Diocletian Imperial Anarchy

Brittany Engels

HIST 101 03PR

October 2, 2014

Response Paper 1

During the turn from ancient to medieval, there were multiple vital points that pivoted the shifts between the two periods. Starting out with an imperial anarchy, where emperors seem to come as fast as they go, to the romanization of Christianity and the upbringing methods of this in the Roman society. Diocletian’s attempts at reconstructing and renewing the empire and Constantine with the Christianization of the Roman empire were closer to the middle of the shift, while the German tribes turning into the German Kingdoms in the western part of the empire were closer to the end. Finally, Justinian’s reassertion of Roman influence closed out the shift, moving from ancient to medieval times. For the most part, the three main components to all of these events that happened between this shift were the tardy Roman civilization, the new religion of Christianity along with the Germans and the combination of these three.

The imperial anarchy that was held throughout a century in the Roman empire was a definite downgrade from the previous, where the stable government and rulers could not prosper any further.

Due to this, the economy declined and the rise of the military came to light. The social classes shifted as the gap between the rich and the poor widened, and inflation ended up taking a toll on the empire from debasement of the Roman coins, and eventually, the population of the Roman empire began its spiral downwards. The rise of Christianity in the Roman empire was becoming more known, however still “underground” and using other methods to communicate theories and stories. The amount of Christians still populated a very small amount in comparison to the entire empire, and was more prevalent in the eastern and country

areas.
When the Germans began to enter into the Roman empire, the emperor was not generous in what he allowed them to populate- the land supplied was not sufficient for adapting their ways of living over to a new land, and the fact that the land was just not high of quality didn’t help either. These Germans, the Visigoths, then decided to rebel and stand up for themselves, in the end defeating the Romans. Soon thereafter they reach some sort of an agreement, however the Romans were very tentative on their actions towards the Germans and where they were allowing them to move by encouraging them to move more to the western side of the empire. Towards the end of this long feud filled with various different German tribes and the Romans’ attempts on defending the empire, the Germans looked as if they would prevail.
However, Justinian and Theodora, his empress, seemed to have a different plan of reasserting the Roman empire to what it was before all of this. Although their attempts were noble, they weren’t as successful as planned in the end. The German kingdoms that existed were not fully developed, and the Germans ended up weaved throughout the Roman imperial system later on. In my opinion, the rise of Christianity was a very vital turning point that did not necessarily influence this time period in a positive way as it would another; with the economy already low, and then the empire weakening because of all the changes, it was an opportune moment for the Germans to come. The transitions were definitely not smooth, and this did not help the empire by any means in the end.