Rome Fades Away

Two Emperors

• Diocletian
• he rules from 284 - 303
• its cool to persecute Christians
• Rome need a big army (400,00 strong)
• Rome needs a big government (20,000 officials)
• Constantine
• Rules from 306 - 337
• its cool to BE a Christian
• conversion to Christianity via a cross in the sky (conquer by this!)
• 313- his Edict of Malian proclaims freedom of worship
• built a new capital in the East
• Byzantium, , soon to be known as Constantinople

 

Edict of Milan- a proclamation that gave religious toleration to Christians in the Roman Empire. The political agreement that took place in Milan between the Constantine I and Licinius in February 313 The proclamation, made for the East by Licinius in June 313, granted all persons freedom to worship whatever deity they pleased, assured Christians of legal rights (including the right to organize churches), and directed the prompt return to Christians of confiscated property.

 

The Struggle of the Peasant

•  Life in the 4th century
• country dwellers are getting bankrupted by endless tax collection
• new farming system: peasants work for elite landlords on large farms
• peasants can avoid paying taxes, but they are getting hit just as hard by the landlords
• paying off debts and being "allowed" to live on the land in exchange for endless back-breaking work (such a deal!)
• landowners hold local power as counts and bishops, wielding more real power than the faraway empire
• foreshadowing federalism

The Western Empire crumbles

• Rome's power is decreasing while nomadic barbarians gain power
• Western Empire is too poor, begins to be neglected
• Huns migrate from China to Eastern Europe
• Visigoths take over Spain, and actually capture and loot Rome itself in 410
• Vandals control Carthage and the western Mediterranean
• Other barbarian tribes;
• Ostrogoth in Italy
• Franks in Gaul
• Angles and Saxons in Brittan

End of an Era

• from the beginning
• 500 BC - the monarchy is established
• 450 BC - the twelve tables are established
• The Glory days
• 44 BC - end of the line for Julius Caesar
• 27 BC - 180 AD - the Roman Peace (Pax Romana)
• To the bitter end
• constant fifth century invasions by barbarian tribes left the western Roman Empire shattered and crumbling
• the last empire was a teenage boy installed in 475 by his father
• barbarians deposed Romulus Augustulus without bothering to kill him