THE CAMBRIDGE MEDIEVAL HISTORY I 109
The Emergence of the Goths
7-10. The Emergence of the Goths
From this time onward begins a period of incessant fighting with the Teutons of the Rhine country: with the Alemans in the south and the Franks in the north The weakness and exhaustion of the Empire caused by inner dissensions becomes manifest. If Postumus succeeded in keeping the Roman possessions on the Gaulish bank of the Rhine essentially intact, his immediate successors were less successful. The country was left defenceless, and large portions of it were plundered and drained of their resources. Probus indeed, whose short reign (276~282) is a ray of light in these gloomy times, succeeded in clearing them out of Gaul, and even ventured to assume the offensive on the upper Rhine, in a brilliant campaign forcing the Alemans back to the further side of the Neckar. But such successes were but temporary. Only in the Lime of Diocletian does a durable improvement on the Rhine frontier set in, an improvement which was maintained for the next two or three generations.
During this period a third set of invaders, in addition to the Franks and Alemans, appeared towards the close of the century in the Saxons, the terror of the British and Gaulish coasts. In the main, however, Gaul was suffered to enjoy peace; and with peace returned prosperity. Meanwhile on the shores of the Euxine, there emerges a people with whose name the world was to ring for centuries, the Goths.
Their original home had been, it would appear, in Scandinavia, and after their migration to the German Baltic coast they had at first established themselves about the estuary of the Vistula, then in course of time they had moved further southward along the right bank of that river, so that at the beginning of our era they appear as far south as the neighbourhood of the Bohemian kingdom of the Marcomanni. How long they remained in this region we do not know, but it is not unlikely that their eastward migration falls about the time of the great Marcomannic war. We are equally ignorant of the time occupied by this migration and the details of its progress; the only thing certain is that it reached its close not later than c. 230-240.
The territory where the Goths at last took up their abode embraced the whole of the northern coast of the Black Sea In the east it was separated by the Don from that of the Alani, in the west it bordered on the tract of country northward of the Danube Delta and the Dacian frontier which had been settled four hundred years earlier by the Bastarnae and the Sciri. Here the Goths divided into two sections soon after their immigration, that dwelling more to the west being known as the Tervingi, "the inhabitants of the forest region," while the eastern division was known as the Greutungi, "the inhabitants of the Steppes." For the former the name Visigoths (Vesegoti) came into use, at latest c. 350, for the latter the name Ostrogoths, designations however of which the meaning is not absolutely certain, although "the western Goths" and "the eastern Goths" was an interpretation already known to Jordanes. The boundary between them was formed by the Dniester.
Before long there appear alongside of them other Germanic peoples, the Gepidae, Taifali, Borani, Urugundi, and Heruli. The two first of these had some original link of connexion with them. The Gepidae indeed appear in the Gothic legend of their migrations as an actual part of the Gothic nation. Whether they migrated to the Black Sea region at the same time as the Goths, or followed them later, must remain an open question.
Towards the end of the reign of Severus Alexander (222-235) the first indications of the appearance on the northern shores of the Black Sea of a new and powerful barbarian race, of a most warlike temper, had already become manifest, when the Greek towns of Olbia and Tyras fell victims to the sudden descent of an unknown enemy from the North. A little later, under Gordian III (238-244), its name is found. In the spring of 238 Gothic warbands marched southwards, crossed the Danube with the connivance of the Dacian Carpi and broke into the province of Lower Moesia, where they captured and plundered the town of Istrus.
The Procurator of the province, Tullius Menophilus (238-241), being unable to repel the invasion by force of arms, induced the Goths to retire by the promise of a yearly subsidy. But by 248 they had renewed their attacks on the Roman frontier in alliance with the Taifali, Asdingi, and Bastarnae. Under the leadership of Argaith and Gunterich their bands again broke into Lower Moesia, assailed without success the fortified town of Marcianople and plundered the unfortunate province again.
But these first exploits of the Goths were completely thrown into the shade by the great invasion of Roman territory made at the beginning of 250 by the half-legendary King Kniwa at the head of a powerful army. While the Carpi flung themselves upon Dacia, the Gothic attack was directed as before upon Moesia. Thence a strong detachment pressed onward over the undefended passes of the Balkans into Thrace, laid siege to Philippopolis, and even despatched a plundering party into Macedonia. One division of the Gothic army, after vainly assaulting Novae and Nicopolis, was defeated in the neighbourhood of the latter town by the Emperor Decius in person, but this success was immediately counterbalanced by a reverse The Goths, while retiring southwards by way of Berofe (Augusta Traiana), the present Eski-Zaghra, on the southern slope of the Balkans, defeated the Roman troops who were pursuing them. After this battle the victorious Goths effected a junction with their countrymen who were investing Philip- popolis, and that city fell into their hands.
The Romans, however, were now making extensive preparations, in view of which the barbarians began their retreat. Decius, eager to wipe out the failure at Beroe, sought to bar their path, and, in the hope of inflicting a crushing defeat upon them, engaged them, near Abrittus, about 30 miles south-east of Durostorum (Silistria) in June 251. The day, which began well for the Romans, ended in a fearful disaster, a great part of their army was destroyed, and the Emperor himself and one of his sons were among the slain. The country from which the barbarians had just retired now lay once more defenceless before them. They were finally bought off by the promise of a yearly subsidy.
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