commit opportunistic, small-scale invasions around the Empire’s edges.
Emboldened by the success of his distant relatives, Alaric, king of the Visigoths, attacked Italy. Although he was defeated in battle twice by the legendary Roman general Flavius Stilicho, he survived and remained a threat to the Empire. The Emperor Honorious actually moved the Empire’s capital from Rome to the distant city of Ravenna out of fear. Foolishly, he also had Stilicho executed on trumped-up charges of plotting a coup. With his formidable adversary out of the picture, Alaric invaded Italy and his men laid siege to Rome in 410. Rather than fight, Honorious offered to pay the Visigoths to leave. Alaric accepted and gave the Romans 300 slaves as a sign of goodwill.
The Romans accepted the slaves and then refused to pay. In a move as cunning as the more famous Trojan Horse ruse, the Visigoth “slaves” then fought their way to the Salarian Gate and let their allies into the walled city—and the sack of Rome began. The Visigoths looted Rome for three days.
Although they didn’t take all that much, the Visigoths’ raid had a profound effect on the Empire. Rome, the Eternal City, had been safe from invaders for 800 years. But after its sacking by the Visigoths, barbarian raiders started pouring in and the Empire started to disintegrate.
However, the Goths had their own problems. Constantly attacked by neighboring tribes, they struggled to survive. The Ostrogoths were eventually defeated and absorbed by the Longobards in Italy in 568, while the Visigoths were beaten and dispersed by the Ummayyads in Spain in 711.
Later Europeans, particularly in Spain and Sweden, claimed to be descendants of Goths, but they really didn’t exist as an identifiable people after the eighth century.
While the Goths undeniably have a place in history for their part in the fall of the Roman Empire, few people really identify with them anymore. It’s not as though teenagers dress up in barbarian finery when they call themselves Goths. In fact, the word “Goth” was for many centuries an insult, suggesting a lack of refinement or intellect—a barbaric mentality, quite the opposite of how today’s “Goths” like to view themselves.
The word’s meaning has changed over the centuries, like many do, as a result of ignorance and, in this case, something of a scam. Horace Walpole was an eighteenth century English nobleman, politician, poet and architect. He called his broad, strong architectural style “gothic,” to differentiate it from the much more detailed neo-classical style that was popular in his time. His style didn’t have much in common with what the Goths actually built (virtually none of which still existed by his time), but few people questioned the authenticity of the term. Besides, Walpole’s buildings looked old, and gothic was a cool, old-sounding word, so it stuck.
Walpole had clearly grown attached to the name, because when he wrote his first novel, The Castle of Otranto, in 1764, he described it as “gothic.” Walpole said he had found a long-forgotten Italian manuscript dating from 1529 in a library of an “ancient Catholic family in the North of England.” He said he had meticulously translated the story, which itself was a retelling of a far older story from the days of the barbarians, and released it as a “gothic” novel. A long, violent tale that involved prophecy, ghosts, monsters and other supernaturalia, The Castle of Otranto was also heavily laden with eroticism and sexual innuendo.
Not surprisingly, it was a huge success and went into many printings. Although Walpole later relented and admitted he had written the book, it didn’t make much difference. The addictive blend of supernatural violence mixed with subtle eroticism had already become known as the gothic style.
Walpole’s success launched countless imitators and, even centuries later, many are inspired by his style. But the best known gothic novel is, of
Emboldened by the success of his distant relatives, Alaric, king of the Visigoths, attacked Italy. Although he was defeated in battle twice by the legendary Roman general Flavius Stilicho, he survived and remained a threat to the Empire. The Emperor Honorious actually moved the Empire’s capital from Rome to the distant city of Ravenna out of fear. Foolishly, he also had Stilicho executed on trumped-up charges of plotting a coup. With his formidable adversary out of the picture, Alaric invaded Italy and his men laid siege to Rome in 410. Rather than fight, Honorious offered to pay the Visigoths to leave. Alaric accepted and gave the Romans 300 slaves as a sign of goodwill.
The Romans accepted the slaves and then refused to pay. In a move as cunning as the more famous Trojan Horse ruse, the Visigoth “slaves” then fought their way to the Salarian Gate and let their allies into the walled city—and the sack of Rome began. The Visigoths looted Rome for three days.
Although they didn’t take all that much, the Visigoths’ raid had a profound effect on the Empire. Rome, the Eternal City, had been safe from invaders for 800 years. But after its sacking by the Visigoths, barbarian raiders started pouring in and the Empire started to disintegrate.
However, the Goths had their own problems. Constantly attacked by neighboring tribes, they struggled to survive. The Ostrogoths were eventually defeated and absorbed by the Longobards in Italy in 568, while the Visigoths were beaten and dispersed by the Ummayyads in Spain in 711.
Later Europeans, particularly in Spain and Sweden, claimed to be descendants of Goths, but they really didn’t exist as an identifiable people after the eighth century.
While the Goths undeniably have a place in history for their part in the fall of the Roman Empire, few people really identify with them anymore. It’s not as though teenagers dress up in barbarian finery when they call themselves Goths. In fact, the word “Goth” was for many centuries an insult, suggesting a lack of refinement or intellect—a barbaric mentality, quite the opposite of how today’s “Goths” like to view themselves.
The word’s meaning has changed over the centuries, like many do, as a result of ignorance and, in this case, something of a scam. Horace Walpole was an eighteenth century English nobleman, politician, poet and architect. He called his broad, strong architectural style “gothic,” to differentiate it from the much more detailed neo-classical style that was popular in his time. His style didn’t have much in common with what the Goths actually built (virtually none of which still existed by his time), but few people questioned the authenticity of the term. Besides, Walpole’s buildings looked old, and gothic was a cool, old-sounding word, so it stuck.
Walpole had clearly grown attached to the name, because when he wrote his first novel, The Castle of Otranto, in 1764, he described it as “gothic.” Walpole said he had found a long-forgotten Italian manuscript dating from 1529 in a library of an “ancient Catholic family in the North of England.” He said he had meticulously translated the story, which itself was a retelling of a far older story from the days of the barbarians, and released it as a “gothic” novel. A long, violent tale that involved prophecy, ghosts, monsters and other supernaturalia, The Castle of Otranto was also heavily laden with eroticism and sexual innuendo.
Not surprisingly, it was a huge success and went into many printings. Although Walpole later relented and admitted he had written the book, it didn’t make much difference. The addictive blend of supernatural violence mixed with subtle eroticism had already become known as the gothic style.
Walpole’s success launched countless imitators and, even centuries later, many are inspired by his style. But the best known gothic novel is, of
Similar Books
