Warriors of the Dark Ages

Examines the barbarians from Europe and beyond who harassed, eroded and eventually caused the disintegration of the Roman Empire. It includes the Huns, Mongolian horsemen who swept into Europe to form a short-lived empire from the Urals to the Rhine; the Visigoths, or western Goths, who sacked Rome in 410 and ruled Spain from Toledo until the Moorish conquest in 711; the Ostrogoths, or eastern Goths, who ruled Italy from 493 until the Emperor Justinian drove them out in 534; the Franks, a group of Germanic tribes who came to rule France under the Merovingians; and the Vandals, fierce Arian Christians who invaded Gaul and Spain around 400 and sacked Rome in 455. As the authors show, some, such as the Vandals in North Africa, had shortlived periods of supremacy and relatively insignificant effect on the areas they settled; others, such as the Franks, adapted to Roman ways to create the strong foundations of medieval and later nations. Throughout the text, the authors reconstruct the volatile world of pitched battle and invasion.