Rome Fades Away

Today in western civilization, we started a new section and took some notes. Here is what I took:

• Two Emperors
• Diocletian:
• ruled from 284 - 303
• its okay to persecute Christians
• Constantine:
• ruled from 306 - 337
• it's acceptable to be a Christian
• converted into Christianity
• 313 - Edict of Milan
• built a new capital in the East
• Byzantium, soon called Constantinople
• Peasant struggle
• Life in the fourth century
• country dwellers are getting bankrupted by endless tax collection
• new farming system : peasants work for elite landlords on large farms
• peasants can avoid paying taxes, but they are getting hit just as hard by landlords
• paying off debts and being "allowed" to live on the land, in exchange for endless back-breaking work
• sort of like a loan
• landowners hold local power as counts and bishops, wielding more real power than the faraway empire
• foreshadowing feudalism
• Western Empire Crumbles
• Rome's power is decreasing, while barbarians gain more
• Western Empire is too poor and begins to be neglected
• Huns migrate from China to eastern Europe
• Visigoths take over Spain and capture and loot Rome itself in 410
• Vandals control Carthage and the western Mediterranean
• The other barbarian tribes:
• Ostrogoths in Italy
• Franks in Gaul
• Angles and Saxon in Britain
• INVASIONS
• Invasions of the Roman Empire : 100 - 800
• The End of An Era
• from the beginnings:
• 500 BC - the monarchy is abolished
• 450 BC - the Twelve Tables are established
• through the glory days:
• 44 BC - end of the line for Julius Caesar
• 27 BC - 180 AD - Pax Romana
• to the end:
• constant fifth invasions by barbarian tribes left the western Roman Empire shattered and crumbling
• the last emperor was a teenager in 475 who was installed by his father
• barbarians deposed Romulus Augustulus without bothering to kill him

After taking down notes, Mr. Schick gave us an assignment where we have to look farther in the barbarian tribes.

Who were the Huns?

• The Huns started the Great Migration
• They appeared in Europe in the 4th century
• The Huns were nomadic, war-people, and were from the Grass Lands of North Central Asia (above China)

Who were the Visgoths?

• They lived on the Delta of the Danube River

And that was all we got up to before the bell rang.