "for so the story is generally told in their early songs, in almost historic fashion." The Gothic bards accompanied themselves on a stringed instrument that Latin writers associated with the cithara, which was more familiar to them. They were settled for some time in the Vistula Basin (called Gothiscandza by Jordanes), whence they migrated towards the south-east. They battled with, and temporarily subjugated, the ancestors of the Slavs (there were many Gothic loanwords in proto-Slavic), who lived between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea and ultimately settled in 'Scythia', a vast undefined region that includes modern Ukraine and Belarus (called Oium by Jordanes). A united tribe until the third century, it was during that period that they split into the eastern Goths or Ostrogoths and the western Goths or Visigoths. Though many of the fighting nomads who followed them were to prove more bloody, the Goths were feared because the captives they took in battle were sacrificed to their god of war, Tyz [http://www.northvegr.org/lore/grimmst/009_03.php](the one-Handed Tyr), and the captured arms hung in trees as a token-offering. Their kings and priests came from a separate aristocracy, according to Cassiodorus/Jordanes, and their mythic kings of ancient times were honored as gods. Their mythic lawgiver, named Deceneus, traditionally dated about the 1st century BC, ordered their laws, which they possessed by the 6th century in written form and called belagines. A force of Goths launched one of the first major "barbarian" invasions of the Roman Empire in 267 (Hermannus Contractus, quoting Eusebius, has "263: Macedonia, Graecia, Pontus, Asia et aliae provinciae depopulantur per Gothos"). A year later, they suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Naissus and were driven back across the Danube River by 271. This group then settled on the other side of the Danube from Roman territory and established an independent kingdom centered on the abandoned Roman province of Dacia, as the Visigoths. In the meantime, the Goths still in Ukraine established a vast and powerful kingdom along the Black Sea. This group became known as the Ostrogoths. The Goths were briefly reunited under one crown in the early sixth century under the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great, who became regent of the Visigothic kingdom for nearly two decades. For the later history of the Goths, see Visigoths and Ostrogoths.

Origins

Explaining the origins of the Goths, Jordanes recounted: :The same mighty sea has also in its arctic region, that is in the north, a great island named Scandza, from which my tale (by God's grace) shall take its beginning. For the race whose origin you ask to know burst forth like a swarm of bees from the midst of this island and came into the land of Europe. [...] Now from this island of Scandza, as from a hive of races or a womb of nations, the Goths are said to have come forth long ago under their king, Berig by name. As soon as they disembarked from their ships and set foot on the land, they straightway gave their name to the place. And even to-day it is said to be called Gothiscandza. Soon they moved from here to the abodes of the Ulmerugi [ Rugians ], who then dwelt on the shores of Ocean, where they pitched camp, joined battle with them and drove them from their homes. In the 1st century, Tacitus (Germania, 43) located the Gothones in Northern Poland: :Beyond the Lygians dwell the Gothones, under the rule of a king; and thence held in subjection somewhat stricter than the other German[ic] nations, yet not so strict as to extinguish all their liberty. Immediately adjoining are the Rugians and Lemovians upon the coast of the ocean, and of these several nations the characteristics are a round shield, a short sword and kingly government. Pliny the Elder calls them the Gutones. According to him, they were a major Germanic people, being one of five (Natural History, Book 4, Chapter 28). He also states (Op. Cit. Book 37, Chapter 11) that the explorer, Pytheas of Massilia (4th century BC) encountered them in his northern expedition to an "estuary" we know to have been the Baltic from Pliny's reference to amber washed up on the beaches. A date earlier than the 1st century is thus supported. Strabo also (Geography, Book 7, Chapter 1, Section 3) mentions that Marbod, after a pleasant sojourn with Augustus, took command of nearly all the tribes in Germania, including the Boutones (attested as Boutonas in the accusative case, and Latinized to Butones), which are generally interpreted as an error for Goutones, Latinized to Gutones. For the Scandinavian Goths, we have Ptolemy, who mentions the Goutai as living in the south of the island of Skandia. Due to the central role that the Goths have played in history, their origins have been discussed for a long time. Although no alternative theory has been proposed for the appearance of Germanic tribes in northern Poland, some historians have expressed doubts that the Goths originated in Scandinavia. This is due to the fact that, disregarding Jordanes, the earliest unambiguous literary evidence for the Goths (Tacitus and Pliny the Elder) puts them at the Vistula in 1st century. On the other hand, the German scholar Wenskus has pointed out that if Jordanes had wanted to invent a fictive past for the Goths, he would have claimed that they were descended from a prestigious location such as Troy or Rome. He would not have placed their origins in the barbaric North. Moreover, he was writing for fellow Goths who were familiar with their traditions. Besides Jordanes' account, there is both linguistic and archaeological support for the Scandinavian origin.

Archaeology

Rome. The red area is the extent of the Wielbark Culture in the early 3rd century, and the orange area is the Chernyakhov Culture, in the early 4th century. The dark blue area is the Roman Empire]] In Poland, the earliest material culture identified with the Goths is the Wielbark Culture [http://www.muzarp.poznan.pl/archweb/gazociag/title5.htm], which replaced the local Oksywie culture in the 1st century. However, as early as the late Nordic Bronze Age and early Pre-Roman Iron Age (ca 1300 BC - ca 300 BC), this area had influences from southern Scandinavia [http://www.arkeologi.uu.se/publications/opia/gothicabstract.htm]. In fact, the Scandinavian influence on Pomerania and northern Poland from ca 1300 BC (period III) and onwards was so considerable that this region is sometimes included in the Nordic Bronze Age culture (Dabrowski 1989:73). During the period ca 600 BC - ca 300 BC the warm and dry climate of southern Scandinavia (2-3 degrees warmer than today) deteriorated considerably, which not only dramatically changed the flora, but forced people to change their way of living and to leave settlements. The Goths are believed to have crossed the Baltic Sea sometime between the end of this period, ca 300 BC, and 100, and in the traditional province of Ostrogothia, in Sweden, archaeological evidence shows that there was a general depopulation during this period. The settlement in Poland probably corresponds to the introduction of Scandinavian burial traditions, such as the stone circles and the stelae, which indicates that the early Goths preferred to bury their dead according to Scandinavian traditions. The Polish archaeologist Tomasz Skorupka states that a migration from Scandinavia is regarded as a matter of certainty: stelae] :Despite many controversial hypotheses regarding the location of Scandia (for example, in the island of Gotlandia and the provinces of Västergotland and Östergotland), the fact that the Goths arrived on Polish land from the North after crossing the Baltic Sea by boats is certain.[http://www.muzarp.poznan.pl/muzeum/muz_eng/wyst_czas/Goci_katalog/index_kat.html] However, the Gothic culture also appears to have had continuity from earlier cultures in the area[http://www.muzarp.poznan.pl/archweb/gazociag/title5.htm], suggesting that the immigrants mixed with earlier populations, perhaps providing their separate aristocracy. The Oxford scholar Heather suggests that it was a relatively small migration from Scandinavia (1996:25). This scenario would make their migration across the Baltic similar to many other population movements in history, such as the Anglo-Saxon Invasion, where migrants have imposed their own culture and language on an indigenous one. The Wielbark culture shifted south-eastwards towards the Black Sea area from the mid-2nd century, and interestingly it was oldest part of the Wielbark culture, located west of the Vistula and which had Scandinavian burial traditions, that pulled up its stakes and moved[http://www.muzarp.poznan.pl/muzeum/muz_eng/wyst_czas/Goci_katalog/index_kat.html]. In the Ukraine, they imposed themselves as the rulers of the local, probably Slavic, Zarubintsy culture forming the new Chernyakhov Culture (ca 200 - ca 400). There is archaeological and historical evidence of continued contacts between the Goths and the Scandinavians during their migrations.

Linguistics

According to at least one theory, there are closer linguistic connections between Gothic and Old Norse than between Gothic and the West Germanic languages (see East Germanic languages and Gothic). Moreover, there were two tribes that probably are closely related to the Goths and remained in Scandinavia, the Gotlanders and the Geats, and these tribes were considered to be Goths by Jordanes (see Scandza). The names Geats, Goths and Gutar (Gotlanders) are three versions of the same tribal name. Geat was originally Proto-Germanic
- Gautoz and Goths and Gutar were
- Gutaniz. According to Andersson (1996),
- Gautoz and
- Gutaniz are two ablaut grades of a Proto-Germanic word (
- geutan) with the meaning "to pour" (modern Swedish gjuta, modern German giessen) designating the tribes as "pourers of semen", i.e. "men, people". Interestingly, Gapt, the earliest Gothic hero, recorded by Jordanes, is generally regarded as a corruption of Gaut. A compound name, Gut-þiuda, the "Gothic people", appears in the Gothic Calendar (aikklesjons fullaizos ana gutþiudai gabrannidai). Besides the Goths, this way of naming a tribe is only found in Sweden (see Suiones and Suiþioð). Etymologically, the name of the Goths identical to that of the Gutar, the inhabitants of Gotland, and island in the Baltic Sea. The number of similarities that existed between the Gothic language and Old Gutnish, made the prominent linguist Elias Wessén consider Old Gutnish to be a form of Gothic. The most famous example is that both Gutnish and Gothic used the word lamb for both young and adult sheep. Still, some claim that Gutnish is not closer to Gothic than any other Germanic dialect. The fact is that virtually all of those phonetic and grammatical features that characterize the North Germanic languages as a separate branch of the Germanic language family (not to mention the features that distinguish various Norse dialects) seem to have evolved at a later stage than the one preserved in Gothic. Gothic in turn, while being an extremely archaic form of Germanic in most respects, has nevertheless developed a certain number of unique features that it shares with no other Germanic language (see Gothic language). However, this does not exclude the possibility of the Goths, the Gotlanders and the Geats being related as tribes. Similarly, the Saxon dialects of Germany are hardly closer to Anglo-Saxon than any other West Germanic language that hasn't undergone the High German consonant shift (see Grimm's law), but the tribes themselves are definitely identical. The Jutes (Dan. jyder) of Jutland (Dan. Jylland, in Western Danmark) are at least etymologically identical to the Jutes that came from that region and invaded Britain together with the Angles and the Saxons in the 5th century AD. Nevertheless, there are no remaining written sources to associate the Jutes of Jutlandia with anything but North Germanic dialects, or the Jutes of Britain with anything but West Germanic dialects. Thus, language is not always the best criterion for tribal or ethnic tradition and continuity. Interestingly, the Gotlanders (Gutar) did have oral traditions of a mass migration towards southern Europe written down in the Gutasaga. If the facts are related, that would be a unique case of a tradition that survived in more than a thousand years and that actually pre-dates most of the major splits in the Germanic language family.

Symbolic meaning

In Medieval and Modern Spain, the Visigoths were thought to be the origin of the Spanish nobility (compare Gobineau for a similar French idea). Somebody acting with arrogance would be said to be "haciéndose de los godos" ("making himself to come from the Goths"). Because of this, in Chile, Argentina and the Canary Islands, godo is an ethnic slur used against European Spaniards, who in the early colony period would feel superior to the Creoles. This claim of Gothic origins led to a clash with the Swedish delegation at the Council of Basel, 1434. Before the assembled cardinals and delegations could undertake the theological discussions, they had to decide how to sit during the proceedings. The delegations from the more prominent nations were to sit closest to the Pope, and there were also disputes about who was to have the finest chairs and who was to have their chairs on mats. In some cases they compromised so that some would have half a chair leg on the rim of a mat. In this infected conflict, the bishop of Växjö, Nicolaus Ragnvaldi claimed that the Swedes were the descendants of the great Goths, and that the people of Västergötland (Westrogothia in Latin) were the Visigoths and the people of Östergötland (Ostrogothia in Latin) were the Ostrogoths. The Spanish delegation then retorted that it was only the lazy and unenterprising Goths who had remained in Sweden, whereas the heroic Goths, on the other hand, had left Sweden, invaded the Roman empire and settled in Spain (Ergo 12-1996). The Goths' relationship with Sweden became an important part of Swedish nationalism, and until the 19th century the view that the Swedes were the direct descendants of the Goths was common. Today Swedish scholars identify this as a cultural movement called Gothicismus, which included an enthusiasm for things Old Norse. In Scandinavia, both Old Norse matters and the Goths' relationship to Sweden are ideologically very infected, and the stance that historians take in the issue is an ideological symbol.

References

- Andersson, Thorsten. (1996) "Göter, goter, gutar" in Journal Namn och Bygd, Uppsala.
- Mastrelli, Carlo Alberto in Volker Bierbauer et al, I Goti, Milan: Electa Lombardia, Elemond Editori Associati, 1994.
- Graf E.C. Oxenstierna: Die Urheimat der Goten. Leipzig, Mannus-Buecherei 73, 1945 (later printed in 1948).
- Bell-Fialkoff, A.: The Role of Migration in the History of the Eurasian Steppe, London: Macmillan, 2000.
- Dabrowski, J. (1989) Nordische Kreis un Kulturen Polnischer Gebiete. Die Bronzezeit im Ostseegebiet. Ein Rapport der Kgl. Schwedischen Akademie der Literatur Geschichte und Alter unt Altertumsforschung über das Julita-Symposium 1986. Ed Ambrosiani, B. Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien. Konferenser 22. Stockholm.
- Findeisen, Joerg-Peter: Schweden - Von den Anfaengen bis zur Gegenwart, Regensburg: Verlag Friedrich Pustet, 1998.
- Heather, Peter: The Goths (Blackwell, 1996)
- Hermodsson, Lars: Goterna - ett krigafolk och dess bibel, Stockholm, Atlantis, 1993.
- Kaliff, Anders: Gothic Connections. Contacts between eastern Scandinavia and the southern Baltic coast 1000 BC – 500 AD. 2001.
- Nordgren, I.: The Well Spring of the Goths : About the Gothic peoples in the Nordic Countries and on the Continent (2004)
- Nordgren, I.: Goterkällan - om goterna i Norden och på kontinenten, Skara: Vaestergoetlands museums skriftserie nr 30, 2000.
- Rodin, L. - Lindblom, V. - Klang, K.: Gudaträd och västgötska skottkungar - Sveriges bysantiska arv, Göteborg: Tre böcker, 1994.
- Schaetze der Ostgoten, Stuttgart: Theiss, 1995. Studia Gotica - Die eisenzeitlichen Verbindungen zwischen Schweden und Suedosteuropa - Vortraege beim Gotensymposion im Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm 1970.
- Tacitus: Germania, (with introduction and commentary by J.B. Rives),Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999.
- Wenskus, Reinhard: Stammesbildung und Verfassung. Das Werden der Frühmittelalterlichen Gentes (Köln 1961).

External links

- [http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~vandersp/Courses/texts/jordgeti.html "The Origins and Deeds of the Goths", by Jordanes, trans. Charles C. Mierow]
- [http://www.muzarp.poznan.pl/archweb/gazociag/title5.htm "The Goths in Greater Poland" by Tadeusz Makiewicz]
- [http://www.muzarp.poznan.pl/muzeum/muz_eng/wyst_czas/Goci_katalog/index_kat.html "Jewellery of the Goths", by Tomasz Skorupka, on a Polish museum site]
- [http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MA/GERMANS.HTM "The Germans" by Richard Hooker]
- [http://www.arkeologi.uu.se/publications/opia/gothicabstract.htm Summary of "Gothic Connections" by Anders Kaliff]

Notes

E.g. Microsoft Encarta (on Swedish history), [http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Volsunga/ translations from Old Norse], [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/9701 Anglo-Saxon] or [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/anskar.html Latin] and the Primary Chronicle and modern scholarly works on Germanic tribes [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0595336485/qid=1112684815/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-0307554-5723364?v=glance&s=books].

Ostrogoths

This article deals with the continental Ostrogoths. For information on the Ostrogoths that Jordanes placed in Scandinavia, see Ostrogothia, Scandza and Geats. The Ostrogoths ("Eastern Goths", in distinction to the Visigoths ("Western Goths"), were a Germanic tribe that influenced political events of the late Roman Empire. An older appelation, "Greutungi" (possibly "those of the steppe"), gave way to "Ostrogothi" — deriving from Old High German ostar ("eastern"; hypothetically from a Proto-Indo-European base meaning "to shine," especially of the dawn) and Old Norse gotar ("men") around the sixth century.

Prehistory

The Goths were a single nation mentioned in several sources up to the third century, when they apparently split into Ostrogoths and Visigoths. Both tribes shared many aspects especially recognizing a patron deity that the Romans named Mars (god). This so-called "split" or more appropriately, resettlement of western tribes into the Roman province of Dacia, was a natural result of population saturation of the area along the Black Sea where these Ostrogoths established a vast and powerful kingdom. Gepids became their vassal and rival. The rise of the Huns around 370 brought the Ostrogoth under their supremacy. The Ostrogothic ruler Ermanaric's suicide in 378 reported by Ammianus. According to the Getica of Jordanes, this Ermanaric lived to be 110 years old. Over the following decades, the Ostrogoths dwelled in the Balkans with the Huns, becoming one of the many Hunnic vassals fighting in Europe as in the Battle of Chalons in 451. Several uprisings against the Huns were suppressed; however introduction of Hunnic horseback culture was one major benefit. Some sources report that Gothic language was still spoken sporadically in Crimea in the 16th century.

Post-Hunnic

Their recorded history begins with their independence from the remains of the Hunnic Empire following the death of Attila the Hun. Allied with the former vassal and rival, the Gepids and the Ostrogoths led by Theodimir broke the Hunnic power of Attila's sons in the Battle of Nedao in 454. The Ostrogoths now entered into relations with the Empire, and were settled on lands in Pannonia. During the greater part of the latter half of the 5th century, the East Goths played in south-eastern Europe nearly the same part that the West Goths played in the century before. They were seen going to and fro, in every conceivable relation of friendship and enmity with the Eastern Roman power, until, just as the West Goths had done before them, they passed from the East to the West.

Zenith — Theodoric the Great

The greatest of all Ostrogothic rulers, the future Theodoric the Great of Ostrogothic Kingdom, was born to Theodemir in or about 454, soon after the Battle of Nedao. His childhood was spent at Constantinople as a hostage, where he was carefully educated. The early part of his life was taken up with various disputes, intrigues and wars within the Byzantine empire, in which he had as his rival Theodoric Strabo, a distant relative of Theodoric the Great and son of Triarius. This older but lesser Theodoric seems to have been the chief, not the king, of that branch of the Ostrogoths which had settled within the Empire at an earlier time. Theodoric the Great, as he is sometimes distinguished, was sometimes the friend, sometimes the enemy, of the Empire. In the former case he was clothed with various Roman titles and offices, as patrician and consul; but in all cases alike he remained the national Ostrogothic king. It was in both characters together that he set out in 488, by commission from the Byzantine emperor Zeno, to recover Italy from Odoacer. By 493 Ravenna was taken; Odoacer was killed by Theodoric's own hand. Ostrogothic power was fully established over Italy, Sicily, Dalmatia and the lands to the north of Italy. In this war the Ostrogoths and Visigoth began again to unite, if we may accept the witness of one writer that Theodoric was helped by Visigothic auxiliaries. The two branches of the nation were soon brought much more closely together; after he was forced to become regent of the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse, the power of Theodoric was practically extended over a large part of Gaul and over nearly the whole of the Iberian peninsula . A time of confusion followed the death of Alaric II, the son-in-law of Theodoric, at the Battle of Vouillé. The Ostrogothic king stepped in as the guardian of his grandson Amalaric, and preserved for him all his Iberian and a fragment of his Gaul dominion. Toulouse passed away to the Franks but the Goth kept Narbonne and its district and Septimania, which was the last part of Gaul held by the Goths and kept the name of Gothia for many ages. While Theodoric lived, the Visigothic kingdom was practically united to his own dominion. He seems also to have claimed a kind of protectorate over the Germanic powers generally, and indeed to have practically exercised it, except in the case of the Franks. The Ostrogothic dominion was now again as great in extent and far more splendid than it could have been in the time of Hermanaric; however it was now of a wholly different character. The dominion of Theodoric was not a barbarian but a civilized power. His twofold position ran through everything. He was at once national king of the Goths, and successor, though without any imperial titles, of the West Roman emperors. The two nations, differing in manners, language and religion, lived side by side on the soil of Italy; each was ruled according to its own law, by the prince who was, in his two separate characters, the common sovereign of both. The picture of Theodoric's rule is drawn for us in the state papers drawn up, in his name and in the names of his successors, by his Roman minister Cassiodorus. The Goths seem to have been thick on the ground in northern Italy; in the south they formed little more than garrisons. In Theodoric's theory the Goth was the armed protector of the peaceful Roman; the Gothic king had the toil of government, while the Roman consul had the honour. All the forms of the Roman administration went on, and the Roman policy and culture had great influence on the Goths themselves. The rule of the prince over distinct nations in the same land was necessarily despotic; the old Germanic freedom was necessarily lost. Such a system needed a Theodoric to carry it on. It broke in pieces after his death.

Crumbling — conquests of Belisarius and Narses

On the death of Theodoric in 526 the Ostrogoths and Visigoths were again separated. The few instances in which they are found acting together after this time are as scattered and incidental as they were before. Amalaric succeeded to the Visigothic kingdom in Iberia and Septimania. Provence was added to the dominion of the new Ostrogothic king Athalaric, the grandson of Theodoric through his daughter Amalasuntha. Both were unable to settle disputes among Gothic elites. Theodahad, cousin of Amalasuntha and nephew of Theodoric through his sister, took over and slew them; however the usurping ushered in more bloodshed. Three more rulers stepped in during the next five years. The weakness of the Ostrogothic position in Italy now showed itself. Byzantine emperor Justinian I had always strived to restore as much of the West Roman Empire as he could and certainly would not pass up the opportunity. In 535, he commissioned Belisarius to attack the Ostrogoths. Belisarius quickly captured Sicily and then crossed into Italy where he captured Naples and Rome in 536 and then marched north, taking Mediolanum (Milan) and the Ostrogoth capital of Ravenna in 540. At this point Justinian offered the Goths a generous settlement — too generous by far in Belisarius' eyes — the right to keep an independent kingdom in the Northwest of Italy, and the demand that they merely give half of all their treasure to the empire. Belisarius conveyed the message to the Goths, although he himself withheld from endorsing it. They, on the other hand felt there must be a snare somewhere. The Goths did not trust Justinian, but because Belisarius had been so well-mannered in his conquest they trusted him a little more, and agreed to take the settlement only if Belisarius endorsed it. This condition made for something of an impasse. A faction of the Gothic nobility pointed out that their own king Witiges, who had just lost, was something of a weakling and they would need a new one. Eraric, the leader of the group, endorsed Belisarius and the rest of the kingdom agreed, so they offered him their crown. Belisarius was a soldier, not a statesman, and still loyal to Justinian. He made as if to accept the offer, rode to Ravenna to be crowned, and promptly arrested the leaders of the Goths and reclaimed their entire kingdom — no halfway settlement — for Byzantium. Justinian was furious. The Persians had been attacking in the east, and he wanted a stable neutral country separating his western border from the Franks, who weren't so friendly. Belisarius was sent to face the Persians and therefore left John, a Byzantine officer, to govern Italy temporarily. In 545 Belisarius then returned to Italy, where he found the situation had changed greatly. Eraric was slain and the pro-Roman faction of Gothic elite had been toppled. In 541 the Ostrogoths had elected a new leader Totila; this Goth nationalist and brilliant commander had recaptured all of northern Italy and even driven the Byzantines out of Rome. Belisarius took the offensive, tricked Totila into yielding Rome along the way, but then lost it again after a jealous Justinian, fearful of Belisarius' power, starved him of supplies and reinforcements. Belisarius was forced to go on the defensive, and in 548, Justinian relieved him in favor of the eunuch general Narses, of whom he was more trustful. Narses did not disappoint Justinian. Totila was slain in the Battle of Taginae in July 552 and his followers Teia, Aligern, Scipuar, Gibal were all killed or surrendered in the Battle of Mons Lactarius in October 552 or 553. Widin, the last attested member of the Gothic army revolted in late 550s, with minimal military help from the Franks. His uprising was fruitless; the revolt ended with Widin captured and brought to Constantinople for punishment in 561 or 562. With that final defeat, the Ostrogothic name wholly passed away. The nation had practically evaporated with Theodoric's death. The chance of forming a national state in Italy by the union of Roman and Germanic elements, such as those which arose in Gaul, in Iberia, and in parts of Italy under Lombard rule, was thus lost. As a result the Goths hold a different place in Iberian memory from that which they hold in Italian memory: In Italy the Goth was but a momentary invader and ruler, while in Iberia the Goth supplies an important element in the modern nation. That element has been neither forgotten nor despised. Part of the unconquered region of northern Iberia, the land of Asturias, kept for a while the name of Gothia, as did the Gothic possessions in Gaul.

Ostrogothic culture

Of Gothic literature in the Gothic language we have the Bible of Ulfilas and some other religious writings and fragments. Of Gothic legislation in Latin we have the edict of Theodoric of the year 500, and the Variae of Cassiodorus may pass as a collection of the state papers of Theodoric and his immediate successors. Among the Visigothic written laws had already been put forth by Euric. Alaric II put forth a Breviarium of Roman law for his Roman subjects; but the great collection of Visigothic laws dates from the later days of the monarchy, being put forth by King Reccaswinth about 654. This code gave occasion to some well-known comments by Montesquieu and Gibbon, and has been discussed by Savigny (Geschichte des romischen Rechts, ii. 65) and various other writers. They are printed in the Monumenta Germaniae, leges, tome i. (1902). Of special Gothic histories, besides that of Jordanes, already so often quoted, there is the Gothic history of Isidore, archbishop of Seville, a special source of the history of the Visigothic kings down to Suinthila (621-631). But all the Latin and Greek writers contemporary with the days of Gothic predominance make their constant contributions. Not for special facts, but for a general estimate, no writer is more instructive than Salvian of Marseilles in the 5th century, whose work De Gubernatione Dei is full of passages contrasting the vices of the Romans with the virtues of the barbarians, especially of the Goths. In all such pictures we must allow a good deal for exaggeration both ways, but there must be a groundwork of truth. The chief virtues that the Catholic presbyter praises in the Arian Goths are their chastity, their piety according to their own creed, their tolerance towards the Catholics under their rule, and their general good treatment of their Roman subjects. He even ventures to hope that such good people may be saved, notwithstanding their heresy. This image must have had some basis in truth, but it is not very surprising that the later Visigoths of Iberia had fallen away from Salvian somewhat idealist picture.

Lists and figures

The Ostrogothic rulers of Italy:

Amal Dynasty:
- Theodemir (not yet in Italy)
- Theodoric the Great 476-526
- Athalaric 526-534
- Theodahad 534-536 Later kings:
- Witiges 536-540
- Ildibad 540-541
- Eraric 541
- Baduela 541-552 (also known as Totila)
- Theia 552-553 (also known as Teia or Teja)

Credits

- This article incorporates some information taken from http://www.hostkingdom.net/ with permission. Category:Goths Category:Ancient Roman enemies and allies Category:Late Antiquity Category:Ancient Germanic peoples Category:History of the Germanic peoples Category:Ethnic groups of Europe ko:동고트 왕국 ja:東ゴート王国

Roman Empire

:For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation) The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Ancient Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Octavian (better known as Caesar Augustus), until its radical reformation in what was later to be known as the Byzantine Empire. Roman Empire is also used as translation of the expression Imperium Romanum, probably the best known Latin expression where the word "imperium" is used in the meaning of a territory, the "Roman Empire", as that part of the world where Rome ruled. The expansion of this Roman territory beyond the borders of the initial city-state of Rome had started long before the state organisation turned into an Empire. One of the first historians to describe this expansion of the Roman territory was the Greek Polybius, writing in the Epoch of the Roman Republic. In the centuries before the autocracy of Augustus, Rome had already accumulated a collection of tribute-states beyond the Italian Peninsula, including former Mediterranean competitors Syracuse and Carthage. In the late Republic Augustus (then still "Octavian") added Egypt definitively to the Imperium Romanum. The remainder of this article treats the Roman Empire as Imperial state (see Roman Kingdom and Roman Republic for development of the territory in earlier times). Augustus' reforms turning the Roman state into an Empire survived mostly unchanged until the Diocletian reform at end of the 3rd century, which turned the empire into a tetrarchy. While the political form given by Diocletian was short-lived, it led to the division of the Empire into two halves. This allowed Roman rule to continue for two more centuries over the whole empire, although divided into the Eastern and the Western Roman Empire. The end of the Western Empire is traditionally set in 476, when Odovacar deposed the last Emperor and sent the Imperial insignia to Constantinople; henceforth he nominally ruled as dux on behalf of Constantinople. After another millennium, in 1453, the Eastern Empire, better known as the Byzantine Empire, fell to the Ottoman Turks. From Augustus to the Fall of the Western Empire Rome dominated the region of Western Eurasia, comprising over half its population. The Roman Empire's influence on government, law, military, and monumental architecture, as well as many other aspects of Western life remains inescapable. The Greeks adopted the Roman name in the Middle Ages and were known as Romans, a trend that survives until today in Greece, a result of their cultural position (see Names of the Greeks). Roman titles of power were adopted by successor states and other entities with imperial pretensions, including the Frankish kingdom, the Holy Roman Empire, the first and second Bulgarian empires, the Russian/Kiev dynasties, and the German Empire. See also Roman culture.
Historians' viewpoints on the evolution of Imperial Rome
Because the empire of Rome lasted for such a long period of time (31 BC–1453), there are certain alternative names used by historians to distinguish various semantic periods or eras. Such names include Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire and Western Roman Empire, which are used interchangeably throughout this article to mean the same as Roman Empire (or the Western or Eastern part thereof). For many years historians made a distinction between the Principate, the period from Augustus until the Crisis of the Third Century, and the Dominate, the period from Diocletian until the end of the Empire in the West. According to this theory, during the Principate (from the Latin word princeps, meaning "first citizen", the only title Augustus would permit himself) the realities of dictatorship were concealed behind Republican forms; while during the Dominate (from the word dominus, meaning "Master") imperial power showed its naked face, with golden crowns and ornate imperial ritual. More recently historians established that the situation was far more nuanced: certain historical forms continued until the Byzantine period, more than one thousand years after they were created, and displays of imperial majesty were common from the earliest days of the Empire.
Age of Augustus (31 BC–AD 14)

Political developments
Latin As a matter of convenience, the Roman Empire is held to have begun with the constitutional settlement following the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. In fact the Republican institutions at Rome had been destroyed over the preceding century and Rome had been in continuous crisis with periods of dictatorial rule since Sulla. The long, peaceful and consensual reign of Augustus greatly changed the view toward hereditary monarchy. Rome–the city that had not too long before assassinated its leader, Julius Caesar, when his ambitions seemed to threaten the republic–now placidly accepted one man rule. Augustus' reign was notable for several long-lasting achievements that would define the Empire:
- Creation of an hereditary office, which we refer to as Emperor of Rome.
- Fixation of the payscale. Duration of Roman military service marked the final step in the evolution of the Roman Army from a citizen army to a professional one.
- Creation of the Praetorian Guard, which would make and unmake emperors for centuries.
- Expansion to the natural borders of the Empire. The borders reached upon Augustus' death remained the limits of Empire, with minimal exceptions, for the next four hundred years.
- Development of trade links with regions as far as India and China.
- Creation of a civil service outside of the Senatorial structure, leading to a continuous weakening of Senatorial authority.
- Enactment of the lex Julia of 18 BC and the lex Papia Poppaea of AD 9, which rewarded childbearing and penalized celibacy.
- Promulgation of the cult of the Deified Julius Caesar throughout the Empire. This tradition of deifying the Emperor upon his death lasted until the time of Constantine, who was made both a Roman god and "the Thirteenth Apostle" upon his death.
Cultural developments
:Main article: Roman culture The Augustan period saw a tremendous outpouring of cultural achievement in the areas of poetry, history, sculpture and architecture. At the same time, a tremendous outpouring of energy in founding colonies and municipia, unrivalled in Rome before or after, succeeded in Romanizing extensive territories in the East, in Africa, in Hispania and Gaul, beyond those areas that were traditionally within the Roman sphere of influence.
Sources
The Age of Augustus is paradoxically far more poorly documented than the Late Republican period that preceded it. While Livy wrote his magisterial history during Augustus' reign and his work covered all of Roman history through 9 BC, only epitomes survive of his coverage of the Late Republican and Augustan periods. Our important primary sources for this period include the:
- Res Gestae Divi Augusti, Augustus' highly partisan autobiography,
- Historiae Romanae by Velleius Paterculus, a disorganized work which remains the best annals of the Augustan period, and
- Controversiae and Suasoriae of Seneca the Elder. Though primary accounts of this period are few, works of poetry, legislation and engineering from this period provide important insights into Roman life. Archeology, including maritime archeology, aerial surveys, epigraphic inscriptions on buildings, and Augustan coinage, has also provided valuable evidence about economic, social and military conditions. Secondary sources on the Augustan Age include Tacitus, Dio Cassius, Plutarch and Suetonius. Josephus' Jewish Antiquities is the important source for Judea in this period, which became a province during Augustus' reign.
Julio-Claudian dynasty: Augustus' heirs
Augustus, leaving no sons, was succeeded by his stepson Tiberius, the son of his wife Livia from her first marriage. Augustus was a scion of the gens Julia (the Julian family), one of the most ancient patrician clans of Rome, while Tiberius was a scion of the gens Claudia, only slightly less ancient than the Julians. Their three immediate successors were all descended both from the gens Claudia, through Tiberius' brother Nero Claudius Drusus, and from gens Julia, either through Julia Caesaris, Augustus' daughter from his first marriage (Caligula and Nero), or through Augustus' sister Octavia (Claudius). Historians thus refer to their dynasty as "Julio-Claudian".
Tiberius (14–37)
The early years of Tiberius' reign were peaceful and relatively benign. Tiberius secured the power of Rome and enriched her treasury. However, Tiberius' reign soon became characterized by paranoia and slander. In 19, he was popularly blamed for the death of his nephew, the popular Germanicus. In 23 his own son Drusus died. More and more, Tiberius retreated into himself. He began a series of treason trials and executions. He left power in the hands of the commander of the guard, Aelius Sejanus. Tiberius himself retired to live at his villa on the island of Capri in 26, leaving administration in the hands of Sejanus, who carried on the persecutions with relish. Sejanus also began to consolidate his own power; in 31 he was named co-consul with Tiberius and married Livilla, the emperor's niece. At this point he was hoist by his own petard: the Emperor's paranoia, which he had so ably exploited for his own gain, was turned against him. Sejanus was put to death, along with many of his cronies, the same year. The persecutions continued until Tiberius' death in 37.
Caligula (37–41)
At the time of Tiberius' death most of the people who might have succeeded him had been brutally murdered. The logical successor (and Tiberius' own choice) was his grandnephew, Germanicus' son Gaius (better known as Caligula). Caligula started out well, by putting an end to the persecutions and burning his uncle's records. Unfortunately, he quickly lapsed into illness. The Caligula that emerged in late 37 may have suffered from epilepsy, and was probably insane. He ordered his soldiers to invade Britain, but changed his mind at the last minute and had them pick sea shells on the northern end of France instead. It is believed he carried on incestuous relations with his sisters. He had ordered a statue of himself to be erected in the Temple at Jerusalem, which would have undoubtedly led to revolt had he not been dissuaded. In 41, Caligula was assassinated by the commander of the guard Cassius Chaerea. The only member left of the imperial family to take charge was another nephew of Tiberius', Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus, better known as the emperor Claudius.
Claudius (41–54)
Claudius had long been considered a weakling and a fool by the rest of his family. He was, however, neither paranoid like his uncle Tiberius, nor insane like his nephew Caligula, and was therefore able to administer the empire with reasonable ability. He improved the bureaucracy and streamlined the citizenship and senatorial rolls. He also proceeded with the conquest and colonization of Britain (in 43), and incorporated more Eastern provinces into the empire. In Italy, he constructed a winter port at Ostia, thereby providing a place for grain from other parts of the Empire to be brought in inclement weather. On the home front, Claudius was less successful. His wife Messalina cuckolded him; when he found out, he had her executed and married his niece, Agrippina the younger. She, along with several of his freedmen, held an inordinate amount of power over him, and very probably killed him in 54. Claudius was deified later that year. The death of Claudius paved the way for Agrippina's own son, the 16-year-old Lucius Domitius, or, as he was known by this time, Nero.
Nero (54–69)
Initially, Nero left the rule of Rome to his mother and his tutors, particularly Lucius Annaeus Seneca. However, as he grew older, his desire for power increased; he had his mother and tutors executed. During Nero's reign, there were a series of riots and rebellions throughout the Empire: in Britain, Armenia, Parthia, and Judaea. Nero's inability to manage the rebellions and his basic incompetence became evident quickly and in 68, even the Imperial guard renounced him. Nero is best remembered by the rumour that he played the lyre and sang during the Great Fire of Rome, and hence "fiddled while Rome burned" (though the fiddle had yet to be invented). Nero is also remembered for his immense rebuilding of Rome following the fires. Nero committed suicide, and the year 69 (known as the Year of the Four Emperors) was a year of civil war, with the emperors Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian ruling in quick succession. By the end of the year, Vespasian was able to solidify his power as emperor of Rome.
Flavian Dynasty
The Flavians, although a relatively short lived dynasty, helped restore stability in an empire on its knees. Although there are criticism of all three, especially based on their more centralized style of rule, it was through the reforms and good rule of the three that helped create a stable empire that would last well into the 3rd Century. However, their backgrounds as a military dynasty led to further irrelevancy of the senate, and the move from princeps, or first citizen, to imperator, or emperor, was finalized during their reign.
Vespasian (69–79)
Vespasian was a remarkably successful Roman general who had been given rule over much of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. He had supported the imperial claims of Galba; however, on his death, Vespasian became a major contender for the throne. After the suicide of Otho, Vespasian was able to hijack Rome's winter grain supply in Egypt, placing him in a good position to defeat his remaining rival, Vitellius. On December 20, 69, some of Vespasian's partisans were able to occupy Rome. Vitellius was murdered by his own troops, and the next day, Vespasian was confirmed as Emperor by the Senate. At the age of 60 and battle hardened he was hardly a charismatic emperor, but he turned out to be an excellent ruler none the less. Although Vespasian was considered quite the autocrat by the senate, he mostly continued the weakening of that body that had been going since the reign of Tiberius. This was typified by his dating his accession to power from July 1, when his troops proclaimed him emperor, instead of December 21, when the Senate confirmed his appointment. Another example was his assumption of the censorship in 73, giving him power over who exactly made up the senate. He used that power to expel dissident senators. At the same time, he increased the number of senators from 200, at that low level due to the actions of Nero and the year of crisis that followed, to 1000, most of the new senators coming not from Rome but from Italy and the urban centers within the western provinces. Vespasian was able to liberate Rome from the financial burdens placed upon it by Nero's excesses and the civil wars. To do this, he not only increased taxes, but created new forms of taxation. Also, through his power as censor he was able to carefully examine the fiscal status of every city and province, many paying taxes based upon information and structures more than a century old. Through this sound fiscal policy, he was able to build up a surplus in the treasury and embark on public works projects. It was he who first commissioned the Roman Colosseum; he also built a forum whose centerpiece was a temple to Peace. In addition, he alloted sizable subsidies to the arts, creating a chair of rhetoric at Rome. Vespasian was also an effective emperor for the provinces in his decades of office, having posts all across the empire, both east and west. In the west he gave considerable favoritism to Spain in which he granted Latin rights to over three hundred towns and cities, promoting a new era of urbanization throughout the western (i.e. formerly barbarian) provinces. Through the additions he made to the Senate he allowed greater influence of the provinces in the Senate, helping to promote unity in the empire. He also extended the borders of the empire on every front, most of which was done to help strengthen the frontier defenses, one of Vespasian's main goals. The crisis of 69 had wrought havoc on the army. One of the most marked problems had been the support lent by provincial legions to men who supposedly represented the best will of their province. This was mostly caused by the placement of native auxiliary units in the areas they were recruited in, a practice Vespasian stopped. He mixed auxiliary units with men from other areas of the empire or moved the units away from where they were recruited to help stop this. Also, to further reduce the chances of another military coup he broke up the legions, and instead of placing them in singular concentrations broke them up along the border. Perhaps the most important military reform he undertook was the extension of legion recruitment from exclusively Italy to Gaul and Spain, in line with the Romanization of those areas.
Titus (79–81)
Titus, the eldest son of Vespasian, had been groomed to rule. He had served as