The State and Its Loyal Constituencies in Late Antiquity

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Special Session

Organizer Name

Laurent J. Cases

Organizer Affiliation

Pennsylvania State Univ.

Presider Name

Laurent J. Cases

Paper Title 1

Saying No to Government: Disintegrating and Reinstating States

Presenter 1 Name

Michael Kulikowski

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Pennsylvania State Univ.

Paper Title 2

Regnum, Civitas, and Pagus: Rearranging Spatial Structures in Merovingian Gaul

Presenter 2 Name

Stefan Esders

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Univ. Berlin

Paper Title 3

Political Communities? A Comparison of the Roman and Merovingian Polities

Presenter 3 Name

Guy Halsall

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. of York

Start Date

14-5-2015 10:00 AM

Session Location

Sangren 1750

Description

The question of the Fall of Rome has undergone an important paradigm shift in recent times. The question of barbarian involvements needs to be rethought. Both Chris Wickham, in Framing the Early Middle Ages, and Jairus Banaji, in Agrarian Lands in Late Antiquity, underlie the social and economic currents in the time of the Fall of Rome, rather than the involvement of external pressures. The form of the state evolved; if anything, the newcomers were opportunistic profiteers of an increasingly unstable situation. More recent works have targeted the notion that the barbarian leaders that vied for power in the course of the fifth century, were, in fact, contestants in the political arena of the later Roman Empire. In other words, the fall of Rome was an inherently Roman affair.

These panels seek to consider the social world within which those barbarian generals functioned, and the broader dynamics that allowed for this world to emerge. First, to what extant were the barbarian kings the heirs of fourth-century political decisions? To what extent did Diocletian and Constantine’s systematic undermining of the curiales reshape the political landscape that bound city to empire? Second, how were the generals able refocus these broken ties to an increasingly local authority? What was the relationship of these new authorities with the Imperial State? Third, how and to what degree was imperial authority undermined at the local level?

These panels will consider issues that pertain to the vicissitudes of imperial authority vis-à-vis localities from the time of Tetrarchy to the end of the sixth century. In doing so, the papers presented at these panels will offer new insights into the social, economic and political conditions that underlie the time of the Fall of the Rome.

Laurent J. Cases

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May 14th, 10:00 AM

The State and Its Loyal Constituencies in Late Antiquity

Sangren 1750

The question of the Fall of Rome has undergone an important paradigm shift in recent times. The question of barbarian involvements needs to be rethought. Both Chris Wickham, in Framing the Early Middle Ages, and Jairus Banaji, in Agrarian Lands in Late Antiquity, underlie the social and economic currents in the time of the Fall of Rome, rather than the involvement of external pressures. The form of the state evolved; if anything, the newcomers were opportunistic profiteers of an increasingly unstable situation. More recent works have targeted the notion that the barbarian leaders that vied for power in the course of the fifth century, were, in fact, contestants in the political arena of the later Roman Empire. In other words, the fall of Rome was an inherently Roman affair.

These panels seek to consider the social world within which those barbarian generals functioned, and the broader dynamics that allowed for this world to emerge. First, to what extant were the barbarian kings the heirs of fourth-century political decisions? To what extent did Diocletian and Constantine’s systematic undermining of the curiales reshape the political landscape that bound city to empire? Second, how were the generals able refocus these broken ties to an increasingly local authority? What was the relationship of these new authorities with the Imperial State? Third, how and to what degree was imperial authority undermined at the local level?

These panels will consider issues that pertain to the vicissitudes of imperial authority vis-à-vis localities from the time of Tetrarchy to the end of the sixth century. In doing so, the papers presented at these panels will offer new insights into the social, economic and political conditions that underlie the time of the Fall of the Rome.

Laurent J. Cases