The End Of an Age

[jmberry]

I thought Byzantium wasn't founded till the 300's, ? Isn't the Site 260's a little fishing village called Istanbul?

I looked at Euratlas 300 AD [ http://www.euratlas.com/travel_time/europe_north_west_0300.html ]
This is Not the Saxon nation of 500~600 -- The Saxones are nothing but a minor German tribe at this time.
While a few men may go Viking, It is nothing the much more organized Gauls or Britons, can't easily handle even if involved elsewhere.

First off, neither of those posts are part of the timeline. The first one came from a discarded earlier version, the second one was posted by someone else entirely.

On the first point, Byzantium was founded in the BC period. In the 300s, Constantine burned it for supporting Licinius, and then rebuilt it as Constantinople. It wasn't called Istanbul until the Turks took it, and that didn't become its official name until 1920.

As for the Saxons, they haven't played much role in the TL yet, though we're around the time when the coast of Kent became the "Saxon Shore."

 

[jmberry]

Well, a map will be coming up tonight, once I work out all the kinks.

 

[jmberry]

And here it is!

 

[jmberry]

I was hoping the map would generate at least one comment .

Ah well, some more will be coming up tomorrow.

 

[Jaded_Railman]

The map is interesting because it revives an ancient dynamic: A strong power in Mesopotamia, and a strong power in Egypt. It'd been like that since the dawn of history right up until the Parthians took Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. Syria and Palestine will once more be a major battleground between the two. In fact, you've pretty much set things up to be like they were before the Punic Wars. The micro factors are very different, of course, but there's a major empire in North Africa/Sicily, one in Italy, one in Mesopotamia/Persia, one in Egypt/The Levant, and one in Greece/Macedonia.

 

[rcduggan]

I was hoping the map would generate at least one comment .

Ah well, some more will be coming up tomorrow.

An interesting story, jmberry: for my timeline based on a similar premise (POD in 260, surviving Gallic Empire but not Palmyrene), I used the exact same base map. It's funny to see how many similarities our maps possess, especially in my predictions map of what my TL would look like centuries later.

Some things are a bit iffy though: the random giant Isauria, the defenseless African hold on southern Italy, the Vandal protrusion south of the Vistula, and how the Sassanids can expand into Anatolia but not the Levant.
Looks good overall though.

 

[jmberry]

Short update for today. Hopefully we'll get to 300:

285
Victorianus II continues his pacification of the Baguadae in Gaul. Diocles begins his own war, invading Iazygia. To the east, Bahram II invades the Kingdom of Egrisi, beginning a protracted five year campaign. Carausius begins commiting piracy of Gallic ships.

286
Victorianus, taking a break from destroying the Baguadae and martyring Crispen and Crispian, orders the arrest of Carausius for piracy. Carausius responds by seizing control of Britain and parts of Belgica.

Diocles finally deals a crushing blow to the Iazyges. Iazygia west of the Danube is brought back into Illyria, while the Eastern Iazyges are absorbed into the Goths. At the same time, the Vandals begin migrating out of their homeland south of the Vistula in favor of the new lands they recently took from the Suebi. The Scirii move in to take their place.

287
In Rome, Prince Trdat of Armenia, also known as Tiridates, leaves Proculus's court for Sirmium. In Sirmium, he begins to court an alliance with Diocles.

Also in Rome, Pope Valentine passes on, and would later be canonized.

288
Early in this year, Sebastianus of Mediolanum is elected Bishop of Rome, becoming Pope Sebastian.

Meanwhile, Diocles and Proculus agree to set aside their differences and invade the Cisdanubian Vandals. After several battles the Vandals are forced back across the Danube or taken prisoner. Itlay and Illyria partition the recaptured province.

By now, Victorianus has largely retaken Belgica, and begins producing a fleet to invade Britain proper.

289
The Goths invade Illyria, but are defeated by Diocles at Naissus, though he isn't able to evict them like he did the Vandals and Iazyges.

Victorianus finds his pride humbled when bad weather destroys his fleet, but he is a driven man, and begins to rebuild.

290
The last Egrisic city falls to Persian armies. The kingdom is incorporated as the Satrapy of Lazistan. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Axum begins its own campaign, with Palmyrene help, to wipe out the Blemmyes.

291
The last of the Blemmyes are subjugated to Axum.

By now, both Axum and Palmyra have signifigant Christian minorities

292
Julius Saturninus dies. He is succeded in Africa by Domitius Domitianus. Proculus takes advantage of this to reinvade African Italy. By the time Domitian can get his legions together, all of Africa's European territory is back in Roman hands.

In Britain, Carausius is assassinated by his treasurer, Allectus.

A Roman uprising in Thrace, lead by one Galerius, is heavily crushed by the Visigoths.

293
Victorianus takes advantage of Allectus's coup to reconquer Britain. This time, he is succesful.

In Persia, Bahram II finally dies, to be succeeded by the underage Bahram III. Narseh of Isauria, last surviving son of Shapur I, declares himself King of Kings and invades Persia. Both Illyria and Palmyra respond by allying with Bahram - Illyria due to Diocles's friendship with the exiled Tiridates and a desire to regain Asia, Palmyra because a Persia under a weak child king is preferable to their desires.

294
Illyrian forces begin retaking the Ionian Coast.

Narseh has, by now, driven the Palmyrenes and Bahramists out of Cappadocia.

In Palmyra, Petra becomes predominantly Christian.

Domitius Domitianus surrenders to Proculus, losing South Italy and Sicily.

295
Narseh is defeated at Nusaybin, while the Illyrians take his capital at Iconium itself.

296
Narseh is killed by his troops at Tarsus, ending his attempted coup. Bahram III is now secured as King of Kings in Persia, and orders the execution of Narseh's son Hormizd. Illyria reabsorbs Isauria and places Tiridates back on his family's throne, where he bcomes Trdat III of Armenia.

In Western Europe, the last of the Baguadae are defeated.

297
The North Alamanni and Thuringii begin to raid Gaul.

Victorianus II martyrs Saint Alban, de facto leader of the British Christians.

298
Victorianus defeats the Germans invading his realm, then follows up by expelling Christians from the Gallic armies.

Many Manicheans begin returning to Asia around this time.

Berber raids against Africa intensify.

Many Visigothic cheifs begin converting to Marcionism, while others try to purge the new faith from their lands.

299
The Sarmatians and Carpians begin driving the Ostrogoths into Visigoth territory.

The Hermanubri invade Gaul, but like the Alammani and Thuringii before them, are repulsed.

300
Approximate date of the Synod of Venta Silurum, where the Western Church begins to take a hardline approach to non-Christians, marking the beginnings of a split with the more cosmopolitan Eastern Church.

Tiridates III of Armenia, impressed by the piety of Gregory the Illuminator, becomes the first state leader to convert to Christianity.



Comments? Questions? Criticisms?

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Interesting; the effects on the Christian church will be intruiging. There is no Emperor to stage mass persecutions in the first few years of the 4th century; persecution sometimes caused it to grow, like a forbidden fruit (see China now as an example), but at the same time, the Church may well do better in some areas.

Without a Constantine to call a council, it makes sense, as I believe you said earlier, that diffferent varieties will be a but more widespred. However, I would look for some basic tenets of Christianity to be kept by most; men like Terullian have already been very influential, and more texts will survive without the persecution. Although, perhaps instead of four basic traditions of texts (Antiochan, Alexandrian, Caearean, and Syriac, you might see a fifth one survive? Lots of itneresting routes you could go.

It'll be interesting to see how things go. Perhaps Zoroastrianism becomes the main rival to Chrsitianity the way Islam is in OTL. (Or, is it too late for that religion? I know little about it, except that it was persian.)

 

[Tomac]

Without a Constantine to call a council, it makes sense, as I believe you said earlier, that different varieties will be a but more widespred. However, I would look for some basic tenets of Christianity to be kept by most; men like Terullian have already been very influential, and more texts will survive without the persecution. Although, perhaps instead of four basic traditions of texts (Antiochan, Alexandrian, Caearean, and Syriac, you might see a fifth one survive? Lots of itneresting routes you could go.

Why not? it was about this time that there were some fifteen or twenty different gospels and many more epistles than are accepted today. I remember reading about a gospel of Peter, one by Thomas and even one attributed to Judas. All were dumped at the Council of Nicea (IIRC).
Personally, I think that different gospels might lead to different types of churches, leading to perhaps more internicine friction, at least wherever the different churches co-exist.

 

[The Professor]

Interesting; the effects on the Christian church will be intruiging. There is no Emperor to stage mass persecutions in the first few years of the 4th century; persecution sometimes caused it to grow, like a forbidden fruit (see China now as an example), but at the same time, the Church may well do better in some areas.

Without a Constantine to call a council, it makes sense, as I believe you said earlier, that diffferent varieties will be a but more widespred. However, I would look for some basic tenets of Christianity to be kept by most; men like Terullian have already been very influential, and more texts will survive without the persecution. Although, perhaps instead of four basic traditions of texts (Antiochan, Alexandrian, Caearean, and Syriac, you might see a fifth one survive? Lots of itneresting routes you could go.

Yes indeed.
And any powerful Christian Ruler will certainly want to standardise the version of Christianity used in his realm. And use heresy as an excuse to invade his weaker neighbours!

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Why not? it was about this time that there were some fifteen or twenty different gospels and many more epistles than are accepted today. I remember reading about a gospel of Peter, one by Thomas and even one attributed to Judas. All were dumped at the Council of Nicea (IIRC).
Personally, I think that different gospels might lead to different types of churches, leading to perhaps more internicine friction, at least wherever the different churches co-exist.

None of the major Christian leaders - Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, etc. - recognized any of these Gospels as canon, however; I'm not even sure Arias did.

Of course that's not to say one couldn't come out of the woodwork, and dominate at least one country; thinking fourth dimensionally is tricky sometimes this far back, I'll admit.

 

[steven24gordon]

I think we have to discuss the economic arena at this point, the combined militaries of the various successor states under discussion have (it would appear to me) ballooned the size of the Roman army. And as the armies grow in size so too does the need for money to support them. Unlike the enlightened government we enjoy today, ancient Rome or indeed ATL Roman successor states could not operate with a budget deficit. If there were no surplus in the treasury, then the government had to raise money through extraordinary means (often extortion and confiscation of the upper class and extreme taxation for the peasantry). Another means of obtaining more cash was devaluing the coinage, which I can see all the various successor Augusti doing in order to fund their armies. Now the effect (as ever 1st year economics major knows) of pumping more money into a static economy is inflation. If there are only so many goods available for purchase, having more money to spend on them just has the effect of driving the price up.

In the reign of Gallienus (253-268 CE), inflation was out of control and the coinage had become a worthless lump of copper with the thin veneer of silver. After forty years of collapsing imperial authority, I can only imagine how bad things have gotten. In a largely agrarian economy there is no way production can increase as fast as a desperate government can increase the money supply. So as the crisis continues without end in sight, the economy will be in an even worse state than OTL, are we looking at a complete regression into a non-monetary economy?

And what about economic reform? In OTL Aurelian restored some regularity to the coinage, issuing radiate coins of a good size and weight, even if the silver content remained almost nil. The OTL reforms of Diocletian (284-305 CE) went further, revising and regularizing the tax system with new concepts like dividing everything into two types of tax units based on productive capabilities. However, given the destabilization and decentralization that the ancient imperium is ongoing I don’t think any of the successor emperors will have the capacity to make similar reforms work. So what is happening to the economic situation while the Roman successor states are depleting their stores of wealth in civil war ad infinitum? Obviously the various successor Augusti attempt some economic reform but what?

Other thoughts:

Personally I am amazed that the Italian successor state has managed to maintain any semblance of centralized governance or military power. Her imperial border along the Danube has completely disintegrated and she has been cut off from her main breadbaskets (Egypt and North Africa) at a time when the Italians simply cannot feed the imperial centre. In fact I had expected large urban revolts in Rome, the complete disintegration of the Italian military and sacking of the Eternal City.

In fact I would suspect that the desperation for cash will probably lead the African Augustus to turn to piracy to fund the military adventures you describe in southern Italia. This piracy will earn them the ire of Palmyra who might join the war against them who should anyway be opposed to the Africans as they are the Palmyrene’s main challengers for naval superiority in the Mediterranean.

Speaking of Palmyra, what is happening with the Sassinads and Armenia? Palmyra should be fighting the Sassinads tooth and nail for the Levant and political authority in Armenia, not playing games in Ethiopia. I think we need to remember that Palmyra is first and foremost a caravan city, and the caravan routes run their Persian territory. Moreover, Palmyrene legitimacy in the Eastern provinces rest on their ability to protect the provincials from the Sassinad menace. All this means that priority number one for the Palmyrenes should Persia, and as such Palmyra could not let the Sassinads outflank them by invading so deep into Asia Minor.

And speaking of Asia Minor, why have the Isaurians expanded so far and so fast? In the OTL 3rd century these guys were more or less robber barons with little or no cohesion, and certainly didn’t have the skills to gain the loyalty of the still strong coastal cities. I can maybe see them expanding in the hinterland of Anatolia as a rather disorganized polity and eventually conquering the coast once they had gained enough unity, but why have the come so far so fast?

 

[jmberry]

The map is interesting because it revives an ancient dynamic: A strong power in Mesopotamia, and a strong power in Egypt. It'd been like that since the dawn of history right up until the Parthians took Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. Syria and Palestine will once more be a major battleground between the two. In fact, you've pretty much set things up to be like they were before the Punic Wars. The micro factors are very different, of course, but there's a major empire in North Africa/Sicily, one in Italy, one in Mesopotamia/Persia, one in Egypt/The Levant, and one in Greece/Macedonia.

Well, there is one differance - an empire ruling over all of Western Europe. That alone makes the political dynamics markedly different.

An interesting story, jmberry: for my timeline based on a similar premise (POD in 260, surviving Gallic Empire but not Palmyrene), I used the exact same base map. It's funny to see how many similarities our maps possess, especially in my predictions map of what my TL would look like centuries later.

Some things are a bit iffy though: the random giant Isauria, the defenseless African hold on southern Italy, the Vandal protrusion south of the Vistula, and how the Sassanids can expand into Anatolia but not the Levant.
Looks good overall though.

In the case of the Vandals, I've never seen a good representation of where they lived before Geiseric. Most maps I've seen don't even use borders, they just plop the tribal names beyond the Danube. I had to use my imagination for Vandalia's transdanubian borders.

Interesting; the effects on the Christian church will be intruiging. There is no Emperor to stage mass persecutions in the first few years of the 4th century; persecution sometimes caused it to grow, like a forbidden fruit (see China now as an example), but at the same time, the Church may well do better in some areas.

Without a Constantine to call a council, it makes sense, as I believe you said earlier, that diffferent varieties will be a but more widespred. However, I would look for some basic tenets of Christianity to be kept by most; men like Terullian have already been very influential, and more texts will survive without the persecution. Although, perhaps instead of four basic traditions of texts (Antiochan, Alexandrian, Caearean, and Syriac, you might see a fifth one survive? Lots of itneresting routes you could go.

It'll be interesting to see how things go. Perhaps Zoroastrianism becomes the main rival to Chrsitianity the way Islam is in OTL. (Or, is it too late for that religion? I know little about it, except that it was persian.)

Which religion are you talking about? Islam certainly won't be the main rival to Christianity.

Why not? it was about this time that there were some fifteen or twenty different gospels and many more epistles than are accepted today. I remember reading about a gospel of Peter, one by Thomas and even one attributed to Judas. All were dumped at the Council of Nicea (IIRC).
Personally, I think that different gospels might lead to different types of churches, leading to perhaps more internicine friction, at least wherever the different churches co-exist.

I think the Judas Gospel was a hoax, though I've read most of the others. That said, only two groups advocated anything other than the traditional four, the Gnostics (who wanted to add in gospels like Thomas) and the Marcionites (who wanted to use only a heavily edited Luke). In fact, it was the Marcionites who sparked the whole canon vs apocrypha debate in the first place.

Yes indeed.
And any powerful Christian Ruler will certainly want to standardise the version of Christianity used in his realm. And use heresy as an excuse to invade his weaker neighbours!

For the record, Europe won't be quite as uniform with religion as it was in OTL's Middle Ages (and anyone who's studied Medieval Christianity knows it wasn't remotely uniform until after Avignon). TTL's Europe will see Christianity (four different sects), Sol Invictism merged with Mithraism, Manicheanism, Druidism, Wotanism, and even Tengriism.

Needless to say, post-Roman philosophers will be a ... unique lot.

None of the major Christian leaders - Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, etc. - recognized any of these Gospels as canon, however; I'm not even sure Arias did.

Of course that's not to say one couldn't come out of the woodwork, and dominate at least one country; thinking fourth dimensionally is tricky sometimes this far back, I'll admit.

As mentioned previously, there will be four different sects of Christianity in the former empire (plus one based well outside the empire's boundaries):

A Western Branch, which resembles a cross between the Celtic Church and Puritanism

Arianism (Arius was born pre-POD, and thus farhis career has been largely as OTL)

Marcionism, which advocated a complete and total rewrite of the Bible

An Eastern Branch, which is closest to the OTL Orthodox Church, with some Donatist and Nestorian elements

The odd men out are the Gnostics.

I think we have to discuss the economic arena at this point, the combined militaries of the various successor states under discussion have (it would appear to me) ballooned the size of the Roman army. And as the armies grow in size so too does the need for money to support them. Unlike the enlightened government we enjoy today, ancient Rome or indeed ATL Roman successor states could not operate with a budget deficit. If there were no surplus in the treasury, then the government had to raise money through extraordinary means (often extortion and confiscation of the upper class and extreme taxation for the peasantry). Another means of obtaining more cash was devaluing the coinage, which I can see all the various successor Augusti doing in order to fund their armies. Now the effect (as ever 1st year economics major knows) of pumping more money into a static economy is inflation. If there are only so many goods available for purchase, having more money to spend on them just has the effect of driving the price up.

In the reign of Gallienus (253-268 CE), inflation was out of control and the coinage had become a worthless lump of copper with the thin veneer of silver. After forty years of collapsing imperial authority, I can only imagine how bad things have gotten. In a largely agrarian economy there is no way production can increase as fast as a desperate government can increase the money supply. So as the crisis continues without end in sight, the economy will be in an even worse state than OTL, are we looking at a complete regression into a non-monetary economy?

And what about economic reform? In OTL Aurelian restored some regularity to the coinage, issuing radiate coins of a good size and weight, even if the silver content remained almost nil. The OTL reforms of Diocletian (284-305 CE) went further, revising and regularizing the tax system with new concepts like dividing everything into two types of tax units based on productive capabilities. However, given the destabilization and decentralization that the ancient imperium is ongoing I don’t think any of the successor emperors will have the capacity to make similar reforms work. So what is happening to the economic situation while the Roman successor states are depleting their stores of wealth in civil war ad infinitum? Obviously the various successor Augusti attempt some economic reform but what?

Other thoughts:

Personally I am amazed that the Italian successor state has managed to maintain any semblance of centralized governance or military power. Her imperial border along the Danube has completely disintegrated and she has been cut off from her main breadbaskets (Egypt and North Africa) at a time when the Italians simply cannot feed the imperial centre. In fact I had expected large urban revolts in Rome, the complete disintegration of the Italian military and sacking of the EternalCity.

In fact I would suspect that the desperation for cash will probably lead the African Augustus to turn to piracy to fund the military adventures you describe in southern Italia. This piracy will earn them the ire of Palmyra who might join the war against them who should anyway be opposed to the Africans as they are the Palmyrene’s main challengers for naval superiority in the Mediterranean.

Speaking of Palmyra, what is happening with the Sassinads and Armenia? Palmyra should be fighting the Sassinads tooth and nail for the Levant and political authority in Armenia, not playing games in Ethiopia. I think we need to remember that Palmyra is first and foremost a caravan city, and the caravan routes run their Persian territory. Moreover, Palmyrene legitimacy in the Eastern provinces rest on their ability to protect the provincials from the Sassinad menace. All this means that priority number one for the Palmyrenes should Persia, and as such Palmyra could not let the Sassinads outflank them by invading so deep into Asia Minor.

And speaking of Asia Minor, why have the Isaurians expanded so far and so fast? In the OTL 3rd century these guys were more or less robber barons with little or no cohesion, and certainly didn’t have the skills to gain the loyalty of the still strong coastal cities. I can maybe see them expanding in the hinterland of Anatolia as a rather disorganized polity and eventually conquering the coast once they had gained enough unity, but why have the come so far so fast?

Well, the extent of my knowledge of economics can be described as "pitiful". That siad, I do have some general trends in mind.

Most of the questions you raise will be answered in a post which will describe the Roman World in the year 300, but as for Isauria, its name was a mistake. The country should have been called "Asia", and existed only because Persia willed it. It was based in Isauria, and Narseh's best troops were Isaurians, but it was a mistake on my part to assume that would be a realistic name.

 

[jmberry]

Just bumping this to let you guys know that the next update will be coming tomorrow. Any more comments or suggestions are welcome.

 

[jmberry]

301
The Vandals chase the Rugians out of their territory. The Rugians move west, where they absorb the remains of the Hermanubri.

The Lakmids, sensing weakness in Persia, move north and sack the cities of Mesopotamia, including Ctesiphon.

Emperor Proculus allows Pope Sebastian an enclave for Christians to live in Umbria. This enclave would later become the Republic of San Sebastiano.

Emperor Victorianus II of Gaul issues an edict tyin slaves to the province of their masters, in order to deal with labor shortages.

302
The Great Egyptian Rebellion begins. The Egyptians and Nubians rise up against the Palmyrenes, forcing Vaballathus to meet them in battle. This rebellion has the added effect of disrupting the grain shipments Palmyra was selling to the rest of the Roman World.

In Rome, Proculus dies and is succeded by his son Herennius.

In Illyria, Diocles passes a reform on prices and coinage, though it backfires by creating inflation and low prices for goods.

303
Diocles has Saint Fermin of Pamplona and Saint Adrian of Nicomedia put to death.

Vaballathus is greviously wounded at Abydos, Egypt. The wound soon becomes infected.

Riots begin in Italy, due to the growing lack of grain.

304
Vaballathus contracts a fatal illness, even as his troops put the last of the Egyptian rebels.

The riots in Italy become a full blown rebellion. Pope Sebastian is stoned by a mob (he would later be martyred). A mob storms the Imperial palace, where Herennius is killed.

305
Chrocus leads his Alamanni south, where he sacks Rome and then returns north.

After two years of illness, Vaballathus dies from malaria. His son becomes Odenaethus II.

The Dayson River floods Edessa.

306
Odenaethus II converts to Christianity, the first mjor ruler to do so.

The Franks cross the Rhine into Gaul, where they cause signifcant damage before Victorianus drives hem off.

Maximian requests permission to invade Italy, but Diocles overturns him, wanting to spend his last years in peace, and because Illyria lacks the funds and manpower to pull that off now.

Chrocus dies, causing the Italian Alammani to break up into feuding factions.

307
Marcellus is elected Bishop of Rome.

With the Grain Rebellion dying down, the Romans ask Victorianus II to be Emperor. However, Victorianus had died, and his son Victorianus III had no interest in Italy. Instead, he sends his brother, Andronicus, to be Emperor.

Odenaethus calls the Council of Tyre to establish how the Palmyrene Church would be run.

308
Domitius Domitianus dies, and is succeded by his son, Domitius Alexander.

Upon arriving in Rome, Andronicus evicts most Christians in the city to San Sebstiano.

Axum invades and conquers Himyar in Arabia.

309
Pope Marcellus dies. Eusebius becomes Pope.

The Spanish provinces revolt against Victorianus III, but are crushed heavily.

Bahram III leads in expedition into Arabia to revenge himself on the Lakmids. Going in undermanned and unprepared, he is soon overwhelmed and killed, leaving Persia in the hands of another infant, Bahram IV.

310
Donatus Magnus succeeds Eusebius as Pope.

The Bructeri invade Gaul. After Victorianus defeats them, they are absorbed into the Franks.

Choresm rebels against Persia, becoming an independent kingdom.




Comments, Suggestions, Criticisms? Map comming soon.

 

[jmberry]

Bumping this for comments.

 

[jmberry]

Overview of the Post-Roman World in 310

Part 1, The Gallic Empire

The Gallic Empire is a sub-roman state based in the westernmost portions of the old Roman Empire. Ruled by the House of Victorianus for three generations, Gaul has probably been the succesful of the sub-roman states. The empire has four main components - Gaul Proper, Spain, Britain, and Rhaetia.

Ethnically and linguistically, the Gallic Empire is very much Romanized. However, the inhabitants of Britain and the Rhineland maintain their Celtic roots, and the Vasconi of the Pyrennes have never been fully subjugated to Rome or Victorianum. Many people in the Rhineland also have German blood.

In terms of religion, the Church of Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun, has been the unofficial state church since Victorianus I, and it has slowly been subsuming the other faiths in the empire. Christianity is largely confined to Britain, where continental authority is usually more relaxed.

Socially, the societal classes are becoming increasingly stratified to deal with labor shortages. Gaul is an agrarian nation, and thus doesn't have a significant middle class, increasingly becoming what we would call "feudal" in nature. Because the expenses, the legionnaire has largely been phased out, replaced by spearmen called "Comatinses", supplemented by equites, archers, and Germanic mercenaries. Equites are becoming more valued than infantry, because those who can't afford horses need to work the farms to keep Gaul fed. In addition, professional soldeirs are slowly dying out, and the army is becoming based more and more on a levy system.

Gaul has two primary tributaries, the Italian sub-romans, ruled by Victorianus III's younger brother Andronicus, and the Brythonic tribes living between Hadrian's and Antoninus Pius's walls, the Votadini, Selgovae, Novantae, and Dumnonii.

 

[Valdemar II]

Love the timeline, through I have a few suggestion, in Aquitaine the rural population still spoke Celtic in the 6th century, so we likely see a survival of Celtic in Gaul (especially with the depopulation of the cities), with the Isarurians running amok in Anatolia, I could see some depopulation of the central plateou making it prime settle ground for for semi-nomads like the Alans or the Ostrogoths. I don't see the Celt survive in the Rhineland it simply to close to the Germanic* population centre.
The Vandal is believe to have live in Silesia before the later migration periode through like the Goths, Gepid and Rugians, they original lived in the Vistula delta (likely as a unified nation at first).

*Please used Germanic instead of German

 

[jmberry]

Love the timeline, through I have a few suggestion, in Aquitaine the rural population still spoke Celtic in the 6th century, so we likely see a survival of Celtic in Gaul (especially with the depopulation of the cities), with the Isarurians running amok in Anatolia, I could see some depopulation of the central plateou making it prime settle ground for for semi-nomads like the Alans or the Ostrogoths. I don't see the Celt survive in the Rhineland it simply to close to the Germanic* population centre.
The Vandal is believe to have live in Silesia before the later migration periode through like the Goths, Gepid and Rugians, they original lived in the Vistula delta (likely as a unified nation at first).

*Please used Germanic instead of German

For the Rhineland Gauls, I agree, they will ultimately become more Germanic than Celtic, but keep in mind that we're only up to 310.

Aside from Aquitaine, one place that is certain to see a Celtic revival is Britain, especially the region between the Walls.

As for tha Vandals, I should note that all borders of the barbarian tribes are conjectural until they start settling down and solidifying into quasi-medieval kingdoms, or are obliterated by someone bigger, whichever comes first. In the Vandals' case, the eastern part of their lands was a region I saw on a map to belong to them around 250. The western part was lands belonging to the Marcomanni and Quadi, who the Vandals conquered TTL. They've since left the eastern regions to the Scirii.

BTW, here's the color scheme for the Germanic tribes who aren't labeled (remember, borders are conjectural):

Dark Blue - Franks
Light Blue - Burgundii
Dark Gray - North Alammani + Thuringii
Orange - Frisii
Southern Pink - Saxons
Middle Pink - Anglii
Northern Pink - Jutes
Light Green next to the Saxons - Lombards
That puce color north of the Vandals - Rugii
Light Gray - Everyone too unimportant to get their own color, mainly the Hermanubri

 

[rcduggan]

One question - why exactly has Christianity not spread into the Gallic Empire?