In 476, the last Western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by a general of barbarian origin, Odoacre. This date has long been regarded as the end of Antiquity. A civilization would have collapsed, defeated by invaders or undermined by its own weaknesses.
In reality, the destitution of Romulus Augustule didn't make up a political event and contemporaries held it to a relative significant importance. The Roman Empire, in fact, kept existing in the East. For two centuries, most Western leaders — Francs, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Burgondes… — affirmed being the subjects of the emperor Constantinople, administrators of the western provinces on behalf of their distant sponsor. This universal Roman Empire, while becoming increasingly fictional, continued to exist until Charlemagne's coronation in 800, and even until Constantinople was taken by the Turks in 1453.
The long life of the Roman Empire does not mean that the Western world has remained unchanged over time. From the 3rd century BCE, the Roman civilization went through a profound mutation, due as much to internal factors (economic and demographic crisis, social changes, religious mutations) as to external ones (increasing military pressure, loss of international influence). Even the composition of the population slightly changed, with the immigration of more or less assimilated foreign populations. In the melting pot of the late Empire, a new society was born, where Roman traditions, Christian aspirations and innovations introduced by the barbarians balanced and interpenetrated.
Bibliographie indicative :
Coumert (M.) et Dumézil (B.), Les royaumes barbares d'Occident, Paris, PUF (" Que sais-je ? "), 2010.
Joye (S.), L'Europe barbare, 475-714, Paris, Armand Colin, 2015.
Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization, Oxford, 2005.
Wickham (C.), L'héritage de Rome. A History of Europe from 400 to 1000, Londres, 2009.
The evaluation will be an oral presentation, to be prepared in groups.
- Teaching coordinator: Dumézil Bruno