HANDOUT FOR SEPT. 27: THE BARBARIAN KINGDOMS
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.