410-429 Britain Abandoned, Rhineland Puppet Emperor

In the year after Rome was sacked by Alaric (pictured) -- a Roman general and king of the federate Visigoth nation -- in revenge for broken promises., he was succeeded by Athaulf as King of the Visigoths in 410.

Theodius II was emperor in the east and Honorius emperior in the west and despite what was happening in Rome they were arguing about their positions.

Honorius was prepared to recognize Constantine as co-emperor, but quickly changed his mind when a Spanish commander, Gerontius, declared another man, Maximus, as emperor in 411 and started attacking Constantine. At this point, Honorius dispatched to Gaul a commander named Constantius who defeated both Constantine and Gerontius.

Constantine returned to Italy to discover that the Burgundians and Alans had raised a puppet emperor Jovinus on the Rhine.

Athaulf took Galla Placida, Honorius's half sister as hostage, went to join forces with Jovinus the puppet emperor but was rebuffed and then fought against him.

In 413 Jovinus was crushed, but Burgundians were formed in their possession of Upper Germany as federates securing the first step in the alienation of Gaul from imperial control.

About the same time, Britain petitioned for help against invasions from the Picts in the norths, the Irish (or scotti) in the west, by the Jutes from Denmark, the Frisians from the low countries (Belgium and Holland) and by the Angles and Saxons from north-west Germany in the east and south -- but Honorius abandoned them.

As part of his agreement to crush Jovinus, Athaulf was to be provided with grain by the imperial government but a revolt in Africa prevented this and he revolted by seizing southern Gaul and in 414 married Galla knowing that Constantine loved her. In retaliation, Constantine cut off supplies to southern Gaul, forcing Athaulf to cross the Pyrenees into north western Spain.

Athaulf was assassinated in 415 and was succeeded by Wallia whose fleet was destroyed in an attempt to cross to Africa in 416 and was forced to make peace with Rome by returning Galla and subduing the Vandals, Suebi and Alans in Spain - in return for which Galla was given a kingdom for the Visigoths in south western Gaul.

In 416 Constantine and Galla married, having a daughter and a son, Valentinian, in 419. In 421 Honorius appointed Constantine as co-emperor but he was not recognized in the East. When Constantine died that same year, a rift developed between Galla and Honorius and she fled with her children to her nephew Theodosius II in the east in 423.

In the same year Honorius died and a mid-level administrator, John, was appointed as the new emperor. Theodosius II responded by sending an attack force, had John executed and proclaimed Valentinian (Galla's son) as emperor.

The first 12 years of Valentinian III's 30-year reign were dominated by his mother who ruled through two ambitious generals, Boniface and Aetius.

Aetius had been a supporter of John -- for this he had been forgiven but was not trusted -- and worked hard to earn respect by maintaining order in Gaul and Italy. In Gaul he raised the siege at Arles in 427 against King Theoderic (successor of Wallia in 418) and in the lower Rhine in 428 he subdued a revolt of the Salian Franks who had settled in the area during Julian's time.

Aetius' main source of power, however, was his friendship with King Rugila of the Huns -- nomadic Mongol tribes from the steppes of Central Asia, including subordinate tribes of Germans and Turks, who were an important power in southern Russia and north of the Danube.

Boniface had been appointed military commander in Africa, and when he refused a summons to return to Italy an army was sent against him which was defeated in 427. In 428 another army was sent under Goth leadership and did better, capturing Carthage and Hippo Regius.

Fearing defeat, Boniface sought help from King Gaiseric of the Vandals in southern Spain, promising to split Africa with him if he brought his troops across the Straits of Gibraltar - which he did in 429, plundering Mauretania (Algeria).

Like many other Germanic tribes, the Vandals had converted to the Arian form of Christianity under Constantius II, but unlike the other Germanic tribes the Vandals were hostile to local inhabitants and cultures, expelling landowners and persecuting Catholics.

550-569 Hungarian Lombards Seize Milan & Po Valley

In this twenty year period, the eastern emperor Justinian (pictured) was succeeded in 565 by Maurice who was faced with the invasion of Italy by a Germanic tribe known as the the Lombards or Longobards (Longbeards).

Previously, in 553 Justinian had defeated the Visigoths in Italy and the Germanic-supported Arian kingdoms of Italy and Africa returned to imperial rule -- only Visigoth Spain held out.

The Lombards were a Germanic arian tribe that had fought with the Romans as mercenaries. In their Lombard homeland of Pannonia (Hungary) they had established amicable relations with the Byzantines due to the guidance and leadership of a former Lombard King Wacho (c. 510-540).

When Pannonia was threatened by another Germanic tribe, the Avars, they remembered their tours of duty in Italy as well as the agricultural wealth that lay within the Po River Valley, and decided to migrate to Italy in 568.

They called it a migration, but the Italians called it an invasion.

Lead by King Alboin, many other Germanic tribes joined the Lombards in the march to the Po River Valley -- the Gepids, Sarmatians, Hunnic Bulgars, Saxons, Bavarians, and Taifali.

Once inside Italy, Alboin seized Aquileia and within a year, the Lombards ruled Milan as well as a large portion of the Po Valley.

did ireland save christianity?

The physical location of Ireland, as well as the easy conversion to Christianity of its Celtic Pagan population, most definitely provided Christianity with a safe haven, but it was the expansionist evangelical efforts of Pope Gregory (590-604) that prevented Christianity from dying out in Europe and remaining, if at all, as an essentially middle-eastern religion.

Historians claim that Ireland - an ethnic Celtic island at the westernmost part of Europe - is the cradle of western civilization, and Christianity is the religion upon which it was founded in 675 AD.

In that St. Patrick had Christianized Ireland from 432AD, and Rome was - and still is - the central power of Christianity in the western world, it does seem strange that Ireland, rather than Rome, is considered to be the cradle of western civilization and the savior of Christianity.

It is unclear whether it was the isolated western geographical region of Ireland, its distinctive race of white Celtic people or its devotion to Christianity that made it the historical birthplace of western civilization.

Actually, Ireland's geographic position had to be the definitive factor.

With the fall of the Roman Empire in 378AD, the European city states and the new religion of Christianity were in the throes of turmoil. Ireland was seen as being the last bastion - the last hope - for the continuation of any sort of European civilization, with or without Christianity, in the face of advancing hordes from eastern Europe, the far north and the Middle East. And, as it turned out, it was!

Here is what was happening in Europe at the time:

• 378 - the Visigoths defeated the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople
• 395 - the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western parts
• 407 - the Romans evacuated Britain
• 410 - Rome sacked by the Visigoths
• 410-442 The Jutes, Angles and Saxons invaded Britain

At this point, in 432AD, when all appeared to be lost in Europe, St Patrick returns to Ireland - where he had previously been enslaved - on an evangelical mission to introduce Christianity to the Pagan Celtic race and hopefully convert the population to his faith. In the following years, things got worse in Europe.

• 450 - The Huns invade all Roman cities in the old Empire
• 455 - Rome, itself, was sacked by the Vandals

It took Rome nearly 150 years to recover from the invasion, and while Christianity was stagnating in Rome it was thriving in the eastern lands. The magnificent church of St Sophia - which later became a mosque - was built in Constantinople in 532-537 and stands as evidence that Christianity was seen more as an eastern religion than a European one.

Fearing loss of power, in 597 Pope Gregory sent St Augustine to England. It was expected that with the widespread conversion to Christianity in England that Rome would regain control of that part of the world - if not politically then at least in the hearts and minds of the population - but the new religion of Islam intervened.