HANDOUT FOR SEPT. 27: THE BARBARIAN KINGDOMS

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Visigoths:

376: Goths cross Danube, fleeing Huns.

378: They defeat Romans at Adrianople.

c.395-410: Alaric king of Goths.

410: Goths sack Rome.

410-416: Athaulf king of Goths.

418: Goths settled in Aquitania by treaty; sent by Rome to expel Vandals from Spain.

c.430-487: Sidonius Apollinarius, bishop of Clermont.

466-484: Euric king.

507: Goths defeated by Franks, expelled from Southern Gaul. Theodoric of Italy intervenes to save their kingdom in Spain.

589: Conversion of Goths to Catholicism under Reccared.

c.560-636: Isidore of Seville, encyclopedist and intellectual.

612-621: King Sisebut, writes Martyrdom of Desiderius.

711: Visigothic kingdom conquered by Muslims.

 

Vandals:

Winter 406/7: Vandals, Sueves, Alans and others cross Rhine and invade Gaul.

c.410: Vandals in Spain.

428: Defeated by Goths in Spain, 80,000 Vandals cross to North Africa.

428-477: Gaiseric king of Vandals.

429: Vandals besiege Hippo. Death of Augustine.

439: Vandals take Carthage.

455: Vandal fleet sacks Rome.

477-484: Huneric king.

484: Persecution of Catholics in North Africa, recorded by Victor of Vita.

533: Justinian sends Belisarius to invade North Africa. End of Vandal kingdom.

 

Ostrogoths:

454: Hun empire disintegrates on death of Attila. "Ostrogoth" tribe emerges in Balkans.

489: Eastern emperor Zeno sends Gothic leader Theodoric to invade Italy.

493: Theodoric overthrows Odoacer and kills him.

493-527: Reign of Theodoric in Italy.

c.485-580: Cassiodorus, Roman senator and praetorian prefect for Theodoric. Writes Variae and lost Gothic History used by Jordanes.

c.480-525: Boethius, senator and philosopher. Writes Consolation of Philosophy while awaiting execution.

527-536: Political instability after death of Theodoric. Justinian plans intervention.

536-560: Gothic wars. Eastern army under Belisarius struggles with Goths. Italy ravaged and exhausted after final Byzantine victory.

c.550: Cassiodorus in Constantinople. Jordanes writes his History of the Goths.

554: Cassiodorus retires to monastery of Vivarium in S. Italy.

568: Lombards ("Long-beards") invade and seize large parts of Italy.

 

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