Historical sources on the early medieval barbarian migrations

Extract A

"In the disastrous [catastrophic] period of the fall of the Roman empire, which may justly be dated from the reign of Valens, the happiness and security of each individual were personally attacked, and the arts and labours of ages were rudely defaced by the barbarians of Scythia [the steppe region north of the Black Sea] and Germany. The invasion of the Huns precipitated [drove forward onto] the provinces of the West the Gothic nation, which advanced, in less than forty years, from the Danube to the Atlantic, and opened a way, by the success of their arms, to the inroads [invasions] of so many hostile tribes more savage than themselves." 

Extract B

"The rise of a city, which swelled into an Empire, may deserve, as a singular prodigy [remarkable wonder], the reflection of a philosophic [thoughtful] mind. But the decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate [excessive] greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and, as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric [enormous structure] yielded to the pressure of its own weight. The story of its ruin is simple and obvious; and, instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted [survived] so long. The victorious legions, who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries [paid foreign soldiers], first oppressed the freedom of the republic, and afterwards violated the majesty of the purple [challenged the authority of the emperor]. The emperors, anxious for their personal safety and the public peace, were reduced to the base expedient [shameful method] of corrupting the discipline which rendered them alike formidable [threatening] to their sovereign [ruler] and to the enemy; the vigour of the military government was relaxed, and finally dissolved, by the partial institutions [unfair laws] of Constantine; and the Roman world was overwhelmed by a deluge [flood] of Barbarians." 

Extract C

"The empire of Rome was firmly established by the singular and perfect coalition [joining together] of its members. The subject nations, resigning [giving up] the hope, and even the wish, of independence, embraced the character of Roman citizens; and the provinces of the West were reluctantly torn by the Barbarians from the bosom of their mother-country. But this union was purchased by the loss of national freedom and military spirit; and the servile [completely obedient] provinces, destitute of [lacking] life and motion, expected their safety from the mercenary [paid foreign] troops and governors, who were directed by the orders of a distant court. The happiness of an hundred millions depended on the personal merit of one or two men, perhaps children, whose minds were corrupted by education, luxury, and despotic [tyrannical] power. The deepest wounds were inflicted on the empire during the minorities [the periods when the emperors were too young to rule] of the sons and grandsons of Theodosius; and, after those incapable princes seemed to attain the age of manhood, they abandoned the church to the bishops, the state to the eunuchs [powerful court officials], and the provinces to the Barbarians." 

Extract D

"The splendid days of Augustus and Trajan were eclipsed [overshadowed] by a cloud of ignorance; and the Barbarians subverted [overturned and destroyed] the laws and palaces of Rome. But the scythe, the invention or emblem [symbol] of Saturn [the Roman god of agriculture], still continued annually to mow the harvests of Italy: and the human feasts of the Laestrygons [man-eating giants from ancient Greek mythology] have never been renewed on the coast of Campania [the region around Naples in southern Italy]." 

Contextual information:

Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) was a British historian who spent approximately twenty years researching and writing his history of Rome's decline. He published the final three volumes in 1781, drawing on thousands of ancient Greek and Latin sources to analyse how and why the Roman Empire collapsed over several centuries. 

Bibliographical reference:

Gibbon, E. (1781). The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire (Vols. 2–3). W. Strahan & T. Cadell. Extract A: Vol. 2, Chapter XXVI; Extracts B–D: Vol. 3, Chapter XXXVIII. 

Copyright: Public domain. 

"Meanwhile the poor are being robbed, widows groan, orphans are trodden down, so that many, even persons of good birth, who have enjoyed a liberal [high-quality] education, seek refuge with the enemy to escape death under the trials of the general persecution [oppression]. They seek among the barbarians the Roman mercy, since they cannot endure the barbarous mercilessness they find among the Romans. Although these men differ in customs and language from those with whom they have taken refuge, and are unaccustomed too, if I may say so, to the nauseous [unpleasant] odor of the bodies and clothing of the barbarians, yet they prefer the strange life they find there to the injustice rife [widespread] among the Romans. So you find men passing over everywhere, now to the Goths, now to the Bagaudae [groups of poor farmers and escaped slaves who had rebelled against Roman rule], or whatever other barbarians have established their power anywhere, and they do not repent of [regret] their expatriation [leaving their homeland], for they would rather live as free men, though in seeming captivity, than as captives in seeming liberty. Hence the name of Roman citizen, once not only much valued but dearly bought, is now voluntarily repudiated [rejected] and shunned, and is thought not merely valueless, but even almost abhorrent [hateful]." 

Contextual information:

Salvian of Marseille (c. 400–470 CE) was a Christian priest living in what is now southern France during the barbarian invasions of the Western Roman Empire. He wrote On the Government of God around 440–450 CE as a direct response to the crisis unfolding around him, arguing that Rome's suffering was the result of widespread corruption and injustice within Roman society itself. 

Bibliographical reference:

Salvian of Marseille. On the government of God (E. M. Sanford, Trans., 1930). Columbia University Press. (Original work written c. 440–450 CE). Book V, Chapter 5, pp. 138–140. 

Copyright: Public domain.

Extract A

"We read that on their first migration the Goths dwelt in the land of Scythia [the steppe region north of the Black Sea] near Lake Maeotis [the Sea of Azov, an inland sea connected to the Black Sea]. On the second migration they went to Moesia, Thrace and Dacia [Roman provinces in the Balkans region], and after their third they dwelt again in Scythia, above the Sea of Pontus [the Black Sea]. Nor do we find anywhere in their written records legends which tell of their subjection to slavery [being enslaved] in Britain or in some other island, or of their redemption [being freed] by a certain man at the cost of a single horse. Of course if anyone in our city says that the Goths had an origin different from that I have related, let him object. For myself, I prefer to believe what I have read, rather than put trust in old wives' tales." 

Extract B

"But first let us return to that order from which we have digressed [gone off topic] and tell how Eurich, king of the Visigoths, beheld the tottering [weakening] of the Roman Empire and reduced Arelate [the city of Arles, in modern southern France] and Massilia [the city of Marseille, in modern southern France] to his own sway [control]. Gaiseric, king of the Vandals, enticed [tempted] him by gifts to do these things, to the end that he himself might forestall [prevent] the plots which Leo and Zeno had contrived [planned] against him. Therefore he stirred [encouraged] the Ostrogoths to lay waste the Eastern Empire and the Visigoths the Western, so that while his foes were battling in both empires, he himself might reign peacefully in Africa. Eurich perceived this with gladness and, as he already held all of Spain and Gaul by his own right, proceeded to subdue [conquer] the Burgundians also. In the nineteenth year of his reign he was deprived of his life at Arelate, where he then dwelt." 

Contextual information: 

Jordanes (writing c. 551 CE) was a Roman official of Gothic ancestry who wrote the Getica, the most detailed surviving ancient account of Gothic history. He wrote it in Constantinople shortly after the end of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy, drawing on now-lost earlier sources including a much longer history by the Roman senator Cassiodorus. 

Bibliographical reference:

Jordanes. The origin and deeds of the Goths (C. C. Mierow, Trans., 1915). Princeton University Press. (Original work written c. 551 CE). Extract A: Chapter V, §38, p. 57; Extract B: Chapter XLVII, §244, p. 119. 

Copyright: Public domain.

"In the year of our Lord 449, Marcian, the forty-sixth from Augustus, being made emperor with Valentinian, ruled the empire seven years. Then the nation of the Angles, or Saxons, being invited by the aforesaid [previously mentioned] king, arrived in Britain with three ships of war and had a place in which to settle assigned to them by the same king, in the eastern part of the island, on the pretext [false excuse] of fighting in defence of their country, whilst their real intentions were to conquer it. Accordingly they engaged with the enemy, who were come from the north to give battle, and the Saxons obtained the victory. When the news of their success and of the fertility [richness of the farmland] of the country, and the cowardice of the Britons, reached their own home, a more considerable fleet was quickly sent over, bringing a greater number of men, and these, being added to the former army, made up an invincible [unbeatable] force. The newcomers received of the Britons a place to inhabit among them, upon condition that they should wage war against their enemies for the peace and security of the country, whilst the Britons agreed to furnish them with pay. Those who came over were of the three most powerful nations of Germany—Saxons, Angles, and Jutes." 

Contextual information:

Bede (c. 673–735 CE) was an English monk at the monastery of Jarrow in Northumbria and is considered the most important historian of early medieval England. He completed his Ecclesiastical History of the English People in 731 CE, drawing on oral traditions, letters, and documents gathered from churches and monasteries across Britain. 

Bibliographical reference:

Bede. Ecclesiastical history of the English people (A. M. Sellar, Trans., 1907). George Bell and Sons. (Original work written 731 CE). Book I, Chapter XV. 

Copyright: Public domain.

Extract A

"After these events Childeric died and Clovis his son reigned in his stead [place]. In the fifth year of his reign Siagrius, king of the Romans, son of Egidius, had his seat in the city of Soissons which Egidius, who has been mentioned before, once held. And Clovis came against him with Ragnachar, his kinsman [relative], because he used to possess the kingdom, and demanded that they make ready a battle-field. And Siagrius did not delay nor was he afraid to resist. And so they fought against each other and Siagrius, seeing his army crushed, turned his back and fled swiftly to king Alaric at Toulouse. And Clovis sent to Alaric to send him back, otherwise he was to know that Clovis would make war on him for his refusal. And Alaric was afraid that he would incur [bring upon himself] the anger of the Franks on account of Siagrius, seeing it is the fashion of the Goths to be terrified, and he surrendered him in chains to Clovis' envoys [messengers]. And Clovis took him and gave orders to put him under guard, and when he had got his kingdom he directed that he be executed secretly." 

Extract B

"Now Clovis the king said to his people: 'I take it very hard that these Arians [Arians were followers of a form of Christianity which the Roman Catholic Church declared false] hold part of the Gauls [the region that is now France]. Let us go with God's help and conquer them and bring the land under our control.' Since these words pleased all, he set his army in motion and made for Poitiers where Alaric was at that time." 

Extract C

"The kings named above were kinsmen [relatives] of Clovis, and their brother, Rignomer by name, was slain by Clovis' order at the city of Mans. When they were dead Clovis received all their kingdom and treasures. And having killed many other kings and his nearest relatives, of whom he was jealous lest they take the kingdom from him, he extended his rule over all the Gauls." 

Contextual information:

Gregory of Tours (c. 538–594 CE) was a bishop in what is now central France and one of the most important historians of the early medieval period. He wrote his History of the Franks around 594 CE as a record of events from the creation of the world through to his own time, providing the most detailed surviving account of the Frankish kings and their conquest of Gaul. 

Bibliographical reference:

Gregory of Tours. History of the Franks (E. Brehaut, Trans., 1916). Columbia University Press. (Original work written c. 594 CE). Extract A: Book II, Chapter 27, pp. 38–39; Extract B: Book II, Chapter 37, p. 44; Extract C: Book II, Chapter 42, p. 51. 

Copyright: Public domain.

Extract A

"But Boniface, since it did not seem to him that he was able to array himself [fight] against the emperor, and since if he returned to Rome there was clearly no safety for him, began a defensive alliance [agreement for mutual protection] with the Vandals, who, as previously stated, had established themselves in Spain not far from Libya [North Africa]. There Godigisclus had died and the royal power had fallen to his sons, Gontharis, who was born to him from his wedded wife, and Gizeric [also known as Gaiseric], of illegitimate [born outside of marriage] birth. But the former was still a child and not of very energetic temper, while Gizeric had been excellently trained in warfare, and was the cleverest of all men. Boniface accordingly sent to Spain those who were his own most intimate friends and gained the adherence [loyalty] of each of the sons of Godigisclus on terms of complete equality, it being agreed that each one of the three, holding a third part of Libya [Roman North Africa], should rule over his own subjects; but if a foe [enemy] should come against any one of them to make war, that they should in common ward off the aggressors [attackers]. On the basis of this agreement the Vandals crossed the strait at Gadira [the Strait of Gibraltar] and came into Libya [North Africa], and the Visigoths in later times settled in Spain." 

Extract B

"Now Theoderic was pleased with the suggestion and went to Italy, and he was followed by the Gothic host [army], who placed in their waggons [wagons] the women and children and such of their chattels [belongings] as they were able to take with them. And when they came near the Ionian Gulf [the Adriatic Sea], they were quite unable to cross over it, since they had no ships at hand; and so they made the journey around the gulf, advancing through the land of the Taulantii [a people living in what is now Albania] and the other nations of that region. Here the forces of Odoacer encountered them, but after being defeated in many battles, they shut themselves up with their leader in Ravenna and such other towns as were especially strong. And the Goths laid siege to these places and captured them all, in one way or another, as it chanced in each case, except that they were unable to capture, either by surrender or by storm, the fortresses of Caesena, which is three hundred stades [an ancient unit of distance, roughly 185 metres] distant from Ravenna, and Ravenna itself, where Odoacer happened to be." 

Extract C

"But when the third year had already been spent by the Goths and Theoderic in their siege of Ravenna, the Goths, who were weary of the siege, and the followers of Odoacer, who were hard pressed by the lack of provisions [food and supplies], came to an agreement with each other through the mediation [assistance in reaching an agreement] of the priest of Ravenna, the understanding being that both Theoderic and Odoacer should reside in Ravenna on terms of complete equality. And for some time they observed the agreement; but afterward Theoderic caught Odoacer, as they say, plotting against him, and bidding him to a feast with treacherous intent [the intention to betray him] slew him, and in this way, after gaining the adherence [loyalty] of such of the hostile barbarians as chanced to survive, he himself secured the supremacy [complete control] over both Goths and Italians. And though he did not claim the right to assume either the garb [clothing or title] or the name of emperor of the Romans, but was called 'rex' [the Latin word for 'king'] to the end of his life (for thus the barbarians are accustomed to call their leaders), still, in governing his own subjects, he invested himself with [took on] all the qualities which appropriately belong to one who is by birth an emperor." 

Contextual information:

Procopius of Caesarea (c. 500–560 CE) was a Byzantine Greek historian who served as a legal adviser to the Roman general Belisarius during Emperor Justinian's campaigns to reconquer the former Western Roman Empire. He wrote his History of the Wars as a detailed eyewitness record of those campaigns, covering the wars against the Vandals in North Africa (Books III–IV) and against the Ostrogoths in Italy (Books V–VIII). 

Bibliographical reference:

Procopius. History of the wars: Books III–IV (H. B. Dewing, Trans., Vol. 2, 1916). Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press. (Original work written c. 550 CE). Extract A: Book III, Chapter 3, §§22–26, pp. 40–43. Procopius. (1919). History of the wars: Books V–VI (H. B. Dewing, Trans., Vol. 3). Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press. Extracts B–C: Book V, Chapter 1, §§12–15 and §§24–26, pp. 10–16. 

Copyright: Public domain.