AHC: prevent feudalism

Starting in the death of Trajan, plausibly prevent the de-urbanization and de-centralization (and political collapse, of course) leading to the rise of feudalism in europe. what would a non-feudal europe look like? would it still lead to the great divergence? is the chances of rome surviving (or if it still doesn't, a second one rising) higher or lower than OTL?
 
A lot of the de-urbanization was caused by shifting climate. Stopping this is basically ASB. That said, you could stop the Huns from pushing the Germanic peoples into the west, which could well give Rome a bit more breathing room and drastically change how the warrior culture that dominated early medieval Europe formed.
 
A lot of the de-urbanization was caused by shifting climate. Stopping this is basically ASB. That said, you could stop the Huns from pushing the Germanic peoples into the west, which could well give Rome a bit more breathing room and drastically change how the warrior culture that dominated early medieval Europe formed.
What about the creation and adoption of the three-field system in the late Roman period? It probably wouldn't be enough to save the Empire but it could help in growing urban areas after Roman withdrawal.


The other option is to go more directly to a stronger monarchy after Roman collapse. If you could somehow strengthen the Ostrogoth Kingdom of Italy you could conceivably create a centralized monarchy in the West more in line with the Byzantine system. Perhaps by avoiding Justinian's Italian excursions?
 
The other option is to go more directly to a stronger monarchy after Roman collapse. If you could somehow strengthen the Ostrogoth Kingdom of Italy you could conceivably create a centralized monarchy in the West more in line with the Byzantine system. Perhaps by avoiding Justinian's Italian excursions?

I'm not sure about this, but wasn't the Ostrogoth strength really more the personal strength of Theoderic rather than anything intrinsic? As far as I can tell they had a lot of problems starting the minute he died, and they resembled most of the other Germanic groups in terms of governance. This might prevent some of the trappings of Frankish feudalism from emerging, but I don't know if it could prevent a semi-feudal society.
 
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