Customer Reviews

Barbarian West 400 - 1000

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This is a short little book that is tackling a very large subject. It also, self-consciously is limiting the extent it covers its subject, thus the limiting of 400 A.D. to 1000 A.D. It is also limited in that originally the book was written in 1952, only with some updating done in both '67 and '85. At its core is still a good framework for what was known on the subject in 1950.

All that said it does provide a good little introduction to the topic of post-Roman Barbarian folk movements. The major tribes involved in those movements in Western Europe were the Franks, Goths, Lombards, and a few others. Because of the historical record being a lot of Swiss-cheese, with writers from the past often confusing one tribe for another, or using words for Goth or Frank as a generic term meaning "Any German dude" complicates the modern understanding of the situation.

The major reason people find the study of these folk movements and invasions confusing is because even the people writing about it at the time, the Roman-Celtic peoples living in Italy, Spain and France were confused by it. This has lead to history scholars being confused about it to a certain extent. Naturally enough, this leads to a lot of confusion among laypersons on the subject.

This is only a good introduction though. If you are seriously interested in any of the tribes in particular, then you may wish to look elsewhere. But for an understanding of some of the major interrelationship disputes the various tribes had with the Romans and each other, then this provides a good starting point.

Of particular value is the books endnotes and bibliography. These provide direction for the person looking to continue and learn more about the topics and issues raised herein.

This book covers one of the most confused periods in western history, and I must say it left me more confused than enlightened.

The novice may gain superficial knowledge about the Lombards, Visigoths, Franks, and Ostrogoths, from Hadrill's compact book, but not much else. (I challenge any beginner who trodded through this to say anything illuminating about Visigothic Spain!)

Too many times the author frolics about interpreting documents and developments without giving any background information. If I did not know any better, I would think he was having a debate in his own mind. Hadrill certainly lacks expositional skills, nor is his ability to write clear english any better.

I would not recommend this to a novice (layperson or student). It is one of those books you read, set down, reflect upon, and realize you do not remember anything it said.
For an advanced student who has the requisite background knowledge, it might serve as a contentious (brilliant? tendentious?) interpretive history, but for the beginner it is gibberish.

History professors should stop using this text in introductory courses. Why not pick a text by an author who actually cares about EXPLAINING the Barbarian West to students so that they will UNDERSTAND the time period. Methinks Hadrill wishes to impress with his erudition too much.

This is a short little book that is tackling a very large subject. It also, self-consciously is limiting the extent it covers its subject, thus the limiting of 400 A.D. to 1000 A.D. It is also limited in that originally the book was written in 1952, only with some updating done in both '67 and '85. At its core is still a good framework for what was known on the subject in 1950.

All that said it does provide a good little introduction to the topic of post-Roman Barbarian folk movements. The major tribes involved in those movements in Western Europe were the Franks, Goths, Lombards, and a few others. Because of the historical record being a lot of Swiss-cheese, with writers from the past often confusing one tribe for another, or using words for Goth or Frank as a generic term meaning "Any German dude" complicates the modern understanding of the situation.

The major reason people find the study of these folk movements and invasions confusing is because even the people writing about it at the time, the Roman-Celtic peoples living in Italy, Spain and France were confused by it. This has lead to history scholars being confused about it to a certain extent. Naturally enough, this leads to a lot of confusion among laypersons on the subject.

This is only a good introduction though. If you are seriously interested in any of the tribes in particular, then you may wish to look elsewhere. But for an understanding of some of the major interrelationship disputes the various tribes had with the Romans and each other, then this provides a good starting point.

Of particular value is the books endnotes and bibliography. These provide direction for the person looking to continue and learn more about the topics and issues raised herein.

I purchased this book as an introduction to post-Roman European history, and while I found it informative, I was thoroughly disappointed by the author's presentation skills. Every sentence in this 170-or-so page book is laden with information, many times based on facts which the author already assumes the reader knows or which he had briefly discussed thirty pages prior in one line. Many times the new facts seem unrelated to each other, connected only by flimsy transitions written in the airy manner. The book is also far too dense to serve as any useful introduction to the relevant time period. The abscence of maps and family trees, two things which would greatly ease the burden of the reader from the rapid-fire assault of new facts, further decrease the legibility of this book.

Walle-Hadrill attempts to introduce and discuss the histories of all major Germanic tribes that existed during a 600-year time period in less than 170 pages. It really doesn't work and is too challenging for someone in need of a good introduction. Also, and this may come as a surprise to some, much new research has been done over the last five decades in the matter of medieval history and thus this book may be missing some fundamental facts that have only recently been discovered. For those in need of a good introduction to the time period, I would recommend a relatively new book that is either less ambitious in its goals or substantially longer and inclusive of maps, trees, and other useful presentation devices.

In J.M. Wallace-Hadrill's `The Barbarian West' the author attempts to discuss the major histories of all major Germanic tribes during a 600 year period in 163 pages, not including the 12 page bibliography & 8 page index. Because of this every sentence is heavily laden with information, much of which the author already assumes the reader knows or which he had very briefly mentioned in a prior page. The book is far too dense to serve as an introduction to the period, as the author notes in his preface. "The reader who requires a balanced introduction to the early Middle Ages will do best to turn without delay to the general books cited at the end of this volume, which, so far from seeking in any particular to replace, I gratefully build upon." (Preface) As a novice to this time period, I found the book a little challenging and it took some effort to read. The Book became to me, simply, a list of information put into paragraph form that the author divided into seven chapters. Chapter One: Introduction-
In the year 376 A.D. northern tribes from beyond the Danube were in motion. This wasn't the first time so the Roman Empire was slow to react to the reports, but they were anything but normal, "The Huns, the most terrible of the barbarian peoples, had been stirred to life and were sweeping south towards the Imperial frontiers, refugees streaming before them." (p.9) The Imperial frontiers had long been stretched to a point where defense against threats was a burden big enough to cause economic & social problem. Problems such as labor and spending modified the structure of the Empire. 1st labor; Defense of an immense frontier combined with the need to exploit food producing land & to make every able-bodied man the object of state supervision proved to be a self-destructive process. An age long reliance on slave labor wasn't conducive to inventiveness or labor saving methods, the slave population would bear no more work than it could avoid. 2nd Spending; No Emperor would have considered fiscal discipline for a minute because lavish households and grand towns were the Roman way of life. Emperors continued to live beyond their means because to do otherwise was not to live at all. A lack of adaptiveness showed in Roman social activity. Take the increased demand on the soil & decreased productivity and add to it endemic plague & war casualties, and the Empire saw no alternative to settling the land and army with barbarian refugees. Chapter Two: Mare Nostrum- During the 3rd century in south-eastern Europe there formed two barbarian confederations. To the east were the Ostrogoths and to the west the Visigoths. The Ostrogoths were comprised of the East Germans: Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, Gepids, Lombards and they controlled the Steppe-lands between Crimea and the Don & Dniester rivers. The Visigoths were comprised of the West Germans: the Franks, Alamans, Saxons, Frisians, Thuringians and they controlled the lands between the Danube and Dnieber rivers. Both Groups were hard living pastoral peoples and likely would have died if they didn't trade with the Empire. It was the unexpected arousal of the non-Germanic Huns that broke up the confederation & created a mass exodus to the eastern empire, which was unable to stop them or provide for them. This led to armed conflict and in August 378 A.D. near Adrianople, the Imperial forces were defeated and the Emperor Killed. The eastern provinces were open to raids, and both the Huns & the Goths took advantage. The western empire knowing it was in danger took what means it could to save itself by surrendering power of the Emperors to the barbarian chieftains and by the complete barbarization of the army. The Goths learned their Christianity from bishop ulfilas. He preached among them 341-348 & translated the scriptures into their language. Ulfilas was an Arian who believed in the divinity of God but not Jesus, so it follows that the Goths share this belief. Western Catholics did not like this. In 410 A.D. Alaric, chieftain of an Arian people finally took Rome. He didn't have much interest in it afterwards because he needed food more than plunder, and there was little or none in Rome. Rome was supplied with corn & oil from Africa. The Visigoths tried to reach Africa, always the barbarian goal, but failed and retreated along the Mediterranean coast. Tribes searching for food move fast and in a generation or two settled among the Romans on the western lands that were to become, in general, their permanent homes. Chapter Three: Italy and the Lombards- In the 6th century the Emperor Justinian undertook the re-conquest of Italy after a successful campaign against the Vandals in Africa. The war took 20 years & in the process Italy was ravaged from end to end, part of this was due to famine & plague. Had the re-conquest gone as well as the one in Africa & had the barbarian rule in Italy been harsher, Justinian would have been welcomed as a liberator. His renewed rule over Italy was soon tested as the Lombards invaded and settled. The north Italian plains on which the Lombards descended in 568 A.D. were not at all prosperous. The Lombards were distrustful of the Romans & went out of their way to avoid them when possible. They were able to keep their culture and language longer than most groups by bringing with them their wives and children. They were constantly ready for war, raiding neighboring territories for goods. "They were the wicked people, the people a man could not trust to keep an agreement, the destroyers of churches and monasteries." (p.52) Chapters Four & Five: The Franks- Tournai was taken by the Franks in 446 A.D. and is where they established themselves. In 482 A.D. Clovis succeeded his father childerick as leader of the Merovingian house of Franks in Gaul. About 503A.D..8 years before his death, he converted to Catholicism. In 639 A.D. the last great Merovingian king, Dagobert, died. He had been a Frankish hero who united Franks & Germans against the Avars, a nomadic group of warriors related to the Huns. His descendants were aristocrats not warriors. The Arnulfings who later become the Carolingians eventually take advantage of this. In 751 A.D. with support of the church Pepin, a Carolingian and father to Charlemagne, seizes the throne and remains king until his death in 768 A.D. From 779 A.D.-791A.D. of Charlemagne's rule is referred to as the great central period. It was a time of military conquest and the rapid development of his Christian mission. 792 A.D. & 793 A.D. were bad years because of bad harvests, famine, trouble in Saxony, Italy, Spain, as well as a plot against him by his bastard son Pepin `the hunchback'. The Eight years between 793 A.D. and his Imperial coronation, he painfully re-imposed his authority over Saxony, Spain, & the middle Danube lands of the Avar. By the Imperial coronation of Christmas day 800 A.D. he had extended his power of the Franks beyond anything his ancestors had achieved. Chapter Six: Spain and the Visigoths- The Sueves who settled in the north west of Spain were the 1st barbarian kingdom in western Europe. This was enough to cause the Empire to invite the Visigoths intervention, by the 6th century they had control over central & southern Spain. At war with themselves, a group led by Athanagild called upon Imperial help from Africa. The Empire began a military occupation of south and south-eastern Spain that would last from 554 A.D. to 629 A.D.. The Arab invasion of Spain was a repetition of the past, but instead of turning to Imperial forces, the dispossed family of Witiza looked to the Arabs for help against Roderick. After preliminary raid Tarik, the Arab governor of Tangier, crossed into Spain in 711 A.D. with a force of 700, most of which were Berbers, to a world in decay. Since the departure of the Empire and the Devastated Visigoth armies were made worse by plague & locust swarms the Arabs easily conquered and ruled from 711 A.D. to 850 A.D.. Chapter Seven: Imperium Christianum- Louis `the Pious' received from his father an empty treasury, rebellious followers, & a plague and famine stricken countryside. His friends were fierce reformers who believed Charlemagne did little to help them. His idea of a Christian Empire is best expressed through his plan for the future. In 817 A.D. he conceived the Ordinatio Iperii, He did not plan to leave equal shares to his three sons and nephew. Lothaire the eldest was to get the biggest share and the Imperial title, though he did not wait to claim it & took a co-Emperor title. The next oldest Pepin would receive the kingdom of Aquitaine, Toulouse, & parts of Burgundy. Louis `the German' his third son would receive Bavaria & the Eastern Marches. Bernard, his nephew would continue to rule Italy. All three were to acknowledge Lothaire as their leader and pay him annual tribute & make no wars he would disapprove of. In the event one of them died without an heir the Kingdom would revert to Lothaire. However none of this came to fruition because 1) Bernard rebelled and lost his eyes & kingdom, and his family was exiled to France & 2) the Empress died and Louis remarried and produced another heir Charles `the Bald'. The new Empress tried to secure a good inheritance and his step-brothers tried to prevent one, resulting in strife and once again the west was at war with itself. In his last years, and during the reign of his sons the Empire, subjected to many divisions, showed that linguistic differences became more clearly marked. The Language of East & West Franks had developed towards modern German & French. As early as 843 A.D. the Imperium Christianum no longer existed and the Franks would never know peace again.
In conclusion though the author provides excruciating amounts of detail on these groups mentioned, his focus is almost solely on the Empire and the Roman Church. Instead of an in depth look at these cultures, he wants the reader to see only their ties to Rome. "Hence, as at the beginning so at the end, the vivid contrast stands; early Medieval men could live like barbarians; but they could think that they were Romans." (P.163)