By the end of the 4th century, Western Roman Empire was in decline. Europe and the Mediterranean was being flooded by barbaric tribes. The achievements of the Roman civilization fell into oblivion and it would take centuries for a new European civilization to emerge.
In the fourth century AD Roman borders were based on the river Rhine and the Danube. The lands beyond them were populated by peoples that the Romans referred to as barbarians. Among the various barbarian tribes settled close to the borders were Germanic Vandals, Franks and Burgundians living along the Rhine and the Ostrogoths and Visigoths who lived around the Danube.
For a long time the Romans both fought and traded with them. But in 370s panic spread among the tribes when the Huns from Asia invaded the lands of Central Europe, decimating local inhabitants and forcing the survivors to flee. In 376 the entire Visigoth tribe sought refuge in the Roman Empire. They were admitted and settled there as Roman allies, but soon fell out with their hosts and went on a military expedition that culminated with sacking of the empire's capital in 410 and founding Visigoth kingdoms in what is now France (and later also on the Iberian Peninsula).
Beginning of the End
The legions that used to man their posts at the Rhine border had to relocate to deflect the threat from the Visigoths. With the river no longer guarded, in 406 the Vandals and other peoples crossed it and made their way into Gaul. A year later, last Roman troops left Britain. The Angles, Saxons and Jutes living in the area of today's northern Germany who had been raiding the island, embarked on its regular conquest and started lasting settlements. After a series of successive migrations and wars Franks and Burgundians occupied Gaul, the Visigoths took the Iberian Peninsula and the Vandals settled in north Africa. In Italy, the barbaric leader Odoaker deposed the last Western Roman emperor in 476. This marked the end of the Roman Empire in the West, although Odoaker and other chiefs still formally recognized the dependence of the Emperor in Constantinople.
The rule of Germanic chiefs and constant conflicts between them hastened complete collapse of Roman civilization that had begun long before the barbarians arrived. Trade was dwindling, cities were going into decline, fewer and fewer people were educated and qualified. Although the Germanic tribes developed their own culture and in some respects (quality of ploughs for example) were superior to the Romans, their knowledge of the relatively complex technologies such as heating homes or general development of the fine arts, architecture and literature would take centuries to match that of the Romans.
For a time it seemed that the empire could rise again. When the Ostrogoths began to harass the Eastern Roman Empire, the Emperor was able to persuade them to direct their attention toward Italy. Their leader Theodoric overthrew Odoaker and ruled the country as the Emperor's official representative. After Theodoric's death, emperor Justinian (527-565) took a huge effort to reconstruct the former empire, recovering Italy, northern Africa and southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. This success was short-lived alas - in 568 new Germanic invaders, the Lombards, began the conquest of Italy. During the long wars that followed, Roman civilization in the Apennine Peninsula ultimately collapsed.
In the meantime, a new significant political force emerged in the north-west of Europe. Kingdom of the Franks under the leadership of Clovis (ca. 481-511) and his successors expanded to the south, eventually engulfing the whole Gaul. It became the heart of the country of the Franks. In 496 Clovis converted to Christianity, choosing Catholicism, unlike most of other Germanic rulers who preferred Arianism. Strong relationship between the Frankish monarchy and the Church was to be of paramount importance to both sides for many centuries to come.
Authority of the Church
As the Western Empire collapsed, it took with it its numerous institutions. It was only the Church that managed to keep its head above water, playing an important role in the time of the barbarian invasions. Literacy and experience in administration distinguished the clergy from other social groups. Bishops became the leaders of local communities, and since the central power of the Emperor had been gone, the bishops of Rome - the Popes - were happy to fill that void, assuming leading political role in Italy. Dual authority of the Bishop of Rome - that of St. Peter's successor and the ruler of the former capital of the empire - allowed the Pope, considered in Western countries as the leader of the Church, to play an important political role. This process was further reinforced when more and more barbaric rulers gave up Arianism for Catholicism.
The birth of Europe?
In the seventh century Muslim Arabs overran North Africa and invaded the Iberian Peninsula. This was a pivotal event - the Mediterranean world was thus divided into two zones controlled by mutually hostile religions, and political center of gravity of the Christian West shifted to the north. In a sense, it was then that the very concept of "Europe" was born. The kingdom of the Franks settled as a dominant power in the region. The powerful line of Clovis (Merovingians) weakened and actual power was in the hands of “mayors of the palace” (maior domus). One of them, Charles Martel, stopped Arab invasion at the Battle of Tours (aka Battle of Poitiers). His son, Pepin the Short, supported the Pope in his fight against Lombards and - with papal permission - dethroned the last of the Merovingians, ascending to the throne in 751. Pepin founded the Carolingian dynasty. His son, Charles, later called the Great, was to build an empire whose rise marked the end of early medieval period.
Important dates
- 376
Visigoths cross the Danube - 406
Germanic tribes cross the Rhine - 410
Visigoths plunder Rome - 476
Dethronement of the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire - 527-565
Justinian's reign; temporary revival of the Roman Empire - 568
Lombards conquer Italy - 636-670
Arabs conquer the Middle East and North Africa - 711
Arabs conquer the Iberian Peninsula ruled by the Visigoths - 732
Charles Martel stops the invasion of the Arabs in Tour - 751
Pepin becomes the first king of the Carolingian dynasty
