Between 350 and 750, western Europe underwent a profound transformation. The Roman empire, which had dominated the ancient world for more than half a millennium, collapsed. The last Western Roman emperor was deposed in 476, while new peoples competed with the Roman population and with each other. Gothic tribes traveled across the empire to found kingdoms in France, Spain, and Italy. They were driven in turn by the nomadic Huns, whose power expanded dramatically from the east and disappeared just as suddenly. The Franks advanced from the banks of the Rhine River to carve out the only early Germanic kingdom which laid the foundation for a modern country. And in Britain, the Anglo-Saxons moved into the vacuum left by the Roman collapse to settle the lands that would become England. Historian David Gwynn traces the entangled stories of these four remarkable peoples, each of which interacted in different ways with the Roman empire and its legacy and together shaped the history of Christian Europe and Western civilization.

Gwynn is an associate professor in ancient and late antique history at Royal Holloway in the University of London and author of several books, including The Goths: Lost Civilizations and Christianity in the Later Roman Empire: A Sourcebook.

Session Information

The Huns

Few peoples in history are as important and yet as mysterious as the Huns, nomadic horsemen who appear abruptly in Roman sources shortly after 350 when they attacked the Goths north of the Black Sea. The Huns first drove Germanic peoples over the imperial frontiers and then—led by Attila, the greatest Hun of all—attacked the Roman empire directly. Attila’s sudden death led to civil war, however, and Hun power collapsed as swiftly as it had emerged. Citing Roman and Gothic writers who feared the Huns and their nomadic lifestyle, Gwynn explores the debates surrounding Hun origins, culture, and ethnic identity and considers what made the Huns so dangerous but their power so short-lived.

Additional Sessions of the Rivals and Inheritors Course

• March 4: The Goths
• March 18: The Franks
• March 25: The Anglo-Saxons

General Information

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