1. Barbarian Invasions and the Fall of the Western Empire
What caused the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire

2. Beowulf

4. Let’s have a moment of silence for the midterm
The midterm is dead.
Long live the final exam.

5. How did each of the following civilizations fall from the height of its influence?
Sumerian city-states
The Old Kingdom in Egypt
The Middle Kingdom in Egypt
The New Kingdom in Egypt
Minoan Crete
The Ancient Hebrews
Athens

6. Barbarian Migrations 350-500

7. Why did Rome fall? What have you heard?
Lead in the water
Christianity
Depletion of the soil in Italy
Lack of infrastructure
Something else

8. Did Rome fall?
When did Rome fall?
How did Rome fall?

9. Which barbarian tribe proved to be Rome’s main enemy?
The Huns
The Goths
The Franks
The Saxons
The Vandals

10. What caused the fall of Rome?

11. Usurpers: Constantine the Great c. 306

12. Roman Villas

13. High Quality Coins 380

14. More quality coins 408

15. St. Augustine of Hippo

16. Niccolo Machiavellc. 1500

17. Edward Gibbon Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire 1776-1789

18. Barbarian Migrations 350-500

19. Hunnish Empire c. 400

20. Hunnish Cavalry

21. Aetius – Master of the Roman Army c. 450

23. Barbarian Migrations 350-500

25. Battle of Cape Bon, 468 CE, North Africa, 45 miles from Carthage

26. Barbarian Migrations 350-500

27. “The Empire” c. 500 CE

28. Stilicho: Vandal and Roman Consul c. 400

29. Greek mythology on a Gallo-Roman plate from 4th century

30. Romano-Saxon Pottery

31. Raedwald East Anglian King Baptized 605 Died 625
Induced to adopt Christianity by Ethelbert of Kent
Bretwalda
Both pagan and Christian

32. Sutton Hoo Burial Mounds

33. Burial Mounds in Sweden

34. Discuss barbarian culture
What types of sources can yield insight into the mostly illiterate people who inhabited northwestern Europe after 476?
What do we mean by the term barbarian?
What types of people were these barbarians?

35. Barbarian Migrations 350-500

37. Beowulf

42. Approximately when was the Beowulf manuscript written?

43. How does the Bewoulf manuscript from 1000 CE illuminate the culture of Germanic people around 500 CE?

44. The creation of a distinctly medieval culture: 300-1000
Medieval Fusion
The creation of a distinctly medieval culture:

45. Barbarian Invasions Continuity in the East Disruption in the West
Explanations for the Fall of Rome
St Augustine
Machiavelli & Gibbon
Internal factors
Christianity
Crisis of the third century
Exogenous factors
Growth of Germanic supergroups

46. Overview Features of Medieval Fusion Discussion of Beowulf
Barbarian cultures: Germans, Celts
The Judeo-Christian Culture
Classical institutions and traditions
Discussion of Beowulf

47. Overview Features of Medieval Fusion Discussion of Beowulf
Barbarian cultures: Germans, Celts
The Judeo-Christian Culture
Classical institutions and traditions
Discussion of Beowulf

48. During the Middle Ages, several cultures fuse within Europe
Barbarian
Germanic/Norse
Celtic
Gothic
Slavic
Ancient
Roman
Greek
Middle Eastern
Christian

49. Germanic Literature Literature as a source and its difficulties
Ancient literature: Tacitus - A Roman writes about Germania
Medieval literature: Beowulf, Njal’s Saga
Glorification of warrior heroes
great fighters
overcome incredible odds
superhuman strength
Often fatalistic in outlook; the inevitably of death
Love of gold and riches: plunder
Vengeance and retribution: law of the talion
barbarian legal codes

50. Germanic Literature: Beowulf
Composition of the poem
Sometime between 580 and 1000
Based on oral tradition
For public recitation
musical accompaniment
recited lyrically
Written manuscript from 11th century
Contains approximately 1/10th of all written Old English

51. Germanic Literature: Beowulf
Pagan/Germanic Elements
Mythical monsters
Norse gods
Magical weapons
Celebration of booty
Heroism
Fate and Mortality
Kinship

52. Germanic Literature: Beowulf
Christian Undertones
Moral anecdotes
Warnings against excessive pride
Tension with pagan themes
The ephemeral nature of life
Beowulf’s moral conscience

53. Barbarian Legal Codes Often include Ten Commandments as a preamble
Often written after conversion to Christianity
Money payments specified as punishment for
breach of the king’s peace
remuneration for theft and acts of violence
Money payments reflect higher value associated with members of upper class
acts of violence against members of the kings household require higher fines than acts of violence against members of the earl’s household

54. Summary of Barbarian Cultures
Rural or agrarian
Illiterate with exceptions
Strong kinship
Weak kingship
Social bonding
guilds of mutual assistance
comitatus
Violent and militaristic
Hero worship
Religion of magic and superstition

55. The Classical Contribution
In Contrast to barbarian culture, the Greco-Roman world was
more urban
less influenced by oral tradition
an abundance of literature, such as philosophy, letters, and speeches, were not stories
could be much more introspective
reflections on the human condition
classical humanism: focused on issues related to this life
little concern for the afterlife
more systematic
legal codes were based on system of classification
administrative structures were hierarchical

56. The Classical Contribution
The Greco Roman world preserved, modified, or enhanced many of the greatest achievements of the ancient Near East (Sumeria, Egypt, the Hebrews)
mathematics/astronomy
philosophy/religion
The classical world also developed forms of art and expression that were either scarce or totally absent in the barbarian tradition
theater
sculpture that accurately depicted the human form
In general the classical world was much more literate than the barbarians who had virtually no institutions for the transmission of learning i.e. schools

57. Christian Culture
Provided a method for the transmission of the tradition of literacy
precise theology: trinity and christology
administered by Church hierarchy
Shared ideology
otherworldliness: emphasis on afterlife
resurrection/redemption
God’s intervention in human history
Pliable and absorbing
Barbarian holidays
Roman organizational structure
Greek philosophy, rhetoric, and logic became embedded

58. Christian Culture Monasticism
emerged as a powerful social force in the fourth through sixth centuries
huge influence on Christian ideals
institutional framework for the preservation of the Christian tradition
the primary means of education between 500 and 1100 in the West
preservation of classical texts

59. Summary
After the fifth century the Byzantine Empire continued the Greco-Roman traditions with only minor influence from the barbarian invasions
By contrast, the Western Empire became increasingly barbarian in outlook and culture so that many aspects of the classical culture perished from most of western Europe
Monasteries played a vital role in the preservation of the classical tradition and particularly of the Roman tradition, which was not so highly valued in the Byzantine Empire