That’s the same plague, though for obvious reasons it will be known by a different name here. The plague is going to hit hard both halves of the empire (as it did OTL, it's kinda hard to butterfly away its effects) but the West is not going to lose everything just after having secured it. The loss of millions of people is going to put a strain on the finances of the empire and its ability to recruit armies (currently with the reconquest of Africa, the West is trying to increase the number of soldiers available to deal with the increasing number of threats). It will also deal a final blow to the old administrative system (or at least certain aspects of it), that’s why we are going to see soon some chances in the Western military structure. But again with the worst disaster of this age avoid (the Gothic war) I can't see Italy becoming the indefensible mess it was OTL and Rome an almost completely deserted city.
From Exile to Triumph: a Western Roman Timeline
- Thread starter Flavius Iulius Nepos
- Start date
Haha yes perhaps the Hypatian plague. Looking forward to more reforms, hmmm yes well with major conflicts not happening we may very well end up seeing even bigger conflicts, As forces build up.
Depends on how urbanized they are. Visigothic spain would be hurt more than northern Gaul, and Gaul would be hurt more than Britain.
although going by the historical and archeological records the Britons were affected by the plagues worse than the barbarians, possibly because they were more communal and or maintained fairly regular contact with the Mediterranean via the tin trade
Theodosian plague sounds like a more catchy name. Doesn’t it?
Well so far we have seen some decent fighting, but I already have two greater conflicts coming up soon. Even more destructive than the Vandal and Gothic wars. That’s why I want to spent this time writing about the internal situation, so that once we start dealing with these new conflicts I can totally focus on them.
It will. I may not write any update about how the barbarian kingdoms are going to react to the plague, since the focus of this timeline is the Roman world, but that doesn’t mean they are going to witness the plague unscathed.
May also due to the fact that the effects of the plague were summed to the effects of ongoing local conflicts, similarly to Italy, that’s why the plague took an even heavier toll here.
Not much has changed so far, since right now the effects of the butterflies are mostly affecting Italy, Africa, The Balkans, Spain, and Southern Gaul. Later on this might chance.
Now that we are speaking of Britain I’ve just had an idea: since there are areas of this timeline I’m not going to touch as often as Rome or Constantinople and are pretty far from the main events of the story, I was thinking that anyone who has some interest and any idea about these marginalized regions (Britain, certain area of Germany, later on the eastern territories of Persia etc.) could provide some suggestions or even write their own piece of the story. I wouldn’t mind having for example a fully fledged History of Britain until a point of this timeline where the main events start interacting with the more peripheral areas. Just an idea, and if anyone is interested just let me know.
I'd be happy to make suggestions for Britain, though im already in the middle of my own TL for 'dark age' Britain thats about 100 years ahead of where you currently are so I'm not really up for making a whole daughter thread.
@Flavius Iulius Nepos great update, as always! Regarding the suggestion/ parts of the story, I am deeply interested. I have been studying quite a lot of Lombard history recently, so if the Lombards are still around (I can't recall, real life's currently taking her toll, which accounts for the abrupt stop I had to give to the Diaries of Desiderius) I would happily cover that, should you deem that interesting. Britain is of course fascinating, but honestly I am more a an Arthurian fan than an expert on the subject.
Don’t worry if you want you can write your own piece of the story, otherwise just PM me with your suggestions. Once I’m done with the main events on the continent (around the end of the century maybe) I’ll write some recap updates about other theaters based on your and others' suggestions.
That would be perfect! Yes the Lombards are still around and they are going to be for quite some time but, beside some minor upcoming events, I haven’t planned much for them yet. If you are interested in writing about them just send me a private message.
Just re read the entire thread again. Really liking this and re reading it brought back the sad GOT style death of Marcianus Valens a worthy caesar, at least we have Anthemius Valens. Also so if i read this right, the line from procopius is almost dead other than procopius daughter. Do we have any imformation on her?
A sad death and the tragedy that has struck this family so far doesn’t seem will stop, given that the conflict with Eleutherius doesn’t bode well. Or maybe Anthemius Valens this time will be more lucky than his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. We will have to wait and see how his story will unfold.
You are right, that line is almost dead.
About Iulius Procopius’ daughter: she is now the only surviving daughter of Procopius and Amalasuntha (also dead) and therefore the sole heir of her father’s wealth. Right now, with the death of her father in law Hypatius, she is empress along with her husband Pompeius. She is, like her father and empress dowager Maria, a follower of Chalcedonia. She is also already the mother of a daughter, Anastasia (named after her deceased uncle), born shortly before Constantina became empress. Not mentioned yet is also the fact that she is going to give birth to a future Porphyrogenitus/Porphyrogenita next year (543).
This should be all for now.
This is way we north African people have white, dark, brown skin but a lot of western people think that all of Africa have dark skin
Also a lot of black people think that, at least judging from some of their theories about Egyptian rulers (well, we do not know exactly what skin had the earlier pharaohs but they became ridiculous when they add to the list of black rulers the Greek-Macedonian Cleopatra)
Chapter LV: To survive and adapt
Chapter LV
To survive and adapt
No military defeat or civil war had ever claimed a greater toll from the empire of the Romans than the new plague coming from Aegyptus. The Theodosian plague, named after the emperor whose reign would be deeply marked by this scourge, would dramatically and forever change the course of history in the Mediterranean world, marking a turning in point in the history of Rome. Millions upon millions of lives would be broken, with even entire families being wiped out from existence. Not a single soul would be left with not even a single loss in his life to weep over. From the lowliest peasant in the empire to the emperor himself, everyone was equal in front of the greatest evil unleashed upon the world.
As traumatic as this could be on a private level, even greater was the tragedy for the Imperial machine and its two branches: the army and the civil administration. During its millenary history the Roman army had undergone through a great number of changes. It had to in order to survive. From the army of the kings of a long gone past to the legionaries of Scipio, from Marius’ mules to Augustus’ professional standing army and finally the Late Roman army of Diocletianus and Constantinus, new challenges, resources, fighting style, problems and ages of crisis had shown the world the army’s ability to adapt and improve itself, helped by the brilliant minds of its leaders. The VI century was for the empire another age of crisis, another occasion for it to adapt to a constantly mutating world. Only this time the crisis didn’t come from the outside, instead it was within the empire. Without even a single a battle, the plague had already dealt a serious blow to the army most important thing, its manpower.
Supplying enough men for the army had always been a challenge for every emperor of the last three centuries. The anarchy of the Third century, the civil wars of the Fourth century and the almost total collapse of the empire during the Fifth century, had only made the situation worse, only to slightly start to improve again at end of Nepos’ reign. Great emperors had also sought a solution to the problem, with varying degrees of success including Severus, Iulianus and Iulius Nepos just to name some of them. It was not enough though and the plague had only worsened the situation by increasing the numbers of replacement required while reducing the number of civilians available to join the army, willingly or not. Not to mention the West’s newly expanded frontiers and its need for even more units.
The solution adopted by the two halves of the empire would differ quite significantly. The East, more economically healthy than the West, would resort to the mass recruitment of superficially Romanized people or even outright foreigners. Nothing new for the empire of course, except that this time the whole thing was being carried out in a much greater scale, with entire units now entirely composed of Arabs, Armenians, Iberian people, recently defeated Goths and now even the first Slavs who had come into contact with the empire more directly for the first time. Everyone willing to fight and die for Constantinople’s fine coins was more than welcome to do so. Pretty quickly even the highest ranks in the army were now withing the grasp of these newcomers.
Fairly different were the measures adopted in the West, thanks to a different background and a different leadership. The efforts of finding new way for the army to operate would be carried out by Anthemius Valens and Flavius Belisarius, commanders of the Italian and African armies. Ironically the roots of their reforms were already there way before their appointment as commander and therefore could be considered a natural evolution of previous developments. During the eighth year of his reign [1] Iulius Nepos had established a new social class. The “Beneficiarii” were Nepos’ solution to the problem of feeding the army and the capital while keeping the Italian fields productive. During the eighteenth year of his reign, under the leadership of Gaudentius, Aetius’s son, a new system of recruitment had been pun into place, with the Curiales of the cities of Italy now playing a more active role in the gathering of conscripts for the imperial army. After the conquest of Africa a similar system had been set up in the new Diocese, with some important changes. Here the “Beneficiarii”, both Romans and Vandals, were not supposed to supply the army, instead they were supposed to supplement it, while local Berbers leaders would aid Roman military effort in the region while retaining their traditional autonomy. Gundericus’s following rebellion and defeat only extended this network of Berber allies, while the Vandals who had joined the rebellion (many but not every single one of them, especially those now related to the Romans through the new marriages encouraged after the conquest of Africa) were relocated in a safer location within the empire, only to be replaced by more Romans.
Given all these premises it was only natural for Anthemius Valens to preserve the best the system of the past had to offer while re-adapting it to the new situation and the example coming from Africa. The death of so many, left numerous plot of lands without an owner or an heir. Land that officially still belonged to the emperor, who could dispose of it as he wished. By exploiting his position of Patricius and Magister Militum and his influence within the imperial court, Valens was able to have these lands redistributed to the soldiers of the Italian army while forcing the remaining original Italian “Beneficiarii” to relinquish their position or to accept new military obligations in exchange of the previous, purely economical, ones. All these changes were more gradual than they appear here and at first only affected the Italian armies given the peculiar situations existing in Illyricum and Gallia. A more political move, aimed at reinforcing his position within the empire against Eleutherius, was his self-elevation to the rank of Magister Militum Praesentalis instead of the previous Magister Militum per Italiam he previously had to share with a second commander. Needlees to say that this move was supported by empress Eudoxia and Iulia Galla, Belisarius’s imperial wife, now also worried about Eleutherius ever growing influence with his brother the emperor.
This self-elevation not only had a political reason behind, it was also justified by new distinctions now existing between the two Italian armies. One of the them was now operating in a similar fashion to the African one, an army of land-owning soldiers, headed by a Magister Militum per Italiam and geared towards the defense of Italia itself. The soldiers of this army were now expected to provide for their own sustainment during both time of war and peace as their payment had to be reduced given the economic decline the empire was experiencing and the extra expenses coming from the reconstruction of Pannonia. They were also expected to provide from now on to their own equipment, however to avoid cases of soldiers economizing on their own equipment, the imperial government only allowed the purchase of weapons from workshops officially listed as linked to Imperial owned "Fabricae". A way to ensure a certain quality and standardization of the army while preserving for the years to come the know-how and skills of the men working in these “Fabricae”.
Different was the situation for the soldier of the army personally headed by Anthemius Valens, which now ranked as above all other Comitatenses armies. With no land granted to them, instead these soldiers were expected to permanently serve the empire while enjoying a better payment than the one earned before the whole reform of the army and a better equipment compared to Comitatenses units. The only army of this kind in the whole West, the Palatini were devised as offensive units, able to serve even outside of Italia for longer period of time. Untouched by the whole reforms but still in an higher and much more privileged position were the six units of the Scholae and the four units of the Domestici. The Gallic and Illyrian armies would only be touched by these reform several years after these development had fully come to completion in Italia. The whole evolution of the army was also a personal victory for Anthemius Valens who had secured the loyalty of the army through land distribution or a pay raise. Only future challenges would tell if these changes truly were for the good of the empire.
Notes
[1] 481
Let me know what you think about this earlier (yet not complete) “Thematic” development of the Western army and if you want to see something similar for the evolution of the civil administration in the future. Also I’ve already said it but I really want to stress this, for simplicity reasons I included most of the changes in one single update but they didn’t take place all at once and instantly. By the end of Theodosius’ reign some of these might not even be completely implemented yet, while some more refinements are going to be required in the future.
To survive and adapt
No military defeat or civil war had ever claimed a greater toll from the empire of the Romans than the new plague coming from Aegyptus. The Theodosian plague, named after the emperor whose reign would be deeply marked by this scourge, would dramatically and forever change the course of history in the Mediterranean world, marking a turning in point in the history of Rome. Millions upon millions of lives would be broken, with even entire families being wiped out from existence. Not a single soul would be left with not even a single loss in his life to weep over. From the lowliest peasant in the empire to the emperor himself, everyone was equal in front of the greatest evil unleashed upon the world.
As traumatic as this could be on a private level, even greater was the tragedy for the Imperial machine and its two branches: the army and the civil administration. During its millenary history the Roman army had undergone through a great number of changes. It had to in order to survive. From the army of the kings of a long gone past to the legionaries of Scipio, from Marius’ mules to Augustus’ professional standing army and finally the Late Roman army of Diocletianus and Constantinus, new challenges, resources, fighting style, problems and ages of crisis had shown the world the army’s ability to adapt and improve itself, helped by the brilliant minds of its leaders. The VI century was for the empire another age of crisis, another occasion for it to adapt to a constantly mutating world. Only this time the crisis didn’t come from the outside, instead it was within the empire. Without even a single a battle, the plague had already dealt a serious blow to the army most important thing, its manpower.
Supplying enough men for the army had always been a challenge for every emperor of the last three centuries. The anarchy of the Third century, the civil wars of the Fourth century and the almost total collapse of the empire during the Fifth century, had only made the situation worse, only to slightly start to improve again at end of Nepos’ reign. Great emperors had also sought a solution to the problem, with varying degrees of success including Severus, Iulianus and Iulius Nepos just to name some of them. It was not enough though and the plague had only worsened the situation by increasing the numbers of replacement required while reducing the number of civilians available to join the army, willingly or not. Not to mention the West’s newly expanded frontiers and its need for even more units.
The solution adopted by the two halves of the empire would differ quite significantly. The East, more economically healthy than the West, would resort to the mass recruitment of superficially Romanized people or even outright foreigners. Nothing new for the empire of course, except that this time the whole thing was being carried out in a much greater scale, with entire units now entirely composed of Arabs, Armenians, Iberian people, recently defeated Goths and now even the first Slavs who had come into contact with the empire more directly for the first time. Everyone willing to fight and die for Constantinople’s fine coins was more than welcome to do so. Pretty quickly even the highest ranks in the army were now withing the grasp of these newcomers.
Fairly different were the measures adopted in the West, thanks to a different background and a different leadership. The efforts of finding new way for the army to operate would be carried out by Anthemius Valens and Flavius Belisarius, commanders of the Italian and African armies. Ironically the roots of their reforms were already there way before their appointment as commander and therefore could be considered a natural evolution of previous developments. During the eighth year of his reign [1] Iulius Nepos had established a new social class. The “Beneficiarii” were Nepos’ solution to the problem of feeding the army and the capital while keeping the Italian fields productive. During the eighteenth year of his reign, under the leadership of Gaudentius, Aetius’s son, a new system of recruitment had been pun into place, with the Curiales of the cities of Italy now playing a more active role in the gathering of conscripts for the imperial army. After the conquest of Africa a similar system had been set up in the new Diocese, with some important changes. Here the “Beneficiarii”, both Romans and Vandals, were not supposed to supply the army, instead they were supposed to supplement it, while local Berbers leaders would aid Roman military effort in the region while retaining their traditional autonomy. Gundericus’s following rebellion and defeat only extended this network of Berber allies, while the Vandals who had joined the rebellion (many but not every single one of them, especially those now related to the Romans through the new marriages encouraged after the conquest of Africa) were relocated in a safer location within the empire, only to be replaced by more Romans.
Given all these premises it was only natural for Anthemius Valens to preserve the best the system of the past had to offer while re-adapting it to the new situation and the example coming from Africa. The death of so many, left numerous plot of lands without an owner or an heir. Land that officially still belonged to the emperor, who could dispose of it as he wished. By exploiting his position of Patricius and Magister Militum and his influence within the imperial court, Valens was able to have these lands redistributed to the soldiers of the Italian army while forcing the remaining original Italian “Beneficiarii” to relinquish their position or to accept new military obligations in exchange of the previous, purely economical, ones. All these changes were more gradual than they appear here and at first only affected the Italian armies given the peculiar situations existing in Illyricum and Gallia. A more political move, aimed at reinforcing his position within the empire against Eleutherius, was his self-elevation to the rank of Magister Militum Praesentalis instead of the previous Magister Militum per Italiam he previously had to share with a second commander. Needlees to say that this move was supported by empress Eudoxia and Iulia Galla, Belisarius’s imperial wife, now also worried about Eleutherius ever growing influence with his brother the emperor.
This self-elevation not only had a political reason behind, it was also justified by new distinctions now existing between the two Italian armies. One of the them was now operating in a similar fashion to the African one, an army of land-owning soldiers, headed by a Magister Militum per Italiam and geared towards the defense of Italia itself. The soldiers of this army were now expected to provide for their own sustainment during both time of war and peace as their payment had to be reduced given the economic decline the empire was experiencing and the extra expenses coming from the reconstruction of Pannonia. They were also expected to provide from now on to their own equipment, however to avoid cases of soldiers economizing on their own equipment, the imperial government only allowed the purchase of weapons from workshops officially listed as linked to Imperial owned "Fabricae". A way to ensure a certain quality and standardization of the army while preserving for the years to come the know-how and skills of the men working in these “Fabricae”.
Different was the situation for the soldier of the army personally headed by Anthemius Valens, which now ranked as above all other Comitatenses armies. With no land granted to them, instead these soldiers were expected to permanently serve the empire while enjoying a better payment than the one earned before the whole reform of the army and a better equipment compared to Comitatenses units. The only army of this kind in the whole West, the Palatini were devised as offensive units, able to serve even outside of Italia for longer period of time. Untouched by the whole reforms but still in an higher and much more privileged position were the six units of the Scholae and the four units of the Domestici. The Gallic and Illyrian armies would only be touched by these reform several years after these development had fully come to completion in Italia. The whole evolution of the army was also a personal victory for Anthemius Valens who had secured the loyalty of the army through land distribution or a pay raise. Only future challenges would tell if these changes truly were for the good of the empire.
Notes
[1] 481
Let me know what you think about this earlier (yet not complete) “Thematic” development of the Western army and if you want to see something similar for the evolution of the civil administration in the future. Also I’ve already said it but I really want to stress this, for simplicity reasons I included most of the changes in one single update but they didn’t take place all at once and instantly. By the end of Theodosius’ reign some of these might not even be completely implemented yet, while some more refinements are going to be required in the future.
Last edited:
Thanks I really appreciate.
Mass recruitment of barbarians into imperial armies is not a problem in itself. Having them fighting under the leadership of foreigners completely independent from the empire is. Not to say that this development won’t have any consequence but you’ll have to wait to see them.
Also edited some images to better fit into the page.
Even then its not necessarily a problem if you don't make it into one. You really just need to uphold a consistent policy of assimilation that doesn't alienate the target group. The army that became the visigothic people got caught up in the intrigues between the western and eastern roman courts and then the chaotic change in administration that occurred after stilicho's death
Well Stilicho’s death and the following purge of his followers certainly made things even worse than they were, but I still think the military efforts of the empire should be led by men properly integrated into the ranks of the empire instead of relying on an host of barbarian people led by their kings without a proper Roman army to keep them at bay. That’s why I think the current situation if Africa (soon to be applied elsewhere) will work better in the long run compared to what happened in Gaul and Spain during the V century with the Goths effectively taking over after bringing back “order”.
You're right, but i don't think Alaric and his followers should be considered in that sense. The 'visigoths' between their crossing of the danube and the sacking of Rome where caught in a halfway house; they were fairly romanized and they wanted to be Romans with roman rights and roman land but the roman establishment didn't want to integrate them, hence the purge of stilicho and the brutalization of the visigoths that happened afterwards pushed them away. Even Athulf didn't completely give up on the idea of integration, thus why he married Galla Placidia.
Or as Orosius put it ; "Therefore I have more prudently chosen the different glory of reviving the Roman name with Gothic vigour, and I hope to be acknowledged by posterity as the initiator of a Roman restoration"