Theoderic the Great: King of Goths, Ruler of Romans

by Hans-Ulrich Wiemer, John Noel Dillon (Translator)

The first full-scale history of Theoderic and the Goths in more than seventy-five years, tracing the transformation of a divided kingdom into a great power
 
In the year 493, the leader of a vast confederation of Gothic warriors, their wives, and children personally cut down Odoacer, the man famous for deposing the last Roman emperor in 476. That leader became Theoderic the Great (454–526). This engaging history of his life and reign immerses readers in the world of the warrior-king who ushered in decades of peace and stability in Italy as king of Goths and Romans. Theoderic transformed his roving “warrior nation” from the periphery of the Roman world into a standing army that protected his taxpaying Roman subjects with the support of the Roman elite. With a ruling strategy of “integration through separation,” Theoderic not only stabilized Italy but also extended his kingdom to the western Balkans, southern France, and the Iberian Peninsula.
 
Using sources as diverse as letters, poetry, coins, and mosaics, Hans-Ulrich Wiemer brings readers into the world of Theoderic’s court, from Gothic warriors and their families to the notables, artisans, and shopkeepers of Rome and Ravenna to the peasants and enslaved people who tilled the soil on grand rural estates. This book offers a fascinating history of the leader who brought peace to Italy after the disintegration of the Roman Empire.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Ancient History, European History, Medieval

664 pages, Hardcover

First published July 25, 2023

Reviews

[Marks54 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an astonnishingly good book. It is not really a new work but rather a new translation of a well regarded German work. This is the biography of Theoderic the Great, the Ostrogothic ruler who displaced Odoacer, who overthrew the last Western Roman Emperor. He ruled for three decades and his rule was largely peaceful. This book focuses on how Theoderic ruled Italy during his reign. How did the Roman Administration keep going? How did the Gothic army prosper while in Italy and not start pillaging the locals. How were taxes collected? How were laws enforced?

This is a detailed account of all the different governance decisions that Theoderic made - it is a textbook on how to think about such problems. He even managed to expand his empire to include Spain and Souther France.

There is a huge temptation to focus on the warriors and the battles or how how what used to be the Roman Empirce declined across the fifth through seventh centuries. This book is a detailed story of how decline was attenuated, how potential violence was reduced, and how society managed to continue. Alas, it did not last, which also shows the importance of institution building. It takes more than a small group of leaders at the top.

Theoderic has gotten a bad rap from some historically, since he was the ruler who put the philosopher and senator Boethius to death. The actual story is more complex. The Theoderic figure also seems to be behind a number of heroic legends (The Dietrich Legends). The author analogies between the early sixth century and the disorder of our current age, although that is less persuasive. Oddly, to me, a major bone of contention in how Theoderic has been viewed concerns whether “the Great” should be attached to his name or not. Not surprisingly, this appears to be as much of an artifact of the state of historical studies at a given time and place as it is informative about Theoderic himself. Given the distance in time and inevitable issues about sources, it is unclear what is gained by such an argument.

This is a much richer story that is typically provided in stories about the fall of Rome and is well worth reading, even if it is a bit long.

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was enlightening! I had never heard of this historical figure. This met two of my goals: ancient history and historical figures. The man was a true warrior that is for certain. And so many connections to other historical figures, like an ancient game of separations. If you’re not really into battles or wars, invasion stories, “starving out” then maybe don’t read this book. I bought the audiobook. Decent narrator.

Royal reads 2024

[Tim O'Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's interesting that this is the first scholarly historical biography of Theodoric in many decades, given that he is such a significant figure. By the end of Wiemer's book few readers could begrudge the Ostrogothic king the traditional (at least in Germany) epiphet of "the Great". In a period of war and chaos, Theodoric brought 30 years of peace and relative prosperity to a kingdom that stretched from Serbia to Spain and from southern France to Sicily. While this polity did not survive long after his death, during his long reign it was stable, highly functional and - for the time - relatively free and tolerant. His division of his kingdom into an elite landed warrior class of Goths who handled military affairs and a civil governing class to stabilise and maintain civilian affairs proved remarkably effective and, even in its eventual failure in decades of external assualt by Justinian, actually fairly robust.

The real gems in the book lie in Wiemer's analysis of previous historiographic perspectives and overviews of more recent scholarly work, resulting in very useful synthesis. So his survey of older views of the "Age of Migrations" and "the Germanic people and his analysis of more recent work on these ideas will stand on its own for future students and researchers. Similarly, his final chapter's survey of the changing way Theodoric has been remembered, portrayed and mythologised is a superb detailed summary.

While the battles and movements of armiess and migrating communities are given in detail, this book also does excellent service in its careful analysis of the mechanics of administration in Ostrogothic Italy. These chapters may not be as exciting as the ones on wars and campaigns, but - again - they will be a resource for years to come. This is a superb because because of the care, detail and comprehensive approach of its author - scholarship at its finest.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the fall of the western Roman empire, the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy provided decades stability under the king Theoderic. Having conquered the the Italian peninsula and surround areas, he proceeded to govern it by balancing the interests of his Germanic warrior-people with the Roman patricians and senatorial class, and administer it through surviving Roman civil servants. He even pulled Visigothic Spain into his kingdom, giving him rulership over a significant core of the old Roman Empire.

It was an impressive feat of rulership, but one that relied on his personal legitimacy. It was possibly a model that was doomed to fail in the long term, but in the event it didn't really get a chance: In a stroke of misfortune that would be understood by all Crusader Kings players, his chosen and groomed heir died shortly before he did, and the new rulers were too paralyzed trying to keep the kingdom together to withstand Justinian's invasion. And it was this long war, as the Eastern Romans tried to "recover" Italy, not the barbarian rulers, that ultimately destroyed the cities and even the Senate.

I was a little nervous about picking up a heft book on such a potentially narrow topic, but this was a great read. The sources are better than I had thought for this period, but also this was just very skillfully written.

[Simon Mee · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the contrary, Theoderic was striving to build a barrier between the conquerors and the native inhabitants of Italy by dividing his subjects into two peoples that performed different tasks and played different parts: the Goths as warriors, the Romans as civilians.

Thanks, I guess then, for the detailed explanations the various offices of state that could be held by a Goths but not a Roman, or by a Roman but not a Goth.

Theoderic the Great leans strongly towards historiography rather than narrative history, the book's purpose is defensible in terms of summarising the interpretations of Theoderic, his tribes, and his kingdoms. Books on the period tend to focus on events immediately before and after him, with Theoderic just being there as a replacement for Roman rule, or the progenitor of Gothic Rule pending its dissolution by the Byzantines. Having one specifically on him gives pride of place to his genuinely impressive carving out of territory in Italy, France and Spain. His foreign policy was a bit up and down, but even when isolated, he wasn't being invaded. It is also fair to attribute a fair extent of his dynastic troubles to bad luck rather than bad management.

No other barbarian ruler of his time could point to successes comparable to Theoderic’s.

If you’re an academic looking for material to cite, then great! This is probably the book for you, and I could wax on at length about Wiemer’s precision with the what, who and how of Theoderic, along with Wiemer’s engagement with past conclusions on the what, who and how. Theoderic the Great does not have simple answers about the nature and legacy of the Theoderic’s rule as there probably isn’t one – but Wiemer contextualises people’s perceptions through time of a (somewhat niche) character of history. To understand what people thought of him after, you do need to have a solid grounding in how Theoderic conquered and ruled, and Wiemer is fairly comprehensive on that.

This success story is only one side of the coin. On the other side, there is the fact that the Gothic kingdom founded by Theoderic lasted only two generations.

As for the lay reader… …hmmm. The popularisation of history, where a lay audience gets their information from barely-above-layperson-authors/podcasters, is a fair concern. Things are never simple (e.g. was the United States’ economic mobilisation actually good for it?) but presenting complicated trends and countertrends in a digestible form is a skill in itself. Without giving a definitive answer as to who you should read on the era, I have found Peter Heather’s books more engaging, where even the footnotes contain points of interest (such as the impact of the Plague of Justinian). It is not necessary to mimic Heather’s conversational tone, but Wiemer seems to prefer writing as an academic expecting to be read by other academics.

You can treat the previous paragraph as a criticism of Wiemer or an an admission of my own shortcomings – my only additional comment is Goodreads is a review site about books you enjoy rather than an online journal of history – my impressions and comments are going to slant towards readability from a non-expert perspective. As mentioned in The Mercian Chronicles, sources do act as a constraint (no easy leaning on Procopius) and Wiemer is actually reasonably solid with the travails of the Catholic church under Arian Gothic rule, along with the halting attempts of Gothic diplomacy.

As a side point the translation from the German language original seemed adequate rather than amazing, with errors that cannot be solely attributed to the weirdness of the German language creeping in. I suspect there are only so much you can do to make the methods of taxation exciting in English, but the efforts did occasionally act as a hindrance.

The Roman senate lost the last of its significance; all trace of it vanishes in the early seventh century. Now there was no body that might have represented the political unity of Italy. When the Roman senate disappeared, so too did the idea that there might be a second political center of the Roman Empire besides Constantinople.

I have seen plenty of laudatory comments on Theoderic the Great and it will absolutely be used by other historians for their own books. So treat this as a dumb guy stumbling into the university library and wondering why there are no rom-coms.

[Eileen Iciek · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was only a few years ago that I first learned of Theoderic in a book about Ravenna, his capital. I grew interested in learning more about him, especially after a visit in 2022 when we saw his mausoleum and the palace church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo. This book accomplished that.

The books begins with a description of the Gothic tribes (Ostro - east; Visi - west), originally from northern Europe, and of Theoderic's own ancestors. He was sent as a hostage by his father to Constantinople to the Byzantine emperor's court at age 7 for about 10 years.

The Ostrogothic King Theoderic was fortunate to have an educated Roman writer, Cassiodorus, on his staff who provided much of the source material for this fine history. The personality of the king, however, is not much shown in that material so he remains an enigma. Still, he seems to have been a reasonable lawgiver, focused on maintaining the ancient Roman legal precepts and keeping the peace in the territory he ruled, which grew from Italy into southern France and then into eastern Spain. He seems to have had the respect of the people he governed, even if they disagreed with his Arian religion. Theoderic's biggest flaw was in old age when he condemned the Roman senator and philosopher, Boethius to death for a treason accusation that was probably a fabrication.

Theoderic was more successful as a ruler than the other Visigothic and Ostrogothic leaders. They were often little better than nomadic war bands intent on pillaging the towns they attacked. Theoderic had an appreciation for Roman law and governmental organization that the rest of them did not share. I suspect he learned that appreciation from the formative years he spent in Constantinople under the control and influence of Emperor Leo I (I wish that had been explored more in this book).

This history is not an easy beach read - it is dense with information meant to satisfy those of us fascinated by times long past. Highly recommended!

[Antonio Troisi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I’ve read this year and the best I’ve read on late antiquity. It really takes you into the world of Western Europe in the 5th and 6th century, a time rarely covered. The research is extremely well done. It is both scholarly and accessible. I couldn’t recommend it more. Loved it!

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sophisticated examination of Theodoric’s reign and the Goths in general that seems to conform to the work of Peter Heather and other experts.

[Jonathan F · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 5th century may have seen the demise of Rome's western emperors, but for the landed aristocracy of Italy things remained surprisingly stable at first. This aristocracy still met in Rome and commanded political influence in the post-war Gothic kingdom in the peninsula. Members of its ranks worked for the Gothic government, including Cassiodorus and Boethius. Romans typically ruled over fellow Romans in legal cases, except where the case also concerned a Goth. The empire may have collapsed, but in Italy there was a remarkable continuity in the power structure.

Wiemer discusses how Theoderic consolidated his rule by making his Gothic warriors landowners. By giving them land, they made passive income since most of that land was used for tenant farming or managed by other parties or the warrior's family. That land was presumably owned by the imperial family or the Italian aristocracy, although some of it would have been previously carved out by Odoacer and his army. Both Odoacer and Theoderic were able to strike what looks a lot like a corporate arrangement. The existing shareholders, the Italian aristocracy, were compensated for the dilution of their shares by the security offered by the Ostrogothic army. Specific tiers of shares, like farmland in Sicily, were also left relatively untouched by the Goths. As long as the warrior shareholders upheld their side of the bargain, which was to provide stability and not upset the agreed-upon distribution of shares, the system worked well.

Keeping with the theme I first mentioned in my review of Procopius' The Wars of Justinian, that is that the breakup of the "classical" power structure broke not with the barbarian invasions but with the Roman "revival" under Justinian, the unity of the Italian aristocracy was ultimately broken because the Byzantines could only provide the necessary security to parts of the Italian peninsula against Lombard forces. The Byzantines were also prone to overleverage their power when extracting dividends (taxes), disrupting overall corporate loyalty among the Italian shareholders.

It's interesting that Italy was not able to field an army of native soldiers in the 5th and 6th centuries. Wiemer's reasoning is that the Italian aristocracy was not built to field warriors capable of going toe-to-toe with foreign tribal warriors. The Goths trained for war; the Romans trained for erudition. But Italy once produced warrior aristocrats, and that warrior aristocracy eventually learned how to maintain a professional fighting army of Italian soldiers armed, paid, and fed by the aristocratic state. What happened? Wiemer doesn't explore this question but I think it's an interesting question because, despite its institutional unity, the Italian aristocracy could not provide its own security forces to protect the arrangement.

In terms of land owners capable of affording their own military education, it's worth considering that land ownership was highly concentrated in the Late Empire. This was disrupted by the partitioning of the Western Roman Empire. In Italy, the local aristocracy was able to retain ownership of considerable estates because of its ability to negotiate with two military commanders with strong enough forces to protect the arrangement, but with sufficient foreign pressures to disincentivize them from upsetting the balance of power between foreign warrior and local aristocrat. The partitioning of the old estates accelerated after the Lombard invasion. Maybe there weren't enough landed aristocrats in Italy to make an army.

But the Roman Empire had a professional army. The Roman Republic before it, after Marius, had a professional army. It recruited from local populations, trained, armed, and paid them, and then deployed them throughout the Mediterranean world. In the Late Empire, Italy was its own prefecture and its military logistics system was formalized and collectivized from factory to soldier. Italian state-operated factories manufactured swords, shields, armor, and the other material requirements of a professional fighting force. Military supply depots were well fortified and easy to defend with small garrisons. Why was the Italian aristocracy unable to mobilize, arm, train, and pay local manpower? Why didn't the Italian aristocracy produce more military leaders in the vacuum of the 5th and 6th centuries? It seems there was some loss in institutional capacity and know-how; what does this say about the possible trajectory that force composition took in the decades of reforms after the initial separation of bureaucratic and military administrations.

Wiemer also explains Theoderic's coinage policy. He distributed coins of both large (gold) and small (bronze) denominations. This reminds me of one of the arguments made in Thomas Burns' Rome and the Barbarians (reviewed here), which is that as Rome's military forces in the west concentrated along the Rhine and Danube rivers general economic activity shifted accordingly. Small-denomination coins are some of the most important for everyday commercial activity because you can't make small transactions with high-value gold coins; you need lower value coins capable of covering lower value transactions. A shortage of small-denomination coins is associated with bad economic times (see Sargent and Velde's The Problem of Small Change [reviewed here]).

The reason I find this all interesting is because Theoderic's reign is generally associated with prosperity in Italy. Wiemer does talk about this somewhat, although he focuses on Theoderic's building program and its nature. Apart from new construction in Ravenna, Theoderic also restored many of Rome's monuments and disbursed money to other cities. All the same, I wonder too if these times of prosperity have to do with the presence of a large army in Italy and the coin distribution necessary to create the proper supply markets around it.

I quite enjoyed the book overall. More than a biography of Theoderic, it's a history of Italy during the 6th century. It starts with the entrance of large Gothic forces into the Roman Empire in the late 4th century and ends with the fall of the Gothic kingdom in Italy at the hands of the Byzantines. It's also thoroughly modern, taking in not just literary evidence, but also archeological and numamistic. I recommend it to anybody interested in the history of antiquity and, especially, the period of transition between antiquity and the middle ages.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eine umfangreiche, zeitgenössisch bearbeitete Sicht auf den Gotenkönig und seine Rolle zum und im spätantiken Mittelmeerraum; eine kritische Biografie, Kultur-und Staatlichkeitsgeschichte; großartig geschrieben;

[History Today]

When Theoderic the Great died on 30 August 526 his fame spanned the Mediterranean world. The Ostrogothic king ruled over Italy, southern France and much of Spain. His was the most powerful Germanic kingdom to arise following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and his name demanded respect from the Eastern emperor who still reigned in Constantinople. Theoderic was a key figure in a crucial transitional period of European history, and in this excellent book Hans-Ulrich Wiemer has performed an outstanding feat in bringing to life Theoderic, his kingdom and his wider world. The book was originally published in German in 2018 and has been expertly revised for the English translation by John Noël Dillon.

Wiemer begins by setting the scene, from the challenges posed by our sources and the difficulty of names (who were the Ostrogoths?) to the complexity of early Gothic history, the impact of Attila the Hun and the much-debated ‘decline and fall’ of the Roman Empire in the West. All these elements are essential background to Theoderic, who in 493 led 100,000 men, women and children from the Balkans into Italy where he overthrew Odovacer who in turn had deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman emperor. For the next 30 years, Theoderic successfully ruled over both Goths and Romans, pursuing a policy which Wiemer accurately describes as ‘integration through separation’. Theoderic’s subjects were divided by culture, language and religion; the king did not seek to force assimilation. Instead, he sought to balance the varying concerns of Gothic warriors, Roman senators and Catholic bishops who regarded Theoderic and his Goths as ‘Arian’ heretics. Wiemer is careful to warn against exaggerated assessments of Theoderic’s achievements, for all levels of society did not benefit equally and we must recognise such limitations before proclaiming his reign a ‘Golden Age’. Yet it is impossible not to be impressed as Wiemer presents in striking detail the administrative structures which Theoderic preserved, the expansion of Ostrogothic power as he pushed back the Franks to the north and absorbed Visigothic Spain, and the remarkable diplomacy with which Theoderic respected the papacy while promoting the ‘Arian’ Christianity to which he and his followers remained devoted. Across three decades, Theoderic delivered a degree of peace and stability which Italy would not experience again for centuries, only for his kingdom to shatter not long after his death as the armies of the Eastern emperor, Justinian, invaded in 535 and began 20 years of warfare that devastated Italian society.

Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.

David M. Gwynn is Reader in Ancient and Late Antique History at Royal Holloway, University of London and author of The Goths: Lost Civilizations (Reaktion, 2017).

[Connor Sampson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good history of a remarkable person and the extraordinary times in which they lived.

Theoderic was born a Goth, a member of one of those semi-nomadic "barbarian" confederations which travelled through Europe around the fall of the western half of the Roman Empire. Theoderic died as the ruler of an empire which contained Italy, Spain, and large chunks of France. His Gothic subjects saw him as a powerful warrior king who cut down foes with his own blade, while his Roman subjects saw him as an enlightened ruler who restored hope and justice to a collapsing Italy.

He's one of my absolute favourite historical figures, both due to the wild path his life took him on, and due to his ability to be both Roman and Gothic, a dual king for dual peoples. He personally held together a truly strange Gothic-Roman fusion of an empire, in which the Goths were expected to be the great warriors and heroes of the kingdom, while the Romans were expected to be the educated administrative elite. Somehow it worked, and decades of (relative) stability were provided by his reign.

The book covers the remarkable events of his life, and also delves into the world in which he lives. From the workings of the state bureaucracy to the economic dilemmas of a peasant farmer, from the theological arguments of popes to the paganised-Christianity of the countryside, the book gives a fantastic glimpse into the life of late antique Italy.

The sources for a period such as this, with so much turmoil, are always a little scattered, but the book does an excellent job of discussing what we have and coming to convincing conclusions as to what we can draw from them. I always enjoy this sort of discussion, and the conclusions reached in this book feel solid.

Overall I'm very glad to have read this. It can become quite dry at times, but the dryer sections are well worth it for the overall picture which it paints.

[Mantas Tamulevičius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apie Teodoriką Didįjį žinojau daugmaž tik tiek, kad toks buvo ir kad valdė tuometinę Italiją po Vakarų Romos imperijos žlugimo. Tada atėjo 600+ psl. apimties audioknyga ir dabar apie Teodoriką žinau jau žymiai daugiau. Ir net ta mintis – „Vakarų Romos imperijos žlugimo“ – nebeatrodo visiškai logiška, nes juk labai daug dalykų Italijoje dar tęsėsi ir „žlugus“ imperijai – ir toliau veikė ir didelę įtaką turėjo Senatas, romėnai Italijoje gyveno kartu su gotais, lotynų kalba vyravo, dauguma tradicijų tebebuvo tęsiamos.

Ši knyga yra monumentinis istorinis tyrimas, tikrai neapsiribojantis paties Teodoriko asmenybe, bet veikiau apžvelgiantis visą istorinį laikmetį ir kontekstą, kuriame iškilo Teodorikas ir jo ostgotų karalystė ir kuris labai sparčiai baigėsi po šios neeilinės asmenybės mirties.

Ir vis tik su tuo monumentalumu iškyla problema. Vietomis autorius taip užbombarduoja vardais, faktais, veikėjais, įvykiais ir aplinkybėmis, kad sekti tekstą (juolab klausantis audioknygos) tampa nebeįmanoma, nes mintys vis nudreifuoja kažkur kitur ir tenka sąmoningai bandyti jas grąžinti prie knygos. Turbūt skaitant rašytinį tekstą įspūdis būtų kitoks.

Tačiau bet kuriuo atveju ši knyga yra puikus, nors ir iššūkių keliantis būdas plėsti istorinį akiratį.

[Zack Whitley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. It is scholarly but accessible and it is a book that goes into details but also keeps the big picture always in view. It's the story of Theorderic, yes, but also of the Goths and their world. It's a picture of the Roman Empire on its last legs but with certain key features - like tax collection and the senate - still intact. I love how Wiemer explains what we know, how we know it and also what we don't know. Theorderic emerges as probably a great warrior and a decent administrator, who more or less kept with the Roman system or what was left of it after he conquered Italy. But he lacked the imagination or vision to make a lasting impact on the places he conquered. He died and with it, the Ostrogoths crumbled within a generation. Wiemer even talks about the legacy of the Theoderic and his Goths. If you're interested in the late antique period, this will interest you.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up a copy of this after hearing the author on a podcast. On the one hand, it's ironically lengthy for a book that ultimately concludes its subject, Theoderic, left a fairly unremarkable legacy. In fairness to Theoderic, his story alone is a fascinating one, and Wiemer tells it well. (It is not the case, after all, that all interesting lives must leave lasting legacies.) In telling Theoderic's story, Wiemer provides a vivid picture of the complex civil, political and religious conflict that characterized late antiquity, which accounts for a great deal of the tome's length.Theoderic's successes and failures are laid bare for the reader to judge. It quickly becomes clear that he was far more than the man who killed Boethius and more human than any nationalist caricatures would have you believe.

[Michael G. Zink · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an impressive work of research that tells the story of an era of European history that deserves to be more widely known. The book is not a fast-paced adventure tale. It is a serious, in depth look at Western Europe as the western half of the Roman Empire was declining towards it “Fall”, and Theoderic and the Goths - among others - moved center stage. Fascinating story.

[Velouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, a modern biography of Theoderic

Detailed, thorough, and informative. There is so little in English about Italy in late antiquity, and this translation is a welcome addition to the little that is available to those who do not speak German.

[Frank Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A genius of a book exploring and detailing a period of history long overlooked but essential to understanding the process of Western Civilization.

[John von Daler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very detailed book - as much as the sources allow that kind of depth. Well-researched and well
thought-out.

[Adam Beaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful, but very dry

[Rey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Theoderic the Great: King of Goths, Ruler of Romans Kindle Edition
by Hans-Ulrich Wiemer, is a modern day masterpiece.

This book drills down on the life and times of Theoderic and the tremendous impact and influence he had in shaping the aftermath of the Western Roman Empire and surrounding territories

Hans-Ulrich Wiemer takes a deep dive into the divisions of (Goth-Roman) law, religion, land, trade and survival, while providing the history in an engaging format, in an award winning manner.

If you want to understand the period between when the western Roman Empire fell and the early transition to western style independent governments and the dominance and growth of the New Roman Empire, Byzantium in the East, this is an excellent choice

My understanding of the time period would be sorely remiss without reading Wiemer's narrative.

I began this recent Byzantium journey with a book by Anthony Kaldellis, The New Roman Empire a History of Byzantium (outstanding) before Theoderic the Great, which was a nice way to review and better understand the big picture.

After finishing Theoderic, I began Empires of Faith by Peter Sarris. It is deep and rich and covers the time periods leading up to Justinian and beyond, basically beginning where Hans-Ulrich Wiemer leaves off, It seems to fit well at the 60% point.

I hope to follow that with another written by Peter Sarris, Justinian: Emperor, Solider and Saint followed by one more from Anthony Kaldellis, Streams of Gold Rivers of Blood. At least that is the plan for now, the slow route through new Roman history.

Wiemer's book has outstanding notes, an annotated bibliography, maps a valuable appendix, and is put together in a structured fashion, in a manner that I did not expect, it begins in the end and loops back through the time period to tell a story.

You really can't go wrong reading Theoderic the Great, which I can highly recommend