ch 7 (2) the Barbarians

Attila the Hun

After sweeping into central Europe led his people and went to Italy. Wanted to conquer Rome. He had a meeting with Pope Leo the first that caused him to withdraw from Italy. Theories: 1) Attila was so amazed that he decided to withdraw from Italy. 2) He was paid to withdraw his armies from Italy. 3) He heard the plague was coming to Italy so he did not want his army to get sick.

German tribes

Burgundians. Franks. Vandals. Goths; Visigoths; Ostrogoths.

Barbarians

Comes from Greek word bar-bar meaning blah-blah stating it is a language we do not understand. Over time it means they were not as advanced. Divided into Celts and Germans.

Visigoths

Late 4th century they asked the Roman Emperor for safety from the Huns in their land in return to fight for Rome. Deal fell apart quickly because they were discriminated. This lead to battle in 378CE, in here they kill the Roman Emperor, Valens. Theodosius I rules Rome next and he learns from the previous Emperor that he needs to make peace with the them.

Theodosius I

Later Emperor Made peace with Visigoths and gave them land. He still wants the Visigoths to fight for his empire. Divides the empire in half between his 2 sons, since he was getting tired of running all the way to the west to put down rebellions. Honorius and Arcadias.

Huns

Nomadic group from Central Asia stem. Fierce warriors who travel and while doing so they are also taking territory and slaves. By 451 CE they are in central Europe. Attila the Hun was their most famous leader. Fight on horseback, and if the person is important they demand ransom.

Celts

Romans called them Gauls Originated near today-Germany Julius Caesar describes them as fierce fighters. They rode on chariots in pairs, one drove and another carried a weapon. The driver would leave his partner to fight and come back to pick him up once he got the signal. Always had long hair and were physically fit. After the Romans defeat them they became their most priced mercenaries

Arcadias

Takes east of the Empire Had no interest of ruling and left most of the ruling to a Platorian.

Honorius

Takes west of the Empire. He moves from Rome to Ravenna when Visigoths come to his land.

Germans

These tribes traveled into Roman lands in search for warmer climate and better land, they were nomadic they often traveled. Roman population is in decline of birthrates so they hire these mercenaries to protect against their own tribes. They also climb up the ranks of the Roman army and become even generals.

Alaric I

Tribal Visigoth chief from 395 until he dies. Noble Gothic family. Alaric joined Theodosius in the army and pledged fighters to him, Had intense pride in being Gothic, Well liked by his men. In 394 Alaric lost 10 thousand of his best soldiers (half of his best men). At this point Alaric became convinced that Theodosius was having them do the hard part of the fighting and making them feel as if their fighters were not as valuable, he finishes his promise. However, once Theodosius passes on he pledges that he would be free and would not make a deal like this with any Emperor again. Theodosius dies the next year and Alaric begins to try to absorb Roman territory. When Alaric moved east he was unable to take much territory from there so he moved into Italy in the west and Italy was not as well defended. Honorius comes to know of this and he becomes concerned because he does not want to fight against the Visigoths. Honorius moves from Rome and sets a capital for himself in Ravenna, which makes it a problem because you have to cross an obstacle that would take days, but Honorius wanted it this way and if he had to flee he had a quick exit in the North East Coast to escape by boat in the nearby waters. Alaric in the North East keeps getting upset because he hears of discrimination even killings against Germanic soldiers in the Roman lands, and there was no legal compensation for the families of the soldiers that were killed. Alaric from here will carry out 3 attacks. When Alaric is about to attack the city the population of Rome was about 800 thousand people, it was the largest city of the world at that time. In 408 he arrives to the outskirts of Rome and threatens to attack. He sent his terms to Honorius in order to not attack and his conditions were the following: 1) For Germanic hostages and slaves to be set free and given to him 2) He asks for gold. 3) Asks for land - to establish a state for the Visigoths. When this happened some of the Romans believed this was a sign that they had made a big mistake by becoming Christians. To make it better they wanted to offer a sacrifice to the gods. They went to the Pope Innocent the first to ask for permission to give sacrifices to the gods and goddesses of Rome in order to prevent this attack from happening. The Pope said it had to be done in private and they went to the priest and asked the same thing. The priest saw this as an opportunity to show superiority to the pope; the priest said it had to be done in public in the middle of Rome. When the pope heard this he said forget it we are not doing this. This shows the fear they had. When Alaric does not receive an answer he cuts of supplies to the city such as food and products. Romans starve and they tell the senate that they are starving. The senate sends: a representative to ask Alaric what would it take for him to stop this. Alaric responds with the following: 1)Asks for ALL of the gold 2) all the silver 3) all of the Barbarian slaves. The Representative of the Senate asked then what will be left of Rome and he answered their lives. Alaric received from the senate 5,000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pounds of silver, 4,000 silk shirts, and 3,000 pounds of black pepper. In December 408 Alaric withdraws. Senators were aware this was not the end of it so in Jan 409 the Roman senators sent an ambassador to Honorius to try to make peace with Visigoths just like his father, but he refuses. Instead he moves his army to confront the Visigoths. Alaric knows before they get there so he sends his soldiers and they kill almost all of Honorius's men. The senate sends the pope to Honorius to try to convince him and then Honorius then sent Alaric a very insulting letter making him feel that his people are so far beneath the Roman. Alaric calls off any negotiations and sets new terms: 1) he wanted land 2) he wanted grain. This is when the second siege is about to happen. The senators go to Alaric themselves and ask him what he wants for them to do. Alaric puts new terms saying: 1) That he wants to put in another Roman emperor in Rome because Honorius is not even in Rome, he puts in a Greek official, showing Honorius that he does not have power. Honorius is scared of him and wants to kill him he sends a letter saying to talk man to man. This will lead to the third battle. Alaric goes to this place and Honorius is not there but is met with many soldiers. Alaric being very skilled was able to escape; when he gets home he is furious. And says there will be no more discussion we will attack Rome. In August 410 he mobilizes his soldiers to Rome for the last attack. There are 2 possibilities as to how Alaric went in so easily. The first is that the people of Rome were starving so anybody who is going to come may give them some relief from what they are experiencing so they didn't resist other theory is that he had allies in the city so they just opened the gates for him. Alaric's orders were only to destroy Roman artifacts and monuments not Christian ones. Messenger goes to Honorius and tells him Rome is in destruction, Honorius thought it was his chicken. The shock of their destruction was spread throughout Rome. Visigoths journeyed from Rome to Iberia (now Spain in Portugal) his plan was to go to Africa, but could not accomplish because on his way there he contracted an illness and died. His successor settled in Iberia. Now the Germanic tribes lived in small villages in clearing between woods, to use trees. The more cattle you had the higher you were ranked in the position you were in. They were skilled iron workers to make weapons and tools for farming. They traded mostly to get along; believed sticking together was for safety and to get along. All of the Germanic tribes believed they originally descended from the same father. Chief was elected from powerful male figures in families and they made metal arms bands distinguished that their rank. These people swore their loyalty to chief and fought with him in battle. Legal system-they didn't a written law they had Wergeld.

o Goths

largest group within Germans, had around 100 thousand people. Within them were the Ostrogoths and Visigoths.

Vandals

these people will be in North Africa after they leave Europe