By the end of the 4th century. the attitude of the barbarian world towards the Roman Empire becomes openly hostile. The weakness of the empire allowed barbarian tribes to intensify raids on its borders and seize its territories. The paradoxical position of the empire was that while holding back the onslaught of barbarian tribes, it was forced to seek support in the barbarians themselves, which made its existence especially hopeless. The federal allies understood that the Romans were running out of strength, and from allies they became open enemies of the Roman Empire. In order to somehow retain them as allies, Rome was forced to constantly make new concessions.
By the 4th century. Germanic tribes underwent serious transformations compared to the times about which Caesar and Tacitus wrote: they began to unite tribes into large unions, i.e. pre-state formations were being formalized. On the lower Rhine and in Jutland, alliances of Anglo-Saxon tribes took shape; on the middle Rhine - the Frankish union of tribes; on the upper Rhine - the Allemannic union of tribes (it included the tribes of the Quads, Marcomanni and partly the Sueves). In the Elbe basin, alliances of the Lombards, Vandals and Burgundians were formed. In the Black Sea region there already existed two large and strong political unions: Ostrogothic and Visigothic.
From the end of the 4th and especially in the 5th century. begins the rapid onslaught of barbarians on the territory of the dying Roman Empire and its conquest. The era of the Great Migration of Peoples began. The conquest of the empire lasted more than a century (IV-V centuries).
Many tribes were formally considered allies of the empire. The emperors entered into such alliances deliberately in order to prevent a catastrophe. But these attempts left no one with any illusions. The coming fall of the Western Roman Empire was obvious.
The conquest of the empire was accompanied by the immigration of barbarians. From the end of the 4th century. the entire Eurasian barbarian world was in motion. There were many reasons: some tribes pushed others out of their territories (the Huns from the eastern steppes pushed the Slavs, the Slavs, moving west, forced the Germanic tribes to move west), the need for new, more fertile lands, the harsh climate. The barbarian world that had come into motion was united by a common hatred of the Roman Empire. The creaking of barbarian carts, loaded with all kinds of belongings and household goods, could be heard along all the roads of Europe. The era of the late IV - early VI centuries. got the name Great Migration.
The beginning of the Great Migration is associated with the invasion of the Gothic empire. Ostrogoths And Visigoths had extensive land holdings in Byzantium and, unlike many other barbarian tribes, they did not experience “land hunger.” But nevertheless, from time to time the Ostrogoths raided the Balkan Peninsula. Despite this, their relations with the Eastern Roman Empire were largely peaceful.
Ostrogoths and Visigoths accepted Arianism, like many barbarian tribes of that time. The preacher of Arianism among the Goths was Bishop Ulfil, who translated the Bible into Gothic.
Of the two Gothic states, the strongest was Ostrogothic, headed by a king for 50 years Germanarich(325-375). Under him, the Ostrogothic state was multi-tribal: in addition to the Goths, it included Slavic and Sarmatian tribes. Being in close proximity to Byzantium, the Ostrogoths were strongly influenced by the ancient culture of the Greeks. The Ostrogoths mixed with the Greek population. The Goths of the Black Sea region were influenced by the culture of the Greek Black Sea colonies, especially the Bosporan kingdom.
IN 375 a large warlike tribe of the Huns came to the Black Sea region from Asia. Huns were a nomadic people of Turkic-Mongolian origin. The area of ​​their initial settlement was on the borders of China, then the Huns through Central Asia and the “Caspian Gate” entered the basin of the Don and Dnieper rivers, i.e. to the territory of the Ostrogoths. A war begins, in which the Huns win, seriously undermining the power of the Ostrogothic League. After this, the Huns, together with the Ostrogoths, went against the Visigoths. In this most dangerous situation, the Visigothic leaders turned to the Byzantine emperors with a request to allow them to settle in the Balkans as federal allies. The Byzantine emperors allowed, and in the second half of the 4th century. Visigoths cross the Danube. An area was allocated for their settlement Moesia(territory in modern Bulgaria).
The appearance of the Visigoths in the Balkans had very difficult and serious consequences that the Byzantine emperors could not foresee. As soon as the Visigoths settled in the Balkans, they began to clash with Byzantine officials. Relations soon took on an openly hostile character, and very quickly the Visigoths turned from allies-federates of the Byzantine Empire into its enemies. In addition, the slaves of the empire began to support the Visigoths. There is a dangerous situation in the country. Already as enemies of the empire, the Visigoths crossed the border of Moesia, moving to the south of the Balkan Peninsula. IN 378 near Adrianople The Visigoths defeat the Roman army and kill the commander-in-chief, the emperor. Valenta. The path to Constantinople was open. But at this time the emperor comes to the throne Theodosius I(379-395), who managed to stop the advance of the Visigoths deeper into the empire with military forces and diplomacy. In order to moderate the military fervor of the Visigoths, Theodosius I was forced to grant them new, more fertile territories on the Balkan Peninsula. Later, the Visigoths were given the rich and fertile province of Illyria (in Yugoslavia).
After the death of Theodosius I 395 The empire is divided among his sons. In the east, the Byzantine Empire begins to rule Arkady(395-408), and in the west Honorius(395-423). These brothers were in a constant state of hostility, drawing barbarian tribes into it. Arcadius incites the Visigoths against the Western Roman Empire. General of Emperor Honorius Stilicho(he was a barbarian by origin) for a long time held back the onslaught of the Visigoths on Italy. To do this, he needed new forces, and he recalled the Roman legions from Britain. But Stilicho's successes were short-lived: as a result of court intrigues, he was removed from office and soon killed.
After the death of this talented military leader, the Visigoths no longer encountered serious resistance, and in 409 the king of the Visigoths Alaric enters the territory of the Western Roman Empire. A significant part of the army of the Western emperor goes over to his side, including the Germans who were in the service of the Romans. Alaric also found support among numerous slaves of the Roman Empire.
In August 410 Mr. Alaric takes Rome. The terrible robbery and destruction of the capital of the ancient world continued for several days. Many noble Romans died or were captured and sold into slavery, some of them managed to escape to North Africa and Asia. Alaric's plans were not limited to the conquest of Rome: he dreamed of going further, crossing to Sicily and North Africa, but these plans did not come true - in 410 he dies.
For some time after the death of Alaric, the Visigoths remained in Italy. Then, according to an agreement with Emperor Honorius, they go to the southern Gaul, where in 419 g. form the first barbarian kingdom on the territory of the Roman Empire with its capital in Toulouse - Visigothic kingdom. The dependence of the Kingdom of Toulouse on the Roman emperors was conditional; in fact, it was already an independent state.
In Gaul, the Visigoths confiscated lands from Roman landowners and distributed them among themselves, with the Visigothic nobility seizing most and the best of the lands. Ordinary warriors received allotments - sortes, plots by lot, which included land, forests, pastures, meadows, rivers, etc.
From the end of the 5th - beginning of the 6th centuries. The Visigothic kingdom begins to spread south. The Visigoths move beyond the Pyrenees, where the city becomes their capital. Toledo. The Visigothic state was conquered by the Arabs during the conquest (8th century).
When the Visigoths founded their state in Gaul, other barbarian tribes invaded the Iberian Peninsula: Suevi And vandals. The Suevi settled in the northwestern part of the peninsula, the Vandals went south and settled there. And currently this area of ​​​​settlement of Vandals is called Andalusia. its original name was Vandalu siya. From the Pyrenees the Vandals with the King Geiseric are moving to North Africa. Having conquered North Africa, the Vandals founded second barbarian kingdom on the territory of the Roman Empire. An ancient city becomes the capital of the Vandals Carthage. Like the Visigoths, the Vandals confiscated land from Roman slave owners, due to which the Vandal nobility quickly formed and enriched itself.
From here, across the Mediterranean Sea, the Vandals begin to raid Italy. IN 455 g. They capture Rome and betray it to wild plunder, in comparison with which the robberies of Alaric were completely innocent in nature. The rich and prosperous city quickly turned into deserted ruins, among which wild domestic animals roamed. Since then, such a manifestation of human savagery has been called vandalism.
In the first half of the 6th century. The Vandal kingdom was conquered by the Byzantine Empire and ceased to exist.
In the middle of the 5th century. formed in the river basin. On the Rhone, on the territory of future France, a new barbarian state was formed - Kingdom of Burgundy with its capital in Lyon. This state was small, but its lands were fertile, and moreover, it occupied an important geographical and strategic position. The formation of the Kingdom of Burgundy cut off the connection of the Roman Empire with its province - northern Gaul.
Like other barbarian tribes, the Burgundians redistribute land ownership in this territory. Living close to the Roman Empire and Romanized Gaul, the Burgundians were heavily influenced by them culturally. They learned the Latin language, Roman customs and Roman property relations. However, the bulk of the population of Burgundy were barbarian peasants who received their allotments here. Like other Germanic tribes, the Burgundians were Arians by religion. The life of the Burgundians and their relations with the Romans, as well as with other barbarian tribes, is illustrated by the famous epic “The Song of the Nibelungs,” recorded in the 12th century. This work would later inspire numerous composers, playwrights and writers.
With the founding of the Visigothic, Vandal and Burgundian kingdoms, the position of the Western Roman Empire became even more critical. During the period of the creation of the first barbarian states, the Roman emperor became Valentinian III(425-455). He was a mediocre and weak emperor, but he had an outstanding minister with him - Aetius, who is called "the last Great Roman." Aetius directed all his talent to save the Roman Empire. He used a variety of methods for this. He tried to negotiate with the barbarians who were more loyal to Rome, against the barbarians who were hostile and dangerous to him.
In the middle of the 5th century. The Romans have the most formidable enemy - the Huns. The Huns were dangerous not only for the Roman Empire, but also for the newly emerged barbarian states of Western Europe. In the first third of the 5th century. the Hunnic tribes united under the rule of an energetic and cruel ruler Attila(435-453). Attila's capital, the starting point for raids on Western Europe, was located on the banks of the Tisza (in the territory of modern Hungary). Attila was the first in a line of medieval conquerors such as Genghis Khan, Batu, Tamerlane, etc. From the banks of the Tisza he made trips to the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, Armenia and even Mesopotamia. All his campaigns were characterized by cruelty and were of a predatory nature. The Byzantine emperor also paid him a large tribute. Many Danube Slavic tribes became dependent on Attila.
In the early 50s of the 5th century. Attila embarks on a campaign to the West. In 451 he invaded Gaul. Attila reached Orleans, which at that time was the most important strategic point in Gaul. After a long siege, Orleans was taken by the Huns, and this threatened Gaul with dire consequences. Aetius organized a federation of barbarians against Atilla and forced the hordes of Huns to retreat from Orleans.
Moving away from Orleans, the Huns headed towards the city of Troyes. They were followed by troops led by Aetius. June 15, 451. near Troyes, on Catalaunian fields a battle took place called "Battle of the Nations". The Visigoths, Burgundians, and Franks fought in the Roman army. Attila was at the head of the army of the Huns and some small East German tribes. The Slavs and Sarmatians also fought on the side of the Huns. In the battle on the Catalaunian fields, Attila's troops were defeated. But this was also the last victory of the Romans. This victory gave nothing to the Empire. In reality, the battle was won not by the Romans, but by the barbarian federates, thereby making the Roman Empire even more dependent on itself. As a result, the Visigothic and Burgundian kingdoms gained broad independence.
In 452, Attila went to Italy. He did not take Rome, being content with a rich tribute and generous gifts from the Roman emperors.
In 453 Attila dies. In the "Nibelungenlied" the death of Attila (Etzel) is explained by all sorts of excesses. After the death of the leader, the multi-tribal pre-state formation of the Huns disintegrated. The Huns dissolved among other Germanic tribes, and from the 8th century. not a single source (Byzantine or otherwise) mentions them anymore. The disappearance of the terrible Hunnic “power” did not, however, serve to strengthen the Roman Empire, which was inevitably decaying
from the inside. In the agonizing state, countless and senseless intrigues were woven, as a result of which outstanding Roman ministers, generals and scientists died. The “last Great Roman” Aetius did not escape a similar fate.
By this time, the imperial court was no longer in Rome, but in Ravenna. The court was moved there back in 395, when the final division of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern took place. Following Aetius, Emperor Valentinian III himself dies. The end of the disaster was the invasion of the Vandals in 455, which was accompanied by a 14-day sack of Rome. In Italy, the chiefs of tribal barbarian squads are increasingly beginning to give orders, among whom stands out Odoacer, leader of a small tribe of Scirs. In 476, Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor, the young Romulus Augustulus, and sent signs of imperial dignity to the eastern emperor in Constantinople. From now on (476 d.) The Roman Empire ceases to exist. Only the territory in the north of Gaul, with its center in Paris, resembled the Roman Empire that had sunk into oblivion. In 486 it was conquered by the Frankish king Clovis.
The state created by Odoacer was variegated and fragile in its ethnic composition. It included: part of the Goths, Skirs, Alans (North Caucasian tribes) and others. Like the kings of the first Western European barbarian states, Odoacer confiscated lands from Roman slave-owning landowners and allocated them to his warriors. Unlike many barbarian kings, Odoacer did not interfere in the internal government of the local Roman population. Nevertheless, his relations with the local population and especially with the Italian nobility were tense: the Romans could not forgive him for the confiscation of land.
Odoacer felt uncomfortable in Italy, and Constantinople, where he sent signs of imperial power, did not trust him. The Byzantine emperors were preparing to replace Odoacer with a new political figure who would rule in Italy as, as they assumed, their political puppet. It was Theodoric(493-526), ​​king of the Ostrogoths. With the support of Byzantium, Theodoric conquers Italy in 493 and becomes the “king of the Goths and Italics” for many years - over 30 years. Rome lies in ruins, and the center of Theodoric's state in Italy becomes Ravenna, residence of the Roman emperors since 395
Theodoric pursued a complex domestic and foreign policy. He considered himself the “elder” among the barbarian kings, intervened in all internal and external affairs of the barbarian states, acting as an arbiter in controversial issues (for example, in border issues). Theodoric, in particular, sought to maintain the balance of state and political forces in Gaul, preventing the Frankish kings from strengthening at the expense of the Burgundian and Visigothic kingdoms.
Being a protege of Byzantium, Theodoric, having become the king of the Visigoths and Italics, takes an independent position in relation to it. The Byzantine emperors were dissatisfied with his “ungratefulness” and developed new plans to restore imperial power in Italy, no longer turning to the barbarian tribes for help.
In domestic politics, Theodoric tried to harmonize the two main ethnic groups of the population of Italy: Roman and barbarian. He made his court not only a political center, but also a center of culture and science. He attracted Roman scientists and writers and restored ancient monuments. His immediate circle was exclusively Roman. A Roman stood out from Theodoric's retinue Cassiodorus, who held the significant post of Secretary of State of the “King of the Goths and Italics.” On behalf of Theodoric, Cassiodorus wrote "The story is ready"- an invaluable historical source that has not lost its relevance to this day.
Civil administration still remained in the hands of the Roman nobility (just like Odoacer, Theodoric did not encroach on it). Theodoric did not impose barbaric “truths” on the Romans and left them their former laws, the famous Roman law. He did not carry out massive confiscations of the lands of the Italian slave-owning nobility. Rewarding his warriors, he distributed to them lands that had already been confiscated from the Romans by Odoacer. To make it more convenient for the Ostrogothic nobility to manage their new lands, Theodoric issues a decree in which he allows Ostrogoth landowners to alienate colonists and slaves without land and transfer them at their discretion to domestic or craft service. This decree, called "Edict of Theodoric" practically introduced a system of feudal land relations and, according to many historians, laid the foundation for the liberation of the colons from serfdom.
The political system under Theodoric was dual, which was explained by the presence of two strong ethnic groups in Italy - the Ostrogoths and the Italians (Romans). These two groups lived separately from one another, each according to its own laws, and their union into one people did not occur. This isolation determined the nature of the political system of Theodoric’s state. The Ostrogoths performed military service. Unlike the local population, who professed Christianity in the Western tradition, the Ostrogoths were Arians. Such serious contradictions in the state did not suit either Theodoric himself or the Romans. Theodoric's diplomatic attitude towards the Romans did not contribute to the favor of the Roman nobility towards him, and at the same time caused discontent among the Ostrogothic nobility. On the part of the Byzantine emperors, there is growing distrust of Theodoric, who did not live up to their hopes. A conspiracy was hatched against Theodoric, in which many noble Romans who were part of his inner circle participated. The Pope also took part in this conspiracy, informing the Byzantine emperors about it in his correspondence. The conspiracy was discovered, but soon after, in 526, Theodoric dies.
After his death, the struggle between the two parties begins. One party stood for an alliance with Constantinople and was called the Roman party. Another party advocated independent politics and for limiting the rights and privileges of Roman slave-owners and landowners - it was called the Ostrogothic, or Starogothic party. Byzantium took advantage of this difficult situation. Under the Emperor Justinians I The Byzantines conquer Ostrogothic Italy, annexing the Apennine Peninsula to their empire.
The Byzantine emperors dreamed of reviving the Roman Empire to its former glory, but the Byzantine conquest did not last long. A war broke out between the Byzantines and the Ostrogoths in Italy, which became known as Gothic War. This war lasted over 20 years. After Theodoric's death, the Ostrogoths chose a new king, Totila. Totila(541-552) attracted not only the Ostrogoths, but also the Romans to the fight against Byzantium. Everyone was accepted into the Ostrogothic army: slaves, columns, etc. - social status was not taken into account. At first, Totila was successful, and he managed to conquer most of Italy from the Byzantines. He built a fleet and captured Sicily and other islands in the Mediterranean. But at this time fresh forces arrived from Byzantium, and in 552 the Byzantines defeated Totila’s army. IN 555 Byzantium conquers Italy. As a result of the 20-year Gothic War, almost the entire Ostrogothic population was exterminated and the cities were destroyed. The decrees issued by Totila, which can be considered as the legal formalization of new, feudal relations (liberation of colons, etc.) were canceled. In devastated Italy, Emperor Justinian I restored the slave system and returned the colons and slaves to their previous position.
However, the Byzantines did not stay in Italy. In 568, new barbarians invaded Northern Italy - Lombards. This Germanic tribe lived on the left bank of the Elbe and was related to the Suevi. The Lombards who invaded Italy were led by Alboin, which he made his capital Pavia. The modern region of Northern Italy, Lombardy, retained the name of this tribe in its name.
The Lombard conquests in Italy had their own characteristics that distinguished them from previous conquests. The Lombards conquered all of Northern and part of Central Italy and did not make any compromises with the local population, including the Roman nobility. They came to the Pennine Peninsula not as federates of the Romans, but as their conquerors, and they openly declared this, without resorting to any diplomacy. Unlike their predecessors, the Lombards carried out a complete confiscation of land and all property from Roman slave owners. They captured the Roman nobility and enslaved them, selling new slaves to foreign countries. Many noble Romans managed to leave their homeland and flee to Byzantium.
The peculiarities of the Lombard conquest of Italy were determined by the specifics of their social system, which preserved tribal relations. The settlement of the Lombards throughout Northern and Central Italy was of a tribal nature, and this is reflected in the names of many Italian cities where the Lombard word “fara” is present.
In Italy a strong and large Lombard Kingdom, in which a significant percentage of the population was peasantry. Unlike many other barbarian kingdoms, this state had a wealthy and politically powerful nobility. In the 7th century The highest Lombard nobility - the dukes - fought with their kings.
The period of creation of the Lombard state was marked by the formation of the institution of the papacy. Even after the creation of the Lombard kingdom, the Roman bishops continued to consider themselves under the supreme authority of the Byzantine emperors. However, their dependence on Constantinople weakened over time, and the popes gradually began to turn into independent sovereigns of Central Italy. The first pope to become both the ecclesiastical head and the temporal ruler of Rome and the Roman region was Pope Gregory I the Great(590-604). Attempts by the Lombard kings to subsequently subjugate vast territories of the papal region were unsuccessful: at this time the popes were helped by the Frankish rulers, who saved the territory of the popes, and themselves, from conquest and destruction by the Lombards.
In VIII - beginning. 9th century with the help of the Frankish kings and Emperor Charles I, the papal state was formed.
From the 5th century there is a massive invasion of barbarians in Britain. From the German coast, the Jutland Peninsula and from the North Sea coast, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes came to Britain. Among these tribes stood out Angles And Saxons. After the invasion of Britain they received a common name: Anglo-Saxons, or Anglo-Saxons. The main indigenous, autochthonous population of Britain were Celts And Britons. A fierce war began between the Angles and Saxons and the indigenous population. The Germanic tribes were more warlike, and their weapons, although rather primitive, were still more advanced than those of the Celts. The Celts in Britain were partially exterminated by the Anglo-Saxons, partially enslaved, and some managed to leave Britain. The enslaved part of the population gradually mixed with the conquerors. That part of the Britons that left Britain settled in the north-west of the future France, at that time this area was called Armorica. Subsequently, it received a new name - Brittany, which has survived to this day.
Some of the Britons and Celts retained their independence in the north of Britain, on its western outskirts - Wales and Cornwall, in Scotland, as well as in Ireland and Iceland. The desire for independence affected the formation of the genotype of the English, Scottish and Irish peoples.
The barbarians who invaded Britain were not yet ready to form states. They created temporary state formations: in the south and southeast, Kent (Utes), Essex and Sussex (Saxons), in the northeast - East Anglia, Northumbria and Mercia (the center of Britain) were founded by the Angles.
The struggle of the tribes and the human destinies drawn into it are reflected in the numerous legends that have come down to us about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, about the Holy Grail and the famous wizard Merlin.
Britain, Ireland and Iceland adopted Latinized Christianity quite early. Among the Christian missionaries in these countries, the most famous was St. Patrick.
In the north of Europe, in Scandinavia and Jutland - the area of ​​distribution of Germanic tribes, during the period of the creation of barbarian kingdoms in Central and Western Europe, barbarian states did not exist; early pre-state unions were formed there.
During the V-VI centuries. The geopolitical picture of Western Europe is changing radically. The Western Roman Empire disappears. An essential change is taking place in the life of Western Europe - the ancient world disappears and a feudal, medieval world begins to take shape.

Following the Visigoths, the Germanic tribe of Vandals created their kingdom on Roman territory; in the 3rd century n. e. it moved from the interior regions of Germany to the Danube, to Dacia, at the beginning of the 4th century. - to Pannonia, and then, under pressure from the Huns, moved west. Together with other barbarian tribes, the Vandals at the beginning of the 5th century. broke through the Roman defenses on the Rhine, invaded Gaul and subjected it to terrible devastation. From Gaul, the Vandals, along with the Alans and Suevi, moved to Spain, where after some time they encountered the Visigoths.

In 429, the Vandals, together with the Alans, crossed the strait (modern Gibraltar) to North Africa. They were led by King Geiseric, who managed to use the rebellion of the Roman governor in North Africa, the uprising of local tribes (Berbers) against Rome, and the agonistic popular movement that was not completely broken. He conquered most of North Africa, where an independent Vandal kingdom arose with its capital in Carthage. The Vandals, who were Arians, seized the lands and property of the Roman nobility and the Catholic Church in the part of North Africa where they settled (modern Tunisia and Libya). Having then taken possession of the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Geiseric in 455, attacking Italy by sea, captured Rome. Vandals subjected the city to terrible destruction and devastation, destroying many cultural monuments and works of art. This is where the later term “vandalism” comes from. The Vandal kingdom lasted until 534, when the troops of Emperor Justinian defeated the Vandals and annexed North Africa to Byzantium.

Formation of the Kingdom of Burgundy

In South-Eastern Gaul in the 5th century. The Kingdom of Burgundy was formed. Together with the Vandals, Alans and Suevi, the Burgundians at the beginning of the 5th century. crossed the Rhine and founded their kingdom on the middle Rhine, centered in Boris. In 437, the Kingdom of Burgundy was defeated by the Huns, and the remnants of the Burgundians were settled by Rome as federates in Sabaudia (modern Savoy), south and southwest of Lake Geneva. Later, the Burgundians spread to the valleys of the upper and middle Rhone and Saone with their tributaries, and in 457 the new Kingdom of Burgundy took shape with its capital in Lyon.

The Burgundians divided the lands with the local population. The Burgundians received half of the forests, meadows, and pastures, one-third of the slaves, and first half and later two-thirds of the arable lands of the Gallo-Romans. The Burgundians settled in consanguineous groups (large families), which were called faras (and their members - faramanni). The Burgundians, like the Visigoths, did not encounter resistance from the population of Gaul, who sought to get rid of Roman rule and unbearable taxes. Some members of the local nobility began to serve the barbarian kings. In 534, the Kingdom of Burgundy was conquered by the Franks.

Hunnic tribal union in the 5th century. Invasion of the Huns in the West. Europe.

The Huns, having defeated the Ostrogoths, began to invade Roman territory. At the beginning of the 5th century. they occupied Pannonia (the western part of modern Hungary) and created a vast association here, which included a number of Germanic and non-Germanic tribes they conquered (Ostrogoths, Quads, Marcomanni, Heruli, Gepids, etc.). The level of social development among the Huns by this time had increased somewhat, social differentiation intensified, slaves appeared, and hereditary royal power began to take shape. However, remaining mostly nomads, the Huns needed mainly pastures for livestock and military booty and therefore continued their conquests. At the same time, they mercilessly destroyed entire villages and cities and exacted tribute from the conquered population. In the mid-40s of the 5th century. The Huns were led by the energetic leader Attila, nicknamed by his contemporaries “the scourge of God,” under whose leadership they devastated a significant part of Europe. The lower level of social development of the nomadic Huns excluded the possibility of such interaction between Roman and barbarian social relations, which was characteristic of the kingdoms “fettered by agricultural Germanic tribes in Gaul, Spain and Italy. In the early 50s, Attila crossed the Rhine and invaded Gaul. In 451, one of the largest battles of that time took place in Champagne at Mauriac. On the side of the Romans, led by the commander Aetius, were the Visigoths, Franks, and Burgundians; on the side of the Huns are the Ostrogoths and Gepids. The Huns suffered enormous losses in this battle and were forced to retreat across the Rhine. After the death of Attila, the Hunnic union of tribes disintegrated (454).

Goths

Goths - tribes of East Germans, lived in the 1st century. on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea and in the area of ​​the lower Vistula, where they came from Scandinavia. From the end of the 2nd century. began to move south and settled in the territory from the Don to the Danube. From the 3rd century divided into Ostrogoths and Visigoths.

The Goths are a group of Germanic tribes who came from Scandinavia to Eastern Europe around the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 3rd century. n. e. and captured their territories up to the Black Sea coast in the south, the lower reaches of the Don in the east and the Danube in the west. The Goths were divided into two main groups: the eastern, or Ostrogoths (Ostrogoths, Greuthungs) and the western, or Visigoths (Visigoths, Tervingi). Powerful flow Hunnic destroyed the invasion, partly displaced the Goths in the southern Russian steppes. Small Gothic groups survived until the 12th century. on the Black Sea coast, on the Taman Peninsula and in Crimea. They are mentioned and "The Tale of Igor's Campaign"

. There is an assumption that in the remote forest region of the Slavic tribe of the Drevlyans, the nest of the Gothic princes Amal remained for centuries.

Ostrogoths

Ostrogoths, Ostrogoths, Greuthungs - a Germanic tribe, the eastern branch of the Goths. From the 3rd century settled along the Dnieper. Under King Ermanaric, they formed an extensive tribal union and occupied the territory from the Baltic to the Black Sea. They were defeated by the Huns and partially entered the Hunnic tribal association, and partially moved beyond the Danube to Roman territories. After the collapse of the Hunnic union, they settled in the Danube regions. Under King Theodoric the Great (474-526), ​​the Ostrogoths conquered Italy and founded the Ostrogothic Kingdom with its capital at Verona. They were defeated by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I in the middle of the 6th century. The Ostrogoths most clearly showed themselves in the historical process by capturing Italy and creating their kingdoms there

Visigoths

Briefly: Visigoths, Tervingi - Germanic tribe, western branch of the Goths. From the 3rd century occupied the territory from the Dniester to the mouth of the Danube. In 376, fleeing from the Huns, they received permission to settle on the territory of the Roman Empire. In 377 they rebelled against the Romans and defeated the troops of Emperor Valens at Adrianople (378). After this, they received permission to settle on the Balkan Peninsula and occupied the territories of Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia. From here they launched devastating raids on Constantinople, and under the king Alaric I

(395-410) - trips to Italy. In 410, Rome was captured and sacked. Under King Ataulf (410-415), they settled in Aquitaine, where they founded the first barbarian kingdom on the territory of the Roman Empire with its capital in Toulouse. In the second half of the 6th century. under King Eric (466-484) they conquered Auvergne, Provence and a significant part of the Iberian Peninsula. In 507, after the defeat of the Frankish king Clovis I on the plain of Vuilleux Poitiers and the subsequent loss of Aquitaine, the center of the Visigothic kingdom moved to Spain (the Kingdom of Toledo). In the 8th century The Visigothic state fell under the onslaught of the Arabs.

From the encyclopedia:, Goths(lat. Gothi, Gothones), tribes of the East Germans who lived at the beginning of the century. e. to the south the coast of the Baltic Sea and along the lower Vistula. Moving to the south-east, in the 1st half. 3rd century reached the North

Black Sea region, where they mixed with local tribes. The influence of the higher culture of the Scythian-Sarmatian tribes and cities of the North. and Zap. Black Sea region, captured by G. ca. 260, accelerated the development of the Gothic tribes. The cities were divided into tribal groups, headed by leaders (kings). Military G.'s unions were created only during wars. hikes. They carried out devastation and invasions of Asia Minor and the Balkan Peninsula. As a result of these campaigns, the Roman Empire was forced to cede Dacia to them (274). In the 4th century. G. adopted Christianity. G. were divided into Visigoths and Ostrogoths. All R. In the 4th century, due to the need to defend against the Huns advancing from the east, an extensive alliance of tribes was formed from the Don to the Danube and the Baltic Sea, led by the Ostrogothic king Ermanaric (Germanaric)., In 375 the Huns defeated G. Part of the Ostrogoths were forced out of the North.(Visigothi), Thervingi (Thervingi), Germanic tribe, western branch of the Goths. V., who lived in the 3rd-4th centuries. to the east of the Dniester, participated (from the 70s of the 4th century) in the Great Migration of Peoples.

Began in the 4th century. the invasion of the Huns and their defeat of the Goths in 375 prompted V. to cross the Eastern border. Rome. empire, the government decided to give them lands on the Danube, so that they would serve in Rome. army. Imperial military leaders and officials cruelly exploited the V. and sold them into slavery. This caused V.'s uprising, which was joined by slaves, columns, and peasants. The spontaneous actions of the rebels were led by the Visigothic leader Frithigern. The revolt grew into a war against Rome. In 378, Frithigern's army defeated the Roman army. imp. Valens (see Battle of Adrianople 378). The Romans lost 40 thousand people, Valens died. Britain's campaigns in Italy, which began in the 5th century, merged with the uprisings of Rome. slaves who went over to their side. This allowed King V. Alaric to capture Rome in 410. With the help of the Gallo-Roman rebels against the empire. the population of V. captured the South. Gaul was founded here in 418 for the first time. Zap. Rome. empire barbarian state - Kingdom of Toulouse V. In the 2nd half. 5th century V. conquered most of Spain. Capture of the South by the Franks. Gaul, which ended with Britain's defeat at the Battle of Poitiers (507), limited Britain's dominance mainly to Spain (the capital was Toledo). Close contact with Rome. orders contributed to the transition of V. from the tribal system to the early feudal one. From the end 6th century V. and local Spanish-Roman. the population began to have equal rights, which accelerated the process of assimilation. In 711 - 718 the state of Vietnam was conquered by the Arabs.

VISIGOTHS (Visigoths, Tervingi), the western branch of the Gothic tribe, which occupied the 3rd century. AD a vast area north of the lower Danube and the Black Sea. Around the middle of the same century, the Visigoths crossed the Danube and invaded the Roman Empire, but a few years later, under Emperor Aurelian, they were pushed back, although he had to evacuate the left bank of Dacia. In 376, the Visigoths, fleeing the Huns, crossed the Danube again and received permission from the Romans to settle south of it, in Lower Moesia. Two years later, dissatisfied with Roman officials, the Visigoths rebelled, defeated the imperial army at the Battle of Adrianople and killed Emperor Valens.

Theodosius I managed to pacify the Visigoths, and they settled in the territory of the empire as peaceful settlers and federated allies, however, after the death of Theodosius in 395, when the empire was divided between his weak and inexperienced sons, Arcadius and Honorius, the Visigoths, led by a decisive and skillful Alaric carried out a devastating raid on Greece. Then they moved to Italy, where Honorius, who executed his famous barbarian commander Stilicho in 408 on charges of treason, was unable to resist them. In 410 the Visigoths took Rome. Soon after the death of Alaric, they, led by Ataulf, moved to southern Gaul. Ataulf took with him Galla Placidia, Honorius's sister, and made her his wife. Having settled near Toulouse, the Visigoths began to conquer Spain from the Vandals, Alans and Suebi who had recently captured this country. In 451, the Visigoths helped the Roman commander Aetius defeat the Hun army led by Attila in the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields in Gaul. In 475 they declared their independence from Rome. At their peak, the Visigoths' possessions included all of Spain and Gaul as far as the Loire in the north. Driven out of most of Gaul by the Franks in the early 6th century, the Visigoths retained their kingdom in Spain until the Muslims put an end to their rule there in 711–713. Although the Visigoths were originally Arians, in 589 they converted to orthodox Catholicism.

The Visigoths, otherwise Visigoths and Tervingi, are part of the Gothic people who occupied from the beginning of the 3rd century. until the second half of the 4th century. lands between the Lower Danube and the Dnieper. Their ancient history coincides with the history of the Ostrogoths, they are a separate nation only in their Pontic dwellings, and for a long time they still formed one political whole with the Ostrogoths, but they probably had a certain amount of independence, that is, special local princes who recognized only the supreme power of the Ostrogothic king. They became completely independent even before the Hunnic invasion, probably in the first years of the reign of Ermanarik (about 350). The first undoubtedly independent prince of the Visigoths is Athanaric (366 - 381). His power did not extend, however, to the entire Visigothic people, but only to most of them. The rest recognized the power of another prince, Friedigern. Athanaric wages a three-year struggle with the Roman Empire (366 - 369), which ended in a peace favorable to the Visigoths. When, around 376, the Huns, having defeated the Ostrogoths, attacked their western neighbors, Athanaric alone made an attempt at resistance, fortifying himself on the right bank of the Dniester. Not being able to resist the enemies, he, nevertheless, did not submit to them, but withdrew with all his people to the mountains of Transylvania and occupied the Semigrad region. The rest of the Visigoths, fleeing the Huns, crossed the Danube under the command of Friedigern and Alaviv; Emperor Valens gave them lands in Thrace. Tormented by hunger and oppressed by Roman governors, the Goths soon rebelled. Emperor Valens, who opposed them, was defeated and killed by them at Adrianople (378). Friedigern died soon after this (c. 380); his place at the head of the Visigoths was taken by Athanaric, who, for unknown reasons, could not stay in Transylvania. He immediately made peace with Theodosius the Great. Although he soon died, nevertheless, the agreement he concluded with the empire remained in force until the death of Theodosius; many noble Visigoths entered the Roman army and often achieved very prominent positions. The state of affairs changed when Theodosius the Great died in 395. His weak successor, Arkady, failed to maintain friendship with the Goths; the latter were indignant and in 395 they elected a king in the person of Alaric - the first to unite in his hand power over all the Visigoths. He devastated the entire Balkan Peninsula. The ruler of the Western Empire, Stilicon, hastened to the aid of Byzantium and forced Alaric to conclude a peace treaty (396). According to this treaty, Epirus was given to the Visigoths. But already in 400, Alaric undertook his first campaign in Italy, which ended in peace in 402, according to which Alaric again retreated to Illyria. When Stilicon fell at the hands of an assassin in 408, Alaric again invaded Italy. The weak-willed Emperor Honorius had neither troops nor generals. Alaric penetrated unhindered to the southern extremities of the peninsula. Since negotiations with Honorius did not lead to anything (Alaric demanded food, tribute and lands for his people in the northeastern provinces of the empire), the Visigoth king occupied and plundered Rome in August 410. After a failed attempt to take possession of Africa (a storm destroyed the Gothic fleet), Alaric died in the same year 410. His son-in-law and successor Ataulf (410 - 415) continued negotiations and struggle with Honorius, but seeing that it was impossible to establish himself in Italy, in 412 with all his people he retired to southern Gaul, which, perhaps, was formally ceded to him by Honorius. He defeated and killed the usurper Jovinus, occupied the most important cities (Narbonne, Toulouse, Bordeaux), but he failed to establish a solid Visigothic kingdom here, despite the fact that he married Placidia, sister of Honorius, in 414, and sought peace with empire. Valya (415 - 419) successfully fought against the Vandals, Alans and Suevi in ​​Spain for several years in a row. Returning to southern Gaul, he received from the empire, by virtue of a formal agreement, the entire province of Aquitaine (the “second”), where he founded the first Visigothic state, which, based on the main city of Toulouse, received the name “Toulouse” (“Tolosan”). Valli's successor was Theodoric I (419 - 451), who significantly expanded his state and fell in battle on the Catalaunian fields. In the fight against Attila, the Visigoths were allies of the Roman commander Aetius, while their relatives, the Ostrogoths, subject to Attila, formed part of the Hunnic army. Theodoric was succeeded by his eldest son Thorismund (461 - 453); but since he wanted to destroy the alliance with Rome, the Roman party, headed by the king’s brother, Theodoric, killed him, after which Theodoric II (453 - 466) ascended the throne, who was also killed by his younger brother, Euric. During the reign of Eurich (466 - 484), the Visigothic state reached its highest degree of power. He destroyed the last remnants of Roman supremacy, which remained in the form of a union. By the end of his reign, the Visigothic state embraced all of southern and central Gaul (as far as the Loire to the north and the Rhone to the east) and almost all of Spain (only the northwestern corner of this peninsula was still independent under the rule of the Sueves). He also took care of the internal improvement of his state and ordered the compilation of a code of Visigothic customary law. He treated Roman culture and his Roman subjects favorably. Some of the most prominent statesmen of his reign were Romans. Only the Catholic Church and its highest representatives, the bishops, were persecuted by him, but not out of fanaticism (he, like the entire Visigothic people, adhered to the Arian heresy), but out of political calculation: he was right in seeing Catholicism as the worst enemy of Visigothic rule. - His son, Alaric II (485 - 507), had to fight against new enemies, the Franks, who since 486, after the victory of Clodovic over Syagrius, became the closest neighbors of the Goths on the Loire. This neighborhood became especially dangerous for Alaric, because Clodovic, who converted to Christianity in the form of Catholicism, found support in the Roman population of Gali, who was burdened by the power of the Visigoth heretics. Open struggle began in 506 and ended with the defeat of the Goths at Poitiers in 507; Alaric himself fell in the battle, and the Visigoths forever lost most of their possessions in Gaul. The five-year-old son of the murdered king, Amalaric (507 - 531), escaped to Spain, while Gesalich (507 - 511), the illegitimate son of Alaric II, who took possession of the royal treasures, continued to fight for some time in Gaul. A strong Ostrogothic army came to the aid of Amalarich, sent by his grandfather: Theodoric the Great; it kept the Franks from further conquests and saved part of the Visigothic possessions in southern Gaul. Narbonne was now the main city of the Visigoths. Amalaric married the daughter of Clodovic, but fell already in 531 in the fight with his son-in-law Childibert I. The Ostrogoth Theudis (531 - 548) took the throne. He continued to fight the Franks, unsuccessfully fought against Byzantium and was killed in 548. The same fate befell his successor Theodegisel (548 - 549), who oppressed Catholics. During the reign of Agila (549 - 554), a strong Byzantine army appeared in Spain: Emperor Justinian, having destroyed the states of the Vandals and Ostrogoths, thought to conquer Spain. This plan failed. Although Agila was defeated by the Byzantines, the indignant soldiers killed the mediocre king and elevated the brave and energetic Atanagild (554 - 567) to the throne, who successfully repelled the enemies; some heavily fortified cities remained, however, with the Byzantines. Looking for allies, Atanagild married his two daughters to the Frankish kings Sigibert and Chilperic. His successor Leova (568 - 572) ceded Spain to his brother Leovigild, who, after the death of Leova, ruled the entire state alone (572 - 586). It was now a difficult time for the Visigoths. Dangerous enemies threatened from all sides: the Franks, Suevi, Byzantines, who, being true believers, found open and secret allies in the Roman population of the country. Leovigild energetically and skillfully took up the defense of his throne. Relying on the lower classes of the people, he was able to significantly reduce the power of the local Gothic magnates, dangerous enemies of royal power. He executed those who resisted; their property became the property of the king, as a result of which the financial situation of the country began to improve. But Leovigild brought a new danger to the state by marrying his son Hermenegild in 580 to the Frankish princess Inguntis, a zealous Catholic. She managed to persuade her husband to accept Catholicism; he began an open struggle against Leovigild, but was defeated and executed. At the same time, Leovigild conquered the Suevian kingdom. After a new victory over the Franks, he died in 586 in Toledo, which he made the main city of the state. - His youngest son and successor Recared I (586 - 601) immediately upon ascending the throne adopted Catholicism and tried in every possible way to persuade his people to accept this faith. Whether this unexpected step was the result of religious conviction is difficult to say; it is more likely that political considerations were decisive. Rekared wanted to destroy once and for all the religious antagonism between the Visigoths and the native Romanesque population, which was draining the people's strength. But in doing so, he destroyed the last obstacle that prevented the Romanization of the Goths. The state quickly came under the influence of the Catholic clergy, who from that time ruled the country almost in addition to the kings. The Visigoths, who had long been prone to religious fanaticism, soon became zealous Catholics, and the further history of the internal development of their state turned almost exclusively into the history of church councils. After Rekared, kings quickly succeeded - Leova II (601 - 603), Viterich 603 - 10), Guntimar (610 - 612), Sisibut (612 - 620), during whose reign the persecution of Jews began in the Visigothic state, Rekared II (620 - 621 ), after whose death Svintila, a brave commander and energetic ruler, ascended the throne (621 - 631). He took away the last of their possessions in Spain from the Byzantines and successfully defended royal power against the claims of the clergy and secular magnates. By this he incurred the vengeance of the latter. One of the aristocrats, Sisinant, supported by the clergy, rebelled against the king; having defeated the latter and tonsured him as a monk, he took the throne (631 - 36); he and his successors, Kindia (636 - 640) and Tulga (640 - 641), were blind tools in the hands of the bishops. The last attempt to restore royal power to its former strength was made by Kindasving (641 - 652), who equally energetically and strictly persecuted rebellious bishops and magnates. He ordered the compilation of a set of Visigothic laws, making them binding on all his subjects. With his son. Rekisvinte (652 - 672) everything went as before and the clergy continued to rule the state. Secular power strengthened somewhat under Wamba (672 - 680), a brave warrior, but not for long: Wamba was overthrown from the throne by the party of the clergy, which chose Ervich (680 - 687) as king, who surrendered entirely to the hands of the bishops; the same should be said about his successor Egika (687 - 701), who persecuted the Jews in the most cruel way. We know very little about Vitik (701 - 710), and even less about the last king of the Visigoths, Roderic (710 - 711). Soon after his accession to the throne, the Arabs came to Spain, called here, according to legend, by one of the magnates whom the king had insulted. The Visigothic state no longer had the strength to resist its enemies; the latter's victory at Jerez de la Frontera destroyed the Visigothic kingdom forever. King Roderic disappeared without a trace: he was probably killed in battle. In a few weeks, the Muslims occupied almost the entire peninsula. From that time on, the name of the Visigoths disappeared from history. Their last remnants, strongly mixed with the native Romanesque element, defended their independence in the mountainous region of Asturias. A new state was born here, but not Gothic, but Spanish. His first hero, Pelayo, the ancestor of the Castilian kings, was, according to legend, the grandson of the Visigothic king Kindasvint. How strong the Gothic element was in this new nation is proven by the mass of Spanish personal names that still retain traces of their Gothic origin (Rodrigo, Alfonso, Hernando, etc.), and numerous words that passed from Gothic into Spanish and Portuguese. These words, together with a fairly extensive onomastic material preserved in Visigothic charters, acts, coins and inscriptions, and with a few remnants of Gothic words in the code of Visigothic laws, constitute all that we know about the language of the Visigoths in Spain. Complete written monuments in their language have not reached us, although they undoubtedly existed. No Visigothic copy of Wulfila's translation of the Holy Scriptures has yet been found. We don’t know how long their language lasted after the fall of the Visigothic kingdom. We find the last trace of the Visigothic language in Gaul at the beginning of the 9th century: this is a collection of Gothic and Frankish personal names compiled by Smaragd, abbot of the monastery of St. Michael, on the Meuse River. Smaragd was himself a Visigoth, probably from southern France.

Materials from the encyclopedia “The World Around Us” were used.

Brockhaus and Efron.

Encyclopedic Dictionary. St. Petersburg, 1880

Wed. R. Kopke, "Dle Anfangedes Konigthums bei deo Gothen" (Berlin, 1859); R. Pallmann, Die Geschichte des Volkerwanderung" (I, Gotha, 1863, II Weimar, 1864); Felix Dahn, "Die Konige der Germanen" (II, Munich, 1861; V, Wurzb., 1870; VI, 2nd ed. , Leipz., 1885); his, “Urgeschichte d. Germanischen n. romanischen Yolker" (Vol. I, "Allgem. Gesch." ed. Oncken, II, Berlin, 1881). For Visigothic names, see Bezzenberger, "Ueber die A - Reibe der gotischen Sprache" (Göttingen, 1874); Dietrich, "Ueber die Aussprache des Gothischen" (Marb., 1862); Forstemann, "Geschichte deutschen Sprachstammes, II" (p. 150 s.). , p. 388 ss.). Finally, see Mackel, "Die germanischen Elemente im altfranzosischen und altprovencalischen" (1884); Goldscbmidt, "Zur Kritik der aitgerman. Elemente im Spanischen" (Lingen, 1887); Kluge, "Romanen und Germanen in ihren Wechselbeziehungen", in "Grundriss der roman. Philologie" ed. Grober, Liefer, II, 1886.

The Visigoths were the first to move into the empire. Gothic tribes until the 2nd century. lived in the lower reaches of the Vistula, where, according to ancient legends, they moved from Scandinavia. At the beginning of the 3rd century. Most of the Goths went to the southeast and settled in the Black Sea region (from the lower reaches of the Danube to the Don). The Goths, who settled in the forest zone in the west, separated from the eastern steppe people. The first were called the Visigoths (Visigoths), the second - Ostrogoths (Ostrogoths). In the Black Sea region, the Goths subjugated the Slavic and Scythian-Sarmatian population living there, as well as the Germanic tribe of the Heruls who settled there. Thus a large multi-tribal union was created, in which the Goths (Ostrogoths) were a minority. They borrowed a lot from local residents, particularly in the military field. Eastern Roman sources often call the Goths Sarmatians.

The Goths undertook military campaigns against the Roman Empire. The Heruls, who lived in the Azov region, carried out pirate raids on the Asia Minor coast. At the same time, the Goths were involved in trade relations with the empire and were subject to Roman influence. Christianity spread among them in the form of the Arian heresy. His preacher was Bishop Ulfilas (313-383), who compiled the Gothic alphabet and, it is believed, translated the Bible into Gothic. This translation is the oldest monument of German writing. The “Gothic power” reached its highest power during the time of the Ostrogothic king Ermanaric, who subjugated a number of Slavic tribes and expanded the borders of the Ostrogothic union far to the east. The Visigoths were not part of this association. They were drawn into the orbit of Roman influence.

In 375, the Huns, warlike nomads who moved from the depths of Asia and had already subjugated many peoples, invaded the Black Sea region. Under their blows, the Ostrogoth tribal union and its leader fell. Ermanaric, seriously wounded in the battle, committed suicide. Most of the Ostrogoths fell under the rule of the Huns. The Visigoths, fleeing the Hun threat, asked the Roman authorities to allow them to settle on the territory of the empire as allies. Emperor Valentes concluded an agreement with the Visigoths, and they were settled in Moesia. But the Roman authorities did not fulfill their promises, did not provide them with food and treated the Visigoths as slaves. This led to a barbarian uprising, which was supported by the population of Thrace. In the Battle of Adrianople (378), the Goths were victorious and Emperor Valens was killed. The Roman commander Theodosius barely managed to push the Goths away from Constantinople. Theodosius, who soon became emperor, concluded a peace treaty with the Visigoths, allowing them to settle on the best lands of the Balkan Peninsula as allies of the empire. For some time, the Goths were in peaceful relations with the Romans, but soon, after the death of Theodosius (395), they, under the leadership of King Allaric, began to launch devastating raids and tried to capture Constantinople. The Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire Arcadius was forced to pay a large ransom to the Visigoths and provide the rich province of Illyria. In 401, Allaric undertook a campaign in Northern Italy, but was defeated by Roman troops commanded by the military leader Stilicho.

At the beginning of the 5th century. The Western Roman Empire had to repel an unprecedented onslaught of barbarians. In 404, a mass of Germans led by Radagaisus invaded Italy from the upper reaches of the Danube. They laid siege to Florence. Stilicho mobilized all his forces and defeated them. Many barbarians were captured and enslaved. To defend Italy, Stilicho was forced to withdraw Roman troops from Britain, where the Anglo-Saxons had already begun to invade. The situation in Italy became catastrophic after the execution of Stilicho, who was convicted by the Roman Senate on suspicion of treason. Huge hordes of Visigoths, replenished by people from other barbarian tribes, occupied Northern and Central Italy and approached Rome. Emperor Honorius took refuge in Ravenna. Allarik demanded a large ransom and the surrender of all slaves of barbarian origin. These demands were satisfied, but the emperor refused to give the barbarians the provinces of Dalmatia, Noricum and Venice, which they sought. Then Rome was subjected to a famine blockade. On August 24, 410 the city fell. Allaric's army entered Rome and subjected it to terrible plunder. These events made an indelible impression on contemporaries. The fall of the “eternal city” was considered not only the end of the Roman Empire, but also a show of light. Supporters of paganism blamed Christians for everything. The famous figure of the Christian church, the philosopher Augustine the Blessed, in his essay “On the City of God,” contrasted the perishing “earthly kingdom” with the eternal “kingdom of God,” the prototype of which he considered the Christian church.

Like Alaric, Ataulf longed to occupy a high position in the Roman state, but did not allow the thought that it could be replaced by an empire belonging to the Goths. He went to southern Gaul and found plenty of booty there and, in addition, managed to extort a substantial sum of money from the Roman government in order to maintain some semblance of peace. At the same time, Ataulf was preparing for his wedding to Galla Placidia, the emperor's half-sister. Thanks to this marriage, he entered the family of the ruling dynasty and was able to remain in the province on relatively legal grounds.

Meanwhile, at the imperial court, a worthy replacement was finally found for the executed Stilicho - a Roman named Constantius. He was one of the few people in the West who did not come from a barbarian tribe and was nevertheless capable of quite effectively commanding troops and even sometimes, under favorable circumstances, winning victories.

Constantius decided that the most profitable way to fight the German invaders would be to set one tribe against another. To this end, he convinced Ataulf that, as the emperor's half-brother by wife and an ally of Rome, he was obliged to lead his warriors against the Germans who had invaded Spain. Ataulf did so, perhaps because he was going to plunder the province himself, but in 415 he was killed. The leader's heir, Wallia, continued the war and practically destroyed the Alans, drove the Suevi to the northwestern part of the province, and pressed the remaining Vandals to the sea in southern Spain.

The Visigoths could have finished what they started and completely destroyed everyone who settled in Spain, but the main task for the one who sets his rivals against each other is to prevent one of them from achieving complete victory. The imperial court did not dare give the Visigoths the opportunity to finish off the rest of the Germans and persuaded them to leave Spain before the last of their opponents were completely defeated.

Vallia died in 419, and the Visigoths abandoned the liberated province and returned to Gaul under the command of his successor, Theodoric I.

Even so, the results of the campaign in which the Germans fought against their kinsmen had a disastrous effect on Rome. The Ostrogoths, led by Theodoric, settled in southwestern Gaul. As early as 418 (1171 AUC) they laid the foundations of what later became known as the Kingdom of Toulouse, named after the main city where the king's court was located. This was the first of the Germanic kingdoms, and, unlike the barbarian states that had previously arisen on the territory of the Empire, they did not recognize the supremacy of Rome. These were independent powers that appeared on the map for a long time (in one form or another, the kingdoms created by the Germans existed for three hundred years).

It must be said that these states were considered allies of the Empire and were usually on friendly terms with it. However, the southwest of Gaul now belonged to the Visigoths, and over time they little by little took possession of the entire west of Europe. Thus, the aristocracy of German landowners began to rule over the peasants of the once-occupied lands, who had long ago adopted Roman culture.

It is remarkable how quickly the Germans turned from fugitives to owners of their own independent lands. In 376, their tribes crossed the lower Danube to escape the Huns who were about to enslave them, and after some forty years they took about a thousand square miles of their territory from the Romans and became masters of this land under the rule of their own king, Theodoric I, and the emperor of the West was forced to recognize him as his equal.

In Spain, the Vandals, exhausted and beaten during the frantic attack of the Visigoths, had difficulty holding on at the southernmost tip of the province, but fortunately this very circumstance suggested to them the best way out of the situation. They found lands where they lived in glory and power for another hundred years - the Roman part of Africa, which included the North African coast west of Egypt with its capital Carthage.

These places gave a lot to Christian history: adherents of Puritan heresies (such as Montanism and Donatism) were based here, and such writers of the early Christian era as Tertullian and Cyprian were from here. Now, towards the end of that part of history which belonged entirely to Rome, the greatest of the Church Fathers, Aurelius Augustine, was born here in 354. His family lived in a small African town about 150 miles west of Carthage. Augustine's mother was a Christian, and his father was a pagan, and he himself did not immediately decide what religion he wanted to profess. In his youth he leaned towards a new sect of people who called themselves Manichaeans after their founder, Mani, who was born in Persia in 215.

Mani created a religion in many ways similar to Mithraism, and he, in turn, borrowed from the Persian religions the concept of two equal forces: good and evil (the Jews themselves borrowed the idea of ​​​​such dualism at a time when they lived under the rule of the Persian empires, only after this, Satan, or the Prince of Darkness, becomes the adversary of the Lord God in the holy books of the Jews, but the difference between them and the Manichaeans is that neither the Jews nor the Christians who came later considered Satan equal to God either in power or in importance).

To the Persian dualism Mani added a strict morality, borrowed from Christians and Jews, so that, despite all the persecution at home, the religion spread throughout the Roman Empire just before Christianity received official recognition. Diocletian treated the Manichaeans with the deepest suspicion, because he believed that they could be agents of Persia. In 297, for these reasons, he began a campaign against this sect - the same as six years later against the Christians. However, none of them brought the expected result to the emperor.

For some time, the legalization of Christianity helped the Manichean religion spread, but after a while it became clear that the emperors gave preference to Christianity or Arianism. Heresies could flourish at a time when all Christians were powerless and persecuted, but in the new situation they faced much greater difficulties, since they were also persecuted by fellow religionists. Thus, many followers of the sects chose to abandon their beliefs and turn to Manichaeism.

There is something dramatic about the cosmic clash between the forces of evil and the forces of good. Men and women who supported what they considered to be good felt themselves to be participants in a universal battle and saw in their opponents the supporters of everything evil that is on earth, and, despite their temporary advantage, believed that they were doomed to final defeat. For those who looked at the world as a huge conspiracy (some believed that everything around was under the control of evil people or forces), Manichaeism was especially attractive.

By the time of Augustine's youth, this sect had reached its peak, and the young man succumbed to its influence. In addition, he was very interested in Neoplatonism, and he read the works of Plotinus with great interest. However, as it turned out, the passion for both was just steps in the development of the future theologian. An endless search for truth, coupled with the influence of a strong and believing mother, eventually led him to Christianity. In 384, Augustine went to Milan (at that time the capital and religious center of the Western Empire), and Bishop Ambrose of Milan converted him. In 387, the young man finally received baptism.

Augustine returned to Africa and in 395 became bishop of Hippo, a small seaport north of where he was born. Here he lived for thirty-four years, and thanks to this, the town, which otherwise would have remained unknown to anyone (the only remarkable thing was that it was perhaps where the historian Suetonius was born three centuries earlier), is known throughout the Christian world.

Augustine's letters were distributed throughout the empire, books were compiled from his sermons, and, in addition, he himself wrote many works devoted to various issues of theology. The theologian firmly fought against the various heresies that flourished in Africa, and believed (perhaps largely due to his youthful delusions) in the original sinfulness of the entire human race. In his opinion, every individual was born with the stain of “original sin” from the very time Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command in the Garden of Eden. This stain could only be washed away by baptism, and every child who died without it was doomed to eternal damnation. In addition, he believed in “destiny,” a divine plan that has existed since the beginning of time, guiding every stage of human history and unchanging. According to Augustine, everything that could happen was originally intended by the Creator.

Shortly after he was ordained bishop, Augustine wrote a book called Confessions, a very personal and apparently truthful autobiography in which he did not forget to mention the sins of his youth. This book has not lost popularity to this day.

After the sack of Rome by Alaric, Augustine wrote another book: a great work called “On the City of God,” designed to protect Christianity from new attacks of the pagans. They said that Rome achieved world power and was never overthrown as long as it maintained faith in the gods of its ancestors, and their dissatisfaction with the appearance of new shrines led to barbarians breaking into the city. They asked: “Where was your Christian God and why could he not defend his capital?”

Augustine went through all the history known to him, proving that all states experienced ups and downs and that this was part of a single divine plan. Rome was no exception: everything that rises must eventually collapse. However, the theologian noted, when the Germans plundered the city, they treated the residents gently and did not touch religious shrines, and the pagan gods could not do the same for their fans. In any case, he concluded, the decline of Rome is only a prelude to the creation of the last city - the heavenly City of God, which will never be destroyed, but will stand as the magnificent completion of the Creator's plan.

One of Augustine's students was Paul Orosius, born in Tarragona, Spain. At the request of his teacher, he wrote a book on world history, which he called “History against the Pagans” and dedicated to Augustine. He also tried to prove that the Roman Empire fell due to the sins of the pagan era and that Christianity did not destroy it, but, on the contrary, helped save what remained.

Augustine finished his great book in 426 and spent the rest of his life witnessing even worse troubles than those that had come before: the troubles that the intrigues of the court in Ravenna brought to the state, which led to the fact that the Vandals from the southern tip of Spain came to Africa .

Honorius died in 423 (1176 AUC) in the same place, in Ravenna, after twenty-eight years of inglorious rule, which became catastrophic for the Empire. He was not bothered by the fact that during this time Rome was sacked and several provinces floated from his hands: this man was and remained a complete nonentity.

Honorius's general, Constantius, married his half-sister Galla Placida, widow of Ataulf the Visigoth, and for a time became Constantius III, Lord of the West. It was as if some kind of curse lay on this part of the Empire: strong rulers quickly died, but nonentities continued to live. Seven months after his election, Constantius III died, and when Honorius followed him two years later, his son succeeded to the throne.

The boy, who ruled under the name Valentinian III, was only six years old; he was the grandson of Theodosius and, on his mother’s side, the great-grandson of Valentinian I. Because of his age, the emperor did not mean anything in political life, and intrigues swirled around for the right to influence his decisions. Of course, in this matter, the right of primacy belonged to his mother, and therefore the only question was who could influence her. Two generals, Flavius ​​Aetius and Boniface, fought for this right. The first, most likely, came from some barbarian tribe; in any case, he spent several years as a hostage with Alaric, and later several more years with the Huns, so this had some influence on him. In 424 he entered Italy at the head of an army consisting of barbarians, including the Huns (however, it should be noted that at that time all the soldiers were barbarians), and took the place that remained with him throughout his life.

Despite the fact that Boniface was an equally capable commander, Aetius completely eclipsed him. The military leader was made the ruler of Africa and thus removed from Ravenna, completely removed from political life. Aetius was able to fully influence the emperor's mother without fear of rivals.

In Africa, Boniface realized the disadvantage of his position and thought about uprising. In fear of completely losing his political influence, he was ready to use any weapon to crush the enemy and made a terrible mistake: he called the barbarians to his aid.

The closest he could turn to were the vandals. At that time they were still in the south of Italy and their position was so precarious that, as Boniface correctly judged, they would be glad to go into his service. He did not and could not have foreseen that the tribe had just chosen a new leader, Geiseric, who was already about forty at that time. This man turned out to be one of the most remarkable personalities of that time.

In 428 (1181 AUC), Gaiseric accepted Boniface's offer, and with the help of the fleet he provided, about 80 thousand Vandals crossed to the African coast. Despite this, Gaiseric had no intention of putting himself in the position of a mercenary when a huge continent lay at his feet.

The situation favored the Vandal leader. The hilly and desert regions of Mauritania and Numidia were home to local tribes who never fully submitted to the Roman governors who ruled from the coastal cities. In addition, there were Donatists and other heretics, dissatisfied with the severity of Bishop Augustine and ready to unite with the Arian barbarians against the rule of Christians.

Boniface realized his mistake and made peace with the imperial court (at that time Aetius was in Gaul). However, by that time, Geiseric's warriors had already flooded Africa, with the exception of a few coastal cities: Carthage, Hippo and Kirta (the latter was located a hundred miles west of the bishop's residence).

Gaiseric besieged Hippo, which held out for two years due to the fact that supplies could be delivered there by sea. For the first time in a long time, the united Eastern and Western Empires jointly supported the city, but this led to nothing, since both armies sent by Boniface were defeated by Geiseric on the coast of Africa. In 431, Hippo fell, but his bishop, Augustine, did not see it. He died during the siege.

Boniface returned to Italy and there faced his eternal enemy, Aetius, in battle. He managed to win, but soon after the end of the battle the commander died from his wounds.

In 435, Geiseric concluded an agreement recognizing the African kingdom of the Vandals with the imperial court in Ravenna and thus strengthened his position. The Romans had long craved this peace, since Egypt was the main imperial supplier of grain, and from their point of view, they could let anyone rule Africa as long as the supply continued.

According to the terms of the treaty, Geiseric undertook not to touch Carthage (which had not yet been conquered). The king agreed - but only as long as it was beneficial to him. In 439 (1192 AUC) he went with his soldiers to Carthage, captured it and made it his capital, the base for a fleet that made it the terror of the Mediterranean for twenty years.

While the Vandals captured the south of the empire and the Visigoths were firmly established in its western provinces, another great threat loomed from the north. The Huns began to migrate west again.

The campaign began almost a hundred years ago, and during this time they advanced from Central Asia to the plains north of the Black Sea, pushed the Visigoths into the territory of the Roman Empire and began their long offensive that brought Western Europe to the brink of disaster.

While the Goths and Vandals were gaining victory, the Huns were relatively quiet. They carried out predatory raids on the borders of the empire, in one place or another, but did not try to invade its borders. This was partly because the Eastern Empire was better protected than the Western: after Arcadius died in 408, his seven-year-old son, Theodosius II (or, as he was also called, Theodosius the Younger), ascended the throne. Having reached adulthood, he turned out to be a stronger ruler than his father was, and in addition, he was distinguished by charm and goodwill, which gained him popularity among the people. During his long reign, which lasted forty years, the position of the Eastern Empire stabilized somewhat. He expanded Constantinople and strengthened its defenses, opened new schools and compiled state laws into a book called the Code of Theodosius in his honor.

The Persians (old enemies, for a time forgotten by the threat of invasion by northern barbarians) were repulsed during two relatively successful wars, and while the western borders of the empire were constantly tested, the eastern ones remained inviolable.

Everything went well until the moment when two brothers, Attila and Bleda, became the leaders of the Hun tribe. The former, always dominant in this alliance, immediately launched a fearsome raid towards Rome and thus forced Theodosius to agree to pay a tribute of 700 pounds of gold for each year of peace.

Attila kept his promise and did keep the peace, but for a very short time, which he used to increase the power of his army and send his horsemen to conquer the Slavs who lived on the plains of Central Europe, closer to the east. In addition, he sent his troops to the west, and they invaded Germany, which was greatly weakened and depopulated due to the fact that many people had moved to the west of the Empire.

Western pressure from the Huns forced several more Germanic tribes to retreat and cross the Rhine. These were the Burgovids, individual detachments of which took part in the Suevian offensive. Now, in 436-437, separate groups of Burgundians again went to Gaul and, after the defeat inflicted on them by Aetius dashed their dreams of further conquests, settled in the south-eastern part of the province.

In addition to the Burgundians, the Huns also drove the Franks from their homes. A hundred years ago they tried to move to Gaul, but Julian defeated their troops so thoroughly that no such attempts have been made since then. Now they occupied the northeastern part of Gaul, but the Roman commander managed to stop their approach.

In 440, another group of Germanic tribes: the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who formerly lived north and northeast of the Franks in what is now Denmark and West Germany, were forced to cross the sea. They invaded Britain, which had again fallen into barbarism after the departure of the Roman legions, and in 449 the first Jute settlement appeared in modern Kent (in the southeast of the island). Over the centuries after this, the Anglo-Saxons gradually settled in the north and west of Britain, suppressing the fierce resistance of the local tribes - the Celts. Eventually, some of them moved to the northwestern coast of Gaul and founded the state that later became known as Brittany.

In 445 (1198 AUC) Bleda died, and Attila, deprived of his restraining influence, became the absolute ruler of a vast empire stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Rhine. Its borders completely repeated the northern borders of the Roman state. The military leader decided to pursue a more active policy and invaded the Eastern Empire, whose rulers had so far managed to buy him off with a ton of gold a year (the size of the tribute had recently increased).

Theodosius II died in 450 (1203 AUC), and the throne of the Empire was inherited by his sister Pulcheria. She understood that she could not cope with many difficulties without male support, and therefore she married Marcian, a Thracian, although not noble, but distinguished by his ability to command armies.

Such changes in the composition of the government made themselves felt almost immediately: when Attila sent for the annual tribute, he was refused and invited to immediately start a war.

The Hun commander refused to accept Marcian's challenge. He was not going to start a battle with an experienced commander who could cause a lot of trouble when in the west lay the lands ruled by a weak emperor. There is a legend that the sister of Valentinian III, Honoria, who was imprisoned for unseemly acts, secretly sent Attila her ring and invited him to come and demand her hand. This could serve as a pretext for the Hun leader to launch an invasion, which he had already been planning for a long time.

Almost immediately after Marcian became emperor and sent him a challenge to which he did not answer, Attila was ready to cross the Rhine and enter Gaul.

For a whole generation the province had been the stage on which battles were fought between Aetius, who represented the empress, and various Germanic tribes. The commander worked miracles: he managed to keep the Visigoths in the southwest, the Burgundians in the southeast, the Franks in the northeast and the Bretons in the northwest. The bulk of Central Gaul still belonged to Rome. Aetius is sometimes called “the last Roman” for these victories, because the Empire was no longer able to win them.

The situation changed: it was not the Germans fleeing the invasion of the Huns who came to meet the commander, but the Huns themselves. When Attila crossed the Rhine with his troops in 451 (1204 AUC), Aetius was forced to enter into an alliance with Theodoric I, king of the Vandals. Meanwhile, the Franks and Burgundians also realized the danger and began to flock to the aid of the Roman army.

Two armies met in Northern Gaul: one under the command of Attila, which included reinforcements from among the warriors of the Germanic tribes conquered by the Huns (in particular, the Ostrogoths), and the other under the command of Aetius, consisting of Visigoths. They collided in a place called Catalau, a certain plain named after the Celtic tribe that lived there. The main city of this area was called Chalons (it was about ninety miles from Paris), and thus the battle that took place between the Gothic armies has two names: the Battle of Chalons or the Battle of the Catalaunian Plain, but in any case it should be noted that here the battle took place between related tribes.

Aetius positioned his troops on the left flank, and the Visigoths on the right. His weaker allies found themselves in the center, where, according to the commander, the main blow should have fallen (Attila was always in the center of his troops). And so it happened. The Huns struck head-on and made their way forward, both wings closed around them, surrounded them and killed them.

If the Roman commander had set himself the task of finishing this battle with dignity, the Huns would have been completely destroyed and their leader killed, but Aetius was always more of a politician than a military leader, and he reasoned that the Visigoths should not be allowed to complete what they started and achieve complete victory over the enemy . The old king Theodoric died in the battle, and here Aetius saw a chance to weaken his allies. He had the king's son, Thorismund, as a hostage in case the Visigoths decided to go over to the side of their relatives, and the commander, informing him of his father's death, offered to take his army and rush home so that no one would get ahead of the heir and took the throne. The disappearance of the Visigoths made it possible for Attila, along with the remnants of his army, to escape from the battlefield, but now Aetius could be sure that his recent allies would immediately get involved in a small civil war. His calculations turned out to be correct: Thorismund became king, but less than a year later he died at the hands of his younger brother, and he sat on the throne under the name of Theodoric II.

This dubious affair at Chalons did keep Attila from conquering Gaul, but it did not stop the advance of the Huns and thus does not deserve the honor of being called a “decisive victory,” as historians tend to believe.

Attila reorganized his army, gathered his strength and in 452 invaded Italy, under the pretext that Honoria provided him with, offering to marry her. He besieged Aquileia, a city on the northern coast of the Adriatic, and after three months he captured and destroyed it. Some of the local inhabitants fled to save their lives in the marshy areas to the west, and historians say that this was the beginning of the settlement that later became known as Venice.

Italy found itself defenseless against the nomads, who boasted that “grass will never grow where the hooves of our horses have gone.” The priests proclaimed them a weapon with which the Lord punishes sinners, or “the scourge of God.”

No one stopped Attila from approaching Rome with his army. Valentinian III took refuge in Ravenna, just as Honorius had done in his time in fear of Alaric. The only one who could resist the horde of nomads was Bishop Leo of Rome, elevated to this rank in 440. For his deeds, historians added the title Great to his name.

That the Roman see at that time became the undisputed leader in the Western ecclesiastical world was not entirely due to him. The transfer of the capital from Milan to Ravenna undermined the authority of the local bishop, and the formation of barbarian kingdoms in Gaul, Spain and Africa reduced the influence of other clergy.

The title “papa” meaning “father” in many languages ​​belonged to all priests. During the late Roman Empire, bishops, and especially the most influential of them, began to be called this way.

When Leo was Bishop of Rome, people in the West began to address him as “Pope,” giving this word a special meaning. It became commonly used, and therefore he is considered the founder of the institution of the papacy.

Leo certainly participated in all the religious disputes of his time and did not hesitate to behave as if he were the head of the entire church. This opinion was conveyed to everyone else; the pope showed his power by launching severe repressions against the Manichaeans, and thus organized a campaign that ended their attempts to argue with Christianity for the right to control the hearts and souls of people (the religion did not die, but was forced underground and gave rise to many heresies that arose in period of the Middle Ages. Its influence was especially noticeable in the south of France).

By his actions towards Attila, Leo further increased his prestige. In the absence of political leaders, Rome had to rely only on the help of its bishop, and this help came: with unparalleled courage, the pope, along with his retinue, went north to meet the leader of the Huns. The meeting took place 250 miles north of Rome, on the Po River. Leo appeared in all the regalia of his dignity and, with all possible solemnity, announced to Attila that he must forget about the idea of ​​attacking the holy city of Rome.

According to legend, Leo's firmness, majestic appearance and aura of papacy confused the military leader, aroused awe (or sacred fear) in him and forced him to turn back. After all, it should not be forgotten that Alaric died shortly after the sack of Rome. Perhaps the pope backed up his words with something more significant: a large ransom for refusing the hand of Honoria, and gold turned out to be no less a serious argument than the fear of the Lord.

In 453 (1206 AUC) Attila left Italy and returned to his camp, where he married, although he still maintained a huge harem. After a noisy celebration, he retired to his tent and died that same night under mysterious circumstances.

His empire was divided among his many sons, but it soon disappeared under the onslaught of the Germans, who rebelled the moment they heard about the death of the Hun leader. In 454 they defeated the nomads and scattered their troops. The threat of invasion has passed.

Not long after this did Attila's great opponent live. From the point of view of the imperial court, their commander had been lucky for too long and too much. First he defeated his rival, Boniface, then the enemy of the empire, Attila, and in the meantime he managed to keep numerous Germanic tribes in obedience. The army was blindly loyal to its commander, and he was accompanied everywhere by hordes of barbarian bodyguards.

The worthless emperor had reached maturity and had already been on the throne for a quarter of a century solely thanks to the military abilities of his commander, but he did not want to be relegated to the sidelines. He did not like the fact that he had to agree to arrange the wedding of his own daughter with the son of Aetius, and when a rumor spread that the military leader wanted to give him the throne, Valentinian III believed it as easily as his uncle Honorius believed similar fabrications regarding Stilicho in his time . Moreover, to some extent, Aetius himself predetermined his own end, since, out of arrogance and complacency, he neglected the necessary precautions.

In September 454, he came to a meeting with the emperor in order to finalize the terms of the marriage between their children, and did not take his guard with him. The issue under discussion only confirmed Valentinian's suspicions. Suddenly he drew his sword and attacked Aetius. This was the signal - at the same moment the courtiers surrounded the commander and instantly chopped him into pieces.

Betrayal did not in any way help Valentinian find peace. The incident not only made him extremely unpopular in the empire, which hoped for the protection of an experienced commander, but also led to death as surely as if he had committed suicide instead of murder. Six months later, in March 455 (1208 AUC), two men who had once been Aetius's personal bodyguards waylaid the emperor and hacked him to death.

Valentinian was the last male ruler in the line of Valentinian I. The last in this line was Pulcheria, the wife of Emperor Marcian. She died in 453, and this ended the dynasty, whose members ruled the state for almost a hundred years. Her husband survived her by four years.

In both parts of the Empire new rulers now had to be chosen.

The most powerful man in Constantinople was the German Aspar, commander of the barbarian troops guarding the capital. He could easily become an emperor, but he understood that, as an Arian, he could not count on the full support of the population. The impending clash with the opposition was not worth the effort, and he decided to enthrone some insignificant person professing Catholicism, and through him rule the state. Aspar's choice fell on Leo of Thracia, an elderly and respected military leader. A side effect of this election was a change in the priority for the coronation of the emperor: at one time this required the consent of the Senate, then the army, and now it was the turn of the church. Leo I received his purple diadem from the hands of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and from then on it became the privilege of the high priest.

Like Marcian before, this commander did much more than was expected of him. First of all, he did not agree to become Aspar’s puppet and from the very first day he tried to strengthen his position. To this end, the new emperor replaced the palace guard, which consisted of Germans, with natives of the Isaurian mountains, a tribe from the east of Asia Minor. This change meant that he no longer had to fear death at the hands of his own bodyguards if he crossed Aspar's path. The emperor's safety was guaranteed by the fact that he gave his daughter to the leader of the Isaurians, who took the Greek name Zenon.

This key maneuver symbolized the divergence in the history of the Eastern and Western Empires: while the West had become increasingly Germanic since the death of Theodosius I, the opposite process had taken place in the East. After the murder of Rufinus, it became increasingly difficult for the Germans to act as masters of the country, and during the reign of Leo I they were increasingly displaced by the Isaurians and other tribes who came from beyond the borders of the state. Thus, a national army was formed that could defend itself against an internal enemy and, for the next thousand years, helped the East to live more or less peacefully.

After the death of Valentinian III, the Roman patrician Petronius Maximus ascended the throne of the Western Empire. In order to give his election a semblance of legitimacy, he forced the widow of his predecessor, Eudoxia, to become his wife. According to legend, she refused this party because, firstly, she despised the middle-aged emperor, and secondly, she suspected that he was involved in the murder of her first husband.

At this time, the most influential person in the West was the elderly Geiseric, the king of the Vandals. He was over sixty, and under his leadership the tribe had ruled Africa for about a quarter of a century, but its belligerence had not waned at all. Other powerful rulers, his contemporaries, Attila and Theodoric, were dead, but he still remained in power.

Moreover, in the 5th century, he was the only barbarian king to build his own fleet, and although he could not become the sole ruler of Africa, as was the case with the Romans (local tribes regained Mauritania and part of Numidia), his troops could reach anywhere by sea . Geiseric owned Corsica, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands and even part of the coast of Sicily. He carried out raids along the coastal strip of the mainland, now in the east, now in the west, and during his lifetime, it would seem that the ancient empire of Carthage was revived. Now Rome faced it in the same way as it had seven hundred years ago, but it was not the former powerful and invincible city. Not only were the Romans themselves unable to oppose anything to the powerful Vandal, but Empress Eudoxia herself invited Geiseric to attack the capital, describing its weakness and guaranteeing success. She probably tried to escape from her hated husband even at the cost of destroying her hometown.

Such an invitation did not need to be repeated to Geiseric twice. With the arrival of June 455 (1208 AUC), his ships appeared at the mouth of the Tiber. Emperor Petronius tried to escape, but died at the hands of the frightened inhabitants, who were trying to appease the conqueror in this way. Vandals entered the city unhindered.

Pope Leo tried to use his influence to influence Geiseric in the same way as he had influenced Attila, but this time the situation changed dramatically. The leader of the Huns was a pagan in whom it was not difficult to awaken religious awe with a solemn entrance, but for the Arian Geiseric the words of the Catholic bishop meant nothing. Forty-five years after Alaric, Rome was sacked for the second time. There was a certain bitter irony in this situation, because the conquerors came from Carthage, and it was not difficult to imagine the ghost of Hannibal, joyfully watching over the destruction of his longtime enemy.

Gaiseric was a practical man: he came for prey and was not going to cause senseless destruction or sadistically torment the population of the city. For two weeks, his warriors systematically combed the entire city and took away everything valuable that could be removed and taken with them to Carthage, so that Rome after their invasion remained poor, but virtually undamaged, as after the invasion of the barbarians of Alaric. The strangest thing is that the robbed Romans began to call the word “vandal” those who unwisely destroy everything around them, and the word in this meaning has survived to this day, although nothing like that, as we see, actually happened.

Among other things, Geiseric took with him the sacred vessels of the Jews, which Titus had transferred to Rome from the destroyed Temple almost four hundred years earlier. They also went to Carthage.

As for Eudoxia, she got what she deserved. Instead of returning her freedom and restoring her violated honor, the cold and unsentimental Geiseric took all her jewelry and sent her, along with both daughters, to Africa as captives.

The sack of Rome caused a surge of melancholy and speculation about historical justice, including among many historians of that time, in particular among Gaius Sollius Apollinaris Sidon. This Gaul was born in 430 and survived all stages of the decline of the Western Empire. He recalled how, according to the famous legend, Rome was created.

Romulus and Remus waited for a sign at dawn, and the second of them saw six eagles (or vultures), and the first saw twelve. The omen was more favorable for Romulus, and it was he who built the city.

In Roman history, there was a belief that these birds symbolized the centuries of the Empire. Thus, if Remus had become the founder of its capital, it would have existed for six hundred years, that is, until 153 BC. e. Around this time, Carthage was finally destroyed. The historian asked himself: would the Romans really have lost to Hannibal in the Battle of Cannae and then, over the next fifty years, would have died at the hands of their enemies?

Since the city was built by Romulus, he was given twelve centuries of life, one for each eagle he saw. This time ended in 447 (1200 AUC), and soon after that Geiseric came to destroy Rome (one would think that sooner or later the Eternal City would have perished at the hands of the Carthaginian). “Now, O Rome, you know what is destined for you,” wrote Sidon.

What remained of the western part of the Roman state was again fought over by two generals, each of whom had served under Aetius at one time. One of them was Marcus Avitus, who came from an old Gallic family, and the other was Ricimer, the son of the leader of the Suebi tribe.

Avitus, in his native province, pursued the same policy as his former superior, that is, he tried to use various barbarian tribes to save what remained of the Roman heritage. He entered into an alliance with the Visigoth king Theodoric II, who took advantage of the peace in Gaul to gather his troops in Spain. In 456 he began to expand his possessions into the territory of the Sueves. By that time, all of Spain already belonged to the Visigoths, they ruled all the lands from Brittany to Gibraltar, with the exception of the northern mountains of the province, where the remaining Suevi and the indigenous inhabitants of these places - the Basques - managed to maintain some semblance of independence.

Meanwhile, Avita was attracted by the idea that Geiseric had sacked Rome and left the throne of the Empire vacant. He received the consent in principle of the emperor of the eastern part of the state, Marcian, and had a powerful ally in the person of the head of the Visigoths, so that soon, already in 456, he became the ruler of the Western Empire.

Ricimer opposed him. A Svev by birth could not be pleased with a man who entered into an alliance with the Visigoths and helped them practically oust his relatives from Spain. This man’s dissatisfaction was worth taking into account: in the same year 456, he destroyed the Vandal fleet near Corsica, and everyone who realized the importance of the victory of Roman weapons over their hated neighbors idolized the commander. When Ricimer invited Avit to abdicate the throne, he had no choice but to obey. After this, for sixteen years the leader of the Sueves was the real ruler of Rome and removed or appointed emperors at will.

The first he crowned was Julius Valerius Majorian, who also fought under Aetius and was versed in military affairs. The agenda was a war against vandals, and the state needed such a person. As a result of this election, a group of Vandals who were plundering the Italian coast southeast of Rome were unexpectedly attacked by the emperor's soldiers and driven back to their ships in a fierce battle.

The first victory so inspired Majorian that he built his own ships to invade Africa, but to do this he needed the help of the Visigoth king. At first, Theodoric II, who knew about the fate of his longtime ally Avitus, refused. However, after the imperial troops defeated the Visigoths in Gaul, it seemed more reasonable to him to unite with them in the fight against the Vandals, just as his father had done eight years earlier in the battles with the Huns. Thus, Carthage had a combined fleet of Romans and Goths. Meanwhile, Geiseric did not doze. In 460, he attacked a shipyard containing unfinished ships of the imperial fleet and destroyed them, forcing Majorian to make peace and return ingloriously to Rome. After this, Ricimer decided that the emperor had ceased to be useful, and forced him to resign his crown. A few days later Majorian died, possibly from poison.

Leo I, the ruler of the Eastern Empire, refused to sanction the election of a new candidate to the throne. He became so strong that he thought about unifying the power under his own hand, as Theodosius I had done a hundred years ago. To do this, he needed to place a person on the Western throne who could be easily manipulated. Short negotiations with Ricimer led to the fact that this man became Antemius, the son-in-law of Emperor Marcian. In 467 (1220 AUC) he ascended the throne and secured his position by marrying his daughter to Ricimer, the real ruler of Rome.

Emperor Leo's next move was to send his own fleet against the Vandals. He wanted to finish the job started by Majorian, that is, to conquer Africa. In addition to fame, this would bring him additional power, and who knows what else. Leo built a huge fleet of 1,100 ships, capable of carrying a total of 100,000 men. With these forces he captured Sardinia and then landed his soldiers in Africa. It seemed that things would turn out badly for Geiseric, who was already about eighty years old at that time, but the years had not caused him to lose his military savvy, and he noticed that all these numerous ships were poorly guarded and were so crowded that they presented an excellent target. Late at night, fire ships approached the parking lot, and soon the fleet was in complete disarray. The Imperials had to urgently escape, and the entire expedition to the African coast failed.

Be that as it may, Leo I managed to benefit even from his defeat: he placed all the blame for what happened on his commander Aspar, and in 471 he executed him. Thus, German influence in the East came to an end.

In the West, Ricimer did approximately the same thing, that is, he blamed Anthemius for the failure of the entire operation, and in 472 he removed him, and then he himself chose another puppet, since his co-ruler was not in a position to set conditions. The new emperor was Antius Olybrius, who was married to Valentinian III's daughter Placidia and thus in some way related to the glory of Theodosius I. Be that as it may, both Olybrius and Ricimer died in the same year.

Thus, Leo I was free to choose a co-ruler to his liking, and he settled on the candidacy of his relative Julius Nepos. In 474, the emperor's plans were interrupted by death. He was never able to unite the power as he had intended; moreover, his grandson, the son of the general of the Isaurian bodyguards, died after being on the throne for only a few months. His father Zinon became the ruler of the Eastern Empire.

At that time, the borders of the state remained practically the same as they had been at the time of the death of Theodosius I, and were not far from those that existed three hundred and fifty years earlier under Hadrian. Things were worse with the Western Empire. In 466, Theodoric II, king of the Visigoths, was killed by his brother Eric, and under him the kingdom reached the peak of its power. The ruler published his version of Roman laws, adapted to the needs of the Goths, and thus laid the foundation for new legislation. Apparently, under the rule of the barbarians, who did not attach much importance to conventions, the local residents felt better than during the days of Roman rule. They were allowed to obey their own laws, their rights were respected, with the possible exception of property rights. The Goths took two-thirds of all land, livestock and slaves, so landowners naturally suffered from their invasion. Then, another reason for discontent was that the newcomers turned out to be zealous Arians, that is, heretics from the point of view of the Catholic inhabitants. However, over time it became clear that everything was not so scary.

The southeastern part of Gaul fell under the rule of the Burgundians, and now the borders of their lands coincided with the borders of the Visigothic state. The Anglo-Saxons were firmly entrenched in the southeast of Britain.

There was still an indigenous population in Northern Gaul. These people managed to form the kingdom of Soissons, named after a city located about sixty miles northwest of Paris. They were ruled by Syagrius, the last ruler of Gaul, who at least to some extent could be considered a Roman, even though he rebelled against the metropolis and declared his state independent.

Geiseric still ruled in Africa. He died only in 477, having lived to the age of eighty-seven. For almost half a century, the king of the Vandals won victories and ruled the country with a firm hand. He was the most successful and capable of all the barbarians who destroyed the Roman Empire in the 5th century. By the time of his death, only Italy itself and Illyricum remained of all the possessions in the hands of the emperor.

After the death of Ricimer, the remnants of the lands in the West went to another military leader, Orestes. He forced Julius Nepos to abdicate and replaced him with his son, Romulus Augustus. This happened in 475.

The name of the new ruler could be called significant in its own way: its first part belonged to the man who founded Rome, and the second to the one who created the Empire. However, his election did not bring anything good to the state: at that time the boy was only fourteen years old and his name was soon shortened so that it began to sound like Romulus Augustulus (Romulus, the little emperor). It is this form that has been preserved in relation to him in history.

Almost immediately after the coronation, Romulus began to have friction with the barbarians who served the Empire, so it lasted only a little less than a year. The Germans were haunted by the idea that in such provinces as Gaul, Spain and Africa, their relatives ruled, and did not serve the rulers. They claimed a third of Italy's territory.

Orestes, the true master of the country, refused them this, and the mercenaries gathered under the command of the military leader Odoacer (who came from the Heruli tribe) to take the entire Empire by force, since they were not willing to voluntarily allocate part of it. Orestes had to retreat to Northern Italy, where he was captured and executed.

On September 4, 476, Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate, and his further fate is unknown. Odoacer did not bother to create a puppet ruler, so the western part of the state did not have an emperor until the famous Charlemagne (Charlemagne) appeared. However, the state he ruled had nothing in common with the Roman Empire of the times of Augustus and Trajan.

English-speaking historians refer to 476 (1229 AUC) as the year of the fall of the Roman Empire, but this is incorrect and no one thought so at the time. It still existed and was one of the most powerful states in Europe with its capital in Constantinople, where Zenon ruled. The tendency to ignore the history of the eastern part of the country has arisen because modern Britons enjoy exclusively the legacy of the Western Empire.

From the point of view of the contemporaries of Romulus Augustulus, despite the fact that the state was partially occupied by the Germans, theoretically all these lands remained imperial possession. Often German rulers bore the titles of patricians, or consuls, and considered this a great honor.

Zeno himself never recognized Augustulus as his co-ruler. He considered the boy a usurper, and the rightful owner of the throne was his predecessor, Julius Nepos, who, after the deposition, fled from Rome and ended up in Illyricum, where he played the role of Emperor of the West, recognized by Zeno.

Until 480 (1233 AUC), that is, until the death of Nepos, in a formal sense the Western Empire continued to exist. Only after his assassination did the throne become empty, from the point of view of its eastern neighbor. After this, again theoretically, the Empire became united again, as in the times of Constantine and Theodosius, and Zenon became its sole ruler. He granted Odoacer the title of patrician, and he in return recognized him as emperor and called himself only the king of Italy, which belonged to the Germans.

After the murder of Julius Nepos, Odoacer invaded Illyricum under the pretext that he wanted to avenge him, and indeed did so, killing one of the culprits, but at the same time capturing the province. From Zinon's point of view, this made him too strong. He began to look for a way to neutralize the threat that found itself uncomfortably close to his borders. In search of a way to get rid of Odoacer, Zeno turned to the Ostrogoths.

A hundred years before the events described, the Ostrogoths fell under the rule of the advancing horde of the Huns, while their fellow Visigoths managed to avoid this fate by taking refuge in the territory of the Roman Empire. For eighty years after this, the former were in a subordinate position and, in particular, fought on the side of the nomads in the battle on the Catalaunian plain. After the death of Attila and the disappearance of the Hun Empire, the Ostrogoths were freed from captivity and settled south of the Danube, periodically raiding the lands of the Eastern Empire, which greatly worried the Constantinople government. In 474, a strong leader named Theodoric became their leader.

It seemed to Zinon that by concluding an alliance with this man, he would kill two birds with one stone: it would be possible to send him to fight with Odoacer and thus, at a minimum, remove the Ostrogoths away from their lands, and in the meantime, both opponents would be greatly weakened in the outbreak of war .

In 488 (1241 AUC), Theodoric, with the blessing of Zeno, went to the West. He entered Italy, defeated the enemy in two successful battles, and by 489 was already besieging Ravenna, where Odoacer had taken refuge. The city resisted for a long time, but the besiegers were patient, and in 493 (1246 AUC) it had to surrender. Contrary to the terms of surrender, the leader of the Ostrogoths killed his captured enemy with his own hands. Theodoric became the undisputed monarch of Italy, Illyricum and the lands north and west of Italy and ruled from Ravenna. Anastasius, who ascended the throne of Constantinople after the death of Zeno, confirmed his claims, so that for the next generation the leader of the Ostrogoths ruled his kingdom, and so gently and wisely, with such concern for the prosperity of his possessions, that he earned the title of Great.

Thus, the first quarter of the 6th century was very unusual for Italy: compared to the terrible times that followed the invasion of Alaric, the Italians under the rule of Theodoric lived as if in paradise. In fact, since the time of Marcus Aurelius (that is, for three hundred years) they have not had a better ruler.

The emperor tried to preserve Roman traditions. Although his Goths took over most of the public lands, they were careful to treat private owners as fairly as possible. The Romans were not harmed in any way, and they could hold public office in the same way as the Germans had this right during the heyday of the empire. Corruption among officials was reduced to a minimum, taxes were reduced, ports were improved, and swamps were drained. In peacetime, agriculture began to develop again. Rome, largely undamaged by the two invasions, lived quietly and the Senate continued to be respected. Despite the fact that Theodoric himself was an Arian, he was lenient towards Catholicism. (In the domains of the Vandals and Visigoths, also Arian, Catholics were persecuted.)

It even seemed that the light of Roman culture could once again shine over the world. In 490, Cassiodorus, a famous guardian of literary monuments, was born. At the court of Theodoric and his heirs, he served as treasurer and devoted his life to the acquisition of knowledge. He founded two monasteries, the inhabitants of which were engaged in storing and copying books, and he himself wrote multi-volume works on history, theology and grammar. Without a doubt, if the history of the Goths written by him had survived to this day, it would have been a most valuable source, but, unfortunately, it has disappeared.

Boethius, born in 480, was the last of the ancient philosophers. In 510 he served as consul, and his sons filled the same role in 522. Because of this, he was in the height of bliss, since, despite the fact that these titles were no more than an insignificant formality, it seemed to him that Rome was the same strong as ever. Unfortunately, this happiness ended when, towards the end of his life, Theodoric, who had become suspicious with age, imprisoned Boethius on suspicion of having connections with the Emperor of the East. (He was ultimately executed.) It is believed that Boethius was a Christian, but this cannot be judged from his philosophical works: they are imbued with a stoicism more typical of the heyday of the pagan empire. The writer translated some of Aristotle's works into Latin and wrote commentaries on Cicero, Euclid and other authors. By the beginning of the Middle Ages, the original works of these scientists had not survived, so Boethius's comments turned out to be the last ray of ancient knowledge that illuminated the approaching darkness.

In the 6th century, one could still hope that Rome would be able to extinguish the effect of the barbarian invasions, the indigenous inhabitants would mix with the Germans and together recreate a united empire, stronger than ever. Unfortunately, religion prevented this. The Germans were Arians and could not mix with the Catholics the way two peoples can mix with each other.

In North-Eastern Gaul, the leader of the Franks, who had hitherto lived relatively peacefully, became a warlike and energetic leader named Clovis. In 481, when elected, he was only fifteen years old, but during the preparation for the war he managed to become a twenty-year-old youth, fully ready to carry out his plans of conquest. Clovis's first target was the kingdom of Soissons, ruled by Syagrius. In 486 (1239 AUC) it was attacked, defeated, and its king killed. Thus, the last piece of territory that was once part of the Western Roman Empire and inhabited by its indigenous inhabitants fell under the onslaught of the barbarians.

The long period of the Empire's existence came to an end. One thousand two hundred and thirty-nine years have passed since a village called Rome was built on the banks of the Tiber, the Romans managed to become the greatest nation of the Ancient World, create a state that united hundreds of millions of people, and legislation that outlived it. His influence even affected the East. Now, in 486 (1239 AUC), there was not a single ruler in the West who could rightfully call himself heir to Roman traditions.

In truth, the eastern part of the empire remained virtually untouched, and there were still great rulers there, but this part of the world disappeared from the horizon of the Western world. Europe had a role to play in the slow development of a new civilization, but who would be its creator? The Franks and Goths began this process and were later followed by the Lombards, Normans and Arabs. Even the former Eastern Empire would eventually succumb to their influence, but for now the Franks were the rightful heirs of Rome. The victory of Clovis in Soissons became the first babble of a new empire, after the creation of which a new culture - Frankish - was to come and develop gradually, from the heyday of the Middle Ages to the present day.

Notes:

Fire ships are small vessels filled with large amounts of flammable material. They are set on fire and sent towards a concentration of enemy ships with the aim of causing a fire on them.