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CHAPTER 19
ITALY, A.D. 425–605
mark humphries
In 425, in the circus at Aquileia, the emperor Valentinian III watched the
ritual humiliation and execution of the defeated usurper John. This bloody
spectacle celebrated the restoration of Italy to its rightful place as the centre
of Roman imperial rule after two years of secessionist government. 1 Less
than two centuries later, in 605, the Constantinopolitan emperor Phocas
ratified a series of treaties with the Lombards which acknowledged, implicitly
if not explicitly, that large areas of Italy had been lost to imperial rule. 2
Between these events occurred the dismemberment of Roman Italy,
together with its increasing marginalization in the empire. At the outset of
this period, Italy was still the centre of the empire; by its end, however, it
had become a frontier province, fought over by Lombard potentates and
Byzantine military governors.
This chapter will trace this political fragmentation and show how it was
reflected in the transformation of local society throughout Italy. The political
disintegration has long been known. Certain stretches of Italian history
in the fifth and sixth century are narrated in detail by contemporary historians
and chroniclers, although overall the coverage is rather patchy, while
the epistolary, exegetical and hagiographical works of Gregory the Great
present a haunting vision of Italy after decades of debilitating wars. At an
institutional level, the letters of Cassiodorus give valuable insights into the
administration of Ostrogothic Italy, while inscriptions, though not so
numerous as for earlier periods, add further detail to the picture, announcing
the ambitions of rulers or recording the achievements of local aristocrats.
Such sources, of course, present their own interpretative problems,
as factors like ideology impinge on their credibility. 3 We must look elsewhere
for insights into the more mundane realities of life in Italy in the fifth
and sixth century. From Ravenna, a remarkable dossier of papyrus documents
illuminates the daily concerns of Italian landowners. 4 For the metamorphosis
of local society throughout the peninsula, however, much new
detail has been provided by the greatly increased scope and sophistication
1 McCormick, Eternal Victory 59–60. 2 Paul. Diac. Hist. Lang. iv.35.
3 See e.g. Rouche (1986) on Gregory’s letters; cf. Petersen (1984) on the Dialogus.
4 Tjäder (1954–82).
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