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the community of the realm 443
owning class, but some, at least, survived. By 600, however, they cease to
figure in the higher social and political echelons around Rome and
Ravenna, which were dominated by a new class of militarized landowners.
Whether this represents a transformation of the old élite, the rise of a
brand new one, or something in between, is unclear. The old senatorial élite
proclaimed itself by naming-practices which celebrated familial connections.
Around 600, however, a new practice, based on a limited canon of
saints’ names, came to predominate. It is hard to know, therefore, whether
the old class had survived by militarizing itself and adopting new naminghabits,
or whether an entirely new élite had replaced it. 20 Either way, Italy
essentially repeats the pattern already observed in Gaul and Spain, whereby
a militarized landowning élite, whatever its provenance, came to dominance
in the social landscape. For Britain, we have still less evidence.
Nevertheless, although processes of transformation are again difficult to
chart, it seems clear that any members of the Romano-British élite who had
managed to survive into the sixth century had undergone a similar transformation
into military landowners. 21
The rise of militarized landowning élites across western Europe obviated
the need for professional armies (although the élites of Byzantine Italy
remained much more professional than their counterparts in the Germanic
kingdoms). 22 This had important political effects upon the nature of the
successor states. For, although the main point of the Roman army had been
defence against outsiders, it could also be used to maintain internal order,
as the massacre in Thessalonica and the fears aroused by the riot of the
statues in Antioch, two fourth-century examples, demonstrate. 23 Once military
forces ceased to be independent of local élites, the political problems
inherent in fighting local dissidents became more acute. There was also the
problem that the élites of any dissident area would themselves be armed,
and hence more difficult to subdue. This is not to say that post-Roman
kings could not use their new-style military forces to counter internal
dissent. In the sixth century, for instance, the Frankish king Guntramn
overcame the pretender Gundovald, who had the support of certain elements
in the Frankish élite, and, in the seventh, the Visigothic king Wamba
defeated Paulus, whose power base lay north of the Pyrenees. 24 Indeed, all
kings probably still had some essentially professional household troops.
Nevertheless, the militarization of landed élites did swing the balance of
power away from the centre and towards localities.
20 Brown, Gentlemen and Officers esp. ch. 2 and 4.
21 A subject much explored in the works of Leslie Alcock; see esp. Alcock (1987) and (1989).
22 Brown, Gentlemen and Officers ch. 4, 6, 8.
23 Thessalonica: Soz. HE vii.25; cf. Larson (1970). Antioch: Heather (1994) 30–1. The fourth
century also saw the suppression of revolts in Britain: e.g. Amm. Marc. xxvii.8.6–10; xxviii.3.1–8.
24 Gundovald: PLRE iii.566–7; Paulus: Julian, Hist. Wamb. in MGH, SRM 5.
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