CHAPTER XIII WESTERN EUROPE DURING THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES, 476-962 A.D.1 Transition to the Middle 102. The Ostrogoths in Italy, 488-553 A.D. WE are not to suppose that the settlement of Germans within the Roman Empire ended with the deposition of Romulus Augustulus, near the close of the fifth century. The following centuries witnessed fresh invasions and the establishment of new Germanic states. The study of these troubled times leads us from the classical world to the world of medieval Europe, from the history of antiquity to the history of the Middle Ages. Ages The Ostrogoths under Theodoric The kingdom which Odoacer established on Italian soil did not long endure. It was soon overthrown by the Ostrogoths. At the time of the "fall" of Rome in 476 A.D. they occupied a district south of the middle Danube, which the government at Constantinople had hired them to defend. The Ostrogoths proved to be expensive and dangerous allies. When, therefore, their chieftain, Theodoric, offered to lead his people into Italy and against Odoacer, the Roman emperor gladly sanctioned the undertaking. Theodoric led the Ostrogoths women and children as well as warriors Ostrogothic invasion of Italy, 488493 A.D. across the Alps and came down to meet Odoacer and his soldiers in battle. After suffering several defeats, Odoacer shut himself up in the strong fortress of Ravenna. Theodoric could not capture the place and at last agreed to share with Odoacer the government of Italy, if the latter would surrender. The agreement was never carried into effect. When Theodoric entered Ravenna, he invited Odoacer to a great feast and at 1 Webster, Readings in Medieval and Modern History, chapter i, “Stories of the Lombard Kings"; chapter ii, "Charlemagne." its conclusion slew him in cold blood. Theodoric had now no rival in Italy. Though Theodoric gained the throne by violence and treachery, he soon showed himself to be, as a ruler, wise, broad-minded, and humane. He had lived as a youth in the 493-526 A.D. Theodoric, imperial court at Constantinople and there had king of Italy, become well acquainted with Roman ideas of law and order. Roman civilization impressed him; and he wished A two-storied marble building erected by Theodoric in imitation of a Roman tomb. The roof is a single block of marble, 33 feet in diameter and weighing more than 300 tons. Theodoric's body was subsequently removed from its resting place, and the mausoleum was converted into a church. not to destroy but to preserve it. Theodoric reigned in Italy for thirty-three years, and during this time the country enjoyed unbroken peace and prosperity. Theodoric's rule in Italy The enlightened policy of Theodoric was exhibited in many ways. He governed Ostrogoths and Romans with equal consideration. He kept all the old offices, such as the senatorship and the consulate, and by preference filled them with men of Roman birth. His chief counselors were Romans. A legal code, which he drew up for the use of Ostrogoths and Romans alike, contained only selections from Roman law. He was remarkably tolerant and, in spite of the fact that the Ostrogoths were Arians,' was always ready to extend protection to Catholic Christians. Theodoric patronized literature and gave high positions to Roman writers. He restored the cities of Italy, had the roads and aqueducts repaired, and so improved the condition of agriculture that Italy, from a wheat-importing, became a wheatexporting, country. At Ravenna, the Ostrogothic capital, Theodoric erected many notable buildings, including a palace, a mausoleum, and several churches. The remains of these structures are still to be seen. Theodoric's foreign policy But The influence of Theodoric reached far beyond Italy. He allied himself by marriage with most of the Germanic rulers of the West. His second wife was a Frankish princess, his sister was the wife of a Vandal chieftain, one of his daughters married a king of the Visigoths, and another daughter wedded a Burgundian king. Theodoric by these alliances brought about friendly relations between the various barbarian peoples. It seemed, in fact, as if the Roman dominions in the West might again be united under a single ruler; as if the Ostrogoths might be the Germanic people to carry on the civilizing work of Rome. no such good fortune was in store for Europe. Theodoric died in 526 A.D. The year after his death, a great emperor, Justinian, came to the throne at Constantinople. Justinian had no intention of abandoning to the Germans the rich provinces of Sicily and Italy. Although the Ostrogoths made a stubborn resistance to his armies, in the end they were so completely overcome that they agreed to withdraw from the Italian peninsula. The feeble remnant of their nation filed sadly through the passes of the Alps and, mingling with other barbarian tribes, disappeared from history. End of the kingdom, 553 A.D. 103. The Lombards in Italy, 568–774 A.D. The destruction of the Ostrogothic kingdom did not free Italy of the Germans. Soon after Justinian's death the country 1 See page 236. Invasion of Lombards was again overrun, this time by the Lombards. The name of these invaders (in Latin, Langobardi) may have been derived from the long beards that gave them such a feroItaly by the cious aspect. The Lombards were the last of the Germanic peoples to quit their northern wilderness and seek new homes in sunny Italy. They seized the territory north of the river Poa region ever since known as Lombardy and established their capital at Pavia. The Lombards afterwards made many settlements in central and southern Italy, but never succeeded in subduing the entire peninsula. The rule of the Lombards at first bore hardly on Italy, which they treated as a conquered land. In character they seem to Lombard have been far less attractive than their predecesrule in Italy sors, the Visigoths and Ostrogoths. Many of them were still heathen when they entered Italy and others were converts to the Arian1 form of Christianity. In course of time, however, the Lombards accepted Roman Catholicism and adopted the customs of their subjects. They even forgot their Germanic language and learned to speak Latin. The Lombard kingdom lasted over two centuries, until it was overthrown by the Franks.2 Results of the Lom bard invasion The failure of the Lombards to conquer all Italy had important results in later history. Sicily and the extreme southern part of the Italian peninsula, besides large districts containing the cities of Naples, Rome, Genoa, Venice, and Ravenna, continued to belong to the Roman Empire in the East. The rulers at Constantinople could not exercise effective control over their Italian possessions, now that these were separated from one another by the Lombard territories. The consequence was that Italy broke up into a number of small and practically independent states, which never combined into one kingdom until our own time. The ideal of a united Italy waited thirteen hundred years for its realization.3 1 See page 236. 2 See page 309. The modern kingdom of Italy dates from 1861-1870 A.D. |