A.D. 381 heretics, pagans, and the dawn of the monotheistic state ( PDFDrive )

XIII
COLLAPSE IN THE CHRISTIAN WEST
ALTHOUGH the eastern empire was to suffer some devastating blows as the
Arab expansion of the seventh and eighth centuries deprived it of much of its
territory in Africa and the near east, it retained a stability at its core and even a
flexibility in its response to the crisis that enabled it to survive for a further
thousand years. The western empire, in contrast, suffered an almost complete
breakdown of order as invasions ravaged its terrorities and successor states
struggled to impose their own order. Much of what we would call civilisation -
urban life, access to goods through trade, literacy and basic comfort - was
diminished or even disappeared completely. The purpose of this chapter is to
show how the conditions for intellectual and cultural life were absent for several
centuries and only revived when trade breathed new life into the western
economy and provided the wealth and the need for effective administration that
could sustain a learned elite. 1 I believe that only against this background can the
legacy of Theodosius’ decree in the west be assessed.
Valentinian I had managed to preserve the northern frontiers of the western
empire intact until his death in 375. The onset of the disintegration of the
western empire could be dated from 383, when the usurper Maximus crossed
from Britain, where he had been commander of the legions, and came to rule all
Gaul, Spain and Britain, before his further expansion into Italy in 387 led to his
defeat by Theodosius. The ease with which the authority of Gratian was
overthrown in much of western Europe was an ominous sign, and even after
Maximus’ death Roman rule was never restored north of the Loire. The ancient
imperial capital of Trier was abandoned in favour of a new centre of command at
Arles to the south. Soon villa life, towns and Roman industries began to
collapse. In north-western Europe, urban living virtually disappeared after AD
400: a town like Lyons shrank from 160 hectares to a mere 20.
The events of the next seventy years show signs of increasing disintegration:
large numbers of Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine in 406, Rome itself was
sacked by the Gothic Alaric in 410, and the remaining legions, which were now