Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376-568

Abstract

The ‘Fall of the Roman Empire’ and the subsequent early development of western Europe is a tract of history vigorously exploited by publishers at present, particularly through works (mostly lengthy) intended for students, non-specialists, and general audiences, rapidly using up the synonyms for ‘Fall’ (‘decline’, ‘ruin’, ‘end’, and ‘after’—post quam ergo propter quam). That Gibbon's territory is famous as a catch-phrase but nonetheless absent from most historical educations creates a marketing opportunity, but the agenda of the recent tranche of books is also shaped by academic dynamics. Much of the last generation or so of research into the late- and post-Roman world (much, though not all, undertaken under the rubric of Late Antiquity) has sought to reposition our view of the ancient-to-medieval transition away from political, military, and economic models of decline. A reaction to the cultural and sociological orientation of some of these approaches has prompted several recent books for non-specialist audiences, decrying a soft focus on the economic, material, and institutional collapse of the Roman empire. The volume reviewed here seeks in turn to present a guide to the newer interpretations of these major historical changes, and to eschew the more traditional models of an external, ‘barbarian’-induced caesura in Classical society, currently enjoying a revival. The wide-audience market pursued by publishers is simultaneously the site of a contest for non-specialist hearts and minds.