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502 18. the north-western provinces
Burgundians. 18 North of the Loire, independent Roman and Frankish
enclaves, notably those of Aegidius and Childeric, were established. 19 On
the Danube, Noricum Ripense also passed out of imperial control. This
fragmentation was, however, only momentary – at least in Gaul, where the
emergence of the Merovingians under Childeric’s son, Clovis, reunited
the north in a single kingdom. In the course of the first half of the sixth
century Aquitaine and, in time, Burgundy and the Rhône valley were
attached to this northern core. Squeezed out of most of their Gallic possessions,
the Visigoths turned their attention to Spain, and by the end of
the sixth century they had control of almost the whole of the peninsula,
having destroyed the Suevic kingdom in the process. In Spain and northern
Gaul the fifth and early sixth centuries were a time of dissolution and
reunification. In Britain the unification was to be a long while in the
future.
Although there is a case for seeing this period of dissolution and
reunification as something specifically ‘sub-Roman’, it is useful to begin
with what is often taken to be a late Roman problem: the bagaudae.
Bagaudae are attested in the third century, but above all in the fifth, coming
to the fore around the year 410 and lasting as a significant threat until the
440s. In the problems that they pose, and in their relations both with the
imperial government and with the barbarians, they introduce and shed
some light on the problems of the sub-Roman world.
According to the Chronicle of 452, in around the year 435 a man called
Tibatto led a Bagaudic rebellion, apparently in Aremorica – that is, north
of the Loire. This rebellion was put down two years later. Germanus of
Auxerre’s attempt to avert bloodshed at this stage of the proceedings is
recorded by his hagiographer, Constantius. 20 Nevertheless, again according
to the Chronicle of 452, another bagauda flared up some eleven years later.
Meanwhile in Spain Hydatius recorded that the dux utriusque militiae
Asturius killed a large number of bagaudae from Tarraconensis in 442. 21
Bagaudae are also mentioned in Spanish Aracelli in 443, 22 and Basilius is
said to have gathered a group of bagaudae, who then killed some federates
as well as bishop Leo in the church at Tyriasso. 23 It is possible to add to
these fragments evidence relating to Britain, since Zosimus records that the
rebellion of the British against the government of Constantine III, which
took place sometime after 407, was the model on which the Aremorican
rebellion was based. 24
18 Harries (1994) 222–38. 19 Harries (1994) 223–4.
20 Constantius, Vita Germani 28, 40, ed. R. Borius, SChrét. 112 (Paris 1965). On the implications of
this for the death of Germanus, see Wood (1984) 14–16. 21 Hydat. Chron.n.117.
22 Hydat. Chron.n.120. 23 Hydat. Chron.n.133.
24 Zos. vi.5.2–3, ed. F. Paschoud (Paris 1971–89).
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