The 4th Century
Part TWO of my 12 Centuries in 12 Months Series
This month we begin circa 300 CE, aka the fourth century. The Roman Empire was slowly crumbling and its power was declining across the map. The players in the game of the Middle Ages were shifting and taking their new places on the game board.
SETTING THE SCENE
The Roman Empire was an authoritarian ruled military machine. It had to be in order to maintain control and peace in such a wide swath of territories. But it was stretched dangerously thin. Invaders were pushing at the borders. Persia was applying pressure from the East. There was a new religion rising in popularity, competing with the Roman gods. The internal politics and societal structures were shifting and changing shape. Whew, lots of change was happening.
KEY PLAYERS
There were four main players in the fourth century: the Roman Empire (divided into two teams, offense and defense), the Christian religion, the Persian empire, and the barbarians.
The Roman offense was a one-man show, Emperor Constantine, who dominated the field in the first half of the century. I view him as the offense, because he was making grand changes that would forever alter the identity and course of the empire. The defensive team would be the emperors and co-emperors of the second half of the century. They were on the defense simply because they were just reacting to all the fires needing to be put out, rather than proactively working with a vision in mind. So maybe a better word for them would be reactive rather than defensive? They were the reactive team.
The Christian religion had a pivotal role as well. Its influence on the Roman Empire, the conflicts between warring players, and the identities (both culturally and individually) cannot be disregarded. It had a tremendous affect on shaping the Middle Ages. The fourth century saw the burgeoning of this player taking its soon to be dominant position on the board.
Persia was a large empire pushing from the east, forcing the Roman Empire to pull troops from the west to combat it. There was a back and forth for the control of the little country Armenia, which was fortuitously sandwiched between the two behemoth empires. I mention Persia because they contributed to the Roman Empire turning its focus from the west to the east and to the draining of funds and troops. The feuding between the two empires also set the stage for the Islamic conquests, which will come about in a couple centuries. So hold this in your mind for later down the road.
Last, but not least, the Barbarians. Dun, dun, duuuun! First off, by barbarians, I mean refugees as defined as, “people who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and have crossed a border to find safety in another country,” by the UNHCR. This is a modern definition, but can loosely define the barbarians of the fourth century as well. Because that’s essentially what they were doing; they were fleeing their homelands in desperate need of new ones. They were not seeking to conquer and colonize through invasion (it’s ironic to me the Roman Empire, who’s MO was to conquer and occupy, would label these people as barbarians, claiming they were “invading” them). Their intent was not so malicious. Many of the historical resources we have on the barbarian invasions were written by Romans, which had a very biased perspective. They viewed this large influx of people pouring into their frontier borders as illiterate and uncivilized heathens (you know, the same derogatory labels some people still give to immigrants or refugees today, casting them as the ‘other’, not embracing and assisting them to successfully assimilate into their new homes). It’s sad really. But I digress. Essentially, the barbarians were large groups of displaced peoples who were on the move, coming from the east and northeast regions of Europe, moving into the territories occupied by the Roman Empire.
NOTABLES
There were three main notable events of the fourth century. First, the slow decline of the Roman Empire and its shift to the east. Second, the rise and spread of Christianity. Third, the mass movements of people across the board.
As I mentioned above, there were two teams in the Roman Empire. In the first half of the century the team was on the offense. Constantine became emperor in 312 CE. Within his first year, in his Edict of Milan, he declared Christianity legal, protecting it from persecution. Susan Wise Bauer claims he saw Christianity as a way to unify the empire which was so diverse and fractured by the duel identities people wrestled with as they claimed to be both Roman and other (Bauer, p. 7). Then in 325 CE, Constantine held the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church, the Council of Nicene. The council attempted to snuff out Arianism (a sect of Christianity who denied the divinity of Christ) and established an official statement of belief, the Nicene Creed, which is still used today for most mainline Christian denominations. This set the stage for Christianity to rise and slowly take its place as the dominant religion by the end of the century.
In 330 CE, Constantine also moved the empire’s capital from Rome to Byzantium (later called Constantinople in his honor and today is known as Istanbul). This shifted the central hub and focus from the waning west to the more prosperous east. In theory, Constantine had one empire, ruled by one emperor (himself), united through one church. He got things done!
The second half of the century saw some dramatic turns. Constantine died in 337 CE and thus began the desperate power grab for the emperor seat, which further destabilized everything. His three sons duked it out, dividing the kingdom into thirds. Within fifteen years only one son remained standing, Constantius. He lasted less than a decade and was replaced by his cousin. He lasted only a few years and was replaced by a soldier, who was quickly killed and replaced by another soldier. This went on until 395 CE, when the last sole emperor, Theodosius, died and the empire was split in two between his sons. The empire would never again be unified under one ruler. Whomp. Whomp.
As the chaos of the emperor seat continued, the power and popularity of the Christian religion grew exponentially. Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313 CE and the Council of Niceae in 325 CE provided protection for the Christian faith. This allowed the new religion to grow and spread. Then Theodosius declared Nicene Christianity as the one true religion in 380 CE, solidifying the birth of the Catholic Church. Then he declared it as the official religion of the Roman Empire in 393 CE, officially blending religion and politics for the first time. “This meant that bishops and archbishops became important dignitaries who wielded great influence in the affairs of state.” (E.H. Gombrich, p.103). This further aided and solidified Christianity as a powerful force in the Middle Ages. While there were great divisions within the religion already, forcing people to take sides, and stirring anger and violence amongst them, it still managed to become the dominant religion by the end of the century.
Another force that spread into the declining empire was the barbarian hordes. As I mentioned above, they were actually refugees fleeing their homelands which were no longer safe and sustainable places. Climate changes that led to major droughts and failed harvests uprooted them.
They were also fleeing from the Huns, a violent nomadic group of people who swooped in on horseback, terrorizing and displacing tons of people as they plundered and killed abundantly. I wonder if the Huns have been eternally cast as bad guys, but have their own human story to tell? I believe they too were fleeing from a major drought. However, I don’t know enough about them to cast them in a more accurate and less villainous light. Anyways, they displaced groups such as the Alans, Goths, Vandals, Suevi, and Burgundians. Other germanic groups flooded in from the North.
All these people came to the frontiers of the Empire and pleaded to come in. They didn’t want to conquer and dismantle the empire, but rather become a part of it. This was allowed with certain groups, such as the Goths. They were invited to settle in certain areas in exchange for their men to serve in the Roman Army, where they would, ironically, go and fight other barbarian groups somewhere else in the empire. All these new people came with baggage. They had different languages, cultures, traditions, religions (even though they were slowly converting to Christianity). The empire struggled to assimilate them in a successful way. They were treated poorly, not seen as “Roman” enough, but rather as lower class citizens. This eventually led to rebellions, uprisings, and more movement of peoples…which we’ll see more of in the next century.
AS FAR AS I CAN TELL…
Ok, so we’re at the end of the fourth century. We’ve got a waning empire split in two, the western and eastern halves. Both have distinct identities from each other which would greatly affect the landscape of the Middle Ages.
The western half spoke Latin, had been ruled with heavy military presence and administrative bureaucracy. It had little commerce and few exports. They were seeing a decline in population, a rise in poverty, inflation, higher taxes, and labor shortages. The wealthy elite were moving out of the urban centers to their countryside estates which they ran with enslaved labor. Life became more insular and local. As the Roman Empire slowly withdrew and turned their gaze eastward, the new Christian religion remained in Western Europe and became the spiritual and political authority for the realm. It was the new constant and steady presence and power.
The Eastern Roman Empire spoke Greek, had a larger population mainly living in large urban centers with more commercial activity, resources, and labor. They had a class of free, landowning peasants; it wasn’t only the wealthy elite benefiting from society anymore. It was strategically placed between Europe and Asia and could draw laborers, soldiers, and revenues from Asia Minor to supply their needs. The emperor now resided in the east, in Constantinople (formerly Byzantium), and took on an almost god-like quality and reverence from the citizens. It wasn’t all rainbows and cupcakes though. They were strategically placed, but also had precarious borders that were being hit by the Persians and barbarians. These invasions and the constant fighting for territory kept the Eastern Roman Empire busy.
The Roman Empire didn’t collapse abruptly, but rather, slowly withdrew from the less profitable west to its new flourishing eastern hub, centered around its new capitol of Constantinople. The western half wasn’t completely obsolete just yet, but was definitely on its way out.
As far as I can tell, the Roman Empire had morphed, or was morphing, into the Byzantine Empire. We are blessed with hindsight and can see this shift. However, the people of the day just saw a shift of focus from one region to another. I don’t think they perceived a dying of one empire and the birth of a new. They were still the Roman Empire, just with a newly relocated capital.
Western Europe was now like a person having just broken up with a domineering partner. It was trying to figure out what to do next. Who they were. Who was in charge.
Simultaneously, a new force was blowing in called Christianity. It was piquing the interests of some, not all, but definitely exercising its authoritative voice in regards to all souls, not just those interested. It was strategically placing itself as the new constant player to look to for authority and power. And there was an influx of many new players on the board, all wanting a piece of territory to call their own, and establish in their own way. Times, they were a changin’!
What did I miss? Who would you pick as MVP this century? I’d love to know your thoughts!
MAIN SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Bauer, Susan Wise. The History of the Medieval World
Beard, Mary. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
Gombrich, E. H. A Little History of the World
Hollister, C. Warren. Medieval Europe: A Short History
Holmes, George. The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe
Jones, Dan. Powers & Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages
Wickham, Chris. The Inheritance of Rome
Another info packed essay. I can’t challenge your grasp of history as others have done, but you’ve painted a clear picture of both divisive and unifying forces. I think the MVP is the Christian religion, growing exponentially as it did and becoming major player in the power game. Thanks.
You seem to be on the side of, eg, the "barbarian" Huns, rather than the despotic Romans. But if you flip the angle, it seems you could argue that mass foreign immigration into the imperial core may be a factor in destroying an empire. Thus that immigration is a net cultural and economic negative for the majority of people living there, regardless of the political system?