DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
(180 - 476 AD)
180 - 284 AD - The military especially the elite Praetorian Guard made and unmade (murdered) emperors. PERIOD OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC INSTABILITY.
284 - 305 - EMPEROR DIOCLETIAN (reforms to preserve the Empire) - He was a peasant from Illyria (Yugoslavia) who became a general.
1. Persecution of the Christians
2. Oriental Despotism - Emperor legislated by decree.
3. Bureaucratization and Militarization of the Empire.
4. TETRACHY - Diocletian shared the power with another Augusti and 2 Caesars. The Empire was too vast for one man to rule so he reorganized it. No precise division into 4 parts, however.
5. Diocletian imposed taxes on land based on productivity. He also imposed taxes on trades and professions. The municipal councils (curia) were responsible for collecting the taxes. If they did not collect the taxes the curiales had to pay the taxes.
6. Edict on Prices to control prices, i.e., inflation. It had to be annulled.
7. He resided in the East and visited Rome once. Shift to the EAST.
305 - 324 - Period of civil war between Augusti and Caesars.
324 - 337 - EMPEROR CONSTANTINE is victor and sole ruler of Rome.
1. He uses Christianity to support imperial rule.
2. 313 - Edict of Milan grant religious toleration to Christians.
3. Oriental Despotism
4. Constantine extended Diocletian's Bureaucracy. There were 12-14 Dioceses ruled by vicarius (vicars). The dioceses were subdivided into 120 provinces ruled by governors. The military was seperate from civilian rule. The governors did not command the armies. The armies were commanded by duces (leaders or dukes). Governors could not lead rebellions. Municipal councils were the foundation of the Empire. The curiales served now under compulsion as it was difficult to get people to serve on the municipal councils (curia) since they were responsible for paying unpaid taxes.
5. Members of trade groups were grouped into corpora (corporations or guilds). Changing a profession or trade was very difficult. To guarantee services, occupations were made hereditary. The coloni, or free farmers, were bound to the soil (like medieval serfs.
6. Opressive taxation. Taxes were collected in kind, e.g., grain not money.
7. Constantine moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium, renamed Constantinople. It survived until 1453, then became Istanbul.
324 - 395 - One emperor over Western and Eastern parts of the Empire
379 - 395 - Emperor Theodosius
1. He outlawed pagan religion, closed pagan temples and made Christianity the official religion of the Empire.
2. He continued the previous policioes of Oriental Despotism, bureaucratization and militarization of the Empire, oppressive taxes, hereditary occupations and binding the coloni to the land in self-sufficient villas (like medieval manors).
395 - After the death of Theodosius, Roman Empire split into Western and Eastern (Byzantine) parts.
476 - Ostrogoth warlord, Odoacer, deposed the last Emperor in the West in Ravenna. Eastern Empire (Byzantium) survived until Turkish conquest in 1453 (Constantinople).
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