Professor Freedman considers the Merovingians as an example of barbarian kingship in the post-Roman world. In the absence of a strong government, Merovingian society was held together by kinship, private vengeance, and religion. Kings were judged by their ability to lead men in war.  Gregory of Tours believed that the violence characteristic of Frankish society was useful insofar as the kings wielded it to back up threats of supernatural retribution for bad actions.  Professor Freedman ends with a brief summary of the decline of the Merovingians.

Professor Freedman begins his discussion of Gregory of Tours’ history of the Merovingian kings.  This history differs markedly from the classical invective style used by Procopius. Gregory of Tours’ account seems more random by comparison and emphasizes the intervention of the supernatural in everyday life, particularly through the miracles of St. Martin of Tours.

Professor Freedman opens by discussing why historians use the writings of Procopius and Gregory of Tours, a sixth century bishop whose history of the Merovingian kings is discussed the following week. Procopius’s three works – The Wars, the adulatory Buildings, and the invective Secret History – are the best sources on the reign of the Emperor Justinian. Under Justinian and his wife Theodora, the Roman Empire reached its height as it reclaimed territories in North Africa and Europe previously lost to the Vandals, Visigoths and Ostrogoths..

Professor Freedman focuses on the question of how the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire survived, while the West collapsed in the fifth century. He begins with a brief overview of Procopius’ Secret History, a work which presents a highly critical account of the reign of the emperor Justinian.

In this lecture, Professor Freedman considers the various barbarian kingdoms that replaced the Western Roman Empire. Oringinally the Roman reaction to these invaders had been to accommodate them, often recruiting them for the Roman army and settling them on Roman land. Now, however, they were the rulers of the previously Roman lands of the West. These tribes included the Ostrogoths and Visigoths in Italy, the Franks in Gaul, and the Vandals in North Africa. As most sources about these groups come from the Roman perspective, it’s unclear how coherent each group was.

The Roman Empire in the West collapsed as a political entity in the fifth century although the Eastern part survived the crisis.. Professor Freedman considers this transformation through three main questions: Why did the West fall apart – because of the external pressure of invasions or the internal problems of institutional decline? Who were these invading barbarians? Finally, does this transformation mark a gradual shift or is it right to regard it as a cataclysmic end of civilization?

Professor Freedman begins the lecture by considering the ways historians read the Confessions.In this work, St. Augustine gives unique insight into the life of an intellectual mind in Late Antiquity, into the impact of Christianity on the Roman Empire, and into the problems of early Christianity. The three major doctrinal concerns of the early Church were the problem of evil, the soul-body distinction, and issues of sin and redemption.  In the Confessions, St.

The emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity brought  change to the Roman Empire as its population gradually abandoned the old religions in favor of Christianity. The reign of Julian the Apostate, a nephew of Constantine, saw the last serious attempt to restore civic polytheism as the official religion.  The Christian church of the fourth century was divided, however, by two serious heresies: Arianism and Donatism.  Religious dissent led to the intervention of the emperors at church councils and elsewhere. Professor Freedman then introduces St.

Professor Freedman examines how Christianity came to be the official religion of the Roman Empire. This process began seriously in 312, when the emperor Constantine converted after a divinely inspired victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. Constantine’s conversion would have seemed foolish as a political strategy since Christianity represented a completely different system of values from that of the Roman state, but not only did it prove to be a brilliant storke in aid of Constantine’s quest for power, it fundamentally changed the character of the Empire and that of the early Church.

Professor Freedman outlines the problems facing the Roman Empire in the third century.  The Persian Sassanid dynasty in the East and various Germanic tribes in the West threatened the Empire as never before.  Internally, the Empire struggled with the problem of succession, an economy wracked by inflation, and the decline of the local elite which had once held it together.  Having considered these issues, Professor Freedman then moves on to the reforms enacted under Diocletian to stabilize the Empire.