At the Battle of Adrianople. Soon they settled in the north of the Balkan Peninsula, and then began to move towards Italy. In 410, they captured and plundered Rome, and in 418 they created their own state in the Marseille region, right on the territory of the Roman Empire. Later, the Visigoths extended their power to most of Spain.

Visigothic kingdom became the first barbarian state, but soon other Germanic tribes began to create their own states on the territory of the Western Roman Empire.

In 439 arose Alano-Vandal Kingdom in North Africa, in 457, the Burgundians created their kingdom in the region of Lyon, and in the territory of the British Isles in the 40s. 5th century several Germanic kingdoms arose at once: Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia were the kingdoms of the Angles, Wessex, Essex and Sussex were the kingdoms of the Saxons, and Kent was the kingdom of the Jutes. In fact, the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist. Officially, the end of its existence was put in 476, when, after the overthrow of the emperor Romulus Augustulus, the military leader Odoacer did not take the imperial title, and in the rank of consul began to rule only Italy, which he could still control. However, the power of Odoacer over Italy was short-lived. material from the site

In 493, the Ostrogoths, under the leadership of Theodoric, invaded the Apennine Peninsula and created the kingdom of the East Goths. A little earlier, in 486, the tribal union of the Franks under the leadership of Clovis defeated the troops of the Roman governor Siagrius and created his own state in Northern Gaul - kingdom of the Franks.

A distinctive feature of the barbarian kingdoms was the synthesis of Roman and Germanic traditions. This process was inevitable, since the Germans in the territories subject to them were an insignificant minority. For example, in Gaul after its conquest by the Franks, no more than 150 thousand Germans and about 3-5 million Gallo-Romans lived.

Pictures (photos, drawings)

On this page, material on the topics:

THE GREAT MIGRATION OF PEOPLES.

FORMATION OF THE BARBARIAN STATES .
P L A N

Introduction

2. German stage

3. Hun stage

4. Formation of barbarian kingdoms.

5. Slavic stage of the great migrations.

Conclusion

Appendix (maps, schemes, tables, chronology of stages)

Literature

Introduction

Relevance of the topic lies in the fact that periods of great migrations in the history of civilization occur quite often and have a tremendous impact on the very state of culture, the development of statehood, the mentality of new communities and nations formed under the influence of migrations. In our time, we are experiencing the same period in terms of migration volume and we observe the problems associated with it in almost all developed countries of the world, incl. in Russia. Great Migration of Peoples 2-7 centuries. put an end to the era of the ancient world and the beginning of medieval civilization. Seven centuries of resettlement determined the trends in the further development of Europe, gave a powerful impetus to the birth of new peoples, new states, new languages, a new socio-psychological and spiritual atmosphere, morality and morality.
These processes are reflected in almost all historical sources of the first millennium of our era that have come down to us. The most interesting are the works, references to which are presented in this abstract:

SOURCES (description of the history of the barbarian tribes):

Roman - Gaius Julius Caesar, Notes on the Gallic War, 1st c. BC.

Cornelius Tacitus, "History", "Annals", "Germany", 1st century AD.

Pliny, "Natural History", 1-2 centuries. AD

Josephus Flavius 1st - 2nd centuries AD (about early Christianity)

Salvian, 5 in. "On the Flight of the Romans to the Barbarians". Preacher and writer.

Severin Boethius, 5-6 centuries. Roman state. activist, adviser to the Gothic king

Theodoric the Great, great philosopher.

Ambrose of Milan, 4th century, history of the Huns.

Cassiodorus, 6c. "History Ready"

Germanic - Jordan, 6th century AD "On the Origin and History of the Goths". Ostrogothic

historian. Historian of the Huns.

Byzantine - Procopius of Caesarea, historian of the 6th century, "History of the wars of Justinian",

"Secret History".

- Frankish Bishop Gregory of Tours, 6th century, "History of the Franks".

Pavel Deacon, historian of the 8th century, "History of the Lombards".

Research methods: comparative analysis, causal relationships - the determination of events, ethnological relationships, graphical analysis and the method of information technology - presentation of the topic in the Power Point program.

1. The Great Migration of Nations and its ethnic space

With the barbarians, every Greek has been and will be in eternal war, for it is not something changeable and temporary, but an immutable law of nature that makes them harbor mutual enmity.

Titus Livy
The barbarism stirred up by a sudden turmoil poured out the whole North on you, Gaul. Behind the warlike round, accompanied by a gelon, is a ferocious gepid. Skyra prompts the burgundy. The Hun, the Belonoth, the Neur, the Bastarn, the Thuringian, the Bructer, and the Frank, who was washed by the Niker overgrown with reeds, invaded with their waves. Soon the Hercynian forest fell, cut down with an ax into canoes, and covered with Ren ships. And already the terrifying hordes of Attila have spread over your fields belg.

Sidonius Apollinaris

By the beginning of the Migration, the western and southern parts of the European continent were occupied by ancient civilization that existed within the state framework of the Roman Empire. In Central and Eastern Europe, Germanic, Slavic, Baltic, Finno-Ugric, Iranian, and other tribes lived in the pre-state system. On the European continent, the Great Migration was marked by the movement of the Germans. Almost simultaneously with them, numerous nomadic tribes and tribal associations poured from Asia to Europe, causing significant movements among the local peoples. Many peoples, in search of new habitats and easy money, left their homes and "set off on those great and fabulous wanderings that laid the foundation for the formation of peoples in ancient and new Europe." The Roman Empire, torn apart by internal contradictions, became the object of aspirations of the barbarian tribes. At first it was the Germans, who were replaced by the Huns, and later the Avars and Slavs. During the Great Migration of Nations, the death of ancient civilization and the fall of the Roman Empire occurred. In its western part, "barbarian kingdoms" were formed, created by the Germans. In the east, the Byzantine Empire was formed, resigned to the loss of a significant part of its territory south of the Danube, occupied by the Slavs (and partly by the Turkic-speaking Bulgarians). The Germans and Slavs during the Migration settled in a vast territory from Britain, Gaul and Spain to the Gulf of Finland, the Upper Volga and the Don. A new medieval civilization was formed. As a result of the mixing of the Latinized population of the former Roman provinces with the barbarians, the Romanesque peoples were formed. All this had a significant impact on the ethnic map of Europe: many peoples disappeared from the face of the earth. The political and ethnic map of Europe, which took shape after the Great Migration of Peoples, basically continues to exist to this day, because the history of Europe has no longer known ethno-political metamorphoses like the Great Migration of Peoples. A systematic study of the Great Migration of Peoples allows us to define it as a special period of historical development, when in a significant historical space (no longer Antiquity, but not yet the Middle Ages), limited by specific chronological frames (II-VII centuries) and a certain territory (Europe, Asia, Africa ), the interaction of barbarism and civilization reached its most intense phase. The result of this interaction, as a consequence of the mutual penetration and mutual destruction of the Roman and barbarian worlds, was the emergence of a new type of civilization.

Great Migration as a temporary "gap" between Antiquity and the Middle Ages is divided into three stages. First (II-IV centuries) - "Germanic", covers the time from the Marcomannic Wars to the Battle of Adrianople. Second (IV-V centuries) - "Hunnic", between the Battle of Adrianople and the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields. The third stage (VI-VII centuries) - "Slavic", is associated with the movement of Slavic tribes in Eastern, South-Eastern and Central Europe. The stages of the Migration differ in the nature of the ethnic composition of the Migration participants, the position of the migrating tribes, the main accents of confrontation and interaction, the direction of migrations and their results.
“The Great Migration of Peoples, as a systemic process of interaction between the Barbaricum and ancient civilization, formed a unique ethnic space. Ethnic space refers to the totality of tribes and peoples associated with a specific historical phenomenon and its image in history. The ethnic space created by the Great Migration was multi-layered. It is represented by Germanic, Alano-Sarmatian, Turkic, Slavic, Italic, Celtic, Reto-Etruscan, Iberian, Scythian, Sindo-Meotian, Thracian, Macedonian, Illyrian, Finno-Ugric, Caucasian, Median, Baltic, Greek, Asia Minor, Armenian, Semitic-Hamitic and African tribes. Among them, one can distinguish aboriginal and alien tribes, inert and dynamic, tribes and peoples that inhabited the lands of the Roman Empire, its provinces, and the tribes of the space outside Rome - Babraricum, as ancient authors call it - Barbaricum solum - this is primarily a space for the movement of barbarians , moreover, continuous movements, i.e. migration of barbarian tribes" 1
2. German stage of the Great Migration

Europe north of the Alps was occupied by three large groups of populous tribes: Celts, Germans and Slavs. The Romans were the first to get acquainted with the Celts, with the tribes of the Gauls, who once even captured all of Rome, except for the Capitol. To the west of Gaul - on the other side of the Rhine - several centuries before the beginning of our era, numerous tribes of Germans who came from the north settled. Their ancient homeland is the northern and southern coasts of the Baltic Sea, the Baltic islands, two peninsulas - Scandinavian and Jutland. Their resettlement is associated with climate change in Europe. By the beginning of our era, the Germans already occupied the entire space between the rivers Rhine, Oder and Danube. Further than all the tribes of the Goths left. From the Baltic shores they reached the Azov and Black Sea steppes. There they subjugated the local population - the distant descendants of the people, who in ancient times were called Scythians. The tribes that are now considered the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs also submitted to the Goths. The Germans were very fond of hunting in their dense and game-rich forests. But they also knew agriculture well - they grew barley, millet, wheat, and flax. The greatest wealth of the Germans, however, was considered cattle - especially bulls, cows and, of course, horses. The Germans were not nomads - they lived in farms and small villages, built themselves wooden "long houses". “Long” because if livestock is wealth, then living quarters and stalls for animals must be combined in one house.

"Long house" of the ancient Germans. Reconstruction

One large family lived in each "long house". Several related families made up a genus. Several clans - a tribe Tribes sometimes united among themselves in large alliances, especially when it came to war with a common enemy. All adult men - members of the tribe - were equal among themselves. Each of them is a free person. The Germans have very few slaves, and their position is much easier than that of the Romans; the same applies to the semi-free. There were no rich and poor among the Germans. The tribe gave everyone enough land, but no one could sell it or give it to anyone. Important issues were decided by the tribe at a general meeting, a ting, to which all members of the tribe came with weapons, listened to the elders and leaders, approved or rejected what they proposed. Criminals were judged at the Things, elders were elected. .

Throughout the epoch from the 4th to the 7th centuries. called the time of the Great Migration of Nations. Indeed, then dozens of tribes left the lands where they had lived for hundreds of years and set off to conquer new lands. The map of all Europe has changed beyond recognition. Waves of invasions wiped out the Western Roman Empire from it, in the place of which the kingdoms of the Germans arose. Great Rome collapsed and under its ruins - the whole ancient world. Europe entered the Middle Ages.

Map of Europe and the ways of migration of peoples

Beginning of the Great Migration of the Germanic Tribes

Jordan tells about the advance of the Goths to the south from the territory of southern Scandinavia in the 2nd century BC. BC e. Having crossed the Vistula, they reached the area that Jordan calls Oyum. The similarity in the description of geographical features makes it possible to localize this land in a part of the Belarusian Polissya. The Ostrogoths, dissociating themselves from the main part of the Goths, having settled in the 3rd c. n. e. in the Black Sea steppes, between the Dnieper and the Don, partly in the Crimea, they create in the 4th century. n. e. a powerful tribal union, headed by Germanarich, which lasted until 376, the time of the Hun raids that destroyed it.
In the III century. Germanic tribes continually broke through the fortified border of the Roman Empire. With incredible efforts, the Roman troops managed to drive the barbarians back. And although part of the border lands had to be abandoned, the empire held on. The real catastrophe began with the appearance in Europe of the nomadic tribes of the Huns. For unknown reasons, they left the Asian steppes near the borders of distant China and moved on a thousand-kilometer path to the West. In 375, the Huns attacked the German tribes of the Goths, who by that time lived in the northern Black Sea region outside the Roman Empire. The Goths were excellent warriors, but the hordes of the Huns soon broke their resistance. One part of the Goths - the Ostrogoths - submitted to the Huns. The other - the Visigoths - with all their people retreated to the Roman borders, hoping, at least at the price of subjugation to Rome, to be saved from an unheard-of enemy that appeared from the endless expanses of Asia.

The Romans let the Goths pass, but they gave little land near the border for the settlement of the tribe, besides, it was nasty - there was not enough food for everyone. Roman officials supplied food poorly, mocked the Goths, interfered in their affairs. The patience of the Visigoths soon came to an end. Exhausted by the sufferings of the last year, they rebelled as one against the empire and with the determination of despair went to Constantinople - the eastern capital of the empire. AT 378 near the city of Adrianople the Visigoth tribes were met by the best Roman army, led by the emperor Valens himself. The Goths rushed into battle with the readiness of everyone to die in battle or win - they had nowhere to retreat. After a few hours of a terrible battle, the beautiful Roman army ceased to exist, and the emperor died.

From the Battle of Adrianople, the empire was never able to recover. There were no real Roman armies anymore. In the coming battles, the empire was defended by mercenaries, most often the same Germans.

Visigoths in 408, led by the leader Alaric, approached the very walls of Rome. It was beyond the power of Alaric to take the powerful fortifications of Rome - and he began a long siege of the city. When the Romans, exhausted by the siege, decided to find out under what conditions they could surrender, Alaric demanded that all gold, all valuables and all barbarian slaves be given to him. “What then will be left for the Romans?” the townspeople asked indignantly. "Life," Alaric replied coldly.

At that time, the Visigoths and the Romans managed to agree, and Alaric lifted the siege. True, in order to satisfy the barbarians, the Romans had to melt down many silver and gold statues, including the sculpture depicting Valor. Indeed, Roman prowess was already in the past.

This became finally clear only two years later, when Alaric again laid siege to Rome. Now the Romans failed to repulse the Visigoths, nor to buy them off...

Procopius of Caesarea (VI century) wrote about the capture of Rome by the Goths in 410: “ From his warriors he chose three hundred men, still beardless young men, who stood out for their nobility and courage, exceeding their age, and secretly told them that he intended to give them to some noble Romans. He ordered them to behave with the Romans very modestly and virtuously and diligently to do everything that their masters commanded them, and after some time, at a predetermined time, at noon, when their masters, as usual, plunged into an afternoon sleep, they all must they will rush to those city gates that are called Salariy (that is, Salt), and, suddenly attacking the guard, destroy it and quickly dissolve the gate ... The barbarians burned the buildings that were near the gate, including the palace of Sallust, an ancient Roman historian . Most of this palace, half-burnt, still existed in my time.

The barbarians robbed the whole city, killed most of the population and set off farther". Then the Visigoths moved to Spain, where they created their own kingdom.

The Great Migration of Peoples is a chain of ethnic movements closely linked. The Great Migration of Nations is the largest migration movement. At the beginning, there is a movement of Celtic, Germanic, Sarmatian and other tribes to the Carpathian and Black Sea region. In the IV century. this movement includes numerous nomadic tribes of the Volga and Caspian steppes, primarily the Huns (a tribe formed in the II-IV centuries in the Urals from the Xiongnu, local Ugrians and Sarmatians. The mass migration of the Huns to the west began at the second stage of the The Huns led an alliance of tribes, which included Germanic and Sarmatian tribes. The heyday of the union of the Huns falls on the time of Attila's activity. 451 - the battle at the Catalaunian fields stopped their massive advance to the West. After the death of Attila (453), the union broke up). All this ethnically diverse mass rushed to the region of the Western Mediterranean, where during the 5th century. was the formation of "barbarian kingdoms". Some tribes rushed north and occupied Britain, where their kingdoms were formed. In the 7th century Slavs appeared on the territory of the Balkan Peninsula, occupying vast spaces. Avars penetrate into Central Europe. The impulse came from Northern Europe and Central Asia, capturing all of Europe. The epicenter of the intensity of ethnic movements was constantly changing. These were areas of Central, Eastern, Western, Southwestern Europe. The movement most often focused on the European river basins - the Elbe, the Rhine, the Oder, the Vistula, the Danube.

The ethnic map of Western Europe in the era of the migration of peoples was multi-layered. Conditionally V.P. Budanov distinguishes the tribes of aborigines and newcomers. Aboriginal include Italian, Ligurian, Reto-Etruscan, Iberian, Celtic. The lands inhabited by them made up a significant part of the Roman Empire. It should be noted that these tribes were not active participants in the Great Migration of Nations, as, for ex., Germans, Alans, Huns. They only experienced and withstood its waves. Thracian, Greek, Illyrian tribes can also be attributed to aboriginal tribes. On the eve of the v.p.n. the Illyrians lived in the southeast of Europe, the Celts in the west, the Germans in the north, the Thracians and Greeks in the Balkans and the Danube, the Proto-Slavs in Central and Eastern Europe. The direction of movement of the vast majority of tribes was determined not only by the presence of a center of civilization in the area, but also by the presence of water resources.

Causes of c.p.n.- there were - 1. hunger and lack of land with extensive farming (during the VPN, the migrating tribes converted to Christianity of the Arian or Catholic type); 2. pressure of nomads coming from the East; 3. dramatic climate change, i.e. from the 3rd century cooling begins and by the 5th century. it reaches maxi, which leads to soil changes, the limited resources of the forest, partly forest-steppe zone, led to the fact that the Mediterranean turned out to be preferable than other areas; 4. weakening of the Roman Empire.

In the IV-V centuries. Germans and Turks play a major role in the resettlement, in the VI-VII centuries. - Slavs, Finno-Ugric peoples. As a result, the c.p.s. The Roman Empire fell, and barbarian kingdoms formed on its territory.

Suevian state. (409-585). Svevi - from the collective name of the Germanic tribes that lived by the beginning of our era. in the northeast of Germany, in the basin of the Elbe, Mainz, Neckar, Upper Rhine. In the 1st century were defeated by Caesar. In the 5th century part of the Suebi moved to the Iberian Peninsula. Together with the Vandals and the non-Germanic tribe of the Alans across the Rhine in 406. a part of the Suebi tribe also crossed. In 409 they invaded Spain. In 414, they entered into an agreement with the Roman government, according to which they received the right to settle in the Iberian Peninsula as federates. The Spanish author Idacius wrote that in the end, after the devastation, both Hasding and Suebi vandals occupied Galicia, and the Suebi received the western part of this territory, the Alans - Lusitania and Cartagena, and the vandals (silings) - Baetica, other territories of the Iberian Peninsula remained with the Spanish Romans. It is believed that among the newcomers, the Alans played the main role in this period of time, but there are no Sueves. The Suebi numbered 30-35 thousand people. Gradually, the Suevi, conducting hostilities, expanded their territory. Around 550, under King Hararih, the conversion of the Suebi to orthodox Catholicism begins. The king was at the head of the Suebi. Power was inherited. But the genealogy of the later kings of the Suebi is unknown, they call the kings of Hareric, Ariamir, Theodemir, Mir, but it is not known how the king was proclaimed. The royal election is only attested once. In the early period, the residence of the kings were the cities of Braga, Porto, Merida. Most often visited Braga. In the 6th century, Braga was considered the most important residence. It is not known whether the Suebi had nobility, a popular assembly. More is known about Christianization. King Rehila died a pagan in 448, and Rehiar is an orthodox Christian. The conversion of the Suebi to Christianity was completed by a native of Pannonia, Martin of Braga. He also founded monasteries - Dumio, and between 561g. and 572g. was Metropolitan of Braga. Gradually, the Suebi merged with the Roman population. The Visigothic king Leovigild conquered the Suebi in 585.

Vandal state (406-534 (409-429 - Spain). The Vandals are a group of Germanic tribes. At first they lived on the coast of the Baltic, then along the middle reaches of the Oder. From the 2nd century moved south in the 5th century. - on the Iberian Peninsula, driven out by the Visigoths in 429-439. to North Africa, where they created a kingdom. Rome was sacked in 455. In 534 they were conquered by Byzantium. From 409 to 429 the Vandals lived in the southwestern part of Spain. (Vandalusia). 80,000 vandals moved to the territory of the Iberian Peninsula. The Vandal king Gaiseric (428-477) undertook a campaign in North Africa, where the usurper Boniface ruled. The Vandals were federates of Rome. At the beginning of the VI century. the Vandal kings maintained friendly relations with the Ostrogoths, King Trasimund married the sister of Theodoric. From 533 the wars of the Vandals with the Byzantines began, whose commander Belisarius, having defeated the Vandals (King Gelizimir) in 534, conquered their possessions in North Africa.

Burgundian kingdom (406-534). Burgundians - a Germanic tribe, moved from Scandinavia to the territory between the Vistula and the Oder. Moved in a southwesterly direction. K ser. 5th century settled on the river Rhone. Existed until 534, conquered by the Franks. The territory occupied by the Burgundians is the valley of the river. Rhone to Lake Constance. In the beginning, the center of the state was Worms. In 480 Worms was captured by the Alemenni. Since that time, Lyon has become the center. From 443-457 Burgundians occupied the river basin. Rhone, Provence. After the death of King Gundioch in 470, the kingdom was divided among his sons. Gundobad is an Arian and sought support from the Visigoths, Godigizel made an alliance with Clovis (Catholic). This union threatened and led to the collapse of the kingdom, Clovis captured Provence. In the Rhone basin, the Burgundians found themselves in a heavily Romanized province. The Burgundians, having appeared on the territory of the Roman province, carried out a redistribution of property - first, ½ was taken from the Roman nobility, then 2/3 of arable land, ½ of all other lands and 1/3 of slaves. At first, the Burgundians settled separately from the Gallo-Roman population, then Gallo-Burgundian villages began to appear. Many Romans served the Burgundians, for ex., Apollinaris Sidonius. Gundobad made a record of the customary laws of his people and added to them the royal ordinances, thus the Burgundian Truth was born. Here there is already a mention of the allod, the alienation of the allod was also fixed along the female line. There was property and social differentiation of the free Burgundians. The nobility had a wergeld of 300 solidi, the average person - 200, the lower freemen and levda-rescuemen - 150 solidi. The Burgundians were exempt from paying taxes, but the Gallo-Romans were not (in the beginning). Then they all became equal. Each Burgundian received a piece of land sortes. In 534 they were conquered by the Franks.

Visigothic state (419-711) (418-507 - Toulouse; 507-711 - Toledo). The Visigoths are a Gothic tribe. From the end of the II century. moves to the borders of the Roman Empire, invaded the Danube and Asia Minor provinces of the Roman Empire, federates. In the 5th century left for Western Europe and formed the Visigothic state (Southern Gaul, Spain). conquered by the Arabs. In 414, the Visigoths appeared on the Iberian Peninsula under the leadership of Ataulf (411-415), who, after a series of battles, captured Barcelona. Ataulf's adherence to Roman customs led to the fact that in 416 he was killed in Barcelona. Sigerich, a supporter of the Gothic tradition, stood at the head of the Visigoths, but his cruelty led to his overthrow, and Valia (415-419) took the throne. Valia restored ties with the empire and concluded an agreement with Honorius, according to which Rome was obliged to deliver food to the Visigoths and ceded to them the Gallic lands conquered by Ataulf, i.e. the Visigoths achieved formal recognition of their power and had to fight against the Suebi. Valia abandoned Barcelona, ​​making Toulouse his capital, since then the Visigoths invaded Spain only as allies of Rome, this was until 456. In 429. no more than 80,000 vandals went to North Africa with Gaiseric. In Spain, only the Suebi remained, who expanded their possessions in the Iberian Peninsula. They took possession of Merida and Seville, annexed Baetica and the province of Cartagena. Roman troops tried together with the Visigoths to recapture these areas, but were defeated by the Suevian king Rehila (446). His successor Rechiar invaded Middle Spain, entered the Basque region, devastated the Zaragoza region and took possession of Lleida. After a short break, the war resumed, Rechiar again invaded the provinces of Cartagena and Tarragona. Then Theodoric II (453-467), who still maintained good neighborly relations with the Suevian king, broke with him, and in 456 defeated him. Rehiar fled, but was then taken prisoner at Oporto. The political power of the Suebi was not undermined. Theodoric II himself agreed to the restoration of the Suevian monarchy in Galicia and recognized the Suevian leader Frauta as king. Theodoric II continued to wage war in Spain, calling himself an ally of the Romans, but de facto waged it in his own interests. In 467 he was killed by his brother Eurychus (467-485). Theodoric II did a lot to strengthen the political power of the Visigoths, expanded the Visigothic possessions of Gaul, and seized territories in Spain. Theodoric's political plans were carried out by his successor. The conquest of the Iberian Peninsula began in 468 - Merida, Lisbon, Coimbra were taken, but Lisbon was soon given back to the Suevi. In 476, Euryx conquered a number of northern regions, and took possession of the Tarragona province, (except for the Basques). Cartagena and Galicia belonged to the Suebi, thus the Visigothic kingdom became the most powerful power in Europe. The court was in Toulouse, sometimes in Bordeaux or Arles. Eurych continued the codification of Visigothic law begun under Theodoric. Thus, the Visigothic kingdom reached its maximum limits under Euryche, covering not only most of Spain, but also southern and middle Gaul to the Loire in the north and the river. Rhones in the east, which led to the fact that the Franks became neighbors. In 507, a battle took place, lost by the Visigoths, which led to the fact that they lost most of their possessions in Gaul, except for Septimania (Narbonne). Since then, Toledo has become the political center of the Visigoths, and their possessions have concentrated on the Iberian Peninsula. Then comes the period of trouble. In the VI century. Byzantines appeared on the Iberian Peninsula.

During the reign of Rekared I (586 - 601), one of the main problems was religious; most of the nobility and the Visigothic people are Arians, the Spanish-Romans are Catholics. Rekared stopped the persecution of Catholics and allowed two councils of Arian and Catholic bishops to be held to discuss both doctrines. As a result, Rekared declared that he personally preferred Catholicism, he himself converted to Catholicism in 587. In 589, at the III Toledo Cathedral, Rekared, with his wife, servants, Visigoths, converted to Catholicism. (Sevis - from 448 - Catholics, from 465 - Arians, from 550 - Catholics). In the VI-VII centuries. in the Visigothic state, two problems were solved - the merger of the Spanish-Romans and the Visigoths and issues of succession to the throne. Under Hindusvint (641-652), a single legislation was extended to the entire population of the peninsula. This legal system was based on the Spanish-Roman and Visigothic traditions and sought to reconcile the interests of both peoples. Marriages between Spanish-Romans and Germans were allowed. The last king who ruled the Visigoths with brilliance (according to some researchers) was Wamba (672-680). After Wamba, Erwig (680-687), Egika (687-701), Vitica (697-709) ruled. Several conspiracies were organized against Vititsa, but they were uncovered. He blinded one of the conspirators of the Duke of Cordoba Teufred, and expelled the other, Pelayo. Vitica repulsed the raids of the Arabs, but in 708 or 709 he died in Toledo. In 710, Rodrigo, the duke of Betiki, became king, defeating the troops of Agila (711-714), the son of Vititsa. The last king of the Visigoths was Rodrigo (710-711). In 709, the Arabs conducted a reconnaissance in the area of ​​Algeciras, from 711 the systematic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Arabs began. The decisive battle between the Visigoths and the Arabs took place on July 19, 711 off the coast of Lake. Handa - between Medina-Sidonia and Vejer de la Frontera (Cadic province). Rodrigo changed part of the army. It is believed that the Visigothic Count Julian, the commandant of the fortress of Ceuta, who took revenge on King Rodrigo for insulting the honor of his daughter Florinda, and the descendants of King Vitica, who claimed the throne and betrayed the king, helped the Arabs. The detachment of Arabs was commanded by Tariq. After the defeat, Rodrigo fled. Tarik took possession of Toledo and Cordoba. It is believed that the last residence of Rodrigo was Merida. To complete the conquest of Spain, Tarik called in detachments from Moussa's Africa to reinforce his troops. In 713, Rodrigo died after another military defeat. Spain became Arab. The reasons for the fall of the Visigoths are the lack of political organization and the militant enthusiasm of the Arabs.

At first, the Visigothic monarchy was of a military nature. All the Visigoths served in the army, the king was the leader of the army. An important role was played by the people's assembly, at which the Visigoths chose their kings from noble families (until 531 from the Balts dynasty). The People's Assembly met monthly. There was common law. In Spain, the Visigoths did not at first destroy the administrative structure that existed in the Roman Empire, they did not introduce new laws. Only instead of Roman officials appeared military leaders, who later became known as counts, dukes, marquises. The municipal system also remained unchanged for the time being. Marriages between the Visigoths and the natives (Romans, Byzantines) were forbidden. There were religious and legal differences between the natives and the Visigoths. Visigoths are Arians, Spaniards are Catholics. The Goths were ruled according to their own laws (common law), the Spaniards - according to their own (the code of Theodosius, i.e. Roman law). The Visigoths carried out a land division. 2/3 of the land holdings became the property of the Visigoths. The lands of the Visigoths were free from taxes. Soon the differences between the Visigoths and the Spaniards began to blur. The last king who adhered to the old ways was Leovigild. Under his successor, Recarede, the Visigoths become Catholic (589). Since that time, the Catholic clergy has gained a huge influence on royal politics. Especially influential were St. Leander († 600) - Archbishop of Seville and his younger brother and successor in the spiritual department Isidore of Seville († 636), famous scientist, author of "Etymology, or the origin of things", "History of the kings of the Goths, Vandals and Suebi". Both prelates tried to strengthen the privileges of the church, which led to the fact that the Visigothic monarchy acquired a theocratic connotation.

Administratively, the kingdom was divided into provinces, the number of which increased. At first - two or three, under Leovigild (579) - already eight. At the head of each province was a ruler with the title of duke, at the head of the main cities was a ruler with the title of count, both had military, judicial, administrative power. Moreover, at first, the self-government of cities was not violated. The rural population was ruled by officials who were called prepositi. All magistracies were temporary, they were replaced within five years. But soon the nobility becomes the owners of hereditary positions. Appointed by the decision of the king, displaced by a court verdict. From the VI Toledo Cathedral, positions became hereditary, and cities lost their self-government.

State of Odoacer (476-493). In 476, Odoacer (of the Sciri tribe) dethroned the minor emperor Romulus Augustulus (symbolically) and sent the imperial insignia to Constantinople, and became the ruler of Italy and Rome. Odoacer endowed his combatants with land, taking 1/3 from the local landowners. Then Theodoric appeared in Italy and Odoacer was killed at a feast in 493.

Ostrogothic state (493-555). Theodoric was at the head of a multi-ethnic confederation of the tribes of the Goths, Alemans, Thracian Ostrogoths, Rugs. He brought 600-800.000 to Italy. Theodoric was a federate of the emperor. Invaded Thrace, Macedonia, M. Asia. At the instigation of the emperor, he was sent to Italy against Odoacer. Along the way, he fought a series of battles - with the Gepids (488), Sarmatians (489), Odoacer (490, 491, Mediolan, siege of Ravenna, Adda). By 500, Theodoric had all of Italy, Sicily. 1/3 of the land was confiscated from the Gallo-Roman population. All landowners had to pay taxes. Settled in Northern and Central Italy, the free Goths had to perform military service. Reviews were held annually, where donatives were issued. The military-administrative unit of the country is a thousand. In 500, the edict of Theodoric appeared. According to the law, there was no ethnic difference between the Romans and the Goths, everyone is equal. The Roman nobility was also involved in the service. Cassiodorus, Boethius, Venantius and others. Having become the ruler of Italy, Theodoric sent an embassy to Constantinople for insignia and became the king of Italy. After the death of Theodoric, his son-in-law Eutaric, from the Amal family, became the ruler, then the grandson Atalaric, under whom Amalasunta, the daughter of Theodoric, was regent. The period of trouble begins. For 27 years - 7 kings. Atalarich (525-534), Amalasunta (535), Theodates (534-536), Vitigis (536-540), Iltibat (540-541), Teil (552-553), Totila (541-555). Moreover, the last three were commanders. The residences of the Ostrogothic kings were the cities of Ravenna (where Theodoric is buried), Modizia, Verona, Pavia. Under the king there was a council, there was nobility. Roman posts have been preserved. In 555, after twenty years of wars, the Ostrogothic kingdom was conquered by the Byzantines.

Lombard kingdom (568-774). The Lombards are a Germanic tribe. Until the beginning of the 5th c. BC. lived on both banks of the lower reaches of the river. Elba, where it moved in the IV century. BC. from Scandinavia. In the VI century. AD the Lombards moved further south into the basin of the middle reaches of the Danube, forming an early feudal kingdom there. In 568, from the Danube (where the Lombards lived as part of the Vinyls in Pannonia in 526-568), the Lombards came to Italy. They were led by King Alboin. On the way to Italy, Alboin inflicted a crushing defeat on the Gepids, from the head of the Gepid king Gunimund made himself a feasting bowl, and took his daughter Rosemund as his wife. (forced her to drink from this goblet). Later, Rosemund killed (using a lover) Alboin, and then was poisoned herself. The Lombard army included Saxons, Alemanni, Gepids, Sarmatians, Bulgars, Suebi, Noriki, Slavs. Before going to Italy, Alboin became an Arian. We went through Friul, to Treviso, in northern Italy. Occupied Venice, Verona. Settled headlights, not mixing with the local population. Unlike other Germanic tribes that settled in the territory of the Roman Empire, the Lombards pursued a tough (physical destruction) policy towards the natives. Repression, confiscation. Roman landowners are obliged to pay 1/3 of their income to the Lombards. After the death of Rosemund, Clef ruled for only 1.5 years. Then for 10 years the Lombards did not elect kings. The Lombards were ruled by dukes. Occupied Northern and Central Italy. Founded Spoleto, Benevent. In 582 Autaricus, son of Clef, became king. Then wars begin with the Byzantines over the Exarchate of Ravenna. Under Agilulf (591-616), the Lombards were baptized. The patron was St. John. The period of the reign of Liutprand (712-744) is the period of strengthening of the Lombard kingdom. The political center is Pavia. In the Lombard laws, more often than in other barbarian truths, the death penalty occurs. The status of the non-free (levdas, actors, slaves) increased if he was in the service of the nobility. There were slaves and freedmen (libertines). There was a special category of slaves who could serve on a campaign. They could be released for a ransom (12 solidi). Each category of the population had its own wergeld. To know - nobles, optimists. The territorial districts were equal to the Roman city districts, they were ruled by counts (comites). In 774 the Lombard kingdom was conquered by the Franks.

Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in Britain. In the middle of the 5th century Britain was conquered by Germanic tribes who migrated from the coast of the German (North) Sea. Angles - (a Germanic tribe that lived in the 1st century AD north of the lower reaches of the Elbe River. In the 3rd-4th centuries, it occupied the territory north of the current Schleswig-Holstein, then moved to Britain. In the 6th century. founded the kingdoms of East Anglia and Northumbria.), Saxons (a union of Germanic tribes. They were located along the banks of the lower reaches of the Rhine and Elbe rivers. In the 5th-6th centuries, part of the Saxons participated in the conquest of Britain), the Utes subjugated the local Celtic peoples (Picts - (Celtic tribe inhabited Scotland. In the middle of the 9th century they mixed with the Scots), Scots (a group of Celtic tribes that inhabited Ireland. About 500, part of the Scots moved to the territory of Scotland), Britons (a group of Celtic tribes, the oldest population of Britain. In V-VI in. part exterminated, part assimilated, and part ousted to Wales, Scotland, peninsula of Brittany), partly ousted from the Thames valley to the west, to Cornwall, Wales. Part of the Britons moved to a peninsula in the northwestern part of Gaul ( Armorik) and gave a new name to this area ti - Brittany. Scotts in the 4th century moved from Ireland to the north of Britain, and this part of it (Caledonia) began to be called according to the new ethnonym Scottia (Scotland). In the VI-VII centuries. in southeastern and central Britain, several Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were formed, among which seven are the most significant. Roman influence (withdrew in 407/408) was strongest in Kent, and limited to a small area in southern Britain. The local Celtic population remained committed to the traditions of the tribal structure, and therefore this was the reason for the stability of the territorial community. The Anglo-Saxon conquest was long-lasting, lasting for a whole century. The Anglo-Saxon army, with its battle cry "white dragon", moved along the Thames, overcoming the stubborn resistance of the local population. The Roman Church conducted missionary activities to Christianize the British population. This was used by the Anglo-Saxon kings. In 597 the Anglo-Saxon kings officially adopted Christianity. In 634, Pope Honorius I divided Britain into 2 church dioceses - north - York and south - Canterbury. In 636, the missionary Birin introduced Catholic worship in the south of Ireland. During the Anglo-Saxon conquest, the ethnic and political rapprochement between the Anglo-Saxons and the Britons began. Records of customary law (the earliest Truth of King Ethelbert (Kent) - 596 ) recognized the socio-political status of the Britons. In the Truth of King Ine (Wessex) (688-726), the Briton's wergeld is half the conqueror's. The Britons pay dues, the wergeld of a landless Briton = the wergeld of a slave, but the wergeld of a Briton in royal service = a free Anglo-Saxon. According to the legal ideas of the German conquerors, the Britons occupy a dependent position in society. The litas also occupy a dependent position in society, but, released before the altar, the litas became full-fledged free. Litas - most often came from the Celtic population, then became personally dependent peasant holders, future serfs. There were also slaves who later turned into kotters.

In the 7th-8th centuries Britain developed a heptarchy, a seven-power kings of the Angles (Mercia, Northumbria, East Anglia), Saxons (Wessex, Sessex, Essex), Jutes (Kent). The most powerful in the VIII century. were Wessex kings. At the beginning of the ninth century King Ecbert made an attempt to unite the Anglo-Saxon possessions. Ecbert (800-836) established hegemony over other Anglo-Saxon kings and assumed the title of "bretwalda" (British ruler). The need for unification was dictated by the invasion of the Scandinavian leaders, who began conquests in the north-eastern part of Britain (since 793). So, a strip of settlements appeared on the territory of England, living according to Danish law (Danlo region). Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the 7th-9th centuries. - early state formations. The structure of society: nobility - erls - had a double or triple wergeld, free community members - curls. Settlements in the south-east of the country had 100-140 households, in Kent - 40-50 households. They sowed rye, wheat, barley, and oats. Pig breeding (oak, beech), horse breeding, sheep breeding, cattle breeding, etc. are developed. The land allotment of the curla-gaida, in the 7th century. became hereditary possession, passed only to sons. Dependent people - Lets, were slaves. The size of the free vergeld depended on the number of land plots (guide). The process of the emergence of feudal property was slower than on the continent, due to little or no Roman influence. There was a system of open fields. Allod appeared in the IX-X centuries. The process of stratification of curls intensified in the 9th-11th centuries, when land allotments began to be alienated. Through royal donations, land from communal (falkland) began to turn into privately owned land, provided by letter (bockland) for military service and free from any duties to the king, except for the triple duty: military service, repair of bridges, construction of fortifications. From the 8th century donation is developing with the granting of immunity (tax collection, court). A privileged class appears - combatants - the highest - tenes, the rest - gesites. They demonstrated their privileged position by the fact that they supported the correctness of their testimony in court with an oath, and a free curl had to provide four witnesses, and paid higher fines. The church received huge privileges - lands were exempted from taxes, property was protected by a fine of 3-6-9-12 times (royal property - 9 times) and had a special political significance. The price of church peace = the price of peace in the national assembly. The Church had the right of asylum. The tithe was obligatory. The institution of patronage - glafordat - is developing. Large landowners become patrons - glafords and lords of their holders. According to the laws of Æthelstan (925-940), every free man must have his own lord. From the 10th century the manor becomes not only a fiefdom, but also a unit of local government, the center of which was the manorial curia. The power of the king depended on the will of the highest nobility. Witanogemot is the advice of the wise. The lowest administrative unit is a village with a descent-galimot, then hundreds of meetings (headed by gerefs, centurions), then counties. There were supplies in kind - hafol (oxen, grain, cheese, flour, ale). The heyday of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms falls on the reign of Alfred the Great (871-900). A cavalry army appeared, a constant tax - Danish money, the construction of a fleet and burghs. "The Truth of Alfred". In the X-XI centuries. Vikings appear. Knut the Great (1017-1035).

So, the early medieval kingdoms were unstable state formations with signs of a communal-tribal organization in the form of a territorial community of free landowners, popular assemblies, and military militias. The positions of royal power were weak. The king depended on the support of the troops and the ruling elite. The development of statehood was closely connected with the ethnogenesis and Romanization of the barbarian population.

I.A. Dvoretskaya highlights the characteristic features of the early medieval kingdoms in the 6th-10th centuries: 1. the presence of institutions of the political system, developing in the conditions of the decomposition of tribal organizations; 2. rapid development of friendship relations into beneficial ones; 3. public consciousness is focused on the usual norms of morality and law that have developed in the conditions of a community-tribal organization. (Arthur - “strength is not justice, but justice is strength”; 4. the weakness of royal power and the gradual strengthening of the political power of military leaders who appropriated the functions of public power when settling on conquered land; 5. in the early medieval states, the process of feudalization of the political system was going on 6.Early medieval statehood developed under the influence of the Roman political system, Roman law and with the participation of officials who received Roman rhetorical and legal education.

Migrations and movements that took place against the backdrop of the collapse of the Roman Empire began to acquire features of a qualitatively different level and scale. Previously, the Germanic invasions of the Empire were carried out mainly for the sake of robbery. The conflicts between the tribes took place mainly outside the Empire or not far from its Limes. In most cases, the Empire managed to exercise control over them. By the end of the IV century. relations between the Empire and the Germans became more complex. The Romans increasingly resorted to using them as military allies and mercenaries. The aggressive, predatory actions and campaigns of those tribes that still lived beyond the limes continued as before. The mobility of the Germans, who had previously been settled in the Empire, increased. As federates, protecting the interests of the Empire, they actively move from one province to another. After military operations, the federal Germans, as a rule, returned to those places that were allocated to them for lodging. With the advent of the barbarian "kingdoms", a struggle began to expand or preserve the lands belonging to these "kingdoms". From the end of the 4th century the nature of the participation of the Germans in the Migration of Peoples was increasingly determined by the level of their social development, as well as by the opportunities that opened up for the entry of the German tribal elite into the structure of the political power of the Empire. A distinctive feature of this stage of the Migration is also that with the resettlement of any tribe in the Empire, all its further movements within its borders were migrations and resettlement only until the moment this tribe created its “kingdom”.

The process of resettlement among the Germanic tribes ends with the formation of " kingdoms ". Movements, migrations have exhausted themselves as a form of interaction between the Germanic barbarian world and the Roman civilization. The barbarian world was replaced by the system of European German states, “kingdoms”, where some tribes merged into new peoples and thus continued their history, others left the historical arena, leaving legends and testimonies of ancient authors about themselves.

The nature of the participation of Germans in migration processes has changed. Instead of spontaneous movements, many tribes settled in the Empire and began territorial expansion within it, occupying key positions in the political life of the Empire. The influence of the Huns on the fate of the Germanic tribes of the Upper and Middle Danube affected the ethnopolitical formations (“kingdoms” of the Gepids, Heruls, Pannonian Goths). They were located on the border of two Empires.

The formation of large European kingdoms and empires, which was completed by the 9th century, stabilized the main contours of political ties and state formations in Europe for almost a long time.

The appearance of the Huns on the Danube destroyed the system of "buffer barbarian states" along the limes, contributed to the relatively rapid emergence of "barbarian kingdoms" within the Roman Empire.

Germanic tribes gradually spread from their ancestral home through the territory of the northern provinces of the Roman Empire. The Germanic tribes became the external force that accelerated the collapse of the Western Roman statehood. On the basis of a new political and legal community, a new, feudal statehood arose in Europe. The history of the Germans III-IV centuries. was the accumulation of conditions and prerequisites for their transition to a new quality - finding themselves as nationalities, replacing the tribes, and finding themselves as the creators of the first "barbarian states", replacing the unions of tribes.

The era of the Great Migration of Peoples, the main participants of which in Europe were the Germanic tribes, ends in the 6th-7th centuries. formation of the German barbarian kingdoms. Before the Great Migration of Nations, the Germanic tribes did not have their own states. Their emergence was the result of both the internal development of German society and adaptation to completely different living conditions in the occupied lands of the Western Roman Empire. The states created by the Germans are called barbarian kingdoms. The creation of the first barbarian kingdoms marked the beginning of the formation of modern European ethnic groups, united by a common religion and writing based on Latin. The process of the formation of the Germanic kingdoms begins in the 5th century. and goes in a complicated way, different tribes in different ways, depending on the specific historical situation. In most of the states created by the Germans in the territories seized from their neighbors, the Germans did not make up the majority of the population. When conquering Roman possessions, it was necessary to create their own instead of Roman governments. This is how royalty comes about.

The first state formations of the Germans took place under the influence of the Roman state. The empire "managed" the formation of the first "barbarian kingdoms" on its territory. The "barbarian kingdoms" that appeared among the Germans after 476 were not subject to Roman authority, retained their own structure, their own forms of life and their own right. Unfortunately, the Western Empire, in contrast to the Eastern, by opening wide access to the Germans to its territories and bringing them closer to power, allowed itself to be lulled to some extent by hopes for a German alliance.

Barbarian kingdoms - states created by barbarian peoples on the territory of the Western Roman Empire in the conditions of its collapse in the 5th century. A characteristic feature common to all these early medieval political formations was internal instability, resulting from the absence of an established rule of succession at that time - the sons of the king, in principle, had a priority right to the throne, but the nobility could well propose a different, their own candidacy. Discord between members of the royal family, between the king and his vassals, disputes between pretenders to the throne were commonplace, many kings died a violent death. The borders of the barbarian kingdoms were also unstable, with capitals frequently changing their locations. The internal structure was characterized by a communal-tribal organization in the form of a territorial community of free landowners, popular assemblies and military militias.

The kingdom began with the fact that Ravenna sanctioned the power of the king over a certain territory. The provision of land for the settlement involved the addition of a certain social status (federates). Compliance with these conditions was probably perceived by the Germans as a kind of guarantee of their prosperous residence within the Roman Empire. The local population was also interested in observing these rules. Indeed, after the conclusion of an agreement between the king and the emperor on the settlement of the Germans in a certain area, the local residents became residents of the "barbarian kingdoms". The very fact of the participation of the emperor in this process strengthened the moral and political authority of the German kings, raised them in the eyes of the local population to the necessary level of the traditional Roman system of values. That is why the local population could no longer consider the Germans as conquerors, but as legitimate representatives of the emperor's power.

From unreliable Roman allies, the so-called federates, the Germans turned into real contenders for the Roman inheritance, they wanted to be the rulers of Europe. At the same time, the barbarians quickly and willingly adopted the social, political, legal and cultural foundations of a great power, recognizing the undoubted authority of the Romans in all these areas ... States were created on the occupied lands by the Germanic tribes:

• Angles and Saxons - on the island of Britain;
• vandals - in North Africa;
• Visigoths - in Spain;
• Ostrogoths - in Italy;
• Franks - in Gaul.

The statehood of the barbarian kingdoms developed under the influence of the Roman political system, Roman law, and with the participation of officials who received a Roman education.

Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in Britain

Territories: red - British, green - Scottish, blue - Pictish .

To the east of Britain lay the North Sea for four hundred miles. On the opposite bank, where the Danes and Germans now live, in the 5th century lived a Germanic tribe that called itself the Jutes.

The peninsula on which their possessions were located, stretching north to modern Norway and Sweden and now part of Danish territory, is still called Jutland.

To the south of the Jutes, in the lands of modern Germany, bordering Denmark (Schleswig), the Angles lived, and to the west of them, on the northern coast, the Saxons lived.

Utah- a Germanic tribe that lived in the very south and southeast of the Jutland peninsula in the Holstein region.

Saxons- German tribal union. The original place of their settlement was the area along the lower reaches of the Rhine and Elbe. Later they spread in different directions, including in southwestern Jutland.

Angles- a Germanic tribe, in the III-IV centuries they lived in Central Jutland.

At the beginning of the 5th century The Roman government was forced to withdraw its legions from Britain. The wealth of Britain, accumulated over the years of peace and tranquility by the fifth century, did not give rest to the hungry Germanic tribes: the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, as well as the Frisians and Ingevons, which included the "Varins" who lived on the coast of the North Sea. In the middle of the 5th century, under the onslaught of the Huns, they began to leave their territories and move to Britain. Danes from Skåne, Halland and the nearby Baltic islands came to the deserted territories of Jutland.

During the late Roman period, the Saxons were known mainly as pirates who traded in the North Sea. At first they raided the island, and after 430 they returned to Germany less and less, gradually settling in British lands.

At that time, the Britons - the Celtic population of Britain - waged a grueling war with the tribes of the Picts and Scots, who intensified their raids from the north to the southeastern regions of the country. For some time the Britons defended themselves. Then Vortigern, the supreme leader of all the Britons, in order to more successfully repel the Picts and Scots, invited in 449, as mercenaries, the detachments of Hengist and Horsa, brothers from the Ute tribe who led the invasion of the Anglo-Saxon tribes, allocating them land for settlement in the southeastern part of the island in Kent (Ebbsfleet).

According to the legend recorded in Nennius' History of the Britons and Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Britons, Vortigern fell in love with the beautiful Rowena, the daughter of the leader Hengist, and in return for Hengist's consent to give her to him as his wife, Kent conceded.

The small territory of Denmark, where the Ute tribe lived, was overcrowded, they were looking for a new homeland. The legacy of the Roman occupation was the well-managed, rich farmlands that Hengista decided to take for his people. The aliens drove the Picts and Scots to the North, and immediately turned their weapons against the former allies, starting a war with yesterday's owners of the island.

For several years the brothers were at war with the British ruler. In a battle that took place near Aylesford, the Jutes were defeated, and Khorsa, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, died in 455. The modern city of Horstead is possibly named after him. After the death of Horse, Hengist becomes king of Kent, who reigned for another 33 years. In the battle of the Britons and Saxons on the field of Maisbeli during the battle of Hengist, he was taken prisoner by Duke Gorlois and beheaded by order of Aurelius. His son Esk became his successor. Hengist and Horse can be called the founders of the English nation. But the reality of the existence of Hengest-King is often questioned. There is a version that Hengest (stallion) and Horsa (horse) are one person. What is certain is that Kent in the 5th century was indeed inhabited by Germanic-speaking settlers from the continent.

Bloody pogroms were going on throughout Roman Britain. Farms and estates in the countryside were looted and burned, cities were destroyed and set on fire. Saxon troops destroyed Roman villas. Men were killed, women with children were taken into slavery. Pagan Saxons, despising Christians, desecrated temples, killed priests, plundered churches.

The Britons gradually retreated to the west. Their last refuge in Britain was the harsh, barren Wales and Cornwall, with bare rocks, and Strathclyde to the northwest. Scotland also remained Celtic, not conquered by the Germanic tribes. The local population, having become accustomed to a relatively peaceful life for 300 years, offered little resistance to the invaders. In the 5th and 6th centuries, the Romanized Britons had brave and courageous leaders, but there was no person capable of rallying against the invaders. Under the leadership of Ambrosius Aurelian, the Britons won a decisive victory in a battle that took place about 500 in the upper Thames (Mount Badon) and secured a peaceful respite for a whole generation. In the struggle against the Saxons, a British commander named Artorius, possibly being the prototype of the legendary Arthur, the leader of the Britons of the 5th-6th centuries, who defeated the Saxon conquerors; the central hero of the British epic and numerous romances of chivalry. Until now, historians have not found evidence of the historical existence of Arthur.

The Saxons, despite the failure at Mount Badon, continued the offensive. In 577 they reached the shores of Bristol Bay, and the Celtic lands were separated from each other. As a result of the struggle, a significant part of the Celtic population was exterminated or enslaved, some gradually mixed with the German conquerors. Gilda the Wise wrote: “Thus, many of the unfortunate survivors captured in the mountains were massacred; others, exhausted by hunger, approached and held out their hands to the enemies in order to become slaves forever, if, however, they were not killed immediately, which they considered the highest mercy. Others strove for overseas regions with great weeping. Many Britons were forced to migrate across the strait to northwestern Gaul: to the continent - to the north of Gaul in Armoric, future Brittany. Only the Britons in Britain were exiled and exterminated during the barbarian invasions.

The barbarians took full control of Kent in 488. On the territory of Kent, the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kantware (Kent), the prototype of the future England, was formed. Its capital was the city of Kantwaraburg (modern Canterbury), populated mainly by the Jutes. Of the three tribes, the Ute, although the first to reach Britain, were the weakest. The period of their power ended around 600. Kent, where they lived, retained its former name, and the memory of them was erased. The Jutes soon completely merged with the Angles and Saxons and ceased to be a separate tribe.

Most of the southern regions were captured by the allies of the Scandinavians - the Saxons. In 477, the Saxons crossed the Strait of Dover, passed through the Jutish lands in Kent and settled on the south coast of England. Here they founded the southernmost of the three Saxon kingdoms - Sussex ("Kingdom of the South Saxons"). Shortly thereafter, other Saxons landed further west and established Wessex ("the kingdom of the West Saxons"). Essex ("the kingdom of the East Saxons") arose to the north of Kent. The names Essex and Sussex still appear among the names of the English counties.

The Angles settled in the eastern and northeastern parts of the island. Later, around 540, the Angles established several kingdoms north of the Thames. At first they landed in the lands of the Iceni. The kingdom that arose there became known as East Anglia. To the west of it appeared Mercia, whose name comes from the word "mark", "borderland". For a long time, Mercia remained a frontier territory: further, to the west, were the British territories.

After the departure of the Roman troops from Britain, the Romanized Britons created many petty kingdoms. The states of the southern and eastern plains of the island were quickly conquered by the advancing Anglo-Saxons, but the kingdoms located in the mountainous regions and present-day Wales turned out to be more stable, the western Britons managed to gain a foothold there. The Celts retained the north - Scotland and the west - Wales and Cornwall of Britain.

The invasion of the Saxons, Angles and Jutes into Britain lasted for a whole century - until the second half of the VI century. As a result, about thirty small kingdoms of them were formed on the territory of modern England. In the 7th century, they were somewhat enlarged, their number was reduced to seven, these are: Kent (Jut), Wessex, Sussex, Essex (Saka), Northumbria, East Anglia, Mercia (English).

At first, the Jutish kingdom of Kent was the most powerful of them, in the 7th century the power of Northumbria increased, then in the first half of the 8th century the primacy passed to Mercia, and by the 9th century the kingdom of Wessex began to stand out. The most powerful ruler was recognized as the "Britwald" King of the Britons, later - the Prince of Wales. At the beginning of the ninth century King Egbert the Great (800-836) King of Wessex, established hegemony over other Anglo-Saxon kings and assumed the title of Britwald. Egbert was the first king who united in 825 under the rule of one ruler most of the lands located on the territory of modern England, and the remaining regions recognized his supreme authority over themselves. The need for unification was dictated by the invasion of the Scandinavian leaders, who began conquest in the north-eastern part of Britain from 793. The numerical predominance of the Angles gave a new name to the country, which was assigned to it in the Middle Ages, This territory of Britain became known as the “country of the Angles”, or England. The name England is valid only for that part of the island where the Angles, Saxons and Jutes dominated. The northern two-fifths of the island remained largely Celtic, and the kingdom of Scotland arose there.

The Anglo-Axon invasion of Britain led not only to the expulsion, enslavement and destruction of the indigenous population, but also the destruction of their native language. In those parts of the island where the Germans dominated, the old language was completely forgotten, only geographical names remained from it: Kent, Devon, York, London, Thames, Avon and Exeter - names of Celtic origin. The name Cumberland retained the memory of the Kimry. To the south of Bristol Bay lies the region which the Saxons called Cornuilhas, "the land of the overland strangers." Over time, this name evolved into Cornwall. The Cornish dialect of the ancient language of the Britons was completely out of use by 1800.

The Angles and Saxons remained the masters of the island and, since they were very close in language and customs, they began to be considered one people, in modern language called "Anglo-Saxons", their Anglo-Saxon dialect formed the basis of modern English. English is the official language of Gibraltar and one of the official languages ​​of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Malta, Jersey, Guernsey and the European Union. According to a study published in 2006, 13% of EU citizens speak English as their first language. Another 38% of EU public citizens believe that they have sufficient English language skills for conversation, so that the overall coverage of English in the EU is 51%.

The peninsula in the north was called Wilhas by the Saxons. The word means "the land of strangers", this name has come down to us as Wales. To this day, Wales maintains its own special cultural traditions. Welsh is spoken by more than half a million people (although it seems to be losing its importance). Brythonic, in addition to Wales and Cornwall, has survived in parts of Cumbria and East Galloway. The conquerors adhered to pagan beliefs. Internecine wars and pressure from the Anglo-Saxon and then the Norman conquerors weakened Wales, and the Welsh kingdoms gradually fell under the influence of England. In 1282, after the death of the last independent ruler of Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the country was conquered by the English king Edward I. After that, the title of Prince of Wales began to be assigned to the crown prince of the English royal house.

The Roman Church conducted missionary activities to Christianize the British population. In 597, the Anglo-Saxon kings officially adopted Christianity, they were formally Christians. In 664 Cathedral in Whitby adopted Christianity in the Roman Catholic version as the state religion. Pope Honorius I divided Britain into 2 church dioceses - north - York and south - Canterbury. In 636, the missionary Birin introduced Catholic worship in the south of Ireland.

In the northern part of the island, the Irish monks had no rivals, and the world of Celtic Christianity not only survived, but also expanded, spreading to the lands occupied by the tribes of the Angles. By the middle of the 7th century, the Irish converted all of Mercia and Northumbria to the new faith. The most important cultural centers of the Ocean Islands were the northern monasteries founded by the Irish - Lindisfarne, Iona, Yarrow, Whitby. Celtic mentors brought up here the first generations of noble Northumbrian and Mercian youth, future enlighteners and learned monks of Anglo-Saxon origin. The brilliant Anglo-Saxon culture of the 8th-9th centuries, with its richest church literature, owes its rise to the North. From here came the thinkers recognized by the entire Christian world as the greatest minds of their time - Bede the Venerable, Eriugena, Alcuin. In the era of a deep decline in culture in Europe, which followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire, correct Latin and refined Greek were still spoken here, antique and early Christian manuscripts were lovingly collected in libraries, for which the monks went on expeditions to the continent, they were engaged in philosophy, rhetoric, poetry. It is not surprising that in this intellectual and creative atmosphere, the book business flourished unusually, in which the Irish and their students had no equal in Europe in the 6th-8th centuries.

The warlike Saxons always aroused concern among the neighbors, who constantly lived under the threat of another raid. The king of the Frankish state, Charlemagne, in May 772 in Worms declared war against the Saxons, setting two tasks: to seize the lands of the Saxons and spread Christianity to them.

A cruel and bloody war began, which dragged on for 32 years (from 772 to 804). The conquest of the warlike people was difficult: the Saxons raised an uprising and attacked the enemy garrisons. So, in 778, they appeared at the walls of Cologne itself and betrayed everyone on the right bank of the Rhine to fire and sword. To protect against the Christian Frankish emperors, the Danes built the Danevirke rampart (“Dane Wall”), which ran across southern Jutland from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea.

Recent studies show that Danevirke was built not only and not so much for military purposes. Archaeologist Helmut Andersen discovered that at the initial stage, the "wall" consisted of a ditch between two low embankments. It is possible that the main wall was at its earliest stage a channel for transporting goods between the Baltic and North Seas.

Charlemagne defeated the pagan Saxons in the southernmost part of the peninsula (the territory of the future Holstein) and resettled his Bodrichi allies in this territory. To gain complete power over the recalcitrant people, he moved more than 10,000 Saka families to the lands of the Franks. Charles tried to break the stubborn resistance of the Saxons with extremely cruel measures. After defeating them on the Weser in 782, he ordered the execution of 4,500 Saxon hostages. At the same time, he issued the Capitulary for Saxon Affairs, which threatened the death penalty for anyone who would oppose the church and the king, and ordered the Saxons to pay tithes to the church. In order to break the recalcitrants, Karl entered into a temporary alliance with their eastern neighbors, the Polabian Slavs-encouragers, who had long been at enmity with the Saxons. By 804, all resistance was finally broken. A mass baptism of ordinary residents began, all Saxons were ordered to be baptized under pain of death. The Franks deliberately destroyed pagan temples and forcibly baptized the captive Saka princes. Then hostages were taken from the conquered communities, garrisons were placed in convenient places, and churches began to be built. Thus, the Saxon and Frankish lands were actually united. It is from this period that the history of a single German nation begins, of which the Saxons became an integral part.

In 410, the Visigoths (Western Goths), led by Alaric, took Rome. A few years later, Rome provided land in the south of Gaul for the settlement of the Visigoths. So in 418, the first barbarian Visigothic kingdom appeared. Soon the Visigoths captured other territories in Gaul and Spain.

Even earlier, through Gaul and Spain to North Africa, the tribes of Vandals and Alans passed. In Africa, the Vandal-Alanian kingdom arose. In 455, the Vandals made a naval raid on Rome, subjecting it to a terrible defeat. In the same years, the Germanic tribes of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes began an invasion of Britain. They defeated the kingdoms of the Celts that existed on the island after the departure of the Roman troops and formed 7 barbarian Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In Gaul, east of the Visigoths, the Burgundians created a kingdom.

The barbarians also ruled in Italy. The Roman army here consisted almost entirely of barbarians, whose leaders ruled on behalf of the emperors. In 476, one of these leaders, Odoark, overthrew the Western emperor, and sent his crown to Constantinople. From now on, the eastern emperor was considered the supreme ruler of the barbarian kingdoms. However, he had no real power over them. Soon, the tribes of the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) invaded Italy under the leadership of King Theodoric (49.3 - 526) and, having defeated the state of Odoacer, created their own kingdom here.

The Frankish kingdom arose almost simultaneously with the Ostrogothic kingdom. In 486, the king of the Salian (seaside) Franks Chlodnik led their resettlement in Northern Gaul. Soon the Franks subjugated a number of neighboring Germanic tribes - the Alemans, Thuringians, defeated the search for the Visigothic kingdom and conquered southern Gaul from it.

The Goths and other Germans took a significant part of the land from the inhabitants of the Roman Empire. The Franks, unlike them, almost did not take away land from the local residents, but divided among themselves the empty former possessions of the emperor. Therefore, the Gallo-Roman “village was more friendly to the Franks than to other barbarians. In addition, Clovis and all the Franks adopted Christianity in the orthodox form followed by the inhabitants of Gaul, and not in the form of Arianism, like other Germans. Clovis generously distributed valuables and lands to bishops and monasteries. Clovis's policy towards the locals was continued by his successors. Of all the barbarian kingdoms, the Frankish proved to be the most stable.

In general, the barbarian kingdoms were states with a weak central government, they had sharp contradictions between barbarians and local residents. This predetermined the instability of the political situation and Pirope.

barbarian truth.

Much can be learned about the life of the barbarian kingdoms from the records of their laws of the 5th-9th centuries. These laws were called barbaric truths.

Barbarian truths were records of customary law. However, barbarian laws were significantly influenced by Roman law. This influence was especially strong in the truths of the Visigoths, the Burgundians. In all truths, punishments for various crimes were indicated, the procedure for legal proceedings was determined, etc. The laws reflected the process of transition from the pre-state state of society to the state. Along with full-fledged free members of the tribe, the king stands out as special categories of the population with their own rights, on the one hand, dependent people and slaves, on the other. However, free community members engaged in agriculture still made up the majority of the barbarian population.

The most famous document is the Salic Truth *, created by the decree of King Chtodvig in about 500. According to these laws, the life of a noble person (count) was protected by a wergeld (fine) of 600 solidi. A free person - 200, a dependent - 100, for murder the slave was paid to the owner, 30 solidi. Salic truth testifies that the Franks lived in communities that were the owners of the land. Forests, pastures, reservoirs were jointly owned, and arable plots were in the possession of individual families. It was impossible to sell these plots, but there was a process turning these plots into family property.