I am fairly sure that electing Consuls was not a Senatorial task, certainly never under the Republic.
For the rest, however, great update.
The Amalingian Empire: The Story of the Gothic-Roman Empire
- Thread starter DanMcCollum
- Start date
For the rest, however, great update.
This is true. However, since the Imperial Era, the elections for the Consols took place in the Senate Forum. Under the reign of Theodemir, when he chose to not interfere with the appointment of Consuls, the power of election was officially moved to the Senate itself (especially as the position had become largely ceremonial by this point, and no one was really expecting it to once again become one of influence)
It's fascinating how an act that can seem to be but a harmless formality can have interesting knock-on effects down the line.
It really is, and that's one of those quirks of history that I like throwing into this timeline and exploring a bit. I think it makes the universe feel more 'lived in' and fleshed out. And, even more important: It's fun
(and, if you haven't noticed, I do sometimes enjoy just throwing some fun ideas into this timeline )Okay guys, it seems as if the midst of a global pandemic may not be the best times to write chapters: especially when I'm starting a PhD and working on a screenplay
So, sorry about the break here. I actually started on the most recent chapter tonight and though its not done, it will be in the next few days. I'd expect it to be posted by Wednesday at the latest - but don't hold me to that too hard.
The bright side, once we get through this chapter, we're going to be moving into a major narrative sections where a lot is going on: the reign of Theodoric II the Great and then the Ruination. So once this hump is over, it should be much more steady going forward
So, sorry about the break here. I actually started on the most recent chapter tonight and though its not done, it will be in the next few days. I'd expect it to be posted by Wednesday at the latest - but don't hold me to that too hard.
The bright side, once we get through this chapter, we're going to be moving into a major narrative sections where a lot is going on: the reign of Theodoric II the Great and then the Ruination. So once this hump is over, it should be much more steady going forward
Huh, I was just thinking about this timeline earlier, glad to see it’s still up and running. I’ll have to catch up one of these days, eager to revisit this, and can’t wait for more!
It's been rough. I actually moved abroad for school in January and was just settling in and meeting people when the hammer came down - so it's made for an 'interesting' past five months, to say the least. I finally broke out of my own funks about a month and a half or two months ago, but have been busy making up on reading for the degree and such.
Oh, it's always up and running. Just sometimes with long life-induced hiatuses
Chapter 84: Echoes of Future Past
Chapter 84
Echoes of Future Past
Later depiction of the Battle of Reims which saw the slaying of Praetorian Prefect Gainas by King Sigebert of the Franks
“A Statesman must always judge his movements carefully. For what appears to be the correct decision today, can quickly prove disastrous tomorrow.” –“The Republic and the Empire” by Aquila Mancini
“An Empire Besieged: The Gothic-Roman Empire and the Crisis of the Reign of Amalamir II” Journal Restoration Era Studies. Volume XXXXVI Issue 4 (2003)
By: Dr. Ricardo Prugna
On the 5th of July, 678, the combined members of the Gothic Garun met to officially proclaim the ascension of Amalamir II – known to posterity as Amalamir the Ungaraiths, or the Unready. After the Garun gave its ascent, Amalamir was duly blessed by Atta Frithufar, and then addressed the conclave of nobles and churchmen. His words have not come down to us – Hunuil of Nizza, the churchman who had written the unflattering biography of Amalamir’s father, was present, but chose not to record them. Even Sigisbairht who, following the classical traditions he so adored, couldn’t muster the effort to invent a speech for the young Emperor. Best known for the quip quoted by Sigisbairht that, “Amalamir can speak three languages, but has nothing of interest to say in any of them,” its unlikely that his words were particularly stirring or memorable.
Since the end of the Kunis Wars, the Gothic-Roman Empire had been ruled over by a series of monarchs that have long been remembered as the “Do-Nothing Emperors.” I have recently spoke at length, as to why that particular designation is unfair and incorrect, stemming more from Sigisbairht’s own interest in attempting to explain the travesty of the Ruination than it does from the activities and personalities of the Emperors in question. Theodebert II, after all, had seized the crown from Theodemir the Chaste and his mother Queen Adela and then engaged in campaigns to restore order to the realm. Thorismund the Good, had enjoyed a long reign which saw the Empire largely at peace with its neighbors, save for occasional raids and his military campaign against the Moravia of King Aizar. Even Amalamir’s direct predecessor, his murdered brother Athaneric, had engaged in numerous daring actions against foes both foreign and domestic, albeit failing in most cases. However, in the case of Amalamir, the title, along with his unfortunate nickname, is well deserved and earned.
And, of course, that was likely the point. Part of the Gothic nobility and Roman Senatorial opposition to the reign of Athaneric was due to the deceased king’s personality, overreaching of his authority and continual military failings. This was all the more true for the Roman Senate which had found itself the target of Athaneric’s efforts to secure more funding for his campaigns and, following their refusal, had had their power directly threatened by him. Faced with an Emperor who was, to their mind, acting more in the manner of a tyrant of old and not in the role of a Christian steward of the people, there can be little surprise that the callow and colorless Amalamir II would have seemed to be a pleasing alternative.
However, there were other dimensions to the assassination of Athaneric and the raising of his brother to the Purple, than the late Emperor’s political actions. Following the initial settlement of the Ostrogoths in Italy under Theodoric the Founder and the reorganization of the realm under Theodemir the Great, the Gothic population largely consisted with a large body of yeoman farmers and herders and a smaller body of nobles. Despite the status differences between the two populations, the nobles by and large had not accrued the vast amount of estates and wealth which would mark their class in later centuries. Although government and church positions were largely filled by nobles, the land grants which came with said positions belonged ultimately to the crown or Church and were not inherited by the holder’s heirs. As a result of this, despite the fact that nobles certainly possessed greater wealth, prestige and connections than the general population, the gap between them and the Gothic yeomen was much smaller than it would become in later generations. Furthermore, what extra wealth a nobleman hoped to acquire could only be done so with the willing compliance of the Emperor or Church. This meant, that the nobles were effectively dependent upon these two pillars for social advancement.
However, in the years following the Fourth Punic War and the Kunis Wars, this situation had changed, and done so dramatically. Ambitious nobles had been able to squeeze concessions from the Gothic government time and time again, which expanded their holdings in exchange for financial or military support during times of crisis. This meant that many of those titles which had once been granted by the Emperor or Church had now become hereditary, de jure if not always de facto – though, more and more, formal recognition was catching up to the truths on the ground. Furthermore, there now had began to emerge distinct class differences between the nobility itself. A new strata of high nobility had begun to emerge which consolidated the lands of their less powerful or wealthy peers. Below them was a level of middle nobility which best reflected the conditions of the early nobles within the Gothic Empire. And below them were the lower nobility which often had little more wealth than a yeoman farmer and potentially less but were differentiated from them by the illustriousness of their descent.
This clear picture was clouded by two important factors. The first was that upward mobility was not impossible within the Gothic state – indeed, it was remarked by other writers at the time that the Goths were more more socially fluid than many of their contemporaries, especially when compared to the contemporary situation in Senatorial Italy where the rank of Senator was proudly guarded against threats by upstarts. And secondly was the situation within the imperial family itself. Beginning with the ending of the Fourth Punic Wars and established by Theodebert II following the conclusion of the Kunis Wars, it had become tradition that each son of the Amaling line would received lands and titles upon the ascension of a new Emperor. This had two major impacts. The first of which, of course, was the steady depletion of the Imperial fiefdoms which were used to help support the Emperor. This resulted in further undermining the nobility’s dependence on the Emperor as he simply had less titles and lands to distribute and was no longer able to claim to be the richest landholder in the realm. But secondly, and perhaps more intriguing, was the creation of what would later have been deemed cadet branches of the Amaling line. These cadet branches, if you will excuse the anachronism, possessed one thing which the nobility could not claim – almost assured imperial patronage, as well as a bloodline which carried with it immediate dignities and a reasonable claim upon the Imperial throne – no matter how small the chances were of gaining enough support in the Garun to make that claim a reality.
It was during the later part of the Middle Empire that we begin to see our first references to prominent noble families, made up almost entirely of the upper nobility – those Amaling cadet branches and the higher nobility which had come into affluence and prestige. And so, by the reign of Amalamir II we now begin to see families such as the Wulfigz, Cnivigz and Bullonisz to name only a few, who would play such a large part in the Ruination and in later events. Furthermore, this was not a purely Gothic phenomenom, though Goths were represented far more than any other groups. We see the same process also occurring in the Empire’s satellite regions, such as Spania and Jaille. There, a nobility which was made up the local landed class, with an admixture of Gothic elements, was rising in much the same way as in the Gothic lands. However, here, the nobility had the added element of the established Praetorian Prefects who vied with the Emperor for the loyalty of their nobility and with him the nobility played against the Emperors.
Because of these factors, it can generally be said that the emergent high nobility generally preferred a weak Emperor who would rely upon them for support or, even better, simply leave them to their own devices. The Middle and Low nobility meanwhile, wished for stronger imperial power which would cap the influence of the high nobility and possibly offer them the patronage they needed to ascend the social ladder. Due to the still present social mobility within the Gothic realm in the Empire, this social stratification had yet to solidify to the extent it would during the late and post-Imperial era, and this led to the conflicts between the classes to be more muted than what would emerge in later centuries.
However, the conflicts did emerge during the course of Athaneric’s reign – his movements against the Senate and the Church had done much to offend the higher strata of both Gothic and Roman society and brought together these factions in a way that was rare up to that point and wouldn’t be seen again until the reign of Theodoric II the Great, nearly two decades later– and then in a vastly different fashion. The fact that the conspirators had a candidate in Amalamir II who was well known to be intellectually shallow and uninterested in the day to day managing of government, likely encouraged the hopes of the dissatisfied nobles and senators that once Athaneric was out of the picture, that they would be left largely to their own devices.
And, in all honesty, they were largely to be granted their wish. The first years of Amalamir Ungaraiths’ reign, which commenced in 678, were largely uneventful and little of them have come down to us in the sources. But thit was to change, and do so dramatically, in 680. The crisis of that year began with a major Frankish war party which crossed the Imperial frontier and made deep incurssions into Jaille, sacking Amiens during that year and then marching south towards Reims. At this time the Praetorian Prefect of Jaille was the ineffectual Gainas who may have had some connections to the Amal dynasty. Rallying his forces, he met the Frankish king Sigebert in battle north of Reims and was utterly destroyed, losing his life in the process. Sigebert negotiated the surrender of Reims and, rather than returning to his own lands, decided to winter there and reinforce himself for the next campaign season.
The fall of Amiens and Reims immediately caused panic throughout the realm. Within Jaille itself, the nobles quickly rallied around one of their own – a man known as Sixtus who had won renown for himself earlier in life when he helped repel raids by the Rautherings. However, despite his election as Praetorian Prefect, Sixtus was unable to attain official imperial recognition. Instead, Amalaric II, potentially under the influence of his advisors, appointed Frithugains – a Amaligz nobleman who descended from the line of Amalamir II. Frithugains arrived in Jaille and was initially mistook as a messenger from the Emperor coming to confirm Sixtus’ official appointment. Whatever embarrassment must have existed at the time, it paled in comparison to the fact that the aged Sixtus had no desire to stand aside for the unknown Gothic upstart. Firthugains, for his part, was able to rely upon his imperial patronage to secure limited support amongst the Jaille nobility, but this was not enough to secure his control within the wayward province. Declaring that Sixtus was a rebel against the Empire gained him only only so much more. And so, with a Frankish warparty ready to march from its winter camp in Reims, Jaille began to spiral into a period of lowscale civil war. [FN1]
And then, just as news of the Frankish victories began to reach Ravenna, a new threat was spotted to the East. In the late spring of 681, the largest Rauthering raiding party had seen sailed past the Straits of Heracleas and into the Mediterranean Sea. In the past, the Rautherings had contended themselves with raiding the Atlantic seaboard of Europe and had made only passing efforts to reach the former Mare Nostrum. According to Gaelic sagas, the expedition was Dara Ó Flaithbheartaigh, a lower ri from the lands of Connacht. The size of the fleet varies depending on the report, from a couple hundred carricks to well over a sthousand. Whatever the case, the fleet marked the beginning of a new phase of Rauthering attacks and coordination, which would eventually crest with Caoimhe the Beardless’s campaigns and her seizing of southern Spania.
Luckily for the Gaelic pirates, the Imperial fleet had never recovered from the disaster of the Fourth Punic War, and those ships which could be gathered were unfit to the task. The Carricks, which were more maneuverable and able to hug the coastlines, unlike their Gothic counterparts, continually outpaced their pursuers and were able to draw off and isolate ships and destroy them. Traveling along the southern shore of Gotland, they struck again and again – each time overwhelming the garrisons left in towns before any local response could be organized. Finally they reached Massalbaurg and after – according to legend – bribing the a gatekeeper of the city, were able to sack the city. Massalbaurg which had continued to thrive as a trading city following the initial collapse of the Western Empire and the restoration of Imperial control of the Goths, entered into a precipitous decline following this raid and wouldn’t recover until the Theutish Era.
The fall of Massalbaurg spread panic throughout the Gothic realm. Coupled with the incursions of the Franks in Jaille, many began to believe that the Franks and Gaels had allied with one another in order to bring the Empire to its knees. Amalamir for his parts summoned the Garun to Ravenna so that a response to the crisis could be organized. For his part Dara Ó Flaithbheartaigh and his expedition, largely saited in their feast following the sack of Massabaurgs, would set sail for home, blissfully unaware of the political crisis which they had instigated. Dara would return to Connacht where, according to the gaelic chronicles and sagas, he would be dead within the next two years, having used his wealth and prestige in a losing bid to unseat the O Conchobair dynasty. However, his legacy would live on, and the success of his expedition would inspire future Rauthering expeditions, not the least amongst whom was that of the Dal Raidian Caoimhe Aon Féasóg who would plague the western Mediterranean during the Ruination. [FN2]
Sigisbaihrt tells us that Ravenna was paralyzed with fears that an even greater Gaelic war party would return during the next campaign season. Meanwhile, Jaille continued to burn. Sigebert and his Franks did not feel the same compulsion as the Gaels to return home with their ill-gotten gains. We are told that Sigebert’s brother Clothain had perished during Athaneric’s ill-planned incursion into Frankland years prior and, we are told “Possessed a righteous and all consuming hatred for the Goths and their Amaling rulers.” Instead, with the coming of warm weather, and buttressed by reinforcements from Frankland, SIgebert continued his campaign, turning his attention towards Tricassae to the southwest.
In this, he was helped by the continued strife between Sixtus and Firthugains who were not only unable to come to a common accord in their policies towards the Franks but who had begun to openly oppose one another. We are told in Orleans that the local bishop who supported Frithugains as the Praetorian Prefect and, by extension, Emperor Amalaric, was driven from the city by an enraged population who attempted to stone him to death. Meanwhile, in Poitiers, messengers from Sixtus were captured and executed by the town’s citizens who openly declared their preference for Firthugains. In such an environment, Sigebert had no trouble sweeping away whatever resistance that Tricassae was able to offer and sacked the city before turning his attention southward again towards Dijon and the Lugdunum, the capitol of the Burgundian sub-kingdom. By the end of 661 Sigebert was once again enjoying the full extent of Imperial hospitality, holding Lugdunum under duress.
The capture of Lugdunum, along with news that Firthugains’ forces had suffered a defeat at Avaricum – not against the Franks and King Sigebert but against Sextus who was still styling himself Praetorian Prefect and hoping to gain Imperial support and recognition – appears to have been the final straw for many of the Gothic nobles. Indeed, Sigisbaihrt reports that following his victory, the rebel Sextus sent a letter to Emperor Amalamir II pointing to his victory as evidence that he possessed the skills to drive the Franks from the realm and restore peace to Jaille, and that Amalamir openly considered withdrawing Frithugains and recognizing Sixtus to the position. This decision would have grearly undermined Imperial prestige and control over Jaile. Under normal circumstances, there were high nobles who would have celebrated such as humiliation of the Emperor. However, with a hostile army now controlling the strategicly valuable position of Lugdunum, and the threats of the Rauthering scourge rumored to return at any time, the situation had changed dramatically. Furthermore, minor nobility had begun to flood into Ravenna to take part in the Garun – less powerful individually than the higher nobility, they still possessed a large body which was demanding solutions to the situation – solutions which the inept Amalaric seemed incapable of delivering [FN3]
As these factors began to converge, the unfortunate Amalamir Ungaraiths’ position began to look less and less certain. Already unpopular amongst the common citizens of the Empire as a result of the cloud which surrounded the death of his brother and predecessor, Amalaric II found his support amongst the nobility evaporating daily. He attempted to offer them further concessions but this act, which under normal circumstances would have been met with joy by the nobility, was instead interpreted as a sign of growing weakness. Sigisbairht reports that many began to spread rumors that Amalaric was another Nero, come to fiddle while Ravenna and the Empire burnt around him.
All that was needed was a spark. And that arrived in early in the winter of 682 with the arrival of Thorismund to the capitol. Thorismund was the grandson of Theodebert II through his Lombard wife and upon the preious Emperor’s death, he had been granted landed estates in the Kingdom of Burgundy which continued to be ruled by a branch of the Amalarigz. During early 862, Thorismund had intercepted a Frankish raiding party which was scouring his realm for supplies during the winter, lured them into an ambush and destroyed the party. When Sigbert sent out a second party, Thorismund had responded by doing it again. This had drawn the ire of the Frankish King who released more of his forces to reach the upstart Gothic nobleman a lesson. Faced with overwhelming force, Thorismund had been forced to flee to Ravenna to beg assistance to driving the Franks from his realm and restore order.
The plight of Thorismund caused immediate upheaval in Ravenna. The nobleman was hailed as a hero for facing the Franks directly in battle and bloodying their nose. Also, his plight as sparked sympathy in the hearts of all who heard it – although who wives had been able to flee with him, a third was pregnant and had been able to come and she was currenty the captive of King Sigbert. All of this had come to pass because of Amalamir’s inability to act and disinterest in the realm. To the common folk, Thorismund was a romantic hero who had fought bravely for a just cause and not suffered for it. To the minor nobility, he was a cautionary tale of what might happen to them. To the High Nobility, he was one of their number – yes – but more than that, he was a rallying point that might be able to restore peace to the realm.
Amalamir, meanwhile, appears to have been moved by the plight of his relative. Upon meeting him and hearing his story, he immediately offered Thorismund rooms in the imperial palace and vowed to secure an army which would ride north at the start of campaign season to liberate his land and drive the Franks from Burgundy. But after months, the Emperor’s promises proved to be hollow and no army ever materialized. Then word reached Ravenna that Thorismund’s wife Adalberta had died in the custody of King Sigebert giving birth, and that their child – a son – had also died.
This news was the spark that was needed to blow the powerkeg which Ravenna had become over the past several months. In the city’s poorer neighborhoods, members of the city guard attempted to close a tavern where seditious conspirators were thought to congregate. The Guards were immediately beset by the residents of the neighborhood and were lucky to escape with their lives. These guards fled to the barracks where their captain dutifully reported to the Emperor. By this time, the riot had begun to spread and an armed mob was marching on the capitol, demanding justie for Thorismund and calling for Amalamir II to step aside.
Sigisbairht tells us that it was only at this point that Amalamir truly understood the danger to his throne and his own life. He ordered the guards to find and arrest Thorismund and hold him until the crisis had passed. However, Thorismund was not in his quarteres, and when questioned, his two surviving wives said that he had gone to pray for the souls of his late wife and child. They, along with their children, were taken captive, once again, for their own protection, while the guards searched city’s churches for the wayward Amaling prince.
However, many in the guard were not loyal to the current Emperor and leaked word of their search to members of the nobility, as well as of the capture of Thorismund’s wives and children. This caused a stir and select members of the nobility called their thanes to their side and departed into the city looking for Thorismund, before the guards could find them. Unfortunately, the guards found Thorismund first, praying at the alter in the Chapel of St. Gelvira. When they came upon him, he demanded to know why they had drawn weapons in a house of God. The Guards gave no answer and approached the Amaling Prince. At it was at this point that the Thanes of Reiks Audoreiks arrived on the scene and confronted the guards. The two sides began a pitched battle and before it was done, the Ravenna city guards lay dead in the Church, and a visibly shaken Thorismund had been taken by the thanes into the mob who then declared him Emperor.
Thorismund seemed to recover from the shock of the situation easily enough. He delivered a speech in which he stated “I am honored by the exhalt of the Gothic people, both noble and common, that I should reign over you as Emperor. However, my own beloveds and flesh currently sit in the dungeons of the tyrant, their very lives held in his callous hands. Before I can accept your call, I must know that they are safe.” These words, if he ever truly spoke them, were surprisingly tender for a statesman of that era. But they had their effect, and soon the mob had descended upon the Imperial Palace, demanding that Thorismund’s wife and children be released.
At this point, Amalaric made a fateful mistake. Perhapse unable to spill the blood of innocent women and children, or hoping that giving into the mob would defuse the situation, the Emperor released Thorismund’s family. Almost immediately upon their safe return, the mob grew bolder and this time demanded that Amalaric step down and retire to a monastery. This Amalaric could not do, and he refused. The crowd surged forward, bolstered by the thanes of many prominent nobles.
Its impossible to say with any certainty what happened next, though a few assumptions can be drawn. The crowd actually managed to break through the gates of the Imperial Palace, however, when they entered the palace himself, they found the body of Emperor Alamaric II in his throne room, stabbed through the breast. Officially, the Gothic historians claim that Amalaric II committed suicide, perhaps in an attempt to save the lives of his wife and underage child. However, rumors would persist for years that, as he had been raised to the purple by the assassination of his brother, so too Amalaric himself had been assassinated.
The palace now under the control of the rebels, Thorismund was officially hailed by the assembled nobility as Thorismund II, and blessed by the Atta who had been roused from his sleep that night and escorted to the palace by an armed cadre of thanes and nobles. Although he would not officially recognized as Emperor by the Roman Senate for another six months,by the time his ascension came up to debate, his power had become so secure that they could do nothing to challenge it. Thorismund’s power was only secured more, when he publically pardoned the late Amalamir’s wife and child of any wrongdoing in the reign of their husband and father. He then married Amalamir’s widow as well as the late Emperor’s sister, bringing his own total of wives up to four, and formally adopted Amalaric’s son as his own.
Following the rebellion to otherthrow Amalaric II, the early reign of Thorismund II was surprisingly anticlimactic. The Rautherings, or their part, would not return to the Meditarranean for a number of years, through raids throughout Jaille and Spania would continue intermittingly as they had before. Upon hearing of the fall of Amalaric II and the rise of Thorismund II, the Franks under Sigebert withdrew from Jaille as soon the winter and spring gave way to the campaigning season. Of course, this wasn’t enough for Thorismund, who now held a personal gruge against Siebert, and who launched a series of campaigns against the Franks. But despite a string of minor victories he was never able to draw Sigebert into open battle, and the Frankish king would die in his bed several years later.
As for the Civil War in Jaille, the arrival of an Imperial army brought an end to the conflict. Thorismund marched North into Jaille to liberate Lugdunum but found that the Franks had already withdrawl. Using the opportunity to restore peace to the region, he called for Frithigaird and Sextus to appear before of him. Of these, only Frithigaird made the journey and swore fealty to the new Emperor. Realizing that Sextus would continue to balk imperial authority until brought to heel, Thorismund along with Frithigaird marched upoin the Jaille nobleman. They met near the former site of Paris and in the coming battle, Sextus was decisively defeated and captured. Thorismund then had the rebel executed and his body drawn, quartered, and sent to the four corners of Jaille as a warming to any future rebels. [FN4]
Thorismund’s decisive actions would cement his authority throughout his reign. Despite the questionable circumstances which initially led to his rise to the throne, there would be no major revolts against his reign – even through the outbreak of the Blight during his reign which struck the imperial family particularly difficult, Thorismund’s power remained secure. The Empire’s first experiment with weak and decentralized rule had cruhed by the combined forces of the Gaels and the Franks. Although Thorismund’s remaining reign would be particularly quiet, the lessons of those first years would not be lost on his son Theodoric – known popularly as Theodoric the Great.
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[FN1] Amalric II was, of course, the second husband of Adela. Which means that the line of Adela actually continues (the family might take some pride in this but tracing their lineage from the female line wouldn’t really work for the Goths, so they go with Amalaric instead. Which is somewhat unfortunate, considering he was a less than successful King.
[FN2] Ah, and here we get our first real reference to the Historical Caoimhe. We’ll get to her story sooner than later, though the sources will be somewhat lacking and so don’t expect as deep of a dive as he took into the mythological Caoimhe. Still, I plan on having some fun exploring the two aspects of her, the mythic and the historic, and seeing what lines up and what does not. One might notice that our good historian here doesn’t take as worshipful of a view of the founder of Dal Caoimhe as certain other writers might 😊
[FN3] Poor, poor, delusional Sextus …
[FN4] So a little explanaton. Sextus is a rather interesting figure who is only periphery to the story being told by this article’s author. As such, much of his tale is only dealt with in passing. To give you a bit more information: Sextus was a nobleman from northwestern Jaille on the borderlands with the Breton tribes. Although the Breton were federates of the Empire, they were disunited and during periods of weak imperial control, strong tribal leaders had a tendency of raiding deep into Jaille. Sextus, early in life, helped turn back one of these major raids. This gae him a huge amount o prestige within Jaille. A canny lord as well as military leader, he was able to secure the lands of many of his neighbors and soon became one of the dominant landorders in the region. As the Preatorian Prefects of Jaille were rather notoriously ineffectual during this era (though that’s not entirely their own fault. Preatorian Prefects were often chosen from amongst the Gothic nobility and, as such, they often had little natural bases of support within the region. This could be gained in time, but Jaille was also more open to raiding and poorer than other regions of the Empire. This combined to make it a very difficult region to rule effectively. Sextus, for his part, understood this, and had long champtioned for a locally chosen Praetorian Prefect – naturally, he saw himself as the perfect candidate. By the time of King SIgebert’s raid into Jaille, Sextus had grown old, had grown locally renowned, and had developed a sense of himself as man of destiny who had been frustrated simply by the circumstances of his birth (he was a Roman Jaille and not a Goth). On the part of the Goths, there were those who feared that empowering Sextus would lead him to make himself a King in Jaille, and his later actions only fed into those fears and rumors. And so, when he launched a civil war and then refused to bow to the authority of the new Emperor, his fate was sealed. But from his point of view, he couldn’t back down, because doing so would be reaffirming what he saw as his second class status amongst the Empire’s nobility. Kind o a sad story, especially as Sextus was actually a fairly competent ruler who would have done well as Preatorian Prefect.
And so, we're back. Sorry for the long wait - as I've stated, apparently a global pandemic isn't always the best time to keep up with a writing project: especially when I'm working on the start of a PhD program AND a screenplay with a friend (a Slasher! ). Hope everyone enjoyed this. In the next chapter, we will begin a series which related to the reign of Theodoric II the Great. Now, not all of these episodes will relate directly to the Goths, at least at first - in order to tell the story well, we're going to have to look at some of the periphery regions, especially the Franks and the Saxons. So for those who want to take a look at the other Germanic kingdoms, now is your chance
As always, any questions and comments are so welcome
Echoes of Future Past
Later depiction of the Battle of Reims which saw the slaying of Praetorian Prefect Gainas by King Sigebert of the Franks
“A Statesman must always judge his movements carefully. For what appears to be the correct decision today, can quickly prove disastrous tomorrow.” –“The Republic and the Empire” by Aquila Mancini
“An Empire Besieged: The Gothic-Roman Empire and the Crisis of the Reign of Amalamir II” Journal Restoration Era Studies. Volume XXXXVI Issue 4 (2003)
By: Dr. Ricardo Prugna
On the 5th of July, 678, the combined members of the Gothic Garun met to officially proclaim the ascension of Amalamir II – known to posterity as Amalamir the Ungaraiths, or the Unready. After the Garun gave its ascent, Amalamir was duly blessed by Atta Frithufar, and then addressed the conclave of nobles and churchmen. His words have not come down to us – Hunuil of Nizza, the churchman who had written the unflattering biography of Amalamir’s father, was present, but chose not to record them. Even Sigisbairht who, following the classical traditions he so adored, couldn’t muster the effort to invent a speech for the young Emperor. Best known for the quip quoted by Sigisbairht that, “Amalamir can speak three languages, but has nothing of interest to say in any of them,” its unlikely that his words were particularly stirring or memorable.
Since the end of the Kunis Wars, the Gothic-Roman Empire had been ruled over by a series of monarchs that have long been remembered as the “Do-Nothing Emperors.” I have recently spoke at length, as to why that particular designation is unfair and incorrect, stemming more from Sigisbairht’s own interest in attempting to explain the travesty of the Ruination than it does from the activities and personalities of the Emperors in question. Theodebert II, after all, had seized the crown from Theodemir the Chaste and his mother Queen Adela and then engaged in campaigns to restore order to the realm. Thorismund the Good, had enjoyed a long reign which saw the Empire largely at peace with its neighbors, save for occasional raids and his military campaign against the Moravia of King Aizar. Even Amalamir’s direct predecessor, his murdered brother Athaneric, had engaged in numerous daring actions against foes both foreign and domestic, albeit failing in most cases. However, in the case of Amalamir, the title, along with his unfortunate nickname, is well deserved and earned.
And, of course, that was likely the point. Part of the Gothic nobility and Roman Senatorial opposition to the reign of Athaneric was due to the deceased king’s personality, overreaching of his authority and continual military failings. This was all the more true for the Roman Senate which had found itself the target of Athaneric’s efforts to secure more funding for his campaigns and, following their refusal, had had their power directly threatened by him. Faced with an Emperor who was, to their mind, acting more in the manner of a tyrant of old and not in the role of a Christian steward of the people, there can be little surprise that the callow and colorless Amalamir II would have seemed to be a pleasing alternative.
However, there were other dimensions to the assassination of Athaneric and the raising of his brother to the Purple, than the late Emperor’s political actions. Following the initial settlement of the Ostrogoths in Italy under Theodoric the Founder and the reorganization of the realm under Theodemir the Great, the Gothic population largely consisted with a large body of yeoman farmers and herders and a smaller body of nobles. Despite the status differences between the two populations, the nobles by and large had not accrued the vast amount of estates and wealth which would mark their class in later centuries. Although government and church positions were largely filled by nobles, the land grants which came with said positions belonged ultimately to the crown or Church and were not inherited by the holder’s heirs. As a result of this, despite the fact that nobles certainly possessed greater wealth, prestige and connections than the general population, the gap between them and the Gothic yeomen was much smaller than it would become in later generations. Furthermore, what extra wealth a nobleman hoped to acquire could only be done so with the willing compliance of the Emperor or Church. This meant, that the nobles were effectively dependent upon these two pillars for social advancement.
However, in the years following the Fourth Punic War and the Kunis Wars, this situation had changed, and done so dramatically. Ambitious nobles had been able to squeeze concessions from the Gothic government time and time again, which expanded their holdings in exchange for financial or military support during times of crisis. This meant that many of those titles which had once been granted by the Emperor or Church had now become hereditary, de jure if not always de facto – though, more and more, formal recognition was catching up to the truths on the ground. Furthermore, there now had began to emerge distinct class differences between the nobility itself. A new strata of high nobility had begun to emerge which consolidated the lands of their less powerful or wealthy peers. Below them was a level of middle nobility which best reflected the conditions of the early nobles within the Gothic Empire. And below them were the lower nobility which often had little more wealth than a yeoman farmer and potentially less but were differentiated from them by the illustriousness of their descent.
This clear picture was clouded by two important factors. The first was that upward mobility was not impossible within the Gothic state – indeed, it was remarked by other writers at the time that the Goths were more more socially fluid than many of their contemporaries, especially when compared to the contemporary situation in Senatorial Italy where the rank of Senator was proudly guarded against threats by upstarts. And secondly was the situation within the imperial family itself. Beginning with the ending of the Fourth Punic Wars and established by Theodebert II following the conclusion of the Kunis Wars, it had become tradition that each son of the Amaling line would received lands and titles upon the ascension of a new Emperor. This had two major impacts. The first of which, of course, was the steady depletion of the Imperial fiefdoms which were used to help support the Emperor. This resulted in further undermining the nobility’s dependence on the Emperor as he simply had less titles and lands to distribute and was no longer able to claim to be the richest landholder in the realm. But secondly, and perhaps more intriguing, was the creation of what would later have been deemed cadet branches of the Amaling line. These cadet branches, if you will excuse the anachronism, possessed one thing which the nobility could not claim – almost assured imperial patronage, as well as a bloodline which carried with it immediate dignities and a reasonable claim upon the Imperial throne – no matter how small the chances were of gaining enough support in the Garun to make that claim a reality.
It was during the later part of the Middle Empire that we begin to see our first references to prominent noble families, made up almost entirely of the upper nobility – those Amaling cadet branches and the higher nobility which had come into affluence and prestige. And so, by the reign of Amalamir II we now begin to see families such as the Wulfigz, Cnivigz and Bullonisz to name only a few, who would play such a large part in the Ruination and in later events. Furthermore, this was not a purely Gothic phenomenom, though Goths were represented far more than any other groups. We see the same process also occurring in the Empire’s satellite regions, such as Spania and Jaille. There, a nobility which was made up the local landed class, with an admixture of Gothic elements, was rising in much the same way as in the Gothic lands. However, here, the nobility had the added element of the established Praetorian Prefects who vied with the Emperor for the loyalty of their nobility and with him the nobility played against the Emperors.
Because of these factors, it can generally be said that the emergent high nobility generally preferred a weak Emperor who would rely upon them for support or, even better, simply leave them to their own devices. The Middle and Low nobility meanwhile, wished for stronger imperial power which would cap the influence of the high nobility and possibly offer them the patronage they needed to ascend the social ladder. Due to the still present social mobility within the Gothic realm in the Empire, this social stratification had yet to solidify to the extent it would during the late and post-Imperial era, and this led to the conflicts between the classes to be more muted than what would emerge in later centuries.
However, the conflicts did emerge during the course of Athaneric’s reign – his movements against the Senate and the Church had done much to offend the higher strata of both Gothic and Roman society and brought together these factions in a way that was rare up to that point and wouldn’t be seen again until the reign of Theodoric II the Great, nearly two decades later– and then in a vastly different fashion. The fact that the conspirators had a candidate in Amalamir II who was well known to be intellectually shallow and uninterested in the day to day managing of government, likely encouraged the hopes of the dissatisfied nobles and senators that once Athaneric was out of the picture, that they would be left largely to their own devices.
And, in all honesty, they were largely to be granted their wish. The first years of Amalamir Ungaraiths’ reign, which commenced in 678, were largely uneventful and little of them have come down to us in the sources. But thit was to change, and do so dramatically, in 680. The crisis of that year began with a major Frankish war party which crossed the Imperial frontier and made deep incurssions into Jaille, sacking Amiens during that year and then marching south towards Reims. At this time the Praetorian Prefect of Jaille was the ineffectual Gainas who may have had some connections to the Amal dynasty. Rallying his forces, he met the Frankish king Sigebert in battle north of Reims and was utterly destroyed, losing his life in the process. Sigebert negotiated the surrender of Reims and, rather than returning to his own lands, decided to winter there and reinforce himself for the next campaign season.
The fall of Amiens and Reims immediately caused panic throughout the realm. Within Jaille itself, the nobles quickly rallied around one of their own – a man known as Sixtus who had won renown for himself earlier in life when he helped repel raids by the Rautherings. However, despite his election as Praetorian Prefect, Sixtus was unable to attain official imperial recognition. Instead, Amalaric II, potentially under the influence of his advisors, appointed Frithugains – a Amaligz nobleman who descended from the line of Amalamir II. Frithugains arrived in Jaille and was initially mistook as a messenger from the Emperor coming to confirm Sixtus’ official appointment. Whatever embarrassment must have existed at the time, it paled in comparison to the fact that the aged Sixtus had no desire to stand aside for the unknown Gothic upstart. Firthugains, for his part, was able to rely upon his imperial patronage to secure limited support amongst the Jaille nobility, but this was not enough to secure his control within the wayward province. Declaring that Sixtus was a rebel against the Empire gained him only only so much more. And so, with a Frankish warparty ready to march from its winter camp in Reims, Jaille began to spiral into a period of lowscale civil war. [FN1]
And then, just as news of the Frankish victories began to reach Ravenna, a new threat was spotted to the East. In the late spring of 681, the largest Rauthering raiding party had seen sailed past the Straits of Heracleas and into the Mediterranean Sea. In the past, the Rautherings had contended themselves with raiding the Atlantic seaboard of Europe and had made only passing efforts to reach the former Mare Nostrum. According to Gaelic sagas, the expedition was Dara Ó Flaithbheartaigh, a lower ri from the lands of Connacht. The size of the fleet varies depending on the report, from a couple hundred carricks to well over a sthousand. Whatever the case, the fleet marked the beginning of a new phase of Rauthering attacks and coordination, which would eventually crest with Caoimhe the Beardless’s campaigns and her seizing of southern Spania.
Luckily for the Gaelic pirates, the Imperial fleet had never recovered from the disaster of the Fourth Punic War, and those ships which could be gathered were unfit to the task. The Carricks, which were more maneuverable and able to hug the coastlines, unlike their Gothic counterparts, continually outpaced their pursuers and were able to draw off and isolate ships and destroy them. Traveling along the southern shore of Gotland, they struck again and again – each time overwhelming the garrisons left in towns before any local response could be organized. Finally they reached Massalbaurg and after – according to legend – bribing the a gatekeeper of the city, were able to sack the city. Massalbaurg which had continued to thrive as a trading city following the initial collapse of the Western Empire and the restoration of Imperial control of the Goths, entered into a precipitous decline following this raid and wouldn’t recover until the Theutish Era.
The fall of Massalbaurg spread panic throughout the Gothic realm. Coupled with the incursions of the Franks in Jaille, many began to believe that the Franks and Gaels had allied with one another in order to bring the Empire to its knees. Amalamir for his parts summoned the Garun to Ravenna so that a response to the crisis could be organized. For his part Dara Ó Flaithbheartaigh and his expedition, largely saited in their feast following the sack of Massabaurgs, would set sail for home, blissfully unaware of the political crisis which they had instigated. Dara would return to Connacht where, according to the gaelic chronicles and sagas, he would be dead within the next two years, having used his wealth and prestige in a losing bid to unseat the O Conchobair dynasty. However, his legacy would live on, and the success of his expedition would inspire future Rauthering expeditions, not the least amongst whom was that of the Dal Raidian Caoimhe Aon Féasóg who would plague the western Mediterranean during the Ruination. [FN2]
Sigisbaihrt tells us that Ravenna was paralyzed with fears that an even greater Gaelic war party would return during the next campaign season. Meanwhile, Jaille continued to burn. Sigebert and his Franks did not feel the same compulsion as the Gaels to return home with their ill-gotten gains. We are told that Sigebert’s brother Clothain had perished during Athaneric’s ill-planned incursion into Frankland years prior and, we are told “Possessed a righteous and all consuming hatred for the Goths and their Amaling rulers.” Instead, with the coming of warm weather, and buttressed by reinforcements from Frankland, SIgebert continued his campaign, turning his attention towards Tricassae to the southwest.
In this, he was helped by the continued strife between Sixtus and Firthugains who were not only unable to come to a common accord in their policies towards the Franks but who had begun to openly oppose one another. We are told in Orleans that the local bishop who supported Frithugains as the Praetorian Prefect and, by extension, Emperor Amalaric, was driven from the city by an enraged population who attempted to stone him to death. Meanwhile, in Poitiers, messengers from Sixtus were captured and executed by the town’s citizens who openly declared their preference for Firthugains. In such an environment, Sigebert had no trouble sweeping away whatever resistance that Tricassae was able to offer and sacked the city before turning his attention southward again towards Dijon and the Lugdunum, the capitol of the Burgundian sub-kingdom. By the end of 661 Sigebert was once again enjoying the full extent of Imperial hospitality, holding Lugdunum under duress.
The capture of Lugdunum, along with news that Firthugains’ forces had suffered a defeat at Avaricum – not against the Franks and King Sigebert but against Sextus who was still styling himself Praetorian Prefect and hoping to gain Imperial support and recognition – appears to have been the final straw for many of the Gothic nobles. Indeed, Sigisbaihrt reports that following his victory, the rebel Sextus sent a letter to Emperor Amalamir II pointing to his victory as evidence that he possessed the skills to drive the Franks from the realm and restore peace to Jaille, and that Amalamir openly considered withdrawing Frithugains and recognizing Sixtus to the position. This decision would have grearly undermined Imperial prestige and control over Jaile. Under normal circumstances, there were high nobles who would have celebrated such as humiliation of the Emperor. However, with a hostile army now controlling the strategicly valuable position of Lugdunum, and the threats of the Rauthering scourge rumored to return at any time, the situation had changed dramatically. Furthermore, minor nobility had begun to flood into Ravenna to take part in the Garun – less powerful individually than the higher nobility, they still possessed a large body which was demanding solutions to the situation – solutions which the inept Amalaric seemed incapable of delivering [FN3]
As these factors began to converge, the unfortunate Amalamir Ungaraiths’ position began to look less and less certain. Already unpopular amongst the common citizens of the Empire as a result of the cloud which surrounded the death of his brother and predecessor, Amalaric II found his support amongst the nobility evaporating daily. He attempted to offer them further concessions but this act, which under normal circumstances would have been met with joy by the nobility, was instead interpreted as a sign of growing weakness. Sigisbairht reports that many began to spread rumors that Amalaric was another Nero, come to fiddle while Ravenna and the Empire burnt around him.
All that was needed was a spark. And that arrived in early in the winter of 682 with the arrival of Thorismund to the capitol. Thorismund was the grandson of Theodebert II through his Lombard wife and upon the preious Emperor’s death, he had been granted landed estates in the Kingdom of Burgundy which continued to be ruled by a branch of the Amalarigz. During early 862, Thorismund had intercepted a Frankish raiding party which was scouring his realm for supplies during the winter, lured them into an ambush and destroyed the party. When Sigbert sent out a second party, Thorismund had responded by doing it again. This had drawn the ire of the Frankish King who released more of his forces to reach the upstart Gothic nobleman a lesson. Faced with overwhelming force, Thorismund had been forced to flee to Ravenna to beg assistance to driving the Franks from his realm and restore order.
The plight of Thorismund caused immediate upheaval in Ravenna. The nobleman was hailed as a hero for facing the Franks directly in battle and bloodying their nose. Also, his plight as sparked sympathy in the hearts of all who heard it – although who wives had been able to flee with him, a third was pregnant and had been able to come and she was currenty the captive of King Sigbert. All of this had come to pass because of Amalamir’s inability to act and disinterest in the realm. To the common folk, Thorismund was a romantic hero who had fought bravely for a just cause and not suffered for it. To the minor nobility, he was a cautionary tale of what might happen to them. To the High Nobility, he was one of their number – yes – but more than that, he was a rallying point that might be able to restore peace to the realm.
Amalamir, meanwhile, appears to have been moved by the plight of his relative. Upon meeting him and hearing his story, he immediately offered Thorismund rooms in the imperial palace and vowed to secure an army which would ride north at the start of campaign season to liberate his land and drive the Franks from Burgundy. But after months, the Emperor’s promises proved to be hollow and no army ever materialized. Then word reached Ravenna that Thorismund’s wife Adalberta had died in the custody of King Sigebert giving birth, and that their child – a son – had also died.
This news was the spark that was needed to blow the powerkeg which Ravenna had become over the past several months. In the city’s poorer neighborhoods, members of the city guard attempted to close a tavern where seditious conspirators were thought to congregate. The Guards were immediately beset by the residents of the neighborhood and were lucky to escape with their lives. These guards fled to the barracks where their captain dutifully reported to the Emperor. By this time, the riot had begun to spread and an armed mob was marching on the capitol, demanding justie for Thorismund and calling for Amalamir II to step aside.
Sigisbairht tells us that it was only at this point that Amalamir truly understood the danger to his throne and his own life. He ordered the guards to find and arrest Thorismund and hold him until the crisis had passed. However, Thorismund was not in his quarteres, and when questioned, his two surviving wives said that he had gone to pray for the souls of his late wife and child. They, along with their children, were taken captive, once again, for their own protection, while the guards searched city’s churches for the wayward Amaling prince.
However, many in the guard were not loyal to the current Emperor and leaked word of their search to members of the nobility, as well as of the capture of Thorismund’s wives and children. This caused a stir and select members of the nobility called their thanes to their side and departed into the city looking for Thorismund, before the guards could find them. Unfortunately, the guards found Thorismund first, praying at the alter in the Chapel of St. Gelvira. When they came upon him, he demanded to know why they had drawn weapons in a house of God. The Guards gave no answer and approached the Amaling Prince. At it was at this point that the Thanes of Reiks Audoreiks arrived on the scene and confronted the guards. The two sides began a pitched battle and before it was done, the Ravenna city guards lay dead in the Church, and a visibly shaken Thorismund had been taken by the thanes into the mob who then declared him Emperor.
Thorismund seemed to recover from the shock of the situation easily enough. He delivered a speech in which he stated “I am honored by the exhalt of the Gothic people, both noble and common, that I should reign over you as Emperor. However, my own beloveds and flesh currently sit in the dungeons of the tyrant, their very lives held in his callous hands. Before I can accept your call, I must know that they are safe.” These words, if he ever truly spoke them, were surprisingly tender for a statesman of that era. But they had their effect, and soon the mob had descended upon the Imperial Palace, demanding that Thorismund’s wife and children be released.
At this point, Amalaric made a fateful mistake. Perhapse unable to spill the blood of innocent women and children, or hoping that giving into the mob would defuse the situation, the Emperor released Thorismund’s family. Almost immediately upon their safe return, the mob grew bolder and this time demanded that Amalaric step down and retire to a monastery. This Amalaric could not do, and he refused. The crowd surged forward, bolstered by the thanes of many prominent nobles.
Its impossible to say with any certainty what happened next, though a few assumptions can be drawn. The crowd actually managed to break through the gates of the Imperial Palace, however, when they entered the palace himself, they found the body of Emperor Alamaric II in his throne room, stabbed through the breast. Officially, the Gothic historians claim that Amalaric II committed suicide, perhaps in an attempt to save the lives of his wife and underage child. However, rumors would persist for years that, as he had been raised to the purple by the assassination of his brother, so too Amalaric himself had been assassinated.
The palace now under the control of the rebels, Thorismund was officially hailed by the assembled nobility as Thorismund II, and blessed by the Atta who had been roused from his sleep that night and escorted to the palace by an armed cadre of thanes and nobles. Although he would not officially recognized as Emperor by the Roman Senate for another six months,by the time his ascension came up to debate, his power had become so secure that they could do nothing to challenge it. Thorismund’s power was only secured more, when he publically pardoned the late Amalamir’s wife and child of any wrongdoing in the reign of their husband and father. He then married Amalamir’s widow as well as the late Emperor’s sister, bringing his own total of wives up to four, and formally adopted Amalaric’s son as his own.
Following the rebellion to otherthrow Amalaric II, the early reign of Thorismund II was surprisingly anticlimactic. The Rautherings, or their part, would not return to the Meditarranean for a number of years, through raids throughout Jaille and Spania would continue intermittingly as they had before. Upon hearing of the fall of Amalaric II and the rise of Thorismund II, the Franks under Sigebert withdrew from Jaille as soon the winter and spring gave way to the campaigning season. Of course, this wasn’t enough for Thorismund, who now held a personal gruge against Siebert, and who launched a series of campaigns against the Franks. But despite a string of minor victories he was never able to draw Sigebert into open battle, and the Frankish king would die in his bed several years later.
As for the Civil War in Jaille, the arrival of an Imperial army brought an end to the conflict. Thorismund marched North into Jaille to liberate Lugdunum but found that the Franks had already withdrawl. Using the opportunity to restore peace to the region, he called for Frithigaird and Sextus to appear before of him. Of these, only Frithigaird made the journey and swore fealty to the new Emperor. Realizing that Sextus would continue to balk imperial authority until brought to heel, Thorismund along with Frithigaird marched upoin the Jaille nobleman. They met near the former site of Paris and in the coming battle, Sextus was decisively defeated and captured. Thorismund then had the rebel executed and his body drawn, quartered, and sent to the four corners of Jaille as a warming to any future rebels. [FN4]
Thorismund’s decisive actions would cement his authority throughout his reign. Despite the questionable circumstances which initially led to his rise to the throne, there would be no major revolts against his reign – even through the outbreak of the Blight during his reign which struck the imperial family particularly difficult, Thorismund’s power remained secure. The Empire’s first experiment with weak and decentralized rule had cruhed by the combined forces of the Gaels and the Franks. Although Thorismund’s remaining reign would be particularly quiet, the lessons of those first years would not be lost on his son Theodoric – known popularly as Theodoric the Great.
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[FN1] Amalric II was, of course, the second husband of Adela. Which means that the line of Adela actually continues (the family might take some pride in this but tracing their lineage from the female line wouldn’t really work for the Goths, so they go with Amalaric instead. Which is somewhat unfortunate, considering he was a less than successful King.
[FN2] Ah, and here we get our first real reference to the Historical Caoimhe. We’ll get to her story sooner than later, though the sources will be somewhat lacking and so don’t expect as deep of a dive as he took into the mythological Caoimhe. Still, I plan on having some fun exploring the two aspects of her, the mythic and the historic, and seeing what lines up and what does not. One might notice that our good historian here doesn’t take as worshipful of a view of the founder of Dal Caoimhe as certain other writers might 😊
[FN3] Poor, poor, delusional Sextus …
[FN4] So a little explanaton. Sextus is a rather interesting figure who is only periphery to the story being told by this article’s author. As such, much of his tale is only dealt with in passing. To give you a bit more information: Sextus was a nobleman from northwestern Jaille on the borderlands with the Breton tribes. Although the Breton were federates of the Empire, they were disunited and during periods of weak imperial control, strong tribal leaders had a tendency of raiding deep into Jaille. Sextus, early in life, helped turn back one of these major raids. This gae him a huge amount o prestige within Jaille. A canny lord as well as military leader, he was able to secure the lands of many of his neighbors and soon became one of the dominant landorders in the region. As the Preatorian Prefects of Jaille were rather notoriously ineffectual during this era (though that’s not entirely their own fault. Preatorian Prefects were often chosen from amongst the Gothic nobility and, as such, they often had little natural bases of support within the region. This could be gained in time, but Jaille was also more open to raiding and poorer than other regions of the Empire. This combined to make it a very difficult region to rule effectively. Sextus, for his part, understood this, and had long champtioned for a locally chosen Praetorian Prefect – naturally, he saw himself as the perfect candidate. By the time of King SIgebert’s raid into Jaille, Sextus had grown old, had grown locally renowned, and had developed a sense of himself as man of destiny who had been frustrated simply by the circumstances of his birth (he was a Roman Jaille and not a Goth). On the part of the Goths, there were those who feared that empowering Sextus would lead him to make himself a King in Jaille, and his later actions only fed into those fears and rumors. And so, when he launched a civil war and then refused to bow to the authority of the new Emperor, his fate was sealed. But from his point of view, he couldn’t back down, because doing so would be reaffirming what he saw as his second class status amongst the Empire’s nobility. Kind o a sad story, especially as Sextus was actually a fairly competent ruler who would have done well as Preatorian Prefect.
And so, we're back. Sorry for the long wait - as I've stated, apparently a global pandemic isn't always the best time to keep up with a writing project: especially when I'm working on the start of a PhD program AND a screenplay with a friend (a Slasher!
). Hope everyone enjoyed this. In the next chapter, we will begin a series which related to the reign of Theodoric II the Great. Now, not all of these episodes will relate directly to the Goths, at least at first - in order to tell the story well, we're going to have to look at some of the periphery regions, especially the Franks and the Saxons. So for those who want to take a look at the other Germanic kingdoms, now is your chance As always, any questions and comments are so welcome
So, now that this has had some time to digest, does anyone have any questions? My goal over the past four chapters or so (minus our wandering into the formation of Moravia) was to use the different Emperors' lives to help explore different aspects of Gothic culture and government. The situation with the nobility was especially important, as was the diffusion of the royal family and the weakening of the traditional lands granted to the Emperor for his upkeep. And these developments seemed to fit the political situation as described in the post-Punic War Empire. However, if anyone has critiques or concerns, please let me know.
I'm hoping to begin the cycle relating to the life of Theodoric II (as well as the latter reign of Thorismund II) up in the next week or so. bu don't hold me too that, because we know how unreliable I've been lately
On a totally related sidenote: the Gothic practice of polygamy is going to make family trees more than a little complicated going forward
I'm hoping to begin the cycle relating to the life of Theodoric II (as well as the latter reign of Thorismund II) up in the next week or so. bu don't hold me too that, because we know how unreliable I've been lately
On a totally related sidenote: the Gothic practice of polygamy is going to make family trees more than a little complicated going forward
Hmm, what would you say the Demographics of Gothic France and North Italy are at the moment, and what sort of role does that play in the Empire at the moment? Obviouslly they have many Gothic Settlements and will be Gothic Long term, but that process cant be anywhere near complete yet, and im curious both how far along it is and how it has effected the Empires internal politics.So, now that this has had some time to digest, does anyone have any questions? My goal over the past four chapters or so (minus our wandering into the formation of Moravia) was to use the different Emperors' lives to help explore different aspects of Gothic culture and government. The situation with the nobility was especially important, as was the diffusion of the royal family and the weakening of the traditional lands granted to the Emperor for his upkeep. And these developments seemed to fit the political situation as described in the post-Punic War Empire. However, if anyone has critiques or concerns, please let me know.
I'm hoping to begin the cycle relating to the life of Theodoric II (as well as the latter reign of Thorismund II) up in the next week or so. bu don't hold me too that, because we know how unreliable I've been lately
On a totally related sidenote: the Gothic practice of polygamy is going to make family trees more than a little complicated going forward
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There was a map that was done some time back which still shows the general outline of the world and the Empire as it currently stands (the Empire's boarders haven't changed too dramatically since prior to the Fourth Punic War), and it can be found in the Threadmarks.
I am hoping to see if I can get a new map done for the height of the reign of Theodoric II because things are going to change pretty dramatically pretty soon, and keep on changing for a while longer afterwards.
Is it still believed ittl that the Roman Empire is the last of the four kingdoms before judgement day and as such is eternal? Is it still believed that the empire is an indivisible whole, with the eastern and western Emperors merely being administrators of separate collections of provinces which are all equally roman? Are any kings accorded de jure sovereignty, or is it held that technically what land they do possess is on behalf of the Emperor?
Sorry for the wait before getting around to replying to your comments. But, in the order of your questions:
1) Yes, for the time being it would be very natural for this belief to still hold. After all, the Empire in the East remains strong (stronger than they were in OTL even - at least on the map) and in the West, though there was a period of decades with no Emperor, this was eventually rectified. As a result, it is even easier in the ATL than in OTL to see a period of continuity in relation to the Empire.
2) The Roman Empire, for the time being, continues to be seen as one united Empire with two regional Emperors. The Emperors often refer to one another as "Brother Emperors"as a result, and amongst the upper classes (especially with Latin elites) there can be a surprising amount of fluidity between the two halves of the Empire: important families often have branches present in both Rome and Constantinople, and its not unheard of for an individual to relocate from the East to the West for purposes of education or economic advancement. This is strengthened by the Orthodox Christian faith, which stresses the unity of the Empire and Christianity - the Rome at this point is still seen primarily as the Patriarch of Rome and whatever pretensions he might have to primacy over the other Patriarchs have not been successfully acted upon.
Now, amongst the Goths, the attitude is somewhat different. The Goths are willing to accept that the Western Empire is half of a broader whole, yes. But to their mind, it is their half - their ancestors spilled blood to reunite the West and so it is only right that they administer it as they see fit. They are also much less in-debted to notions of pan-Roman culture and maintain far less cultural connections with the Eastern half. Their attitude is only strengthened by their adherence to the Gothic Church which is theologically and administratively separate from the broader Orthodox Church. Latin elites have a tendency of viewing the Gothic nobles as more provincial and inward looking, the Goths view the Latin nobles as suspiciously cosmopolitan and - at their worst - possibly of questionable loyalty.
The deep administrative differences between the East and the West also are becoming more pronounced. The government of the Eastern Empire remains in the traditional of the Dominate - despite many reforms over the centuries, of course - whereas the West is becoming something rather different. The power of the Senate in Senatorial Italy is one factor (and don't get the Eastern Emperor started on that one! the Senate in Constantinople still exists, and there are afew Senators there who look at their Western brethren with more than a little envy. This doesn't sit well with the Eastern Emperor), but its not the only one. The Western Emperor is much more constrained in his power, being forced to rely on the support of important Gothic nobles to maintain power and authority - though the Garun doesn't hold as much power as the Roman Senate, it is more powerful than that of Constantinople. Furthermore, you had the reintroduction of the Prefectures under Adela in Gaul and Hispania, which further diluted the Emperor's direct authority. Many of these differences stem from the economic conditions of the West which, though it's urban infrastructure hasn't utterly imploded, is much more rural and less populated than the East. Others - such as the Garun, or the fact that different law codes hold sway in different parts of the West - stem from attempting to incorporate Germanic ideals of government and administration with those of the native Romans. But the result is that the Western Empire is a far different beast than it's Eastern brother. Though this hasn't undermined the concept of there still being a single, united, Empire, there is a growing recognition that the two halves are very different from one another - and this would eventually lead to a break in the future if things don't pan out correctly.
3) Yes, Kingly authority is still seen - at least in the Christian world - as stemming from the Emperor and flowing down from there. To rightfully be viewed as a king, that crown needs to have been initially granted by an Emperor (though not always the one you'd expect) - the Avar Kings were initially granted their crown from the West as part of some diplomatic maneuverings for instance. The growing polity of Moravia, meanwhile, remains pagan for the time being. Though their leader may style himself a King (and be viewed as such from the point of view of the Slavic tribes which elected him), he would not be seen as such by either the Eastern or Western Emperor. In order for that to happen, he would need to accept Christianity and make a symbolic vow of fealty to the Empire.
EDIT: I should say within the Western Christian world. The current Shah of Iran is a member of the Church of the East and certainly does not see his authority as having in any way stemming from recognition by either of the Roman Emperors - this despite the fact that there is actual Roman influence on the administration of his realm, as a result of CoE beaurocrats which fled to the Persian realm in the past. I really need to turn my attention back to Persia at some time - its a very unique situation
Hopefully that answers your questions, and thanks for reading!
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