By Tim Lambert

The Collapse of the Roman Empire

The barbarians were people from central and northern Europe. Unfortunately barbarians is a biased term. In the 5th century they invaded the declining Roman Empire and they gradually carved it up the between them. 'The barbarians' never intended to destroy the Roman Empire, they wanted to share in its wealth but it was declining anyway and soon broke down altogether.

In December 406 AD a group of Germanic tribes entered Gaul and settled there. The Romans were unable to stop them. Nevertheless at first the Germanic settlers accepted Roman rule. However as the Roman Empire broke down they gradually formed independent kingdoms.

Barbarians in France


Clovis also issued a body of laws called Salic law and in 507 AD he made the little town of Paris his capital. (Towns in Gaul shrank in the 5th century with the collapse of Roman rule but they did not disappear entirely).

Clovis also subdued parts of southern France. After his death in 511 at the age of 45 his descendants continued his work and by the mid-6th century the Franks ruled all of France.

Charles Martel halted the Islamic advance into Europe at the battle of Poitiers in 732. He also defeated the Bavarians and the Saxons. His son Charlemagne carried on his work and created a great European empire. He also forced pagan Germans to 'convert' to Christianity. Finally in 800 AD the Pope crowned Charlemagne Emperor. Thus Charlemagne claimed to be the successor of the old Roman Emperors.

Charlemagne was keen to keep the church's support so he founded many monasteries and he gave gifts of land to the church. Furthermore under Charlemagne there was a revival of art and learning.

Charlemagne died in 814. His successor Louis the Pious announced that after his death the empire would be split among his sons. Louis died in 840 and after some fighting his sons made the treaty of Verdun in 843. This divided the Frankish realm into three. The western part was ruled by Charles the Bald from 838 to 877. In time it evolved into France.

A history of France

Barbarians in Spain

By the beginning of the 5th century the Roman Empire was crumbling and barbarians invaded. In 409 AD Alans, Sueves and Vandals crossed the Pyrenees and occupied most of Spain.

However another Germanic people, the Visigoths became allies of the Romans. In 416-418 they invaded Spain. They defeated the Alans but then withdrew into France. The Vandals then absorbed the remaining Alans but in 429 they crossed to North Africa leaving Spain to the Sueves.

However the Visigoth king Theoderic II (453-466) led an army into Spain and in 456 he crushed the Sueves in battle. Most of Spain came under the rule of the Visigoths.

After 409 one small part of Northeast Spain was left under Roman control. However in 476 the Visigoths took it over.

Under the Visigoths the old Roman towns continued to decline and their populations fell. On the other hand in 587 King Reccared became a Catholic and in 654 King Recceswinth made a single code of law for his kingdom.

Nevertheless the Visigoth kings were never very strong. The Visigoth kingdom suffered from internal divisions and in the end it was easy prey for the Moors.

In the 7th century the Visigoths also persecuted Jews. (There were many Jews in Spain from the time of the Romans onward).

However at the beginning of the 8th century the Visigoth realm was destroyed by a Muslim invasion. In 711 an army of Berbers from North Africa, led by Arabs crossed to Spain and they utterly defeated the Visigoths at the Barbate River on 19 July 711.

A history of Spain

Barbarians in Italy

In the 5th century the Roman empire collapsed piecemeal. In 406-407 Germanic people invaded Gaul and in 407 the Roman army left Britain. Then in 410 Alaric the Goth captured Rome. Nevertheless the Roman empire survived for some time afterwards. However in 429-430 barbarians called the Vandals crossed from Spain to North Africa. That had serious consequences for the Romans because they imported much of their grain from there. Worse in 455 the Vandals sacked Rome. Finally in 476 the last Roman emperor was deposed and a German called Odoacer made himself king of Italy. That is usually regarded as the end of the Roman empire.


Odoacer was followed by Theodoric the Ostrogoth in 493. He ruled until 526 and under him Germans and Romans lived together peacefully.


Belisarius marched north through Italy and he captured Ravenna in 540. However under their leader Totila (541-552) the Goths recaptured most of Italy. Only Ravenna and some other coastal towns stayed in Byzantine hands. The Pendulum then swung the other way. Under their general Narses the Byzantines took all of Italy again by 562.


A history of Italy

Barbarians in England

Meanwhile the Saxons began raiding England in the 3rd century. However as the Roman Empire collapsed they turned to conquest.

By the 5th century the Romano-Celts had broke up into separate kingdoms but a single leader called the Superbus tyrannus had emerged. At that time and possibly earlier they were hiring Germanic peoples as mercenaries. According to tradition the Superbus tyrannus brought Jutes to protect his realm from Scots (from Northern Ireland) and Picts (from Scotland). He installed the Jutish leader, Hengist, as king of Kent. In return the Jutes were supposed to protect Britain.

However the Jutes and the Romano-Celts fell out. They fought a battle and the Jutes won a decisive victory. As a result the Celts were unable to dislodge the Jutes.

The Saxons landed in Sussex in 477. At any rate the Celts resisted them bitterly but after about 15 years the Saxons had conquered all of Sussex.

Meanwhile more Jutes landed in eastern Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Furthermore Saxons landed in western Hampshire. They founded the kingdom of Wessex.


Meanwhile in the early 6th century the West Saxons, of western Hampshire, annexed the Jutes of eastern Hampshire. About 530 they also took over the Isle of Wight. Then in 552 the West Saxons won a great victory somewhere near modern Salisbury and they captured Wiltshire. In 577 they captured Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester.

Meanwhile in the mid-6th century other Saxons invaded Essex. (The kingdom of the East Saxons). A people called the Angles landed in East Anglia. They gave England its name (Angle land).

By the late 6th century all of eastern England was in the hands of Angles and Saxons. In 656 the Saxons captured the west Midlands.



In the 7th Century England was divided into different kingdoms but Christianity gradually spread across them and by the end of the 7th century all of England was at least nominally Christian.

A history of England

The Vikings

Life in Anglo-Saxon England

A Timeline of the Barbarians