Under the Vandals. In the Vandal kingdom of Africa the position of the Romans was much less favorable. They were treated as conquered subjects, and, as under the Goths, intermarriage between them and the conquering race was prohibited. In the province of Zeugitana (old Africa), where the Vandal settlement occurred, the Roman landowners were completely dispossessed and their estates turned over to new proprietors. The coloni and other tenants, however, remained on the soil, and the Vandal landlords entrusted the management of their properties to Roman stewards. Elsewhere the Romans were undisturbed in their possessions.
The Roman administrative territorial divisions were retained, but the regions settled by the Vandals stood outside of these and had a separate organization. Here the Vandals preserved their tribal divisions of hundreds and thousands. The administration of justice for the Vandals was in the hands of their own officials and according to their customary laws; for the Romans it rested with their previous authorities in accordance with Roman law but under the supervision of the Vandal king.
The Vandal kingdom was a strongly centralized monarchy. This led to the development of a nobility based on employment in the imperial service. The African climate and the sudden acquirement of wealth which enabled them to enjoy all the luxurious extravagance of Roman life in the upper classes of society soon produced an enervating effect upon the northern conquerors. On the other hand, although they were completely lacking in political rights, the Roman agricultural population of Africa felt the rule of the Vandals to be less oppressive than that of the Roman bureaucracy.
Under the Ostrogoths. In Italy, Odovacar had maintained the Roman administrative system in its entirety and Theoderic continued his policy. He made no attempt to found a new state but regarded himself as one of the rulers of the Roman empire. In 497 he asked [pg 371]and received from Anastasius the symbols of imperial power which Odovacar had sent to Constantinople upon the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476. From this time the Gothic king may be regarded as a colleague of the eastern emperor. Not merely did he retain the Roman administrative organization but all his civil officials were Romans. He published an edict which constituted a code of law applicable to Goths and Romans alike. So thoroughly Roman was Theoderic’s administration that even the army was open to Romans, who are found among his prominent generals.
The Ostrogoths received assignments of land in Italy but it seems probable that there was no confiscation of private property, one third of the state lands being allotted for this purpose. Ravenna was the royal residence and center of government, but the Roman Senate exercised a great deal of influence and until the later years of his reign cordially supported the authority of Theoderic.
The Burgundians and the Franks. The Burgundians in the Rhone valley effected their settlement like the Visigoths according to the system of hospitium. In general their relations with the Roman population were peaceful, intermarriage between the two peoples was sanctioned, and the Burgundian kings showed themselves appreciative of Roman culture. Gundobad, who reigned from 473 to 516, issued both a code of Burgundian laws and the Burgundian Roman Law (Lex Romana Burgundionum) which applied to his Roman subjects and also to the Burgundians in their disputes with Romans. The Franks in the course of their advance to the Seine had annihilated the Roman population of northern Gaul. However, in the region between the Seine and the Loire they left the Romans in undisturbed possession of their property, the Frankish kings making no distinction between their Frank and Roman subjects.
The religious question. In addition to racial differences, there was also a religious line of demarcation between the Goths, Vandals and Burgundians on the one hand, and the Roman population on the other. The Goths and neighboring Germanic peoples had been converted to Christianity in the latter half of the fourth century, largely through the missionary activities of Ulfila, who translated the Bible into Gothic. However, they had been won to the Arian and not the Nicaean creed, and consequently were regarded as heretics by the orthodox Romans, who never became reconciled to rulers of another confession than themselves. This hostility led frequently to govern[pg 372]ment intervention and persecution. But in this respect the policy of the several Germanic kingdoms varied under different rulers.
In general the Visigoths pursued a policy of toleration, leaving the orthodox clergy undisturbed except when the latter were guilty of disloyalty in giving support to outside enemies. At the time of their settlement in Zeugitana the Vandals confiscated the property of the orthodox church in that province and turned it over to their own Arian clergy. Elsewhere in Africa the Catholics remained unmolested during the reign of Gaiseric but were persecuted by his successors. In the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy Theoderic, although an Arian, gave complete freedom to the orthodox church throughout the greater part of his rule. However, his policy changed when the eastern emperor, Justin, began to persecute the Arians within his dominions in 523 A. D. The ban upon Arianism found support among the Romans in Italy, particularly among the orthodox clergy and the senators. This caused Theoderic to suspect that the emperor’s action had been stimulated by a faction in the Roman Senate, and led to the execution of Boethius and other notables on the charge of treason. Realizing the effect that the imperial proscription of Arianism would produce upon the relations of his Roman and Gothic subjects, Theoderic sent a delegation, headed by the bishop of Rome, to Constantinople to secure the annulment of the anti-Arian decree. When he failed to attain this, he resolved upon a general persecution of the Catholics which was forestalled, however, by his death in 526 A. D.
The Burgundians were also Arians, and this prevented their winning the loyal support of the orthodox clergy, who, however, recognized the authority of the Burgundian kings. Although Sigismund, the son of Gundobad, who came to the throne in 516, was converted to orthodoxy, it was too late to heal this religious breach before the fall of the Burgundian power.
Unlike their neighbors, the Visigoths and Burgundians, the Franks were pagans when they established themselves upon Roman territory and remained so until toward the close of the fifth century. In 496 the Frankish king Clovis was converted to Christianity, and to the orthodox, not the Arian, belief, a fact of supreme importance in his relations with the other Germanic peoples in Gaul.