Description
Book SynopsisEssays examining the Ostrogoths, the richest and most powerful Germanic tribe to emerge after the fall of the Roman Empire, and their role in the evolution of medieval Europe. Among the Germanic tribes who ruled the fragments of the western Roman empire, the Ostrogoths enjoyed the greatest wealth and splendour. Conquering Italy itself from the warlord Odoacer, they inherited the buildings, traditions, and administrative apparatus of imperial rule, and revived the empire in Spain, southern Gaul and the northwest Balkans. Aspects of their history and empire examined here include their ethnic identity in Italy and relations (as Asian heretics) with the Catholic Church; the vicissitudes of sixth century Rome, the monuments of the period in Ravenna; their influence on the economy, settlements, and social structures throughout Italy; the interweaving of society and administration with their internal and external politics; and the history of their Spanish empire. There are also studies of the Goths in eastern Europe before the emergence of the Ostrogoths, and under Hunnic rule. The whole significantly advances an understanding of how medieval Europe evolved from the combination of Roman civilisation with Germanic outsiders. Contributors: S. BARNISH, G.P. BROGLIO, T.S. BROWN, P.C. DIAZ, D.H. GREEN, W. HAUBRICHS, P. HEATHER, M. KAZANSKI, A. KOKOWSKI, F. MARAZZI, G. NOYE, I. WOOD
Table of ContentsIntroduction Merely an Ideology? - Gothic Identity in Ostrogothic Italy The Ostrogoths and the Princely Civilization of the Fifth Century Dwellings and Settlements in Gothic Italy Germanic and Gothic Kinship Terminology Social Relations in Southern Italy The Agriculture of the Goths Between the First and Fifth Centuries AD Theoderic's Monuments in Ravenna The Last Rome: From the End of the Fifth to the End of the Sixth Century Cuncta Italiae Membra Componere: Political Relations in Ostrogothic Italy Goths Confronting Goths: Ostrogothic Political Relations in Hispania Linguistic and Literary Traces of the Ostrogoths The Role of Arianism in Ostrogothic Italy: The Evidence from Ravenna Conclusion Index
