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It hurts me to see how the Roman (later on the Italians) demolished the ruins mostly themselves to use for other buildings. But then again, when we put everything into perspective. Life was really hard, especially in the first 500 years after the fall of the Roman Empire. Rome was reduced to a population of only 30k people. I'm sure a lot of them would find it a shame to see the buildings fall further into ruin, but we cannot forget how harsh their lives were. They weren't going to go to a mine 50 kilometers away for stone for new houses or churches when you have a Roman ruin next door. Also, such things were simply impossible back then. Trade had largely fallen away. People didn't have the time or money or even the manpower for such things. So they took the easiest route and that was using the ruins.
You should make a video about the extent to which medieval Italians were aware of Italy's grand Roman past, and how they perceived their ancient ancestors' culture.
Not during the dark Ages I think put in the medieval time people in Italy and in the city of Rome itself became very aware of the political past especially of the popular freedoms that they thought pertained in the republican era -actually a Roman commune was established when the papal government was evicted and the thinker and reformer Arnold of Brescia came to Rome and argued for the ancient liberties.Later Cola di Rienzi did the same thing -set up a republic with himself as tribune -got defeated eventually.It is a subject of a novel by Bulwer-Litton and early opera by Wagner -the score of which Hitler always had near him including in the bunker where he died.I think Hitler took inspiration from Rienzi's struggle but ironically ended up like him in a blazing inferno.
And both Arnold of Brescia who has a statue to his memory in his native city of Brescia and Cola di Rienzi were seen as heroes and models by the Italians of the 19th century Risorgimento which resulted in the abolition of papal secular power (Except for the tiny Vatican!) the expulsion of the foreign occupiers (Austrians) and the unification of Italy under the house of Savoy from Piedmont-Sardinia.
A lot of nuance to any answer. First of all, what period are we talking? Not only does ‘medieval’ itself cover tons of territory, who was a medieval ‘italian’ who might have cared to know? Italy in the age was not the Italy of the post social war period. Beside the inner elite with an increasingly dubious claim to some senatorial lineage that got traded between ravenna and constantinople and the neu elite of the church the Lombard elite after about 600 are the most likely and have the most interest to really care as it enhanced their prestige. Then it wasn’t really about the greatness of the common heritage but about the greatness of some lineage. Communities of more or less self identified slavs, bulgars, mostly-germanic peasants, berbers, and arabs really didn’t seem to identify with that heritage much, and quite to the contrary, especially in the case of the latter. Keep in mind too that the embrasure of the christian church (especially the proto-Catholic) created a new perspective on Rome, very compelling at the time. People saw Rome as a wicked pagan power that was only great by virtue of its conquest by the faith, which was an illustration of the glory and power of God. I don’t have a complete answer for you, but those are major trends I see limiting that sense in people, at least in the early (550-1000?) medieval period.
The Amalfi merchants thought themselves as romans, they were rich and their republic was the first medieval city state to have gold coins, Napoli, Gaeta and Sorrento were important too and the 4 would defend Rome from the saracens in the Battle of Ostia in 849, these Duchies, and especially Amalfi, would keep using Roman Law
@@YoungOddo every king, emperor in antiquity was a despot who committed many crimes by modern standards of morality and would end up in the The Hague tribunal. That is just a simple fact, it doesn't take away the good things they (at least some of them) also did.
Also, the language, devoid of any formal education as in olden times, gave way to the myriad of simplified italian dialects which became incomprehensible just by travelling a bit away from your town. Literacy was extremely rare, and people wrongly accuse the Christian church for it, but in really it was the zeitgeist.
Indeed! The variance between regional dialects must have been immense in those days. A village near Rome probably have a dialect quite removed from one only a few days' travel away. Even today, the difference between regional Italian dialects is profound.
This was always the case. The people of Italy who adopted Latin originally spoke a plethora of different languages, and continued to during Roman times.
The population of Rome adjourned to the Campus Martius because the aqueduct there was entirely underground and was never cut. That water flows to today and feeds the Trevi fountain.
I think that this specific period, when people were living in the ruins, is probably one of my favorite historical eras, the *hinge* between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Absolutely fascinating. Also, I hope you've played Assassin's Creed Valhalla. The setting is exactly what you describe.
Hello Sir, yes, that era is absolutely fascinating. It must have been so sad, yet also so mystical to live among the old mighty ruins of a grand, past civilization. Of course, as a history and antiquity nerd, I played AC Origins, Odyseey and of course also Valhalla :)
@@Maiorianus_Sebastian What did you think about the worldbuilding in AC Valhalla? Was the mix of ruins and new lower-tech constructions done in a historically credible way? What differences should there be for it to be accurate? To me it certainly felt very enticing to explore, I think their early-middle-ages Britain is my favorite world exploration experience in a long time. I'm really curious to know your take! Heck, you could even make a video about the last 3 games! 🙃😁
Fascinating but also very depressing time to read about. From the Roman/Byzantine perspective it's just a series of "and then it got worse" from there on until the 800's.
I always wondered why the temples or palaces weren’t occupied instead of being left to ruin; but you have shown from Majorianus to Charlemagne the difficulty/impracticality of such feats. The knowledge would be forgotten from such few people retaining it (inevitably going to the Roman Church) and the lack of need from what few people are around. Dark ages 😔
Intresting fact of Italy after the fall of Rome to modern era. Italy went from Roman rule, to Gothic rule, to Eastern Roman empire rule, Lombard rule, frankish rule, holy roman empire rule, Norman rule in the south, Spanish rule in the south, napoleonic rule in the 19th century. Italy was part of different empires since the Roman empire. Intresting thing about Italy is the north and South dividr that these empires caused.
Divide that has also been greatly intensified since the foundation of the Kingdom of Italy, and which is inevitably influenced by geography anyway, the largest plain in the country being located in the north
Pretty weird think that the byzantines and germans called themselves "romans" and took control of the city who gave them that name but never restored it.
@@octaviogutierrez9158The Franks didn't call themselves Romans, and the Byzantines were Romans, and they did work on restoring Rome and Italy. Obviously, between 600-750, they had far greater problems.
I wonder whether the medieval inhabitants of Rome ever looked at the ruins that surrounded them, pondering what life must have been like when those aqueducts flows, grain shipments arrived and when the colosseum echoed with the sounds of thousands of voices. They must have wiped away a tear, shook their heads and thought to themselves "boomers...." Sorry, I couldn't resist XD
I read that the Lombards were quite as vicious as were the Alamanni and Goths initially, and the remaining latin Italians fled for their lives to the coast fearing massacres or enslavement. Thousands made their way to behind the walls of Rome, but the refugees soon fanned out along the coast in search of sustenance, and eventually inland as the rule of the Lombards softened. Looking forward to your commentary on the evolution of the 'Longobards'.
These videos continue to be impressive! Well done! You are providing great information that I never learned in my long years of schooling. I always wondered why such a glorious city was allowed to fall into utter ruin. It saddens me to think of just how incredible Roma was, and how the long collapse of the West was truly tragic.
Hello Thomas, thanks a lot for your kind words, I am so happy to see that many people are as fascinated by this era, as I am. I was also always wondering how such a tragedy could be allowed to happen, and only after I read many books on the topic, a clearer picture emerged. The times were very dark, but from those ashes we emerged, and our modern civilization.
It's interesting you mention the flooding of the Tiber, I'm curious how the countryside had changed after the Roman Empire fell. Recall the Romans had to deal with a geography of largely Malarial swamps in Italy, later when Italy was reunified in the 1800's lakes like Fucine were successfully drained building directly over early Imperial canals. They even purportedly had a particularly deadly strain referred to as Roman Fever.
Idk why but I find Rome during the Middle Ages to be really interesting. Shame that even in the last 300 years, most ruins of Roman grandeur no longer exist.
Roman Citizen 1#: "Jesus! Look what those barbarians have made to our Sacred City" Roman Citizen 2#: "Do not worry. Our brother from the East sure will come here soon and kick those savages out..." *Meanwhile, in Constantinople* Byzantine Soldier: "Excuse me, Caesar, but when are you going to initiate the invasion of the occupied Italy?" Leo II: "Meh. Some day, maybe. Anyway, I have more important things to do right now, so leave me alone" *Continues with his sun bathing*
There were quite a few churches built in Rome at about that time. They are small, one of them has a bent ceiling, but they are still there. I was wondering who built them and where did they get the means to do that among all that ruin.
I love this channel...by far one of my favorites! This episode is without a doubt one of the saddest to watch due to the stunning collapse of the Roman society that once existed in antiquity and that was completely forgotten during the Middle Ages....truly the dark ages during that time.
Hello Amicus, thanks a lot for the kind words :) Yes indeed, it is really sad to talk about this topic, in many ways it is the death of an old civilization, but fascinatingly, from the ashes of this civilization, we arose and all our modern states.
Brillant video! I always have mixed feelings when watching your work. On one hand, it’s fascinating but on the other so depressing to see the mighty Rome in such decay.
Hello gordonsh24 :) Thanks so much for watching my latest video and for your kind words! Your support really means the world to me. And I totally understand your mixed feelings about the late Roman Empire, because I often feel exactly the same when I am making videos on this topic. But the fall of Rome is just too fascinating not to explore all the aspects of it ;)
I wished Theodoric I would be crowned as Western Roman Emperor, with he had been heavily Romanized as a justification. Whether you ethnicity and religion was, you could be considered as a Roman if you adopted it's customs. The Romano-Britions, ancestors of modern British population was an example: They originally were Celts.
I completely agree, Theoderich did reign as a Western Roman Emperor, and could be almost considered one in many regards. The Ostrogothic kingdom would probably have transformed over 100 more years into a new Western Roman Empire. But alas, the tragedy of the Gothic wars destroyed that dream :/ We can now only think of what would have been.
Excellent transition piece! But what we are interested in is seeing what happened or what existed just prior to the Renaissance in Italy, when literally scholars were years or even days away from losing major literature classics and were scavenging bits of architecture and artworks from the ruins, not even knowing what those ruins once were.... 1300 to 1450....
Great stuff - really interesting hearing about the transition from the fallen Roman Empire into later periods! Not many people covering this in detail, and it's captivating stuff!
"I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble" - Augustus - I found Rome a city of marble and turn it a city of rubble. - Justinian 😥 - Was it worth it? No - What it cost you? Everything
As a teen, Justinian impressed me. I grew up realizing he really was not great in the practical sense. He was simply a beneficiary of Eastern emperors before him and he squandered long-range opportunities throughout his reign and didn't heed natural calamities to adapt.
@@ruufusdeleon1264 Justinian it's often hailed as the apogee of the Eastern Roman empire, and in a sense it was, but all that expansion did not pay off and was simply not worth, the original Roman empire was divided for a reason, it was simply to big for one person to rule, and try to reform it in the rule of a single emperor was a truly ambitious feat but still a unhealthy megalomania from a administrative point of view, you could justify the reconquest of North Afrika from the vandals, since the province was very lucrative and could pay for itself, but the obsession and the costs of the Ostrogotic wars was not healthy, justinian cannibalized the eastern frontier with the sassanid empire and open the door for them to invade again in the future, it destabilized the Levant, and drained the coffers of the empire, by the end of Justinian reconquest the empire clearly overextended itself, the armies were spread too thin and to make matters worse the justinian plague hit at the worst possible time, making the ability of the romans to control this territories even more questionable; by the time Emperor Maurice ascended to the throne the empire was bankrupted because of justinian wars, then the cursed Phokas started his rebellion, killed maurice and sparks a 30 years war against the sassanids, Heraclius rise to defend the empire and both fought each other to the point of exaution with no gains, only the borders back to the status quo, then both extremely weakened became impotent to react against the rising muslims. Justinian and his wars of reconquest were a white elefant that started a domino effect that eventually threw the empire into a dark age and a path of decadence that would take centuries to stabilize.
@@ruufusdeleon1264 Also, he dicked around one of the greatest military commanders of the ancient world, Bellisarius. I can forgive Justinian a lot, but not for messing with my boy Bellisarius - the Erwin Rommel of the Eastern Roman Empire
Amazing content, you've earned a new subscriber. I have always wondered about Medieval Rome. So much is put on the classical period and the eventual revival of the city during the Renaissance, that this period is always glanced over. Thank you.
A special shout-out to all the people who recently donated to us via Super Thanks 🤗: 🧡 @Aaron Flynn 🧡 @Robert 🧡 @Gary Worthington 🧡 @howtorideahorse 🧡 @Franz Nowak 🧡 @(Ἰάσων) Sobek Lord of the Four Corners 🧡 @michael porzio 🧡 @David Batlle Thank you so much for your generous support and for believing in us 🙏 Your host, Sebastian
Amazing video! Can we see more Rome a little bit later? After 800 until maybe like 1200? Would love to see how the city developed under the control of the Papacy!
no, the destruction of italy in the early middle ages is a very painful moment in history, the culmination of too much apathy and bad decisions from the romans that destroyed a very advance civilization, it must be a lesson to us.
@@histguy101Under the ostrogoths, Rome continued as if nothing happened, just a change in leadership. They still restored buildings and cleaned the place up. Justinian from Constantinope led a Byzantine roman army to take back the old city and in the process many buildings and monuments were destroyed or lost. After they succeeded, there was no more money for restoration or building projects, so everything progressed further into ruin and the city pretty much never recovered.
@@prince_cypruseven Eastern Roman will not take back italy from ostrogoths others will take it like the ever Growing Franks why because the Goths ( both Ostro & Visigoths are Arians Christians) Remember both Merovingians & Carolingians Franks are ardent Catholic believers just look what they did to Lombards/Burgundian Arians & Pagans Saxons they utterly Destroyed them .
I visited the ancient monastery at Bobbio (central Italy) where they have a stone carrying a Latin inscription from about 800 AD. I was astonished at the carving of the lettering, which was of a quality that matched the inscriptions from Imperial Rome, and which wasn't reached again in Northern Europe until the "High Middle Ages" of the 12th / 13th Century. Some arts from the old Roman civilization were carried right through the centuries in Italy, to a large extent in the Christian monasteries that flourished during the "Dark Ages".
@@CarloRossi54523 But northern Italy isn't in Northern Europe. St Columbanus from Ireland (which is in north-western Europe, ancient Rome calling it Hibernia) founded the monastery of Bobbio in the late 7th century. Bobbio is one of the places where the Celtic monastic tradition of northern Europe encountered the Roman monastic tradition of St Benedict of Nursia, which was already at that time a principal mover of saving the cultural legacy of Rome. The cross-fertilization of these two traditions was one of the things that gave birth to the high Middle Ages, at least in Northern Europe.
@@andrewg.carvill4596 I know the place and its history. When I was a child sometimes I went there with my family and bathed with my cousins under the Devil's bridge.
In the Mid of 2. Century (before Antonine Plague), the Italian Peninsula had 12 Million People, 1 Million of them in Rome. 500 Years later only 4 Million in General are left, 20.000 of them in Rome.
Actually Rome though smaller looked clean : the old buildings were demolished for the precious materials (especially the marbles and the columns) as soon they were about to decay, they didn't build in wood (too expensive) but in rough stone covered with mosaics (the new top medium) and frescoes. It is true that theatres were covered with houses but they most often still were used as theatres with the houses being luxury ones and serving as loggias : that is the origin of the operas with balconies. It is true that Rome turned former forums into gardens but in general these gardens were surrounded by quality religious architecture and inspired the construction of cloisters. Germanic kings had a Swiss-like mentality as regards cleanliness. Another reason why ruins were not tolerated is that the catholic regime would leave behind no proof that things were grander before they took over. Most of the fields of ruins appeared during the Renaissance and the classical age as medieval and byzantine constructions were systematically demolished in a much more stubborn will to erase the past, and because the new monuments erected during the Renaissance were built with materials plundered from former monuments that were no longer replaced or repurposed. No picture from the Middle Ages represents ruins (though quite a few of them were detailed : they represent Rome with gardens and cloister-like constructions) while it is a main theme of classical painting.
You're whole tryade about the church intentionally destroying ruins is simply completely untrue. At various points they harvested stones from ruins, but in Rome itself the church was responsible for protecting the ruins. Just as an example, the Papacy passed laws protecting the coliseum from looters and built supports to prevent it from falling
@@jackwalters5506 For the Coliseum you are right : it was well preserved during the Middle Ages though modified. But during the Renaissance they decided that the marbles it contained should be better used building Saint Peters.
These reminds me of The Foundation saga, when the former Galactic Empire capital, Trantor, was a mere farm world and the techlogical leftovers were sold. Yes, I know that Asimov wrote it using Edward Gibbons' job about the fall of Rome as a reference
This is about the time that Venice was founded, no? It would be interesting to see a video about that, since it essentiallu became THE italian city in the middle ages.
Were there 'Dark Ages' in Italy let alone Rome between Justinian and Charlemagne*? Rome in AD 600 was still recognisably the Rome of AD 400, though with a much-reduced population - the wealthy for the most having gone to their villas, Ravenna or Constantinople, the poor had returned to the land (if they survived the wars raging about them and could find work - to replace the long gone slaves) or they turned the abandoned parts of the city to new uses. It was the Rome of AD 800 that looked like a shell, or a neglected devastation area (which it was), so the city that Charlemagne entered had returned to its modest size when it was built of timber and stone, the gold and marble having largely been stripped away (for use elsewhere) - nonetheless, Pope Adrian I repaired the Aqua Virgo in the 700s (it was this that Nicholas V restored and remodelled in the 1400s: Acqua Vergine); yet even in the darkest period of Rome's decline, when the Pornocracy ruled, Rome was still rather lively with history, politics, literature, visitors, raiders and contacts. ;o) * The answer is no, not quite, for the genuine obscure period came between the elevation of Pope Sergius III and the death of Pope John XII - a 'dark' period indeed amid the various (at times well recorded) dark deeds around the papacy.
Before Belisarius appeared before the walls of Rome, the city was already a pale shadow of its former self. A lot of the infrastructure had fallen into a state of disrepair. There was very little incentive to maintain the city once the capital had been moved to Ravenna in the dying days of the Western Empire.
@@mikewiltshire9121 The imperial capital had been moved to Trier, Thessalonica, Chalcedon/ Nicea and Milan before Ravenna, and of course Constantinople too. Yes, the infrastructure of Constantinian Rome had decayed and fallen in disrepair .. because - no one wanted to use it, let alone pay for its upkeep (just to make the place look better). The long decaying Rome of AD 400 differed from the Rome of long decayed Rome in AD 600 chiefly in having been knocked about quite a bit under periodic sackage, andJustinian's efforts to add Rome/ Italy back into his directly taxable income domain. The Rome of Charlemange, AD 800, differed from that of Justinian for the most part in having become what it actually was .. a backwater city with a past - but now also, oddly enough knowing this remnant at least was to have a future (of sorts); not yet so conspicuously grand in consumption and display - but a good deal more important in its independence - for Europe at large - than it had become (under the Lombard and Byzantine visions of it). Rome was once more what it had been, a fairly natural magnet and depot for the Western reaches of the Italian peninsula. It never had been an Antioch, Alexandria or Constantinople; that is it did not naturally control access to a global commercial market - it thrived or fumbled by manipulating the flow of those markets. Tourism, civil service jobs, and embassy attracting work (at the papal court, for instance) was and is at the heart of its employed/ employable infrastructure, in 400, 600, 800 and 1800 AD down to today 2023 CE. ;o)
New populations in Italian peninsula marked the end of the common mentality with the Eastern Roman Empire , the mentality of the Greekroman civilization.
Restoring the Roman Empire in Europe is very difficult today, but if an intellectual pro Roma Invicta elite was formed with that intent it could be built in Brazil and South America. That land is currupted by weak crooks with no intellectual knowledge, no vision for the future of that civilization, only exploiting that land for money, and the population is stupidfied. Besides, most of the white population are from Italian ancestry of former Roman povincies! Wouldn't it be cool to see restoring Rome even bigger and more powerful than ever!
I'm regarding your content as some of the best on youtube for the history of the Romans! Top quality entertainment I wish I had money to support your channel you're worth it!
_the 'Mystery' of Hyper-Urbanization.. being Too dependent on a large town (capital even).. made people less 'rudimentary' and more capable of working in 'liberal fields of thinking'.. they could afford to import and buy cheaper food from across the Mediterranean.._ *Once Rome tumbled.. you had to make your own food, they became farmers (to Survive Famines & Starvation and Realistic food prices).. every 'Urbanist Roman' had to work on a farm, or live in a homestead.. which is why most of Rome became deserted.. This was the "Mystery" of the so called 'Fall of Every Civilization'.. True Civilization never "Fell".. Rome was just TOO urbanized, and over-reliant on provinces.. for basic resources.* _When the 'graveyolade' ran out.. and they couldn't exploit slaves (anymore).. their 'urban puffing' evaporated, and had to become (or Evolved into) a True Agricultural Society.. previously, before Rome, the Etruscans were a Miner society (⚒️)_
Interesting that churches were the only major buildings still made of stone in early medieval Italy. I wonder if this was this done simply out of respect, or was there thought to be some sort of mystic virtue in stone over wood? The altars of Catholic churches to this day are made of stone, regardless of the overall building materials of a parish church.
Bro I've been watching your videos almost since you started the channel, you should seriously consider switching up on the background music, images and presentation style/tempo as it has gotten too repetitive, at least in my opinion.
@@drutalero2962 I'm still a fan of his content and I think what he teaches is really interesting and valuable. I just think there would be a bigger mass appeal if he added more variety, like more soundtracks etc.
I really love this series. Can you do Cologne around 500 and Carthage at the time of Belisarius. I remember being taught in school that Cologne was the "safe place" in Germania after the Rhine crossings of 406 but that always felt a bit too optimistic.
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Your host, Sebastian
he was killed while having a bath...
that's why we can't have nice things.
It hurts me to see how the Roman (later on the Italians) demolished the ruins mostly themselves to use for other buildings. But then again, when we put everything into perspective. Life was really hard, especially in the first 500 years after the fall of the Roman Empire. Rome was reduced to a population of only 30k people. I'm sure a lot of them would find it a shame to see the buildings fall further into ruin, but we cannot forget how harsh their lives were. They weren't going to go to a mine 50 kilometers away for stone for new houses or churches when you have a Roman ruin next door. Also, such things were simply impossible back then. Trade had largely fallen away. People didn't have the time or money or even the manpower for such things. So they took the easiest route and that was using the ruins.
You should make a video about the extent to which medieval Italians were aware of Italy's grand Roman past, and how they perceived their ancient ancestors' culture.
I’ve thought about that a long time. Big Roman history person here
Not during the dark Ages I think put in the medieval time people in Italy and in the city of Rome itself became very aware of the political past especially of the popular freedoms that they thought pertained in the republican era -actually a Roman commune was established when the papal government was evicted and the thinker and reformer Arnold of Brescia came to Rome and argued for the ancient liberties.Later Cola di Rienzi did the same thing -set up a republic with himself as tribune -got defeated eventually.It is a subject of a novel by Bulwer-Litton and early opera by Wagner -the score of which Hitler always had near him including in the bunker where he died.I think Hitler took inspiration from Rienzi's struggle but ironically ended up like him in a blazing inferno.
And both Arnold of Brescia who has a statue to his memory in his native city of Brescia and Cola di Rienzi were seen as heroes and models by the Italians of the 19th century Risorgimento which resulted in the abolition of papal secular power (Except for the tiny Vatican!) the expulsion of the foreign occupiers (Austrians) and the unification of Italy under the house of Savoy from Piedmont-Sardinia.
A lot of nuance to any answer. First of all, what period are we talking? Not only does ‘medieval’ itself cover tons of territory, who was a medieval ‘italian’ who might have cared to know? Italy in the age was not the Italy of the post social war period. Beside the inner elite with an increasingly dubious claim to some senatorial lineage that got traded between ravenna and constantinople and the neu elite of the church the Lombard elite after about 600 are the most likely and have the most interest to really care as it enhanced their prestige. Then it wasn’t really about the greatness of the common heritage but about the greatness of some lineage. Communities of more or less self identified slavs, bulgars, mostly-germanic peasants, berbers, and arabs really didn’t seem to identify with that heritage much, and quite to the contrary, especially in the case of the latter. Keep in mind too that the embrasure of the christian church (especially the proto-Catholic) created a new perspective on Rome, very compelling at the time. People saw Rome as a wicked pagan power that was only great by virtue of its conquest by the faith, which was an illustration of the glory and power of God. I don’t have a complete answer for you, but those are major trends I see limiting that sense in people, at least in the early (550-1000?) medieval period.
The Amalfi merchants thought themselves as romans, they were rich and their republic was the first medieval city state to have gold coins, Napoli, Gaeta and Sorrento were important too and the 4 would defend Rome from the saracens in the Battle of Ostia in 849, these Duchies, and especially Amalfi, would keep using Roman Law
Augustus' spirit at Middle Ages' Rome: "Look how they massacred my boy..." 😢
that boy had it coming, being a tyrant bully himself
@@Blackadder75 The Caesars did nothing wrong.
@@YoungOddo every king, emperor in antiquity was a despot who committed many crimes by modern standards of morality and would end up in the The Hague tribunal. That is just a simple fact, it doesn't take away the good things they (at least some of them) also did.
@@Blackadder75The Barbaric kingdoms of Germania had all the bad of Rome, and SEVERELY none of the good
Also, the language, devoid of any formal education as in olden times, gave way to the myriad of simplified italian dialects which became incomprehensible just by travelling a bit away from your town.
Literacy was extremely rare, and people wrongly accuse the Christian church for it, but in really it was the zeitgeist.
Indeed! The variance between regional dialects must have been immense in those days. A village near Rome probably have a dialect quite removed from one only a few days' travel away. Even today, the difference between regional Italian dialects is profound.
Dialects by the early middle ages were not separate languages. It would take hundreds of years for them to become mutually unintelligible
This was always the case. The people of Italy who adopted Latin originally spoke a plethora of different languages, and continued to during Roman times.
Wrongly? No. The leaders of an era are responsible for their failures, that's what leadership's about. Especially, when previous eras did better.
The population of Rome adjourned to the Campus Martius because the aqueduct there was entirely underground and was never cut. That water flows to today and feeds the Trevi fountain.
yes, its name is Aqua Virgo or Acqua Vergine in italian.
I think that this specific period, when people were living in the ruins, is probably one of my favorite historical eras, the *hinge* between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Absolutely fascinating.
Also, I hope you've played Assassin's Creed Valhalla. The setting is exactly what you describe.
Hello Sir, yes, that era is absolutely fascinating. It must have been so sad, yet also so mystical to live among the old mighty ruins of a grand, past civilization. Of course, as a history and antiquity nerd, I played AC Origins, Odyseey and of course also Valhalla :)
@@Maiorianus_Sebastian What did you think about the worldbuilding in AC Valhalla? Was the mix of ruins and new lower-tech constructions done in a historically credible way? What differences should there be for it to be accurate? To me it certainly felt very enticing to explore, I think their early-middle-ages Britain is my favorite world exploration experience in a long time. I'm really curious to know your take! Heck, you could even make a video about the last 3 games! 🙃😁
Its like if todays world as we know devolves we would see farms on time square or huts underneath eiffel tower
Fascinating but also very depressing time to read about. From the Roman/Byzantine perspective it's just a series of "and then it got worse" from there on until the 800's.
@@Someone-hd2vuMore like until the late middle ages. Barbarians of Germania, taking advantage of an unprepared Constantinople in 4th crusade....
Maiorianus, you are a great storyteller! If only my history teacher at school had been more like you!
Hello Ibrahim, thank you very much, this is very high praise and I am so happy that people enjoy these videos.
I always wondered why the temples or palaces weren’t occupied instead of being left to ruin; but you have shown from Majorianus to Charlemagne the difficulty/impracticality of such feats. The knowledge would be forgotten from such few people retaining it (inevitably going to the Roman Church) and the lack of need from what few people are around.
Dark ages 😔
Intresting fact of Italy after the fall of Rome to modern era. Italy went from Roman rule, to Gothic rule, to Eastern Roman empire rule, Lombard rule, frankish rule, holy roman empire rule, Norman rule in the south, Spanish rule in the south, napoleonic rule in the 19th century. Italy was part of different empires since the Roman empire. Intresting thing about Italy is the north and South dividr that these empires caused.
Divide that has also been greatly intensified since the foundation of the Kingdom of Italy, and which is inevitably influenced by geography anyway, the largest plain in the country being located in the north
@@nicolamiceli9097 the most famous being commune of Lombardi.
Pretty weird think that the byzantines and germans called themselves "romans" and took control of the city who gave them that name but never restored it.
@@octaviogutierrez9158The Franks didn't call themselves Romans, and the Byzantines were Romans, and they did work on restoring Rome and Italy. Obviously, between 600-750, they had far greater problems.
I wonder whether the medieval inhabitants of Rome ever looked at the ruins that surrounded them, pondering what life must have been like when those aqueducts flows, grain shipments arrived and when the colosseum echoed with the sounds of thousands of voices. They must have wiped away a tear, shook their heads and thought to themselves "boomers...."
Sorry, I couldn't resist XD
I read that the Lombards were quite as vicious as were the Alamanni and Goths initially, and the remaining latin Italians fled for their lives to the coast fearing massacres or enslavement. Thousands made their way to behind the walls of Rome, but the refugees soon fanned out along the coast in search of sustenance, and eventually inland as the rule of the Lombards softened. Looking forward to your commentary on the evolution of the 'Longobards'.
These videos continue to be impressive! Well done! You are providing great information that I never learned in my long years of schooling. I always wondered why such a glorious city was allowed to fall into utter ruin. It saddens me to think of just how incredible Roma was, and how the long collapse of the West was truly tragic.
Hello Thomas, thanks a lot for your kind words, I am so happy to see that many people are as fascinated by this era, as I am. I was also always wondering how such a tragedy could be allowed to happen, and only after I read many books on the topic, a clearer picture emerged. The times were very dark, but from those ashes we emerged, and our modern civilization.
An overwhelming feeling of sadness overcomes me but I can't stop watching.
7:18 constans II. did not "reside" in Rome. He stayed there for just two weeks.
It's interesting you mention the flooding of the Tiber, I'm curious how the countryside had changed after the Roman Empire fell. Recall the Romans had to deal with a geography of largely Malarial swamps in Italy, later when Italy was reunified in the 1800's lakes like Fucine were successfully drained building directly over early Imperial canals. They even purportedly had a particularly deadly strain referred to as Roman Fever.
Idk why but I find Rome during the Middle Ages to be really interesting. Shame that even in the last 300 years, most ruins of Roman grandeur no longer exist.
Roman Citizen 1#: "Jesus! Look what those barbarians have made to our Sacred City"
Roman Citizen 2#: "Do not worry. Our brother from the East sure will come here soon and kick those savages out..."
*Meanwhile, in Constantinople*
Byzantine Soldier: "Excuse me, Caesar, but when are you going to initiate the invasion of the occupied Italy?"
Leo II: "Meh. Some day, maybe. Anyway, I have more important things to do right now, so leave me alone"
*Continues with his sun bathing*
Imagine growing up and your backyard is basically half of an abandoned ancient ruins! That would be so cool to run around in!
There were quite a few churches built in Rome at about that time. They are small, one of them has a bent ceiling, but they are still there. I was wondering who built them and where did they get the means to do that among all that ruin.
I love this channel...by far one of my favorites! This episode is without a doubt one of the saddest to watch due to the stunning collapse of the Roman society that once existed in antiquity and that was completely forgotten during the Middle Ages....truly the dark ages during that time.
Hello Amicus, thanks a lot for the kind words :) Yes indeed, it is really sad to talk about this topic, in many ways it is the death of an old civilization, but fascinatingly, from the ashes of this civilization, we arose and all our modern states.
Brillant video! I always have mixed feelings when watching your work. On one hand, it’s fascinating but on the other so depressing to see the mighty Rome in such decay.
Hello gordonsh24 :) Thanks so much for watching my latest video and for your kind words! Your support really means the world to me. And I totally understand your mixed feelings about the late Roman Empire, because I often feel exactly the same when I am making videos on this topic. But the fall of Rome is just too fascinating not to explore all the aspects of it ;)
I’ve been looking for a video like this for years! Thank you! Connects the dots well haha
I wished Theodoric I would be crowned as Western Roman Emperor, with he had been heavily Romanized as a justification.
Whether you ethnicity and religion was, you could be considered as a Roman if you adopted it's customs. The Romano-Britions, ancestors of modern British population was an example: They originally were Celts.
Or almost all Emperors after Severus
I completely agree, Theoderich did reign as a Western Roman Emperor, and could be almost considered one in many regards. The Ostrogothic kingdom would probably have transformed over 100 more years into a new Western Roman Empire. But alas, the tragedy of the Gothic wars destroyed that dream :/ We can now only think of what would have been.
I love your background music. It is the perfect companion
This is a story not told enough. Often wonder about the decay of the city. This helps, and could become a separate topic for study.
You could do a video about Venice since it was a city since Roman times and how did venetians think about ancient Rome?
Excellent transition piece!
But what we are interested in is seeing what happened or what existed just prior to the Renaissance in Italy, when literally scholars were years or even days away from losing major literature classics and were scavenging bits of architecture and artworks from the ruins, not even knowing what those ruins once were.... 1300 to 1450....
searched on that topic many times, unfortunatelly not many research the subject well on youtube
Great video Sebastian. Good to hear from you again.
Great stuff - really interesting hearing about the transition from the fallen Roman Empire into later periods! Not many people covering this in detail, and it's captivating stuff!
Thanks a lot, Amicus. I am so glad to see that many people share the same fascination with this era.
"I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble" - Augustus
- I found Rome a city of marble and turn it a city of rubble. - Justinian 😥
- Was it worth it? No
- What it cost you? Everything
As a teen, Justinian impressed me. I grew up realizing he really was not great in the practical sense. He was simply a beneficiary of Eastern emperors before him and he squandered long-range opportunities throughout his reign and didn't heed natural calamities to adapt.
@@ruufusdeleon1264 Justinian it's often hailed as the apogee of the Eastern Roman empire, and in a sense it was, but all that expansion did not pay off and was simply not worth, the original Roman empire was divided for a reason, it was simply to big for one person to rule, and try to reform it in the rule of a single emperor was a truly ambitious feat but still a unhealthy megalomania from a administrative point of view, you could justify the reconquest of North Afrika from the vandals, since the province was very lucrative and could pay for itself, but the obsession and the costs of the Ostrogotic wars was not healthy, justinian cannibalized the eastern frontier with the sassanid empire and open the door for them to invade again in the future, it destabilized the Levant, and drained the coffers of the empire, by the end of Justinian reconquest the empire clearly overextended itself, the armies were spread too thin and to make matters worse the justinian plague hit at the worst possible time, making the ability of the romans to control this territories even more questionable; by the time Emperor Maurice ascended to the throne the empire was bankrupted because of justinian wars, then the cursed Phokas started his rebellion, killed maurice and sparks a 30 years war against the sassanids, Heraclius rise to defend the empire and both fought each other to the point of exaution with no gains, only the borders back to the status quo, then both extremely weakened became impotent to react against the rising muslims. Justinian and his wars of reconquest were a white elefant that started a domino effect that eventually threw the empire into a dark age and a path of decadence that would take centuries to stabilize.
@@ruufusdeleon1264 Also, he dicked around one of the greatest military commanders of the ancient world, Bellisarius. I can forgive Justinian a lot, but not for messing with my boy Bellisarius - the Erwin Rommel of the Eastern Roman Empire
Great video as always! Looking forward to the episode regarding Constans II visit
Fascinating as always! 👍👍
Amazing content, you've earned a new subscriber. I have always wondered about Medieval Rome. So much is put on the classical period and the eventual revival of the city during the Renaissance, that this period is always glanced over. Thank you.
Nostalgia. It's not what it used to be... 😊
I feel like I struck gold finding your channel.
A special shout-out to all the people who recently donated to us via Super Thanks 🤗:
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Your host, Sebastian
AVE!!
Amazing video! Can we see more Rome a little bit later? After 800 until maybe like 1200? Would love to see how the city developed under the control of the Papacy!
Mahalo for the shout out! Great episode
Where could I find the artists's impressions of Imperial and mediæval Rome?
A classic on the subject is The Destruction of Ancient Rome by Rodolfo Lanciani. An english version is available both on print and online
What a fascinating topic! Thank you for all the work you put into it!
Do you also make videos about the late Roman period In the Iberian peninsula?
I'm a modern American, and I'm taking notes.
Haha for real
You are wise
Is it weird to feel sad, because that's what a lot of these videos are doing to me.
no, the destruction of italy in the early middle ages is a very painful moment in history, the culmination of too much apathy and bad decisions from the romans that destroyed a very advance civilization, it must be a lesson to us.
This all could happen again to modern civilization. Back to wooden sheds as the sky scrapers of the past fall into ruins.
Bloody hope it does
There is a game by Paradox Entertainment called "Surviving the aftermath".
Interesting to think that the fall of Rome as a city (as it was during the classical period) was not due to barbarians, but due to Romans.
Yes, it was ruined by the other Romans (Byzantine) who spoke Armenian or Greek as their main language.
@@ReviveHF How did they ruin it?
@@histguy101Under the ostrogoths, Rome continued as if nothing happened, just a change in leadership. They still restored buildings and cleaned the place up. Justinian from Constantinope led a Byzantine roman army to take back the old city and in the process many buildings and monuments were destroyed or lost. After they succeeded, there was no more money for restoration or building projects, so everything progressed further into ruin and the city pretty much never recovered.
@@prince_cypruseven Eastern Roman will not take back italy from ostrogoths others will take it like the ever Growing Franks why because the Goths ( both Ostro & Visigoths are Arians Christians) Remember both Merovingians & Carolingians Franks are ardent Catholic believers just look what they did to Lombards/Burgundian Arians & Pagans Saxons they utterly Destroyed them .
I visited the ancient monastery at Bobbio (central Italy) where they have a stone carrying a Latin inscription from about 800 AD. I was astonished at the carving of the lettering, which was of a quality that matched the inscriptions from Imperial Rome, and which wasn't reached again in Northern Europe until the "High Middle Ages" of the 12th / 13th Century. Some arts from the old Roman civilization were carried right through the centuries in Italy, to a large extent in the Christian monasteries that flourished during the "Dark Ages".
Bobbio is northern Italy, but it's a detail
@@CarloRossi54523 But northern Italy isn't in Northern Europe. St Columbanus from Ireland (which is in north-western Europe, ancient Rome calling it Hibernia) founded the monastery of Bobbio in the late 7th century. Bobbio is one of the places where the Celtic monastic tradition of northern Europe encountered the Roman monastic tradition of St Benedict of Nursia, which was already at that time a principal mover of saving the cultural legacy of Rome. The cross-fertilization of these two traditions was one of the things that gave birth to the high Middle Ages, at least in Northern Europe.
@@andrewg.carvill4596 I know the place and its history. When I was a child sometimes I went there with my family and bathed with my cousins under the Devil's bridge.
In the Mid of 2. Century (before Antonine Plague), the Italian Peninsula had 12 Million People, 1 Million of them in Rome. 500 Years later only 4 Million in General are left, 20.000 of them in Rome.
Great work, Sebastian
Thanks Sobek! I am glad you liked this new episode :)
Actually Rome though smaller looked clean : the old buildings were demolished for the precious materials (especially the marbles and the columns) as soon they were about to decay, they didn't build in wood (too expensive) but in rough stone covered with mosaics (the new top medium) and frescoes. It is true that theatres were covered with houses but they most often still were used as theatres with the houses being luxury ones and serving as loggias : that is the origin of the operas with balconies. It is true that Rome turned former forums into gardens but in general these gardens were surrounded by quality religious architecture and inspired the construction of cloisters. Germanic kings had a Swiss-like mentality as regards cleanliness. Another reason why ruins were not tolerated is that the catholic regime would leave behind no proof that things were grander before they took over. Most of the fields of ruins appeared during the Renaissance and the classical age as medieval and byzantine constructions were systematically demolished in a much more stubborn will to erase the past, and because the new monuments erected during the Renaissance were built with materials plundered from former monuments that were no longer replaced or repurposed. No picture from the Middle Ages represents ruins (though quite a few of them were detailed : they represent Rome with gardens and cloister-like constructions) while it is a main theme of classical painting.
You're whole tryade about the church intentionally destroying ruins is simply completely untrue. At various points they harvested stones from ruins, but in Rome itself the church was responsible for protecting the ruins. Just as an example, the Papacy passed laws protecting the coliseum from looters and built supports to prevent it from falling
@@jackwalters5506 For the Coliseum you are right : it was well preserved during the Middle Ages though modified. But during the Renaissance they decided that the marbles it contained should be better used building Saint Peters.
These reminds me of The Foundation saga, when the former Galactic Empire capital, Trantor, was a mere farm world and the techlogical leftovers were sold.
Yes, I know that Asimov wrote it using Edward Gibbons' job about the fall of Rome as a reference
Always sad
AD 536 has repeatedly been called the worst year in human history....
It certainly ranks very high amongst the worst years. Was it really the worst though? Maybe one of the worst we can remember :)
This is about the time that Venice was founded, no? It would be interesting to see a video about that, since it essentiallu became THE italian city in the middle ages.
Man, I'd like to see Irene's reaction when she found out the news.
Were there 'Dark Ages' in Italy let alone Rome between Justinian and Charlemagne*? Rome in AD 600 was still recognisably the Rome of AD 400, though with a much-reduced population - the wealthy for the most having gone to their villas, Ravenna or Constantinople, the poor had returned to the land (if they survived the wars raging about them and could find work - to replace the long gone slaves) or they turned the abandoned parts of the city to new uses. It was the Rome of AD 800 that looked like a shell, or a neglected devastation area (which it was), so the city that Charlemagne entered had returned to its modest size when it was built of timber and stone, the gold and marble having largely been stripped away (for use elsewhere) - nonetheless, Pope Adrian I repaired the Aqua Virgo in the 700s (it was this that Nicholas V restored and remodelled in the 1400s: Acqua Vergine); yet even in the darkest period of Rome's decline, when the Pornocracy ruled, Rome was still rather lively with history, politics, literature, visitors, raiders and contacts.
;o)
* The answer is no, not quite, for the genuine obscure period came between the elevation of Pope Sergius III and the death of Pope John XII - a 'dark' period indeed amid the various (at times well recorded) dark deeds around the papacy.
Before Belisarius appeared before the walls of Rome, the city was already a pale shadow of its former self. A lot of the infrastructure had fallen into a state of disrepair. There was very little incentive to maintain the city once the capital had been moved to Ravenna in the dying days of the Western Empire.
@@mikewiltshire9121 The imperial capital had been moved to Trier, Thessalonica, Chalcedon/ Nicea and Milan before Ravenna, and of course Constantinople too. Yes, the infrastructure of Constantinian Rome had decayed and fallen in disrepair .. because - no one wanted to use it, let alone pay for its upkeep (just to make the place look better). The long decaying Rome of AD 400 differed from the Rome of long decayed Rome in AD 600 chiefly in having been knocked about quite a bit under periodic sackage, andJustinian's efforts to add Rome/ Italy back into his directly taxable income domain. The Rome of Charlemange, AD 800, differed from that of Justinian for the most part in having become what it actually was .. a backwater city with a past - but now also, oddly enough knowing this remnant at least was to have a future (of sorts); not yet so conspicuously grand in consumption and display - but a good deal more important in its independence - for Europe at large - than it had become (under the Lombard and Byzantine visions of it).
Rome was once more what it had been, a fairly natural magnet and depot for the Western reaches of the Italian peninsula. It never had been an Antioch, Alexandria or Constantinople; that is it did not naturally control access to a global commercial market - it thrived or fumbled by manipulating the flow of those markets.
Tourism, civil service jobs, and embassy attracting work (at the papal court, for instance) was and is at the heart of its employed/ employable infrastructure, in 400, 600, 800 and 1800 AD down to today 2023 CE.
;o)
New populations in Italian peninsula marked the end of the common mentality with the Eastern Roman Empire , the mentality of the Greekroman civilization.
Watching made me deeply sad. Great work of narrative and graphics
Mario make a video about the Mexican Romans and their contributions to Roman art culture and military tradition.
Good vídeo,Now Maybe you speak of Rome in Frank Empire,and Modern Age
Now starts the transition from the ruins of the old Rome to the extravaganze of Late Miedieval and beyond.
Restoring the Roman Empire in Europe is very difficult today, but if an intellectual pro Roma Invicta elite was formed with that intent it could be built in Brazil and South America. That land is currupted by weak crooks with no intellectual knowledge, no vision for the future of that civilization, only exploiting that land for money, and the population is stupidfied. Besides, most of the white population are from Italian ancestry of former Roman povincies! Wouldn't it be cool to see restoring Rome even bigger and more powerful than ever!
You should read The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.
8:45 Restoring large urban structures is much cheaper when you own slaves.
I wish someone would make an RPG set here. That would be amazing.
If the total population lived in the Campo Martius how are the people living in other areas explained?
Can you talk about great leaders that ruled Babylon and Macedonia?
I'm regarding your content as some of the best on youtube for the history of the Romans! Top quality entertainment I wish I had money to support your channel you're worth it!
So equivalently we would be now where, maybe 440AD? couple of decades before the big end? or later?
_the 'Mystery' of Hyper-Urbanization.. being Too dependent on a large town (capital even).. made people less 'rudimentary' and more capable of working in 'liberal fields of thinking'.. they could afford to import and buy cheaper food from across the Mediterranean.._
*Once Rome tumbled.. you had to make your own food, they became farmers (to Survive Famines & Starvation and Realistic food prices).. every 'Urbanist Roman' had to work on a farm, or live in a homestead.. which is why most of Rome became deserted.. This was the "Mystery" of the so called 'Fall of Every Civilization'.. True Civilization never "Fell".. Rome was just TOO urbanized, and over-reliant on provinces.. for basic resources.*
_When the 'graveyolade' ran out.. and they couldn't exploit slaves (anymore).. their 'urban puffing' evaporated, and had to become (or Evolved into) a True Agricultural Society.. previously, before Rome, the Etruscans were a Miner society (⚒️)_
the most depressing era in history :.(
Hardly. Today is horrific on a spiritual level.
Except maybe the Late Bronze Age Collapse.
Good info, my family descends from the Frankish people.
Interesting that churches were the only major buildings still made of stone in early medieval Italy. I wonder if this was this done simply out of respect, or was there thought to be some sort of mystic virtue in stone over wood? The altars of Catholic churches to this day are made of stone, regardless of the overall building materials of a parish church.
Hey! Just like Detroit Michigan!
I hope nothing like that happens to our global society today. 🙁
Artist name ????
0:42 Ha. Anyone else see the face they made in North Africa?
The Gothic War was the real start of the Dark Ages for Italy - and all of that just for an ephemeral "restoration"...
Bro I've been watching your videos almost since you started the channel, you should seriously consider switching up on the background music, images and presentation style/tempo as it has gotten too repetitive, at least in my opinion.
Thumbs down bro.
@@drutalero2962 I'm still a fan of his content and I think what he teaches is really interesting and valuable. I just think there would be a bigger mass appeal if he added more variety, like more soundtracks etc.
i completely agree
I think my name is ancient. GAIMARI
Similar to GAIUS MARIUS. What do you think?
Medieval Italian city states
Natural disasters and wars.. two things that have stolen so many of the great wonders of the world.
It's going to be America soon.
rome had 11 aqueducts not 14
I really love this series. Can you do Cologne around 500 and Carthage at the time of Belisarius. I remember being taught in school that Cologne was the "safe place" in Germania after the Rhine crossings of 406 but that always felt a bit too optimistic.
interested introduced
What a catastrophe our once Lenox culture in the u s. Has slowly become this. Now former elite Americans have to look for another apex culture.
Something about your voice sounds like you are underwater. Now that I’ve said it you can’t un-hear it.
All that history for nothing it seems like
Rome wasn't Italy
Right it was Uzbekistan i think or sum
Yes it was. It was in the Italian peninsula.
Rome wasn't depopulated, razed, and repurposed in a day.
Rosica
a gde je keltska imperija?
11:07. Charlemagne was NOT called "Roman Emperor," he was called EMPEROR OF THE ROMANS (Imperator Romanorum). Big difference. Get your facts straight.
Most Roman emperors were titled Emperor of the Romans.
All of these videos are just rehashing the same material.