Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity? - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521529336 ISBN 13: 9780521529334

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2002

Synopsis

The papers presented in this book take as their subject the military, political and economic changes forced upon the inhabitants of Gaul during the fifth century AD. They seek to describe and explain how Gallo-Romans of all orders of society reacted to barbarian invasion and the growing debilitation of the western imperial government. The unusually wide range of topics dealt with allows the Gallic experience to be viewed and interpreted from many different directions. Much is made of the problematic, because highly subjective, nature of the literary sources; but close attention is also given to modern advances in our understanding of the archaeological and numismatic data. The whole presents a picture of a society under immense stress, as the people of the Gallic provinces abandoned, perforce, their allegiance to Roman emperors and yielded to the rule of Germanic kings, while yet preserving a significant element of their late antique culture.

About this title

Book Description

This unique collection of papers by international scholars deals with a highly important aspect of the 'decline and fall' of the Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe, namely the loss of Gaul to incoming barbarian kings during the fifth century AD.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521529336
• ISBN 13: 9780521529334
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400
• Editor: Drinkwater John, Elton Hugh