484 to 519 CE

Divisions within the church have consequence for Theodoric's relationship with the Emperor.

Against my better judgment, this episode is mostly about religion. So, remember when I was talking about Boethius and I mentioned the Acacian Schism, and I said it was just too obscure to get into? Well guess what?

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500 - 511 CE

Theodoric and Cassiodorus work to prevent war in Western Europe, while crafting an image of imperial majesty. In the end, it works out pretty well for the Ostrogoths.

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Sources

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We pause to take a look at two of the most famous subjects of Theodoric the Great.

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493 to about 505 CE

Theodoric's kingdom in Italy gets historians unreasonably excited. We'll explore how  he ran it, how he turned himself from warband chief to beloved king, and how he worked to restore the glory of old.

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488 to 493 

Theodoric leads his people to Italy, to make war on Odoacer and win for himself a permanent kingdom.

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Sources:

Heather, Peter J. The Restoration of Rome: Barbarian Popes and Imperial Pretenders. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014.

Martindale, J.R. The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. II. vol. 2, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1980. 3 vols. The Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/prosopography-later-roman-empire/PLRE-II/mode/1up.

Wolfram, Herwig. History of the Goths. Translated by Thomas Dunlap, University of California Press, 1990.

479 to 488

Rocky relations between Theodoric and Zeno lead to ups and downs for the Ostrogoths, along with many diversions and detours in their search for a stable home. Finally, an opportunity arises in Italy, and Theodoric moves boldly in the direction of one last gamble.

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c. 460 to 479 CE

We welcome to the stage Theodoric, soon to be Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. In the process we catch up on the overwritten soap opera that was politics in Constantinople in the 470s. It’s a wild ride.

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455 to 490 CE

Odoacer is a name that is little known and little celebrated. This episode illuminates the career of the soldier who closed the book on the Roman empire, who was he, and why don't we know him better? 

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References

Bury, John B. 1967. The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians. Edited by Fossey John C. Hearnshaw. New York: Norton.

Eugippius. 1965. Commemoratorium Severinus. Translated by Ludwig Bieler. Washington, DC: Catholic University Press.

Frassetto, Michael. 2003. Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.

Goldsworthy, Adrian K. 2009. How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Heather, Peter J. 2014. The Restoration of Rome: Barbarian Popes and Imperial Pretenders. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wolfram, Herwig. 1997. The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples. Translated by Thomas Dunlap and Thomas R. Dunlap. Berkeley: University of California Press.

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This the first episode of Season 2 takes a broad look at what the waging of war looked like in the dark ages, from weapons to tactics and funding. It's good to be back.

For the transcript of this episode, along with images and links, visit www.darkagespod.com.

Now you can support the podcast at ko-fi.com/darkagespod, the digital tip-jar. Help me keep the lights on around here with just a few bucks, if you can.

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Full text of "The Battle of Maldon"

A reading of "The Battle of Maldon"

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474 to 476 CE

In which we kill off the Western Roman Empire, and then dig through the remains to try and figure out what happened. More importantly, where do we go from here?

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