Historical background

Between the death of Augustine and the papacy of Gregory the Great (590–604) the Western world had changed beyond recognition. Already during Augustine’s lifetime a number of major events had taken place which were to lead to a radically new political, socio-economic, and cultural state of affairs. Due to pressure from the Huns, who had arrived in Eastern Europe around ad 376, Germanic tribes were forced to move into the Roman Empire. The Visigoths were eventually to settle in the Iberian peninsula (where the Suevi, another Germanic tribe, occupied the North West). The Franks had occupied most parts of Gaul (with the exception of Burgundy) and the Low Countries. The Vandals made their way through Spain and settled in Northern Africa. Angles and Saxons moved into the East of Britain, where the Christian Britons unsuccessfully attempted to defend themselves against the pagan invaders. (These historic events were to find a literary expression in the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table.) The map of Europe had been radically redrawn, with Franks in Gaul, Visigoths in Spain, and Ostrogoths in Italy.

Italy had proved particularly vulnerable. In 476, Odoacer, a Germanic general, sent the imperial regalia to the Emperor of Constantinople, thereby effectively staking a claim for his own authority in Italy. The gesture had mainly symbolic significance. At the request of Emperor Zeno (in ad 489), Theodoric, an Arian, attempted to introduce a measure of stability in Italy, reigning from ad 493 until his death in ad 526. He held court at Ravenna, encouraging a revival of classical learning and culture. Less than a decade after Theodoric’s death, Emperor Justinian attempted to reconquer the West. In Italy this led to wars, destruction, starvation and plagues for almost two decades. In ad 568, three years after the death of Justinian, the Ostrogothic era ended, when a new Germanic tribe invaded Italy: the Lombards. Their main centers were around Milan, Spoleto and Benevento.