Ethnic identity among the barbarians of the late imperial and post-Roman period

Eric Limbach 11/03

The problem of barbarian identity in the post-Imperial period has, over the past few decades, become one of the major areas of research and debate among scholars of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. In order to provide an overview of recent work in this field, several points need to be addressed. The first is the importance of national histories in Europe over the past few centuries, an emphasis that was maintained from the Renaissance through much of the twentieth century. However, events of the twentieth century discredited much of this earlier work, as nationalistic movements (especially in Germany) based many of their claims of superiority on ethnic histories. The expansion of historical methodologies over the last hundred years has also influenced the study of ethnic identity, as archaeologists, anthropologists and sociologists have begun to make their own major contributions, leading to questions about earlier assumptions and conclusions. Much of the current debate stems from the theoretical nature of these disciplines. The issue of early medieval identity is also tied up with other discussions regarding the nature of late imperial Roman society, as well as the evolution of political authority over the course of the first millennium. Political and social historians are therefore forced to address the various points of the identity debate even as they present their own research on postimperial society or the growth of barbarian kingdoms in Western Europe. It is important to come to terms with the uses of identity and ethnicity throughout the past few centuries. The historiography of barbarian identity dates back to the rediscovery of Tacituss Germania in the fifteenth century and its use, along with the Getica and Historia Langobardorum of Jordanes and Paul the Deacon, respectively, by sixteenth century scholars to

create a Germanic past in opposition to the Roman culture upheld by the Renaissance. The authors of the earliest histories of ethnicity intended to not only create the idea of an unbroken line of ethnic identification extending back through history, but to provide justification for each particular group wishing to subscribe to a certain identity.1 This led to a conception of ethnicity that was objectively biological and, in many cases, territorial. Such assumptions were central to the field of ethnicity research for centuries, and when combined with the past-oriented Romantic movement of the nineteenth century, they contributed to numerous ethnically based national identities across Europe. While these ideal identities were intended to foster national unity and pride across the boundaries of class, wealth and political views, extreme versions produced a particularly violent and superior version of nationalism most associated by Hitler and the Nazi Party in mid-twentieth century Germany.2 However, one cannot use past abuses of history to discredit the entire identity debate. Few scholars, if any, would today make the same arguments as have been written in past centuries regarding the superiority (and victory) of Germanic culture over that of the Romans. However, this does not mean that the field of ethnic identity research is lacking in controversy; several different theories of ethnicity have gained wide support over the course of the past halfcentury. Many scholars have debated the traditional thesis, dating back to the Renaissance, that Andrew Gillett, Introduction: Ethnicity, History and Methodology in On Barbarian Identity: Critical Approaches to Ethnicity in the Early Middle Ages, ed. Andrew Gillett (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2002), 5. 2 For an excellent overview of the uses and misuses of ethnic identity, see the introduction and first chapter of Patrick Geary, The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002). Note especially the change from the eighteenth century, when ethnic identity was used to uphold class privilege. Geary points out that for centuries, the French aristocracy had considered themselves as descended from the Franks, while the commoners were the Romano-Gallic natives their ancestors had subjugated during the fifth and sixth centuries. This played into the revolutionary rhetoric of Abb Sieys, who considered the commoners the true French people as opposed to the Germanic invaders who had repressed them for centuries. 3
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massive waves of barbarians invaded the later Roman Empire, causing its downfall and creating the Middle Ages. Over the past few decades, research has placed a great deal of emphasis on the idea of barbarian migration, rather than violent invasion. Even more recently, several scholars have even proposed that the arrival of the barbarians was not much of a disruption, nor was it much of an arrival, either. Most students of this era are familiar with the traditional interpretation of migration, represented as a multitude of arrows drawn on a map of Europe and intended to show the various routes taken by barbarian groups as they wandered through the empire.3 In reality, much of the work done by historians in the area of ethnicity has begun with an intention to challenge this view, either in terms of where specific groups originated (ethnogenesis) or in the effect of these events on Roman society and governmental structures. One theory that takes up the idea of a barbarian migration in terms of ethnogenesis is that of the Traditionskern, popularized by the German-language scholars Reinhard Wenskus, Herwig Wolfram and Walter Pohl, all associated with the University of Vienna. This theory is essentially historical, as it is based on research in the same sources that have been consulted for centuries, while it breaks with past ideas of identity in that it does not subscribe to a biological basis for identity. The Traditionskern theory that first emerged during the 1960s and 1970s posits that, during the early medieval period, those groups that considered themselves one single nation of people were, in reality, far more heterogeneous. These groups, which existed primarily for military purposes, were bound by a set of shared traditions (Traditonskern means core/

Recent insights into the idea of migration have tended to emphasize that the Roman writers of late antiquity (Tacitus and Ammianus Marcellinus, to name two) tended to see the barbarians as migratory, whether they actually were or not. Thomas S. Burns points out that this was a recurring theme in Roman society; instead of recognizing change in their own society, they were quick to point out the recurrence of such wandering barbarian groups throughout Roman history as the vehicle for change. Thomas S. Burns, Rome and the Barbarians 100 B.C.- A.D. 400. (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), 8. 4

nucleus of tradition) imparted to them by their leaders. These leaders may have shared a similar ethnic origin; however, it is important to note that the majority of the members of such communities would not share such genetic origins, and indeed may have been quite diverse, not only in their personal origins, but also in language and culture. Over time, though, the group began to integrate due to the shared traditions of the leadership, not because of any genetic relationship. What is important, as Walter Pohl argues, is that this theory is able to supersede past theories of biologically transmitted ethnicity, an important concern to many Continental scholars.4 One of the criticisms of Traditionskern theory is the perceived impossibility of transmission of ethnic identity over more than a handful of generations. This view, proposed by Walter Goffart, places the distant past for the early medieval barbarians as three generations, or barely a half-century before their own times. He argues that any ethnic memory prior to that point can no longer be personal, instead requiring some sort of external source, either written or as a ritual survival. He is able to demonstrate that many of the accepted origins of barbarian ethnic groups have little basis in reality, as the only written records of them are from long after the chain of historical memory would have failed.5 Some historians, notably Charles R. Bowlus, argue that the entire concept of ethnogenesis is more sociological than historical, and that it is impossible to make assumptions regarding what people during that period thought of their own ethnic identity without any textual proof. He points out that most proponents of the Traditionskern theory work with larger barbarian groups, such as the Goths and Lombards,

Walter Pohl, Ethnicity, Theory and Tradition: A Response in On Barbarian Identity: Critical Approaches to Ethnicity in the Early Middle Ages, ed. Andrew Gillett (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2002), 221-223. (Collection hereafter cited as Gillett) 5 Walter Goffart, Does the Distant Past impinge on the Invasion Age Germans? in Gillett, 21-24. 5

which occupy a relatively major position in the written record. When the assumptions of this theory are applied to other groups without the benefit of such sources, parts of the theory become untenable.6 While much of the research in ethnic identity once implied a Germanic replacement of an earlier Roman culture, more recent work has been able to highlight a Roman core to the early medieval kingdoms. This was first proposed by Herwig Wolfram in his history of the Goths, supported by Patrick Geary in his work on the Frankish kingdom and expanded upon by Walter Pohl in several articles.7 By the time barbarians (and one will notice that they are no longer Germanic, as that assumes a consistent identification with modern Germans through the intervening centuries) were on the verge of establishing kingdoms on imperial territory, most had lived along or within the imperial borders for generations. In addition, most of these barbarians had participated in the Roman state as soldiers and occasionally administrators. The successor states to the empire, in many ways, were built on an essentially Roman foundation, and not only because they counted among their subjects those of Roman or Gallic origins. This interaction is implied by most recent works supporting the Traditionskern ethnogenesis theory; in many parts of the Empire, those people whose ancestors considered themselves Romans were subsumed into

Charles R. Bowlus, Ethnogenesis: The Tyranny of a Concept in Gillett, 241-246. Herwig Wolfram. History of the Goths. trans. by Thomas J. Dunlap. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), Patrick Geary. Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), Walter Pohl, Introduction: The Empire and the Integration of Barbarians, in Walter Pohl, ed. Kingdoms of the Empire: The Integration of Barbarians in Late Antiquity. The Transformation of the Roman World, ed. Ian Wood, vol. 1. (Leiden: Brill, 1997), and Walter Pohl, Introduction: Strategies of Distinction, and Telling the Difference: Signs of Ethnic Identity in Walter Pohl and Helmut Reimitz, eds. Strategies of Distinction: The Construction of Ethnic Communities, 300-800. The Transformation of the Roman World, ed. Ian Wood, vol. 2. (Leiden: Brill, 1998).
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other ethnic identities. The barbarians, for their part, had been helped along to this point by the Romans, whose existence gave them a basis for their own self-identity.8 This relatively smooth evolution of Western European societies from imperial Roman to barbarian is the basis of Walter Goffarts thesis in Barbarians and Romans.9 He argues that it is impossible for the barbarians to have set up stable kingdoms so quickly without retaining some sort of Roman organization. In discussing the sources regarding the settlements of barbarian groups (mostly, the variae of Cassiodorus), Goffart believes that they could not have been as disruptive as previous scholarship has portrayed them, taking land away from the established landowners, because there are few records of any protest to the terms of settlement. Rather than actively settling the barbarians on their own land, the Romans allowed the tax system to evolve in order to accommodate the barbarians in Italy and Gaul, allowing them to act as tax collectors from the major landowners in return for financing defense. Given their military nature, this would not have been a stretch.10 Goffarts theory, in turn, is subject to criticism from Wolf Liebeschtz, who offers a different interpretation of the same sources. He argues that there is no conclusive evidence for Goffarts claims, and does find a few sources that refer explicitly to the granting of land to the barbarian settlers. He also believes that the small size of the groups involved (the Goths under Theodoric, who were settled in Italy in the late 5th century, probably

The American scholar most associated with the Traditionskern school, Patrick Geary, summed this up in his book Before France and Germany, which he opens with the statement: The Germanic world was perhaps the greatest and most enduring creation of Roman political and military genius. Patrick Geary. Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). 9 This is not to say that Goffart agrees with the Traditionskern theorists like Pohl and Geary. In his introduction to this work, he criticizes them for their reliance on questionable narratives of ethnic origins composed in the centuries following the large-scale settlement of barbarians in the empire. 10 Walter Goffart, Barbarians and Romans A.D. 418-584: The Techniques of Accommodation. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), 8-9. 7

numbered around 25,000 men).11 Another important issue to deal with regarding barbarian interaction with Romans is their conversion to Catholic Christianity. Historians tend to believe that Christianity was the vehicle for much of the Romanization of the barbarians, from the Latin language and Roman culture, to Roman law and political systems. In essence, as the Mediterranean world was broken up by the events of the early medieval period, a sense of Roman-ness survived in Western Europe.12 Up to this point, most of the discussion has centered on either textual analysis or theoretical sociology as they apply to the period of late antiquity. However, much of the current work in this area, even that of historians, is aided by archaeological research. Because of their emphasis on material objects rather than historical texts, archaeologists are not limited to researching literate societies. As a result, a much wider range of cultures can be studied, especially when one considers that very little was written about barbarian groups before they came into contact with the Romans. Archaeological evidence can help determine the identity of groups as they might have seen it, regardless of their level of verbal communication, by looking at similarities in artifacts between sites and drawing conclusions as to how these show crossinfluences.13 Drawing on this, several histories of particular ethnic groups have been written recently, utilizing archaeological evidence for many of their conclusions. One notable scholar in this

Wolf Liebeschtz, Cities, Taxes and the Accommodation of the Barbarians in Walter Pohl, ed. Kingdoms of the Empire: The Integration of Barbarians in Late Antiquity. The Transformation of the Roman World, ed. Ian Wood, vol. 1. (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 146. 12 Richard Fletcher, The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity. (New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1997), 2. 13 An excellent introduction to the role archaeology can play in the research on identity is provided in the first chapter of Peter S. Wells, Beyond Celts, Germans and Scythians: Archaeology and Identity in Iron Age Europe. Duckworth Debates in Archaeology vol. 4, Ed. Richard Hodges. (London: Duckworth, 2001), 13-19. 8

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aspect is Peter Heather, whose studies of the Goths incorporate a great deal of archaeological research done by the Soviets in present day Poland, Ukraine and Romania, the heartland of Gothic culture before many settled in the Roman Empire. Archaeology has allowed the narrative history of these groups to be extended back over a century, while questioning the Roman division of the Goths into Visigothic and Ostrogothic, as well as Jordanes account of their Scandinavian heritage.14 Neil Christie has performed a similar service for the history of the Lombards/ Longobards, a later arrival in Western Europe, by showing the archaeological evidence for their presence along the Elbe in the first century.15 One of the challenges for this sort of research is the difficulty in connecting archaeological sites with historical cultures as described in the texts. In the case of the Goths, it is easier due to the large area of continuity between the archaeological culture and Gothic territory as described by Roman authors. However, in regions with greater archaeological variation as well as records of multiple ethnic groups, such as the area that is modern Germany, there is a great deal of difficulty in separating the groups. Also, given that archaeology as a discipline can usually only deal with long periods of time, it is hard to label specific events based on archaeological discoveries. As a result, it is impossible to be entirely sure when assigning ethnic identities in this manner.16 Throughout much of the research on ethnic identity in late antiquity and the early medieval period, there are some continuities. The amount of work done so recently in this area For an overview of this research, see Peter Heather, The Goths. The Peoples of Europe, vol. 17, ed. James Campbell and Barry Cunliffe. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1996) and Peter Heather and John Matthews, The Goths in the Fourth Century. Translated Texts for Historians, vol. 11. (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1991). 15 Neil Christie, The Lombards: The Ancient Langobards. The Peoples of Europe, vol. 9, ed. James Campbell and Barry Cunliffe. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995) 1-5. 16 Sebastian Brather, Ethnic Identities as Constructions of Archaeology in Gillett, 152, 174. 9
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makes it rather unique; in not much more than a single generation, the debate has evolved considerably. This is due not just to the work of historians, but also sociologists, archaeologists and anthropologists. The debate continues, as many of the leading figures are still researching and publishing. Indeed, the next few years will probably see the completion of the Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology series, and, doubtless, the publication of a number of other pertinent monographs and compilations.

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General Histories Some of these works discuss a much wider range of topics than just barbarians. For example, the Cambridge Ancient History is a basic collaborative work discussing the post-Constantine Roman Empire. It is notable in this study for Peter Heathers article on the Goths and Huns. Most of the other works listed here tend to present either overviews of specific geographical areas or concentrate on one aspect of late antique and early modern society, either economic or political. Two of these concentrate on the history of ethnic identity studies in Europe. Patrick Gearys The Myth of Nations includes a chapter discussing the various conceptions (and misconceptions) of national identities since the medieval period before going on to present his views on ethnic identity. Karl Leysers article discusses the roots of the medieval idea of Europe (possibly the antithesis to national identity) in late antiquity. Brown, Peter. The World of Late Antiquity AD 150-750. London: Thames and Hudson, 1971. Cameron, Averil and Peter Garnsey, eds. The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. XIII: The Late Empire, A.D. 337-425. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Doehaerd, Rene. The Early Middle Ages in the West: Economy and Society. trans. by W. G. Deakin. Europe in the Middle Ages: Selected Studies, ed. Richard Vaughan, vol. 13. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company, 1978. Fleckenstein, Josef. Early Medieval Germany. trans. by Bernard S. Smith. Europe in the Middle Ages: Selected Studies, ed. Richard Vaughan, vol. 16. Amsterdam: NorthHolland Publishing Company, 1978. Geary, Patrick. The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002. La Rocca, Cristina, ed. Italy in the Early Middle Ages 476-1000. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Leyser, Karl J. Concepts of Europe in the Early and High Middle Ages. Past and Present, No. 137, The Cultural and Political Construction of Europe (Nov., 1992): 25-47. McKitterick, Rosamond, ed. The Early Middle Ages: Europe 400-1000. The Short Oxford History of Europe, ed. T. C. W. Blanning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Mitteis, Heinrich. The State in the Middle Ages: A Comparative Constitutional History of Feudal Europe. Trans. by H. F. Orton. North-Holland Medieval Translations, Vol. 1, ed. Richard Vaughan. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Co., 1975. Wickham, Chris. Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society 400-1000. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, 1989.

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Barbarian Populations before and during the Migration Period One glance at most of these titles is enough to give an idea of their position in the ethnic identity debate. Among these are classics in the study of barbarian societies, such as Wolframs History of the Goths and Pohls Die Germanen, along with Lucien Mussets The Germanic Invasions. Several are volumes in the Peoples of Europe series, and therefore provide an introduction to the literature without contributing much to the various debates on identity. Some utilize various interdisciplinary approaches, such as archaeological and sociological emphases in Lotte Headeagers Iron Age Societies and Peter Heather and John Matthews The Goths in the Fourth Century, which brings together archaeological and anthropological texts discussing pre-migration Gothic society. Christie, Neil. The Lombards: The Ancient Langobards. The Peoples of Europe, vol. 9, ed. James Campbell and Barry Cunliffe. Oxford: Blackwell, 1995. Hedeager, Lotte. Iron Age Societies: from tribe to state in Northern Europe, 500BC to AD 700. trans. by John Hines. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992. Heather, Peter. The Goths. The Peoples of Europe, vol. 17, ed. James Campbell and Barry Cunliffe. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1996. Heather, Peter and John Matthews. The Goths in the Fourth Century. Translated Texts for Historians, vol. 11. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1991. James, Edward. The Franks. The Peoples of Europe, vol. 3, ed. James Campbell and Barry Cunliffe. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1988. Lund, Allan A. Die ersten Germanen: Ethnizitt un Ethnogenese. Heidelberg: Winter, 1998. Musset, Lucien. The Germanic Invasions: The Making of Europe AD 400-600. trans. by Edward and Columba James. London: Paul Elek, 1975. Pohl, Walter. Die Germanen. Enzyklopdie deutscher Geschichte, Bd. 57. Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 2000. Todd, Malcolm. The Early Germans. The Peoples of Europe, vol. 7, ed. James Campbell and Barry Cunliffe. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992. Todd, Malcolm. The Northern Barbarians: 100 BC- AD 300. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1975, rev. 1987. Ulrich, Jens. Barbarische Gesellschaftsstruktur und rmische Aussenpolitik zu Beginn der Vlkerwanderung : eine Versuch zu den Westgoten 365-377. Bonn : R. Habelt, 1995. 12

Wells, Peter S. Beyond Celts, Germans and Scythians: Archaeology and Identity in Iron Age Europe. Duckworth Debates in Archaeology vol. 4, Ed. Richard Hodges. London: Duckworth, 2001. Wolfram, Herwig. History of the Goths. trans. by Thomas J. Dunlap. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. Barbarians and Romans: Reaction and Assimilation These works cover multiple aspects of Roman-barbarian interaction. Some, including Walter Goffarts Barbarians and Romans, Peter Heathers Goths and Romans and Herwig Wolframs The Roman Empire and its Germanic Peoples, tend towards a general treatment of the subject, discussing several different areas in which Romans and barbarians influenced each other. Others show the influence of Roman political and legal systems on barbarian societies, both before and after settlement. The rest tend to explore one specific aspect of society, as in religion (see Fletchers The Barbarian Conversions and Russells The Germanization of Early Christianity for different approaches to this) or language (Greens Language and History in the Early Germanic World discusses the effect of Latin on Germanic languages). Burns, Thomas S. Rome and the Barbarians 100 B.C.- A.D. 400. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. Drew, Katherine Fischer. Law and Society in Early Medieval Europe: Studies in Legal History. London: Variorum Reprints, 1998. Fletcher, Richard. The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1997. Gillett, Andrew. Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West, 411-533. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 4th series, vol. 55, ed. D. E. Luscombe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Goffart, Walter. Barbarians and Romans A.D. 418-584: The Techniques of Accomodation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980. Green, D. H. Language and History in the Early Germanic World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Heather, Peter. Cassiodorus and the Rise of the Amals: Genealogy and the Goths under Hun Domination. The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 79 (1989): 103-128. Heather, Peter. Goths and Romans 332-489. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.

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Heather, Peter. The Huns and the End of the Roman Empire in Western Europe. The English Historical Review, Vol. 110, No. 435 (Feb., 1995): 4-41. Leibeschuetz, J. H. W. G. Barbarians and Bishops: Army, Church, and State in the Age of Arcadius and Chrysotom. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990. Little, Lester K. Romanesque Christianity in Germanic Europe. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 23, No. 3, Religion and History (Winter 1993): 453-474. Mathisen, Ralph and Danuta Shanzer, eds. Society and Culture in Late Antique Gaul: revisiting the sources. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2001. Randsborg, Klavs. Barbarians, Classical Antiquity and the Rise of Western Europe: An Archaeological Essay. Past and Present, No. 137, The Cultural and Political Construction of Europe (Nov., 1992): 8-24. Russell, James C. The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity: A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Wolfram, Herwig. The Roman Empire and its Germanic Peoples. Trans. by Thomas Dunlap. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1990. Settled Populations/ Post-Imperial Kingdoms While many of these works seem to be logical extensions of the works in the previous category, they are separated by their emphasis on the era after Imperial power had all but disappeared in the West and various kingdoms, often built around barbarian leaders, had arisen to maintain order. While a few look at multiple regions, such as Katherine Fischer Drews article, which specifically calls for such a macrohistorical approach, and Richters The Formation of the Medieval West, which discusses the role of oral culture in the formation of post-Roman states. The others tend to discuss one single geographic area or barbarian group (as can be seen from an examination of the titles). Patrick Gearys Before France and Germany provides an in-depth look at many of the issues he would draw on in his later work (listed above) The Myth of Nations. Amory, Patrick. People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489-554. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 4th series, vol. 33, ed. D. E. Luscombe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Daly, William M. Clovis: How Barbaric, How Pagan? Speculum, Vol. 69, No. 3 (Jul. 1994): 619-664. Drew. Katherine Fischer. Another Look at the Origins of the Middle Ages: A Reassessment of the Role of the Germanic Kingdoms. Speculum, Vol. 62, No. 4 (Oct., 1987): 803-812.

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Fouracre, Paul. Merovingian History and Merovingian Historiography. Past and Present, No. 127 (May, 1990): 3-38. Geary, Patrick. Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. King, P. D. Law and Society in the Visigothic Kingdom. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, vol. 5, ed. Walter Ullmann. Cambridge: The University Press, 1972. Lewis, Archibald. The Dukes in the Regnum Francorum. A.D. 550-751. Speculum, Vol. 51, No. 3 (Jul., 1976): 381-410. McKitterick, Rosamond. The Frankish Kings and Culture in the Early Middle Ages. Variorum Collected Studies Series. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Variorum, 1995. Moisl, Hermann. Lordship and Tradition in Barbarian Europe. Studies in Classics, vol. 10. Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen, 1999. Pearson, Kathy Lynne Roper. Conflicting Loyalties in Early Medieval Bavaria: A View of Socio-Political Interaction 680-900. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1999. Richter, Michael. The Formation of the Medieval West: Studies in the Oral Culture of the Barbarians. New York: St. Martins Press, 1994. Compilations/ Series Much of the recent work in this field, especially that of European scholars, has been published in compilation volumes, notably the two major series Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology (series edited by Giorgio Ausenda) and Transformation of the Roman World (series edited by Ian Wood) along with a number of independent collections. Andrew Gilletts historiographical introduction to his volume On Barbarian Identity is especially worth noting, as it presents a clear discussion of the various theories that have dominated the ethnic identity debate. Others present papers grouped around a more specific topic, either ethnic (Ferreiro) or geographic (Drinkwater and Elton). The Little and Rosenwein compilation covers a much wider time period, but does contain articles by several well-known participants in the ethnicity debate, notably Walter Goffart and Walter Pohl. Bowersock, G. W., Peter Brown and Oleg Grabar, Eds. Interpreting Late Antiquity: Essays on the Postclassical World. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2001. Davies, Wendy and Paul Fouracre, eds. Property and Power in the Early Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

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Drinkwater, John and Hugh Elton, eds. Fifth-century Gaul: a crisis of identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Ferreiro, Alberto, Ed. The Visigoths: Studies in Culture and Society. The Medieval Mediterranean: Peoples, Economies and Cultures 400-1453, ed. Michael Whitby et al., vol. 20. Leiden: Brill, 1999. Gillett, Andrew, Ed. On Barbarian Identity: Critical Approaches to Ethnicity in the Early Middle Ages. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2002. Little, Lester K. and Barbara H. Rosenwein, eds. Debating the Middle Ages: Issues and Readings. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1998. Murray, Alexander Callander, ed. After Romes Fall: Narrators and Sources of Early Medieval History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998. Reuter, Timothy, ed. The Medieval Nobility: Studies on the ruling classes of France and Germany from the sixth to the twelfth century. Europe in the Middle Ages: Selected Studies, ed. Richard Vaughan, vol. 14. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company, 1979. Ridyard, Susan J. and Robert G. Benson, eds. Minorities and Barbarians in Medieval Life and Thought. Sewanee Medieval Studies, vol. 7. Sewanee, TN: University of the South Press, 1996. Sawyer, P. H. and Ian N. Wood, eds. Early Medieval Kingship. Leeds: University of Leeds, 1977. Shennan, Stephen, ed. Archaeological Approaches to Cultural Identity. One World Archaeology, vol. 10. London: Routledge, 1994. Smyth, Alfred P., ed. Medieval Europeans: Studies in Ethnic Identity and National Perspectives in Medieval Europe. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave, 1998. Webster, Leslie and Michelle Brown, eds. The Transformation of the Roman World AD 400900. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.

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Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology: This series is intended to present an interdisciplinary approach to the study of postRoman populations in Europe. The Center for Interdisciplinary research sponsors an annual conference in San Marino that brings together archaeologists, anthropologists and historians into a common discussion about various Germanic peoples. Each volume is the result of a single conference, and contains the papers presented at that conference, along with the transcribed discussion that followed each presentation. After the first conference, which produced After Empire, the contributions focused on more specific groups. This is an ongoing project, and more volumes are in the publishing process, notably on the Continental Saxons, Ostrogoths and Langobards. Ausenda, Giorgio, ed. After Empire: Towards an Ethnology of Europes Barbarians. Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology, ed. Giorgio Ausenda, vol. 1. San Marino: Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Stress, 1995. Heather, Peter, ed. The Visigoths from the Migration Period to the Seventh Century: An Ethnographic Perspective. Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology, ed. Giorgio Ausenda, vol. 4. San Marino: Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Stress, 1999. Wood, Ian, ed. Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian Period: An Ethnographic Perspective. Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology, ed. Giorgio Ausenda, vol. 3. San Marino: Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Stress, 1998. Transformation of the Roman World: This series of compilations grew out of scholarly conferences organized by the European Science Foundation during the 1990s. Their intention is to help integrate the study of late antiquity and early medieval Europe, as well as to challenge the various national schools of thought that have dominated past studies of ethnic identity. While not as explicitly stated as in the Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology series, there is an interdisciplinary component to the works included in these volumes as well. Corradini, Richard, Max Diesenberger and Helmut Reimitz, eds. The Construction of Communities in the Early Middle Ages. The Transformation of the Roman World, ed. Ian Wood, vol. 12. Leiden: Brill, 2003. De Jong, Mayke and Frans Theuws, eds.. Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages. The Transformation of the Roman World, ed. Ian Wood, vol. 6. Leiden: Brill, 2001. Goetz, Hans Werner, Jrg Jarnut and Walter Pohl, eds.. Regna and Gentes: The Relationship between Late Antique and Early Medieval Peoples and Kingdoms in the Transformation of the Roman World. The Transformation of the Roman World, ed. Ian Wood, vol. 13. Leiden: Brill, 2003.

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Pohl, Walter, ed. Kingdoms of the Empire: The Integration of Barbarians in Late Antiquity. The Transformation of the Roman World, ed. Ian Wood, vol. 1. Leiden: Brill, 1997. Pohl, Walter and Helmut Reimitz, eds. Strategies of Distinction: The Construction of Ethnic Communities, 300-800. The Transformation of the Roman World, ed. Ian Wood, vol. 2. Leiden: Brill, 1998. Pohl, Walter, Ian Wood and Helmut Reimitz, eds. The Transformation of Frontiers from Late Antiquity to the Carolingians. The Transformation of the Roman World, ed. Ian Wood, vol. 10. Leiden: Brill, 2001. Theuws, Franz and Janet L. Nelson. Rituals of Power: From Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages. The Transformation of the Roman World, ed. Ian Wood, vol. 8. Leiden: Brill, 2001.

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