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THE COMING DARK AGE
Newsletter
August, 2004
1. INTRODUCTION
This month's newsletter describes how 'barbarians' invaded the Roman Empire by a process of steady infiltration,
coming as asylum seekers and economic migrants, rather than in the form of roaming warbands as is traditionally
pictured. The parallels to today are self-evident.
Past editions of the newsletter are at the following address: http://www.darkage.fsnet.co.uk/Newsletter.htm I welcome
all comments, suggestions and contributions, especially the latter. Please forward this newsletter to anyone you
think might be interested. Marc Widdowson
2. BARBARIAN INVASION
The problem for the Roman Empire, it has been said, was not so much the barbarian at the gate as the barbarian
already in the city. The Roman Empire was a vast, wealthy, pacified region with a large population density, a uniform
currency and an advanced infrastructure that included markets, banking facilities and an extensive road network.
Not surprisingly this acted like a honey pot for the more enterprising of those who lived in the under-developed
regions beyond the imperial frontier. Within the empire you could expect to enjoy a far more comfortable and varied
lifestyle than was available in the backward peasant communities beyond it. From earliest times, therefore, the
empire drew in migrants looking for work and hoping to make their fortunes within the Roman economy. As the centuries
went by, some of these migrants became very wealthy and took up powerful positions within the Roman administration.
They were more vigorous than the pampered Romans who had all but given up work for a life of idleness supported
by the state.
Inexorably, the barbarians transformed Roman society. In the west, they exercised authority on the local level,
as the central government became increasingly detached and ineffectual. By the end of the fifth century, the western
emperor had ceased to exist even in name, and there were now barbarian kings ruling in Italy, Spain and France.
In Britain, things had gone much further, the economy had collapsed and the landscape was divided up among numerous,
petty warlords. In due course, these barbarian kingdoms would evolve into the new European countries, which reinvigorated
the west and eventually asserted their power over the entire planet.
Taking Gaul, as an example, this came to be ruled by the people known as the Franks. Gaul refers to an area that
is based on modern France, and includes Belgium and parts of the modern Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. The
'Franks' is a catch-all term. Historians have come to realise that it was a rather vague word, not a precise ethnic
or tribal name - a bit like the term 'blacks' or 'Asians' today. It described people of a broadly Germanic culture,
but it does not mean that they were necessarily the same in religion or political affiliation. They had arrived
within the boundaries of the Roman Empire by different processes and at different times over a period of some five
centuries. Some had been captured and brought in as slaves. Some had come voluntarily to meet the Roman demand
for labour. Some had arrived as refugees, fleeing from the Huns and other mounted raiders coming out of the Eurasian
heartland. And some entered as raiders themselves. In the latter case, the Romans usually bought them off, paying
them to defend the Empire against other barbarian groups following along behind, and incorporating them into the
Roman army as so-called federate troops.
The Franks, at any rate, were coming into the empire for a very long time. Some of their tribal names were known
to Julius Caesar. On two separate occasions, groups of Franks were formally settled within the empire and assigned
a military role as defenders of Gaul's borders. At the same time, there was a continual influx of migrants, who
settled primarily in a belt north of the Roman road from Cologne to Boulogne. This geographical concentration does
not imply a coherent or planned movement. It probably arose from many independent decisions, since individuals
tended to migrate to places that they had heard something about and where they could expect to find some of their
own kind.
Most of the Franks coming in to the empire were peaceful. There was occasionally some violence and raiding, but
the ringleaders were captured and put to death by the Romans, which seems to have ensured that the incidents remained
isolated. The important thing is that Franks had official status inside Gaul. They did not stand in opposition
to the Roman imperial regime but were part of it.
Frankish migrants took on a way of life that was indistinguishable from that of their neighbours. It was only in
language, clothing and perhaps religion that they retained a separate identity. Instead of gradually being eroded,
as one might expect, these cultural differences seem to have become more keenly preserved as time went on. This
was perhaps for several reasons, which tended to work in a positive feedback. Firstly, as the migrant community
grew, there would have been less need for new arrivals to adapt. Secondly, the troubles at the centre of the empire
in the fifth century may have reduced its prestige and thereby the attractiveness of its culture. Thirdly, Frankish
migrants who achieved high positions may have served as role models showing the possibility of being both a Frank
and a citizen of the Roman empire.
Franks had been making good careers in Roman service long before the time of Clovis, who was the first Frank to
become king of Gaul. In the early fourth century, they were achieving the status of tribunes, i.e. army officers
in charge of non-Roman auxiliary troops. As time went on, Franks acquired increasing levels of responsibility,
eventually taking on the highest levels of command in the Roman army proper, and parlaying this achievement into
success in the political sphere. Franks variously served as supreme commanders of the Roman armed forces in Gaul
and other theatres, held positions in the civil administration, obtained seats in the Roman senate, and were appointed
as consuls. They even reached the imperial throne itself. In the middle of the fourth century, the emperor Magnentius
had a Frankish mother and therefore a whole set of Frankish relatives. He was followed soon after by the short-lived
emperor Claudius Silvanus, who was himself a Frank and indeed a Christian.
Franks were therefore highly active, from at least the mid-fourth century onward, in the internal politics and
international relations of the Roman empire. This is both as individuals and as organised military units. The grave
of Clovis's father, Childeric, was discovered in the Belgian town of Tournai in the seventeenth century. This is
the most treasure-filled grave known from the late Roman period, and it shows that Clovis's father was a very rich
man with extensive property and business interests. Childeric also apparently held an official imperial position
as a Roman provincial governor in northern Gaul. In other words, Childeric was no parvenu. He seems to have come
from a family that had been established in Gaul long enough to acquire considerable political and economic clout.
He fits very much into the mould of other such successful Franks.
Some time after his father's death, Clovis acquired the same office that his father had enjoyed, as provincial
governor. Like his father, he was known as king of the Franks, but this did not imply that he ruled over a territorial
kingdom. It was a position more like that of community leader for an ethnic minority. At this time, the last western
emperor had just been deposed and the political situation in Gaul was quite threatening. The Goths, who had been
given control of the administration in the south, were proving somewhat oppressive rulers. They were threatening
to take over the rest of Gaul, but instead the Roman population chose the more Romanised Clovis as their champion.
With Roman encouragement, Clovis took over many of the provinces of Gaul, although the Goths, despite being defeated
in battle, retained a sizeable enclave along the Spanish border and Mediterranean coast. In recognition of his
achievements, Clovis was made an honorary consul by the eastern Roman emperor, who still ruled in Byzantium. In
principle, Clovis reported to this eastern Roman emperor, but in practice, Gaul had become an autonomous state
under Frankish rule. When Clovis died, control of the government passed to his sons, and Clovis's descendants were
to rule Gaul for another 250 years.
From all this we learn a few things. Firstly, the barbarians did not come in a sudden invasion and 'conquer' the
Roman Empire. They came gradually and steadily took it over. Secondly, while the first barbarian migrants were
slaves or took on menial jobs, such as farm labourer, the barbarians in time rose to the highest positions and
in fact were really the people responsible for keeping the empire going. Thirdly, the barbarians took over all
the technologies, institutions and social practices of Rome, remaining distinctive only in a few very precise areas,
such as the clothes that they wore. Fourthly, the transition from Roman civilisation to the barbarian successor
civilisation had no sharp cut-offs. It happened seamlessly and without anybody really noticing what was happening.
When, on the dark age site, therefore, we talk about today's 'barbarians' and 'barbarian invasion', this is by
no means intended in a negative or insulting way. On the contrary, the barbarian invaders are the people of the
future. They are the people who prop up the declining civilisation for a while, and who are destined to take over
and improve on it, eventually becoming the new political, economic and cultural leaders of the world.
(Thanks to Justin B for suggesting this topic)
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