Discussion 6

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PS 361 – Classical Political Thought

Dr. Philipp Kneis

M I C R O - L E C T U R E 6 :

T H E T R A N S F O R M A T I O N O F T H E A N C I E N T W O R L D

The crisis in the West begins in the Balkans. In 376, Valens, emperor of the East, allows a coalition of

Goths to settle within Roman territory in Thrace and Moesia (today’s Bulgaria and Greece) as they

are displaced by Huns, who were themselves displaced by the Mongols in their homeland in

Kazakhstan. Provincial corruptions, famine and mistreatment of the immigrants, however, led to

revolt. In the attempt to suppress it, Roman military mistakes lead to a crucial defeat in 378 near

Adrianopolis, current-day Edirne in the European part of Turkey. Emperor Valens dies, and the

Empire is crucially weakened. The sea between Europe and Asia saves the Eastern Empire, but the

West sees several waves of migration leading eventually to the end of Roman rule in the West in 476.

The Roman general and de-facto Roman ruler Flavius Aetius had been a hostage of the Huns.

(Hostages were exchanged between different parties to a peace treaty as a matter of diplomatic

practice, in order to ensure the peace.) Aetius thus spoke the language of the Huns and also used

Hunnic soldiers in the Roman Army. At the battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, he combines forces

with the Visigoth king Theoderic, and with Burgundians, Alans and Salian Franks to fight Attila and

his coalition of Huns, Ostrogoths, Franks and Burgundians. If that sounds confusing, that is because

it indeed is confusing, and it illustrates how complicated alliances at that time actually were – and

that the differences between “Romans” and “Barbarians” are not at all clear-cut. In fact, Germanic,

Hunnic and Roman politics at this point seem to be very much intertwined, and the battle itself has

probably been the result of a combination of power politics, family feuds, and inner-tribal conflicts.

The Battle is probably part of the inspiration of the Tale of the Nibelungs, a foundational text for

German culture. Theoderic was King of the Visigoths from 418-451.

A different Theoderic, king of the Ostrogoths and known as Dietrich von Bern, whereas Bern means

Verona, serves under Eastern Roman Emperor Zenon as general (magister militum), and as consul in

484, and is tasked with fighting against Odoacer, who had just deposed the last Western Roman

Emperor, Romulus Augustulus. After a victory near Verona, he cannot conquer Ravenna in 493, but

kills him and his sons at a festive meal. Then-Emperor Anastasius confirms his rule over Italy in 497,

and he governs until 526.

Another Germanic warlord made leader by the Romans is the originator of the Merowingian dynasty

of Salian Franks. He fought with Aetius in the above mentioned battle of the Catalaunian Plains. One

of his descendants, Clovis I., is baptized in 508 as the first Frankish king, but he really governed a very

mixed, syncretic people of Gauls, Romans and Franks.

These two examples speak to the complexity of the process that is typically called either the Fall or

the Transformation of the Roman Empire. It is marked by a cultural fusion, the combination and

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recombination of Roman political offices with Germanic traditions, and oftentimes sanctioned by

Roman officials. The Germanic leaders are Christianized, and their sanction from the Church also

means political sanction by Rome.

Thus after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in 469, several Germanic kingdoms are established, such

as in Italy by the Eastern Goths or Ostrogoths and then the Langobards, – in Gaul, by the Franks, – in

Spain, by the Western Goths or Visigoths, – in North Africa, by the Vandals, – and in England, by Angles

Saxons and Jutes). Newer waves of migration towards the Balkans bring in Slavs and Bulgars (since

the 7th century), the Magyars, or Hungarians, arrive in what is now Hungary in the 9th century.

The Southern part of the empire sees the expansion of Islam and the establishment of Muslim states,

which ends Germanic rule in North Africa and Spain, and threatens to also expand into Frankish-

ruled Gaul. The Frankish king Charles the Great (Charlemagne) is able to halt the invasion and create

a new empire in Gaul, Italy and the old German provinces. He founds his own, Carolingian dynasty,

replacing the Merovingians.

Charles is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III, in exchange for creating a Vatican State in

the center of Italy. This moment signifies the real end of Roman unity, as it establishes a competing

Western Roman emperor that does not seek sanction by or collegiality with the pre-existing Roman

Empire in the East. It clearly designates itself as both something new, and something that draws its

legitimacy from Rome.

This Holy Empire (Sacrum Imperium) will last, in various, fragmented and frankly oftentimes

confusing shapes and forms, for another 1000 years until 1806. Towards its end, the French

philosopher Voltaire, friend of Prussian king Frederick II, famously joked in 1756 that “This

agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way

holy, nor Roman, nor an empire” (Essai sur l'histoire générale et sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations,

Chapter 70).

However you might want to define the Middle Ages (and there are plenty of definitions), one core

defining element would be the integration of two powers in the West – the (Catholic) Church and the

worldly rulers who sought its sanction. In the East, the Roman Empire continued, of course, until the

fall of Constantinople in 1453. This tripartite constellation – a fragmented West held together by the

Church, a declining Eastern Roman Empire, and comparatively progressive Muslim states on the

Southern Rim and in Spain – is the constellation of dominant powers during the Middle Ages. Further

key factors are a culture of Monasticism, the elevation of the Papacy to the position of a rivalling

political power, and the overall social order.

The time of the citizen with decision-making power over the polis was over. The official social

hierarchy of the three estates of the realm consisted of clergy, nobility, and then commoners, which

meant peasants and bourgeoisie, or, in Latin, oratores (praying caste), bellatores (fighting caste) and

laboratores (working caste). This is influenced, as can easily be seen, by the understanding of the

composition of the ideal state and/or soul advanced by Plato – λογιστικόν, θυμοειδές, ἐπιθυμητικόν,

or, simplified, thinking, acting, and feeling. Plato, however, merges the first two categories of

Philosophers and Warriors into the Guardian caste – Medieval society distinguishes between both,

but sees them as complimenting each other. This caste system is actually not dissimilar from the

Varna ( वर्ण ) system of social cast in India, consisting of Brahmins (ब्राह्मर् – priests), Kshatriyas (क्षत्रियः

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– warriors), Vaishyas (वैश्यः – merchants) and Shudras (शूद्र – laborers). This illustrates the shared

indo-European origin of cultural concepts we find in Indian culture and Plato.

The distinction that is present in the Varna system between merchants and laborers is actually

present in Medieval Europe as well – and it is growing. Cities, namely those that are marketplaces1,

establish different, freer rights that the rural countryside. In rural areas, though, a form of slavery

called serfdom becomes commonplace.

Despite the appearance of static harmony, the Middle Ages are a dynamic and highly innovative and

productive period – a time of multiple tensions that are already laying the groundwork for the

Renaissance and Modernity.

In our readings, we’ll review several theoretical explorations about the transition from the Roman

world to the Middle Ages, and then continue with Augustine, and introduce the political theory of

Thomas Aquinas.

1 (see the distinction in German cities that are castles (“-burg”) vs markets (“-markt”), similar in Slavic languages, “-grad” or “-gorod” vs. “miesto” or “miasto”)