T h e A r t i o s H o m e C o m p a n i o n S e r i e s T e a c h e r O v e r v i e w THE DECLINE AND eventual fall of the Roman Empire was due to many factors. Internal failures in economic, political, and social areas were compounded by frequent, unrelenting attacks by invading northern tribal groups. The empire s military strength was reduced because of the split between its eastern and western portions, and borders faced increasing threats they could not repel, until the city of Rome was finally invaded and conquered in 476 A.D. Conquests of Clovis between 481 and 511 (By Altaileopard - Own work - based on File:Europe relief laea location map.jpg by Alexrk2, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22911450)
Reading and Assignments In this unit, students will: Complete two lessons in which they will learn about the rise of the Franks and the fall of Rome, journaling and answering discussion questions as they read. Define vocabulary words. Visit www.artioshcs.com for additional resources. Leading Ideas An individual s character will be reflected in his leadership. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) There is power in the spoken word to do evil or to do good. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34 Key People, Places and Events Clovis Clotilda Attila the Hun Alaric of the Visigoths Stilicho Leo the Great Gaiseric the Goth Romulus Augustus Odoacer Theoderic The Huns, led by Attila, invade Italy (Attila, the Scourge of God, by Ulpiano Checa).
L e s s o n O n e H i s t o r y O v e r v i e w a n d A s s i g n m e n t s The Rise of the Franks ONE OF THE INVADING tribes consisted of Clovis and the Franks. They successfully invaded the empire, where their leader Clovis, influenced by his wife Clotilda, declared himself a Christian and proclaimed that God had given him the ability to win battles in His name. This made him a friend to the Roman Church, starting a relationship between kings and popes that would have great influence upon later European history. Clovis I leading the Franks to victory in the Battle of Tolbiac, in Ary Scheffer s 19 th century painting Reading and Assignments Review the discussion questions then read the article: The Rise of the Franks. Narrate about today s reading using the appropriate notebook page. Be sure to answer the discussion questions and include key people, events, and dates within the narration. Be sure to visit www.artioshcs.com for additional resources.
Key People, Places and Events Clovis Clotilda Discussion Questions 1. What does the belief called Arianism mean? 2. What was the mythical origin of the Merovingian dynasty? 3. Discuss what is described as the conversion of Clovis. How does it line up with a Biblical definition of conversion? Adapted for High School from the book: The Story of Europe by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall The Rise of the Franks In the beginning of the fifth century the Franks were among the many tribes of Teutonic origin who helped to dismember the Roman Empire. They took possession of part of Gaul, which, in time, became known as Frankland, and which formed the nucleus of the state that we know today as France. When the Franks invaded the empire they did so in a manner different from that of the other Teutons. They did not cut themselves off from Germany. They did not wander far into the empire, making conquests now here, now there. They simply crossed the border, and taking possession of a small portion, settled there. Nor were they like the Goths and Vandals a single people who marched to war in a body. They were made up of various tribes who moved about independently of each other and who settled in various places. Their great strength lay in the fact that they kept their line of communication open. While plundering the empire they still kept in touch with the great unexploited forces of the heathen world behind them. The chief of these Frankish tribes were the Salians and the Riparians, who settled in what is now Belgium. And it was the Salian Franks that at length became the dominant tribe. Their first king of any account was Clovis I. He traced his descent from a mythical sea king called Merovée, and from that the dynasty to which he belonged is called the Merovingian dynasty. Clovis came to the throne at the age of sixteen. He soon set out upon a career of conquest, and in no long time doubled and tripled his kingdom. At the time of their invasion of the empire nearly all the Teutonic tribes were Christian. But they were Arian Christians that is, they were followers of Arius, whose doctrine, to put it simply, was one which denied the divinity of Christ (this is the doctrine which had been rejected at the Council of Nicaea). It was easier for the uneducated Teutons to understand this doctrine than the more complicated one of the Trinity, and therefore they adopted it. Arianism Arianism has long since passed away, and it may not seem to matter very much what those half-civilized tribes believed. But
in the reconstruction of Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire it had some importance. For the fact that the Teutons were Arians made for them an enemy in the Bishop of Rome, who was gradually becoming a power in political as well as in spiritual matters. But although most of the barbarians who attacked the empire were Christian, some were not. Among those who were not were the Angles and the Saxons, who took possession of England, and the Franks. Clovis, like the people over whom he ruled, was a heathen, but he married a Christian princess named Clotilda, the niece of the King of Burgundy. And this Clotilda was not an Arian like her uncle, but a Catholic. She was very devout, and she tried very earnestly to convert her heathen husband. But Clovis resisted all her efforts. He allowed her to follow her own religion undisturbed, but he was satisfied with his own gods, and refused to change. At last, however, Clotilda had her wish. Clovis was fighting against the Allemanni, and in the Battle of Tolbiac his soldiers were being beaten. Fervently he called upon his heathen gods to save him and turn the fortune of the day in his favor. His prayers were in vain, and the Franks fled before the foe. Then, in the agony of defeat, Clovis prayed to Clotilda s God. Jesus Christ, he cried, whom Clotilda declares to be the only true God, aid me. If Thou wilt grant me victory over mine enemies I will believe in Thee and will be baptized in Thy name. I have called upon my own gods and they have not helped me. To Thee alone I pray. As Clovis so prayed the tide of battle turned, and when night fell the victory was his, and the enemy fled in all directions. Returning home, the King loyally kept his word. The water of baptism was sprinkled upon him, his forehead received the sign of the Cross, and henceforth he was a Christian. Nor was Clovis alone in his baptism. With him three hundred of his followers accepted the Christian faith. This sudden and wholesale conversion made little difference in the lives of Clovis and his tameless warriors. After, as before, they were bloodthirsty barbarians. But much of the King s future success was due to his conversion. For it brought him a powerful friend in the Church of Rome, and when he conquered the Arian kings of the Visigoths and the Burgundians, the great prelates looked upon him as a champion of the Church, and regarded his wars as holy wars. Thus began an alliance between the popes and the kings of France that, in days to come, had great influence upon the history of Western Europe. Even the Emperor in far-off Constantinople honored Clovis. Instead of regarding him as a barbarian enemy, assisting the destruction of the empire, he looked upon him as an ally and gave him the title of Roman Consul. It was but an empty title, and added nothing to the reality of the Frankish king s conquests, but it pleased his barbaric mind. Clovis reigned for thirty years. At the beginning of his reign he had been merely the chief of a petty tribe. When he died he was ruler of a vast kingdom stretching from beyond the Rhine to the Pyrenees. For each day, says an old writer, the enemies of Clovis fell beneath his hand, and his kingdom was augmented, because with a pure heart he walked before the Lord, and did that which was right in His eyes.
L e s s o n Two H i s t o r y O v e r v i e w a n d A s s i g n m e n t s The Invasion of the Barbarians and the Fall of Rome ROME WAS NOT built in a day, and it did not fall in a day. The fall of Rome was brought about by many different factors. Despite significant reforms, Rome was beset by economic problems, invasions from barbarians, and a military force that could not meet the challenges that it faced. Genseric Sacking Rome, a painting by Karl Briullov Reading and Assignments Review the discussion questions, then read the article: The Fall of Rome (Invasion of the Barbarians) / The Barbarians Rule in Rome. Have a map of the Roman Empire at your side for reference during your reading. Narrate about today s reading using the appropriate notebook page. Be sure to answer the discussion questions and include key people, events, and dates within the narration. Be sure to visit www.artioshcs.com for additional resources.
Key People, Places and Events Attila the Hun Alaric of the Visigoths Stilicho Leo the Great Gaiseric the Goth Romulus Augustus Odoacer Theoderic Discussion Questions 1. On your notebook page for this article list things that helped to destroy Rome from both within and without its own country. 2. What were characteristics of the invading Germans? 3. What did Theodosius manage to accomplish during his reign? 4. Describe the invasions by the Huns and their leader, Attila. 5. Describe the confrontation between Leo the Great and Attila the Hun and compare it to the confrontation between Leo and Gaiseric the Goth. 6. Who was the last Roman emperor in the Western Empire? 7. How old was the last Roman emperor when he began to rule? 8. List the sequence of rulers who governed the Western Empire after this final Roman emperor. Raphael's The Meeting Between Leo the Great and Attila depicts Leo, escorted by Saint Peter and Saint Paul, meeting with the Hun king outside Rome
Adapted for High School from the book: European History: An Outline of its Development by George Burton Adams The Fall of Rome (Invasion of the Barbarians) and from the book: The Story of Europe by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall The Barbarians Rule in Rome The reforms of Diocletian and of Constantine had begun the last age of prosperity of the Roman Empire. The frontier areas during three-quarters of the fourth century were preserved from any permanent assault, and within the empire there was a fair degree of security. Civil wars for the possession of the throne did not cease, though. Constantine had shown during his reign a very cruel disposition, and this nature descended to his sons. To secure their possession of power they murdered all their relatives, their cousin Julian escaping only because of his youth. This Julian ( the Apostate ) was the last of the family of Constantine to reign, and after him emperors chosen by the armies were engaged in a constant struggle, rapidly becoming hopeless, to protect the frontiers. Causes of the Fall of Rome During these centuries since the Pax Romana under Octavian Augustus, despite all reforms and every temporary restoration of strength, the double progress of disease within and attack from without was steadily going on and became increasingly difficult to overcome. Of these two dangers the one which was fatal in the end was that from internal disease, for Rome fell not so much because the attack from without was stronger, as because she could no longer resist it with her earlier strength. It is not possible to explain briefly this decay of Roman strength. Its causes were mainly economic, including: the universal use of slaves, which is a very wasteful means of production, wasting both men and capital, and one that makes free labor degrading; heavy taxes which were so collected that the burden of them rested with crushing weight on the middle class; a debased currency, giving a very unsteady standard of value; a practice, begun in the last days of the Republic, of feeding a part of the city population at the expense of the state, making an idle and dangerous mob and constantly tempting the middle class to give up the hopeless struggle with taxes, slave competition, uncertain prices, and declining production, and take life easy at the public cost; official corruption, which, in spite of all the efforts of the emperors and of temporary reforms, continued to look upon public trusts as sources of private wealth; a general decay of the earlier Roman manhood and moral strength, which greatly weakened the army and the resisting power of the whole empire; and a decline of the population, which no effort of the state seemed able to check. Causes like these exhausted the resources of Rome with regard to both men and capital. Thousands of Germans had been colonized in the empire before the conquest. As a result, the army was largely
barbarian. The soldiers spoke German and fought in the German style. Comparatively little was left on the eve of the conquest that really belonged to Rome, except her best gifts to the world her language, law, institutions, and the idea of her universal and eternal empire, which Christian and German believed as implicitly as did the pagan Roman of Virgil s day. From Slavery to Serfdom The economic condition of the empire during the age of its decline led to some changes which had most permanent and beneficial consequences. They made the beginning of the transformation of the class of manual laborers from slaves into serfs. These changes were made under quite a variety of different forms and for several different reasons, but we may say that the most prevailing reason was the growing scarcity of laborers and the difficulty of keeping the lands of the empire in cultivation. To secure this result the right of the master to sell his slaves was in certain cases taken away, and the slaves were fixed by law to little pieces of land which they were required to cultivate. The state did not do this in order to improve the condition of the slave. Its only object was to keep up the supply of food. But in doing so it gave to the slave, who had before had no rights at all, a certain very limited number of rights that the master could not take away. Looked at from the perspective of slavery this was a great step of advancement, and in the history of the laboring class serfdom is the stage through which it passes in advancing from slavery to freedom. The Attacks Upon the Frontiers While political and economic disease within was thus steadily sapping the strength of the empire, attacks almost without a pause on every frontier revealed the presence of dangers that would have required the resources of the best days of Rome to overcome. The resistance had been long and obstinate, fairly successful for four hundred years, but we have now reached the point when it breaks down, because the resources of the empire can no longer sustain it, and new races take possession of the provinces. On the eastern frontier the struggle was with a renewed and powerful Persian Empire under the Sassanid dynasty. This family had arisen early in the third century, and from that time had waged many and fierce wars to push their dominions toward the West over Roman territories. Jovian, the successor of Julian, was obliged at last to yield them five provinces, and their gains might have continued if they had not been involved, as the empire was, in the great danger that swept down from the north of Asia upon all of the South, the invasion of the Huns. On the western frontier Rome s enemies were the Germans, and it was their attack which was finally fatal to the empire. Ever since the day when Julius Caesar had turned back their invasion, this conflict had been going on. For the first century and a half the trials of strength came only at considerable intervals, and the Romans were sometimes the attacking party, trying to teach the Teutonic tribes respect for their arms by raids into Germany. During the reign of Marcus Aurelius the attacks of the Germans were more determined and more like an organized invasion, and the defense of the Romans more desperate. As the decline of population in the
empire became serious, making it hard to maintain a strong army, large numbers of Germans and other barbarians were enlisted as soldiers in the service of the emperors; even whole tribes, or portions of tribes, were in some instances settled in lands which had become vacant within the borders. It was a dangerous expedient, but they proved, on the whole, faithful to their engagements so long as there was anything left to which they could be faithful. The Characteristics of the Germans These Germans were still a primitive people, in a stage of development corresponding to that of the earliest days of Greek and Roman history. Their governments were tribal. Some of the tribes had kings of the Homeric type, exercising a limited authority, with councils of elders and nobles and a public assembly of the people. Other tribes, like the Saxons, had not advanced even as far as this, and scarcely had a common political organization. In habits of life and manners and customs, both in war and peace, they were in many ways like the more advanced native North Americans. Their agriculture was simple. War was a favorite occupation of the men, and in peace they spent much of their time in the chase, and in drinking and gambling. On the other hand, in many of their political and ethical ideas they were much above the ordinary barbarian. They had a simple religion of nature gods, with some darker superstitions. Their regard for women and their standard of morals were high. Their criminal law was crude, but based upon sound and just principles, and their method of trying the accused, though attaching great importance to the following of certain fixed forms, really provided for a decision of the important points of the case by the public opinion of the community. In political questions, also, like war and peace, or the choice of magistrates, the public opinion of the tribe had the final decision. The Third and Fourth Centuries The middle and last part of the third century was the most terrible age of these conflicts, at least until the final ruin came. The Alemanni burst through the barriers in the West, and appearing in northern Italy threatened Milan. The Goths crossed the Danube and invaded the Eastern Empire, killed the emperor Decius, even crossed the Bosphorus, and, finally, carried off great plunder. The Illyrian emperors restored the frontiers, but only with great difficulty. In the first part of the fourth century the German attacks lessened in severity, only to be renewed again after a couple of generations of comparative security. Julian had another fierce conflict with the Alemanni, and overcame them only with an army so largely made up of Germans that when they proclaimed him emperor they put him up on their shields after the German fashion. The Goths Cross the Danube The final breaking down of the frontier defenses was the result of the attempt of the Germans to escape from that still fiercer race of warriors that had attacked them from the East, the Huns, a Tatar tribe from northern Asia, who had first fallen upon the kingdom of the Goths in European Russia. When they could not resist further, the two divisions of the Goths followed different counsels. The Ostrogoths, or East Goths, submitted to the Huns and became their subjects; the Visigoths, or West Goths, fell
back before their advance, and coming to the Danube besought the Romans to take them within the frontier. This the Romans agreed to, the Goths surrendering their arms and giving hostages for their good conduct. It is likely that the Goths would have kept the peace but for the greediness of the Roman officers who had charge of the arrangements. They were trying to make all the money they could out of the business, and they finally allowed the Goths to buy back the arms they had surrendered. Then the Goths rose and marched toward Constantinople, where Emperor Valens foolishly risked battle without waiting for reinforcements, and was totally defeated and slain. Theodosius the Great Theodosius, the new Emperor of the East, was a man of great ability. He succeeded in settling the Goths in territories south of the Danube, which they agreed to defend. During his reign of about twenty years they remained faithful to the empire. Theodosius united for some years the whole empire under his rule, but this was for the last time in history. On his death in 395, it was divided between his two sons, Honorius becoming Emperor of the West, and Arcadius in the East, and the empire was never again united except in mere form. The Invasions of Alaric Theodosius death was the signal also for the Visigoths to attempt new conquests, or this may have been because the young and ambitious Alaric came to their throne at about the same time. They marched into Greece plundering and destroying, passed Athens, and went on into the Peloponnesus. Here their course was checked by an army from the West under Stilicho, a Vandal commander of the empire s forces. Alaric escaped from Stilicho with his army and crossed into Epirus, but he was persuaded to settle down in Illyricum as Roman commander in that province. Here he could make preparations for an attack on either half of the empire as circumstances might invite. In 402 he set his army in motion again and this time attacked the West. Descending into the valley of the Po River, he threatened Milan and began the siege of Asti where the Emperor had taken refuge. Again Stilicho saved the empire and drove him back, but the fierce Visigoth king only retired to the head of the Adriatic and waited for another opportunity. The Breaking of the Rhine Frontier In the meantime, events took place in Germany that led to the speedy collapse of Roman power there. The Huns had pushed their conquests towards the West, and many of the Germans, representing several tribes, falling back before their advance, had collected on the east side of the upper Rhine, awaiting an opportunity to pass over into Gaul. From these a large force of various tribes turned south and invaded Italy. Stilicho met them in the neighborhood of Florence, surrounded them with his army, and starved them into submission. Rome was relieved of this danger, but it was her last success in Italy. On the last day of the year 406 the Germans who had not joined the first assault forced their way through the Rhine and entered Gaul. The most important of these tribes were the Suevi, the Vandals, and the Burgundians. The Burgundians
settled in the country about the upper Rhine that still bears their name, and soon were able to make a treaty with the Romans by which their occupation received the sanction of the emperors and they were recognized as a Roman army of occupation. The Suevi and Vandals, after spending some time in plundering Gaul, passed through the Pyrenees and took possession of Spain, which they made into kingdoms for themselves. Rome never recovered any real control of Gaul. Rome s German Defender Sacrificed Shortly after this breaking of the Rhine frontier, Stilicho was put to death as the result of a conspiracy by his enemies. With his great enemy out of the way Alaric knew that his opportunity had opened in Italy once more, and this time there was no one to turn him back. In 410 Rome was taken and sacked. But Italy was not to belong to the Visigoth. Alaric died after his ships were destroyed by a storm on the way to Africa soon after his capture of Rome, and the new Visigoth king led the nation up into southern Gaul. There they settled down to live under an arrangement with the Emperor, whose sister was married to their king, and from there they extended their rule over Spain, gradually conquering the Suevi and Vandals who had occupied that country earlier. The Invasions of the Huns The battered empire made its last desperate attempt at self-defense. Attila, the young King of the Huns, at the head of a great army composed of his own people and of the German tribes who had submitted to their rule, invaded Gaul and threatened to sweep all before him. By a heroic effort the Roman commander, Aetius, the last of the Romans, succeeded in getting together an army strong enough to oppose him. It was made up, however, largely of Germans. The army of the Visigoths was there, led by their king, and Franks also aided in the defense of the empire. The great battle at Chalons-sur- Marne, called sometimes the Battle of the Nations, was desperately fought and not decisive, but Attila s loss was so heavy that he decided to give up the attempt. The next year, 452, he entered Italy with another army. Aetius was this time unable to meet him, but we are told that Pope Leo I came forth from Rome and persuaded the Hun to turn back. The story is very possibly true. At any rate, for some reason Attila did abandon the attack and Italy was saved. In the following year he died and his empire fell apart, the Huns remaining in the Danube Valley and the German tribes becoming independent. The Vandals Rome was saved from destruction by the Hun only to fall into the hands of another barbarian foe. The Vandals had overrun the northern shores of Africa, and, under their savage king, Gaiseric (sometimes called Genseric), made themselves complete masters of that Roman province. Up and down the Mediterranean they sailed in their pirate ships, plundering the rich and fruitful islands, causing peaceful traders to tremble and flee before them. Their sole joy was in plunder and bloodshed, and they cared not where they went in quest of it. The March of Gaiseric I sail to the cities of men with whom God is angry, proclaimed the bold Gaiseric. And from his actions it would appear that he
believed God was angry with all who crossed his path. So, having robbed and wasted many a fair city of the Mediterranean, Gaiseric and his Vandals one day in the year 455 appeared before Rome. The Emperor and the people fled, and the walls were left defenseless. But as the Vandals advanced the gates were thrown open. It was, however, no armed force that issued forth, but a company of priests. Once again Pope Leo sought to save the imperial city. Unarmed save by his dauntless courage, with the cross carried before him and his clergy following after, he advanced to meet the foe. But this time he could not altogether prevail. The Vandals were bent on booty. So, booty they would have. Leo could only wring from their chief a promise that there should be no bloodshed, no burning of houses, and no torture of the defenseless. With that he had to be content, and the sack of Rome began. For fourteen days the pillage lasted. Then, having stripped the city of its treasures, the plunderers sailed away in their richly laden galleys, carrying also with them thousands of Roman citizens as slaves. Pope Leo the Great attempts to persuade Genseric, prince of Vandals, to abstain from sacking Rome, by Maïtre François (illuminator) The Western Empire was now almost entirely in the hands of the Teutonic tribes that had overrun its borders. But still, for twenty-one years, it lingered on in slow death. Then the end came in 476. The last emperor of Rome bore the same name as its founder Romulus. He was, however, only a feeble, beautiful boy of fourteen, so he was called Romulus Augustulus, or the Little Emperor. He was deposed by Odoacer the German, who was the first barbarian to sit upon the throne of the caesars. Odoacer, however, did not take to himself the title of emperor. For the Roman Empire in the East still existed, and a Roman emperor still reigned in Constantinople. To this emperor then, Odoacer sent the purple robe and the royal diadem, with a letter in which he declared that one emperor was enough both for East and West, and demanding the right to rule in Italy as patrician or king. After the Fall: Theoderic and the Ostrogoths When Emperor Zeno received Odoacer s letter, he was at first merely angry that this bold barbarian had dared to usurp the throne of the caesars. Then he felt rather pleased at the idea of being sole emperor. So he left Odoacer alone, and for thirteen years he reaped the reward of his passivity and ruled the empire in peace. Then another barbarian, Theoderic the Ostrogoth, turned his eyes on Italy. He desired to conquer it, and the Emperor did nothing to restrain him. For Theoderic and his Goths were dangerous friends and troublesome neighbors, and it seemed better to the Emperor that they should harass the Western Empire, over which he had but a shadowy right, than that they
should turn their swords against him. Moreover, Odoacer had betrayed him by supporting a rebellion, so Zeno wanted him dead. So once again a great barbarian force marched on Italy. This time they came not as an army but as a nation, bringing their wives, children, and household goods with them because the Goths had heard much of the beauty and the riches of Rome and meant to abide there. Odoacer, however, did not lightly yield what his sword had won, and for more than four years he fought for his kingdom. At length, however, even his stubborn will gave way, and at Ravenna he surrendered to Theoderic. Theoderic promised Odoacer his life, promised even that he should rule with equal power with himself. But he did not keep his promise, for he well knew that two kings could not rule in Italy, and secretly he resolved to put Odoacer to death. Ten days, therefore, after Theoderic had entered Ravenna in triumph he invited his fallen rival to a feast. As Odoacer neared the banqueting hall two men suddenly threw themselves at his feet, praying him to grant them a boon. In the fervor of their entreaties they seized his hands and held them fast. As they did so armed men, in the midst of whom was Theoderic, drawn sword in hand, surrounded them. Odoacer knew that his last hour had come. O God, he cried, where art Thou? He spoke no more. For Theoderic s sword descended, cleaving his helpless enemy from neck to thigh. Even Theoderic himself was amazed at the blow. Methinks the caitiff had never a bone in his body! he cried, with a savage laugh, as he turned away. Thus Theoderic the Ostrogoth, who became known as the Great, began his reign in Italy, and save this one black deed of treachery there is little to record against him in his reign of more than thirty years. He was a barbarian, but after the conquest of Italy he stayed his sword, seeking no further conquests, but only the good of the conquered people. He had no easy task, for he had two utterly different peoples to rule over, Romans and Goths. He was just, however, and wise, and soon he was loved by both peoples. He preserved many of the old Roman laws, and although he was so ignorant himself that he could only with difficulty trace his own name, he encouraged learning in others. He made friendly alliances with all the peoples around him, and so that these should be lasting and binding he arranged marriages between his own family and those of the neighboring princes, thus taking a precaution of which the world has not yet learned the uselessness and danger. Theoderic, indeed, seems to have been for these early days a model prince. He was, we are told, A lover of manufactures, and a great restorer of cities... Merchants from other countries flocked to his dominions. For so great was the order which he made there that if anyone left gold or silver at his farm it was as safe as if it had been within a walled city. This is proved by the fact that he never made gates for any city in Italy, and those which were there already were never closed. It seemed as if Theoderic had founded a new dynasty in Italy, under which those two races, from which the modern civilization of Europe was to spring, would be united. But that was not to be. After a reign of nearly thirty-three years he died, and the
Ostrogoth kingdom declined in strength. It was finally defeated by Justinian I in 553. The End of the Roman Empire The date of Odoacer s triumph in Rome, 476, is usually taken as the date that separates ancient from Medieval history, and it does mark in a somewhat striking way that the great fact which makes a real separation was the fall of the Roman power and the coming in of the Germans. But it must not be thought that this event seemed especially significant to the people who were living at the time, or that they were at all conscious of any passage from one age of history to another. It was to them an incident like a great many others which were taking on all sides, and they were able easily to persuade themselves that the Roman Empire continued, for was there not an emperor Rome reigning all the time at Constantinople? To following ages, which realized more clearly that Western Europe had ceased to be Roman, this dramatic surrender of the title seemed to mark the close of a great period in history. Romulus Augustulus resigns the Roman crown to Odoacer