Page 188 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

followers of Arius, a priest from Alexandria in Egypt. Arius believed that Jesus had been human and thus not truly God. Arius was opposed by Athanasius (ath- uh-NAY-shuss), a bishop of Alexandria, who argued that Jesus was human but also truly God. Emperor Con- stantine, disturbed by the controversy, called the first ecumenical council of the church, a meeting composed of representatives from the entire Christian commu- nity. The Council of Nicaea (ny-SEE-uh), held in 325, condemned Arianism and stated that Jesus was of “the same substance” as God: “We believe in one God the Father All-sovereign, maker of all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one sub- stance with the Father.”1
The Council of Nicaea did not end the controversy, however; not only did Arianism persist in some parts of the Roman Empire for many years, but many of the Germanic Goths who established states in the West converted to Arian Christianity (see “The Germanic Kingdoms” later in this chapter). As a result of these fourth-century theological controversies, the Roman emperor came to play an increasingly important role in church affairs.
The End of the Western Empire
Constantine had reunited the Roman Empire and restored a semblance of order. After his death, how- ever, the empire continued to divide into Western and Eastern parts, and by 395, they had become two virtu- ally independent states. In the fifth century, the empire in the East remained intact under the Roman emperor in Constantinople (see “The Byzantine Empire” later in this chapter), but the empire in the West collapsed and was replaced by a series of Germanic kingdoms.
During the first and second centuries C.E., the Romans had established the Rhine and Danube Rivers as the empire’s northern boundary. The Romans called all the peoples to the north of the rivers “Germans” and regarded them as uncivilized barbarians. In fact, the Germans consisted of different groups with their own customs and identities, but these constantly changed as tribes broke up and came together in new configurations. At times, they formed larger confedera- tions under strong warrior leaders. The Germans lived by herding and farming and also traded with people living along the northern frontiers of the empire. Their proximity to the Romans also led to some
Romanization of the tribes. They were familiar with the Roman use of coins rather than barter and also gained some knowledge of both the Latin language and Roman military matters.
Although the Romans had established a series of political frontiers along the Rhine and Danube Rivers, Romans and Germans often came into contact across these boundaries. For some time, the Romans had hired Germanic tribes to fight other Germanic tribes that threatened Rome or enlisted groups of Germans to fight for Rome. In any case, until the fourth century, the empire had proved capable of absorbing these people without harm to its political structure. As that century wore on, however, the situation began to change.
In the late fourth century, the Germanic tribes came under new pressure when the Huns, a fierce tribe of nomads from the steppes of Asia (see the box on p. 151), began moving into the Black Sea region. One of the groups displaced by the Huns was the Visigoths (VIZ-uh-gahths), who crossed the Danube into German territory and settled down as Roman allies. Ill-treated by Roman officials, the Visigoths soon revolted, and the attempt to stop them at Adrianople in 378 led to a crushing defeat for the Romans. Soon the Visigoths were again on the move. Under their king Alaric (AL- uh-rik), they moved into Italy and sacked Rome in 410. Then, at the urging of the emperor, they moved into Spain and southern Gaul as Roman allies.
The Romans’ experience with the Visigoths estab- lished a precedent. The emperors in the first half of the fifth century made alliances with whole groups of Germanic peoples, who settled peacefully in the Western part of the empire. The Burgundians settled in much of eastern Gaul, just south of another German tribe called the Alemanni. Only the Vandals consistently remained hostile to the Romans. They ravaged parts of Gaul and crossed the Pyrenees into Spain. Defeated by incoming Visigoths, the Vandals crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and conquered the province of Africa. In 455, the Vandals even attacked Rome, sacking it more ferociously than the Visigoths had in 410.
Increasingly, German military leaders dominated the imperial courts of the Western empire, treating the Roman emperors as puppet rulers under their control. One such German leader finally ended the charade of Roman imperial rule. Odoacer (oh-doh-AY-sur) deposed the Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus (RAHM-yuh- luss ow-GOOS-chuh-luss), in 476 and began to rule on his own. Meanwhile, the Ostrogoths (AHSS-truh-gahths), another branch of the Goths, under their king Theodoric
150 Chapter 7 Late Antiquity and the Emergence of the Medieval World
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