Roman Society

Roman Society
Author: Samuel Dill
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 470
Release: 2020-07-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 3752325437

Reproduction of the original: Roman Society by Samuel Dill

Roman Aristocrats in Barbarian Gaul

Roman Aristocrats in Barbarian Gaul
Author: Ralph Whitney Mathisen
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2013-08-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 0292758073

Skin-clad barbarians ransacking Rome remains a popular image of the "decline and fall" of the Roman Empire, but why, when, and how the Empire actually fell are still matters of debate among students of classical history. In this pioneering study, Ralph W. Mathisen examines the "fall" in one part of the western Empire, Gaul, to better understand the shift from Roman to Germanic power that occurred in the region during the fifth century AD Mathisen uncovers two apparently contradictory trends. First, he finds that barbarian settlement did provoke significant changes in Gaul, including the disappearance of most secular offices under the Roman imperial administration, the appropriation of land and social influence by the barbarians, and a rise in the overall level of violence. Yet he also shows that the Roman aristocrats proved remarkably adept at retaining their rank and status. How did the aristocracy hold on? Mathisen rejects traditional explanations and demonstrates that rather than simply opposing the barbarians, or passively accepting them, the Roman aristocrats directly responded to them in various ways. Some left Gaul. Others tried to ignore the changes wrought by the newcomers. Still others directly collaborated with the barbarians, looking to them as patrons and holding office in barbarian governments. Most significantly, however, many were willing to change the criteria that determined membership in the aristocracy. Two new characteristics of the Roman aristocracy in fifth-century Gaul were careers in the church and greater emphasis on classical literary culture. These findings shed new light on an age in transition. Mathisen's theory that barbarian integration into Roman society was a collaborative process rather than a conquest is sure to provoke much thought and debate. All historians who study the process of power transfer from native to alien elites will want to consult this work.

Cemeteries and Society in Merovingian Gaul

Cemeteries and Society in Merovingian Gaul
Author: Guy Halsall
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 440
Release: 2010
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004179992

Bundeling van de zeven belangrijkste essays over de sociale interpretatie van de Merovingische begraafplaatsen-archeologie.

Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian Period

Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian Period
Author: Ian N. Wood
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 500
Release: 1998
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780851157238

The Alamans were early victims of post-Roman expansion of the Frankish empire; studies consider both races from historical, archaeological and linguistic perspectives.(3-6c)

The Imperial Families of Ancient Rome

The Imperial Families of Ancient Rome
Author: Maxwell Craven
Publisher: Fonthill Media
Total Pages: 748
Release: 2019-12-08
Genre: History
ISBN:

The Roman Empire was a spectacular polity of unprecedented scale which stretched from Scotland to Sudan and from Portugal to Persia. It survived for over 500 years in the west and 1,480 years in the east. Ruling it was a task of frightening complexity; few emperors made a good fist of it, yet thanks to dynastic connections, an efficient bureaucracy and a governing class eager to attain the kudos of holding the highest offices, it survived the mad, bad and incompetent emperors remarkably well. Although not always apparent, it was the interplay of emperors' kin and family connections which also made a major contribution to controlling the empire. This book aims to put on record the known ancestry, relations and descendants of all emperors, including ephemeral ones and show connections from one dynasty to another as completely as possible, accompanied by concise biographical notes about each ruler and known facts about family members, which include Romans both famous and obscure. It also attempts to distinguish between certainty and possibility and to eliminate obvious fiction. The introduction provides a narrative lead-in to the creation of the empire, attempts to clarify the complexities of Roman genealogy and assess the sources.

Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul

Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul
Author: Yitzhak Hen
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 336
Release: 1995
Genre: History
ISBN: 9789004103474

This book offers fascinating new thinking about the christianisation of early medieval Gaul, the liturgy of Gaul as a significant component of Merovingian culture, and the place of paganism and superstitions in the Merovingian world.

Dreams, Visions, and Spiritual Authority in Merovingian Gaul

Dreams, Visions, and Spiritual Authority in Merovingian Gaul
Author: Isabel Moreira
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2002-02-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0801474671

In early medieval Europe, dreams and visions were believed to reveal divine information about Christian life and the hereafter. No consensus existed, however, as to whether all Christians, or only a spiritual elite, were entitled to have a relationship of this sort with the supernatural. Drawing on a rich variety of sources—histories, hagiographies, ascetic literature, and records of dreams at saints' shrines—Isabel Moreira provides insight into a society struggling to understand and negotiate its religious visions. Moreira analyzes changing attitudes toward dreams and visionary experiences beginning in late antiquity, when the church hierarchy considered lay dreamers a threat to its claims of spiritual authority. Moreira describes how, over the course of the Merovingian period, the clergy came to accept the visions of ordinary folk—peasants, women, and children—as authentic. Dream literature and accounts of visionary experiences infiltrated all aspects of medieval culture by the eighth century, and the dreams of ordinary Christians became central to the clergy's pastoral concerns. Written in clear and inviting prose, this book enables readers to understand how the clerics of Merovingian Gaul allowed a Christian culture of dreaming to develop and flourish without compromising the religious orthodoxy of the community or the primacy of their own authority.

Social Mobility in Late Antique Gaul

Social Mobility in Late Antique Gaul
Author: Allen E. Jones
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2009-07-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 0521762391

Barbarian Gaul -- Evidence and control -- Social structure I : hierarchy, mobility and aristocracies -- Social structure II : free and servile ranks -- The passive poor : prisoners -- The active poor : pauperes at church -- Healing and authority I : physicians -- Healing and authority II : enchanters