Barbarian Tides The Migration Age and the Later Roman Empire Walter
Goffart "Goffart has produced yet another major study on the
migration of the Northern barbarians into the late Roman Empire.
Although called a sequel to his "Barbarians and Romans," this is a
completely rethought, significantly expanded and rewritten
version."--"Choice" "An important book which should be read
attentively by all scholars of the late Roman West and early
medieval Europe, and which will also be instructive to those
interested in the intellectual history of early-modern and
contemporary European historiography."--"EHR" The Migration Age is
still envisioned as an onrush of expansionary "Germans" pouring
unwanted into the Roman Empire and subjecting it to pressures so
great that its western parts collapsed under the weight. Further
developing the themes set forth in his classic "Barbarians and
Romans," Walter Goffart dismantles this grand narrative, shaking
the barbarians of late antiquity out of this "Germanic" setting and
reimagining the role of foreigners in the Later Roman Empire. The
Empire was not swamped by a migratory Germanic flood for the simple
reason that there was no single ancient Germanic civilization to be
transplanted onto ex-Roman soil. Since the sixteenth century, the
belief that purposeful Germans existed in parallel with the Romans
has been a fixed point in European history. Goffart uncovers the
origins of this historical untruth and argues that any projection
of a modern Germany out of an ancient one is illusory. Rather, the
multiplicity of northern peoples once living on the edges of the
Empire participated with the Romans in the larger stirrings of late
antiquity. Most relevant among these was the long militarization
that gripped late Roman society concurrently with its
Christianization. If the fragmented foreign peoples with which the
Empire dealt gave Rome an advantage in maintaining its ascendancy,
the readiness to admit military talents of any social origin to
positions of leadership opened the door of imperial service to
immigrants from beyond its frontiers. Many barbarians were settled
in the provinces without dislodging the Roman residents or
destabilizing landownership; some were even incorporated into the
ruling families of the Empire. The outcome of this process, Goffart
argues, was a society headed by elites of soldiers and Christian
clergy--one we have come to call medieval. Walter Goffart is
Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Toronto and
Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer at Yale University. The Middle
Ages Series 2006 384 pages 6 x 9 ISBN 978-0-8122-3939-3 Cloth
$69.95s 45.50 ISBN 978-0-8122-2105-3 Paper $26.50s 17.50 World
Rights History Short copy: "Barbarian Tides" radically subverts the
grand narrative of a "Germanic" migration and reinvents the role of
barbarians in the Later Roman Empire. Goffart sets out how the
fragmented foreign peoples once living on the edges of the Empire
participated with the Romans in the larger stirrings of late
antiquity.
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Review This Product
Insightful, top of the field, not for the faint of heart.
Tue, 11 Apr 2023 | Review
by: joemighty16
The author of this volume on a crusade to disprove several misconceptions regarding our understanding of the fall of the Roman Empire, the barbarians and their supposed "migration". He further focuses on the Roman policy of settling barbarian groups within the Roman Empire.
This book has provided me with wondrous "AHA!" moments that clarified my own understanding. It is insightful and full of knowledge.
However, the reader has to enter this book and more often than not sit awkward spectator to the author's vitriol to anyone with an opinion not in line with his own view. Usually these differences are quite subtle, but this will not stop the author from, quite frankly, belittling fellow academics for interpreting the same limited source material differently.
It has to be added that the author is part of a group of historians at the very forefront and breaking new grounds in this field and not just repeating what others have already said.
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