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Ostragoth || Visigoth || Franks || Vandals
The Barbarians!
*Evil music in the background*
The term barbarian is a Greek word. It refers to the people who did not speak Greek. To them, all the none Greek languages sounded like gibberish . . . bar bar bar bar . . . get it? (No, I am not kidding) In any case, in this section I will only deal with the Germanic Tribes.
The Germanic Tribes
Most of the cultural background for the Germanic tribes are described by Tactius in his Germania.
Although Tactius expresses distaste for the Germans who he probably regarded
as barbarians, in them he sees a form of rustic goodness and virtue that
the Romans no longer possess. He speaks with distinct admiration for
their bonds of marriage. Their union is well protected by virtue, and adultery
is very rare. The husband and wife are satisfied with each other
and the wife is expected to love her husband, not the bond of marriage
itself. In a time when Roman aristocratic marriage holds little meaning,
and divorces are common occurrences, Tactius's description of the loyalty
between Germans sharply criticizes his own sophisticated society.
On the other hand, Tactius saw the Germans as a group of uncivilized people
who wore animal skins. However, it seems that he was very confused about geography so it is hard to say how accurate his descriptions actually were.
The Germanic tribes began to move towards the Roman frontiers as early as the time of Marcus Aurelius. Because of their primitive farming methods they were constantly in need of new land. Also, as they were pushing forward, there were tribes behind them pushing them. The Huns for example, dislocated massive amount of Germanic tribes.
Part of the collective called the goth. Ostrogoth literally means the eastern Goths. They were the ones who eventually settled in Italy because they were sent there by the Eastern Emperor Zeno and his successor Anastasius to deal with Odovacar. Odovacar was a German mercenary who overthrew the so called last Emperor of the Western Empire, Romulus Augustulus, a twelve year old boy. In 493, the Ostrogoth, led by Theodoric, overthrew Odovocar and established the Ostrogothic kingdom there.
The western goths. They were among the first to be dislocated by the Huns. and later Theodosius I. Theodosius dealt with the goths by making alliances and hiring them as mercenaries. He settled them in the Balkan region. They fled to the Eastern Empire and were permitted to stay by Valens. However, they were treated *very* badly. They rebelled in 378, and won against the Byzantine army, showing the superiority of horse mounted warriors to the Roman foot soldiers. Theodosius I came to the throne in 379, and he dealt Theodosius with the goths by making alliances and hiring them as mercenaries. He settled them in the Balkan region. They however, continued a journey westward. Under the leadership of Alaric, they sacked Rome in 410. The first time in 800 years. For three days, they sacked the city. As far as many Romans were concerned, this was the end of the Western Roman Empire. After Alaric's death, they settled in the west. Their kingdom included part of Gaul and Spain. It shrunk considerably in the six century because of the Franks.
The Franks unlike the rest of the Germanic tribes had a very short history. They claim descent from the Trojans just as the Romans. They were more willing to accept Roman traditions than the other Germanic tribes. They pushed beyond the Rhine river and into the middle of Gaul in 420 to form their own little kingdom. The most significant of the Frank leaders for this period was Clovis (485-510). He united the different tribes of the Franks. Much of what we know about him is written by Gregory of Tours (538-594), who was not the most reliable of sources. The most important accomplishment of Clovis was his conversion from Arian Christianity to orthodox. Most of the Germanic tribes had converted to Arian Christianity under the three sons of Constantine. However, the native population of the Romans were mostly Orthodox. His wife was orthodox as well. The reason of his conversion might have been personal or political, but the end result is the same. His conversion successfully ended a lot of conflicts with the native people as well as dislodge Arianism one more notch.
Another group forced out because of the Huns. I have conflicting sources on their religion. I'm not certain if they were Arians or Pagans. The reason is that in 455, the too plundered Rome. And they were a much worse group to plunder Rome than the Goths. Some think the reason they were so ruthless and destroyed the churches as well is because they were pagans. Others say they were simply ardent Arians and prosecuted the orthodox Christians. In any case, Rome could hardly stand again after that plunder, and it earned them the honor of being associated with the modern term, vandal . . . Their kingdom was established around the upper Rhone and Saone rivers in 443. It was destroyed by Justinian in the sixth century.