Europe after the Romans

Europe after the Roman Empire
Collapse of Western Roman Empire 476 AD

Consequences??

Transitions and Continuities??

Rise of Barbarian Kingdoms??

The beginnings of a ‘Dark Age’?
Some details of the collapse: Theodosius
Constantine died in AD 337, and was replaced by Theodosius
Theodosius could not rule the empire and it was divided in two (again)
Western Roman Empire had it’s capital in Rome
Eastern Rome Empire had it’s capital in Constantinople

Rome invaded
Western Empire was unable to hold off German tribes on its borders (Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Saxons)
German tribes were migrating to warmer areas, enticed by Roman riches, but also to flee the Huns

Visigoths
Rome agreed to allow the Visigoths to live inside of Roman boundaries
But the Romans treated Visigoths badly
Visigoths rebelled and defeated the Romans and their leader, Alaric, captured Rome in AD 410

Vandals
The Vandals followed Visigoths in capturing Rome and spent 12 days stripping it of valuables (hence, vandalism)
Many more German invaders followed as Rome was seen as vulnerable.
Finally (in 476), a German general named Odoacer defeated the Western emperor Romulus Augustulus, who was sent to live in the Castellum Lucullanum in Campania.
This marks the end of Rome.

Europe after the Roman Empire
Eastern Roman Empire
Although the Western Empire fell in AD 476, the Eastern Roman Empire continued to prosper for 1,000 more years
It became known as the Byzantine Empire
Some argue it’s base then shifted to Moscow (in 1453)


Justinian Plague
The Plague of Justinian was a pandemic that afflicted the Byzantine Empire, including its capital Constantinople, in the years 541–542 AD.
The most commonly accepted cause of the pandemic is bubonic plague, which later became infamous for either causing or contributing to the Black Death of the 14th century.
Its social and cultural impact is comparable to that of the Black Death.
Justinian Plague
In the views of 6th century Western historians, it was nearly worldwide in scope, striking much of Asia, North Africa and Arabia, and as far as Denmark and Ireland.
The plague would return with each generation throughout the Mediterranean basin until about 750.
The plague would also have a major impact on the future course of European history. Modern historians named it after the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I, who was in power at the time and himself contracted the disease.
Justinian Plague
Some researchers have suggested that the Justinian plague had it’s origins in an event that was documented in the mid-530s.
The Byzantine historian Procopius recorded of 536, in his report on the wars with the Vandals, "during this year a most dread portent took place. For the sun gave forth its light without brightness… and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear.”

Justinian Plague
The Irish Annals record the following:

"A failure of bread in the year 536 AD" (Annals of Ulster)
"A failure of bread from the years 536–539 AD“ (Annals of Inisfallen)

Justinian Plague
Contemporary sources to the Annals report:
Low temperatures, even snow during the summer (snow reportedly fell in August in China, which postponed the harvest there)
"A dense, dry fog" in the Mideast, China, and Europe
Drought in Peru, which affected the Moche culture

Justinian Plague
Tree ring analysis shows abnormally little growth in Irish oak in 536 and another sharp drop in 542, after a partial recovery.
Similar patterns are recorded in tree rings from Sweden and Finland, in California's Sierra Nevada and in rings from Chilean Fitzroya trees.
Ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica show evidence of substantial sulphate deposits around AD 533–534 ± 2 years, evidence of an extensive acidic dust veil.

Europe after the Roman Empire
The Aftermath
Justinian had expended huge amounts of money for wars against the Vandals in the Carthage region and the Ostrogoth Kingdom of Italy.

He had also dedicated significant funds to the construction of great churches like the Hagia Sophia.

Amidst these great expenditures, the plague's effects on tax revenue were disastrous.

The Aftermath
The plague weakened the Byzantine Empire at the critical point at which Justinian's armies had nearly wholly retaken Italy and could have credibly reformed the Western Roman Empire.

It also may have contributed to the success of the Arabs a few generations later in the Byzantine-Arab Wars.

Italy was decimated by war and fragmented for centuries as the Lombard tribes invaded the north.

Europe after the Roman Empire (and Charlemagne)
Charlemagne (742-814)

Charles the Bald
(823-877)

Louis The German (806-876)

Lothar I (755-895)

Europe after the Roman Empire