Abstract
THE CIVILIZATION of Western Europe in the period generally known as the Middle Ages was a blend of the civilization of the Late Roman Empire and the civilizations of various peoples whom the Romans called barbarians. The term “Late Roman Empire” is used here to designate the state formed in the early fourth century by Diocletian and Constantine the Great. The institutions of the Roman Empire as founded by Augustus (31 B.C.–A.D. 14) had changed almost beyond recognition by the year 284, when Diocletian (A.D. 284–305) became emperor. He and his successor Constantine (A.D. 306–37) created a new empire that bore little resemblance to the old. It was the civilization of this new empire that merged with those of the barbarian peoples, chiefly Celts and Germans, to form mediaeval civilization. In this chapter we shall examine these civilizations, Roman, Celt, and German, as the background for the Middle Ages. No attempt will be made to describe them completely. We shall simply glance at those features that were to be of importance in the history of Western Europe during the Middle Ages.
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Bibliography
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