Throughout the political history of western Europe, there have been few
periods of such dramatic change as the fifth century. In 400 the borders of
the Roman empire in the west, by then distinct from the eastern empire
which was governed from Constantinople, stood reasonably firm. They
encompassed all of Europe south of the Antonine wall in Britain and the
Rhine and Danube rivers on the continent, extending eastwards of the
Danube’s confluence with the Drava; they also included a band of territory
along the African coast, stretching two-thirds of the way from the Straits
of Gibraltar to the Nile. But within a hundred years this mighty entity
had ceased to exist. North Africa had come under the power of groups
known as Vandals and Alans; Spain of Visigoths and Suevi; and Gaul
of Visigoths, Franks and Burgundians. The Romans had withdrawn from
Britain early in the century, leaving it exposed to attacks from the Irish, Picts
and Anglo-Saxons, while in Italy the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus,
was deposed in 476 by a general, Odovacer. The supplanter of Romulus
was himself deposed and murdered in 493 by Theoderic the Ostrogoth
(493–526), who established a powerful kingdom based on Italy. While the
empire had weathered the storms of the fifth century largely unscathed in
the east, in the west it had simply ceased to exist. Western Europe, one
might be excused for thinking, had moved decisively into a post-Roman
period, and the middle ages had begun.
However dramatic these events may have been, they did not constitute
a definitive parting of the ways between the west and what we may
now call the Byzantine east. Long-distance trade continued throughout
the Mediterranean and beyond, as research on African pots found across
a wide area is increasingly making clear.1 Consuls were being appointed
for the west in the year 500 and when, a few decades later, the western
consulship lapsed, some in the west still dated documents with reference
to the eastern consuls who continued to be appointed. TheMediterranean
was traversed by members of the intelligentsia and diplomats, such as a
legate of Theoderic who made twenty-five trips from Italy to Spain, Gaul,
Africa and Constantinople. The west was awash with doctors from the east,
among them Anthimius, who lived in Italy and wrote a fascinating book on
diet for a Frankish king in which he recommended the use of such foods as
leavened bread, beer and mead made with plenty of honey. Another eastern
doctor was Alexander of Tralles, brother of the well-known architect
Anthemius. Alexander practised medicine in Rome and his Therapeutica
was translated into Latin in the sixth century.2 On the other hand Priscian,
who was probably an African, was in Constantinople when he wrote what
were to become standard works on Latin grammar;3 we know that Africans
in Constantinople were renowned for their Latin accent, but reviled for
their poor Greek. Latin manuscripts were copied in Constantinople and
Greek ones in Ravenna, the Gothic capital in Italy. Furthermore, despite
the political changes in the west, the new rulers there were keen to represent
themselves as in some way subservient to the Roman emperors who
still ruled in Constantinople. Theoderic the Ostrogoth wrote to Emperor
Anastasius that ‘our kingdom is an imitation of yours . . . a copy of the only
empire’ and Sigismund the Burgundian informed him that, while he gave
the appearance of ruling his people, he believed himself to be merely the
soldier of the emperor.4 In these and many other respects, the post-Roman
west remained firmly part of the Roman world.
World History
