The Merovingians and Ostrogoths of 507-554
Posted: 2009-11-18 11:17am
Background:
Lately I have been trying to read up on western europe and the period of the early Merovingians. mostly between the Battle of Vouillé in 507 and the Gothic warof 535-554.
So far most of it has been just getting the grasp of things using the internet to see who is connected to who and the wheres and whens. But then when trying to find good sources on the era I find that very few "new" books cover this period and if they do they are usually french translations. Which makes me a bit suspicious of a nationalistic bias for the Salian Franks.
So first and foremost I am looking for good books (or websites) that cover the era.
After that I have been running into some questions and some things which I thought was myth and not fact. So I wondered if someone could help me finding the answers to some of these questions?
1) What is the big deal with the frankish throwing axe? There are a lot of references to it, but I was under the impression that this is something which was widely used by all the teutonic tribes of this era. Like the Angles/Jutes/Saxons. Would the franks employ them in a specific way that was unique? Or was it the quantity that the franks had them in that was unique?
2) I have difficulties getting good description of the frankish tactics of the era. Anything I found is about later tactics by Charlemagne or later Merovian tactics.
One thing that I have read startled me since I thought that it was a myth and that is when they defeat the saxons it is mentioned that the franks used their horses in battle but that the saxons only used them for logistics. But I think that I have seen mentions of a saxon cavalry so that must be false right?
3) What happened to the vandals? They go from a major force in 450-475, then they decline into some third rate punching toy by the 520's. Was it only the personal ineptitude of Thrasamund or is there some greater scheme I am missing? Is it the rise of the berbers? I could not find any reliable sources to this.
4) How big a deal is the imprisonment and death of pope John I by Theodoric and the forced appointment of Pope Felix IV?
Lately I have been trying to read up on western europe and the period of the early Merovingians. mostly between the Battle of Vouillé in 507 and the Gothic warof 535-554.
So far most of it has been just getting the grasp of things using the internet to see who is connected to who and the wheres and whens. But then when trying to find good sources on the era I find that very few "new" books cover this period and if they do they are usually french translations. Which makes me a bit suspicious of a nationalistic bias for the Salian Franks.
So first and foremost I am looking for good books (or websites) that cover the era.
After that I have been running into some questions and some things which I thought was myth and not fact. So I wondered if someone could help me finding the answers to some of these questions?
1) What is the big deal with the frankish throwing axe? There are a lot of references to it, but I was under the impression that this is something which was widely used by all the teutonic tribes of this era. Like the Angles/Jutes/Saxons. Would the franks employ them in a specific way that was unique? Or was it the quantity that the franks had them in that was unique?
2) I have difficulties getting good description of the frankish tactics of the era. Anything I found is about later tactics by Charlemagne or later Merovian tactics.
One thing that I have read startled me since I thought that it was a myth and that is when they defeat the saxons it is mentioned that the franks used their horses in battle but that the saxons only used them for logistics. But I think that I have seen mentions of a saxon cavalry so that must be false right?
3) What happened to the vandals? They go from a major force in 450-475, then they decline into some third rate punching toy by the 520's. Was it only the personal ineptitude of Thrasamund or is there some greater scheme I am missing? Is it the rise of the berbers? I could not find any reliable sources to this.
4) How big a deal is the imprisonment and death of pope John I by Theodoric and the forced appointment of Pope Felix IV?
