Barbarians and Romans, A.D. 418-584

by Walter Goffart

Despite intermittent turbulence and destruction, much of the Roman West came under barbarian control in an orderly fashion. Goths, Burgundians, and other aliens were accommodated within the provinces without disrupting the settled population or overturning the patterns of landownership. Walter Goffart examines these arrangements and shows that they were based on the procedures of Roman taxation, rather than on those of military billeting (the so-called hospitalitas system), as has long been thought. Resident proprietors could be left in undisturbed possession of their lands because the proceeds of taxation,rather than land itself, were awarded to the barbarian troops and their leaders.

Genres: History, Medieval History, Ancient History, Nonfiction, Medieval

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Walter André Goffart was a German-born American historian who specialized in Late Antiquity and the European Middle Ages. He taught for many years in the history department and Centre for Medieval Studies of the University of Toronto (1960–1999), and was a senior research scholar at Yale University. He was the author of monographs on a ninth-century forgery (Le Mans Forgeries), late Roman taxation (Caput and Colonate), four "barbarian" historians, and historical atlases.
Two controversial themes in his research concern the Roman policies used when settling barbarian soldiers in the West Roman Empire (Barbarians and Romans and the sixth chapter of Barbarian Tides), and his criticism of the old idea that there was a single Germanic people opposed to the empire in late antiquity, which he believes still influences academics studying the period.

Reviews

[Flint Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the admission that I am not a specialist in Roman history, Goffart was the first scholar to truly challenge the basic assumptions of Edward Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire', that the barbarians invaded and destroyed the empire. Through intensive study of the newer Roman laws and a critical analysis of the source material, he was able to teach us that the Roman Empire collapsed from within, and that the barbarians, respectful of Roman culture, supported the crumbling empire far longer than Rome could have managed on its own. This book destroys everything that Gibbon said, but does so in a way that is convincing.

[Magen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Academic and dry, Goffart's thesis is no less one that is very well supported and interesting if you're into ancient tax systems. My interest is more in cultural exchange, so this was a little tough for me to grasp in places, but I'm fascinated by Rome's border interactions, so this was well worth picking up.

[Ignacio Sanvicens Zilles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have no doubt that if I had a better understanding of the Roman Empire this book would have been amazing, however, I often felt bombarded by new terms and the constant insistence on a lack of explanation on these. This book felt like something that is to be read after years of expertise and mastering of the early German tribes rather than a book in which one can read in an afternoon.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is based on the premise that the migrations of the Germanic peoples at the end of the Roman Empire is more of a pre-figuration of the eventually unified Germanic states of the 19th century, posited by the then-working German historiographers, than anything one could ever find in the sparse historical record.

It is from that vantage point that Goffart works out how the accommodation of the Germanic peoples at the end of the Roman Empire actually worked, analyzing in detail the complex legalese and the implications thereof, which are worth reading with an eye toward the Middle Ages, where that interface will be reimplemented as the Feudal states.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very conservative historian, Goffart took great pains to fully document/footnote his work. Focusing almost entirely on tax records, he made the argument that the coming of barbarian rule was not a series of violent battles, but more of an accomodation stemming from Roman tax policy. The argument was well defended and laid out, but the material and writing style was extremely dry.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shallow treatment of the relationship between the Romans and their neighbors.

[Reader2007 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terribly dry. Yet incredibly accurate historically. Read again.

T a x l a w s.