Barbarians and Bishops: Army, Church, and State in the Age of Arcadius and Chrysostom

340 Pages·1990·0.84 MB·English

by  J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz

Barbarians and Bis·hops

Barbarians and Bishops
Army, Church, and State
in the Age of
Arcadius and Chrysostom
J.
H. W. G. Liebeschuetz
~
CLARENDON PRESS · OXFORD
1990
Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
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Oxford is a trade mark of Oxford University Press
Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press, New York
© J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz I990
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without
the prior permission of Oxford University Press
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Liebeschuetz, J. H. W. G.
Barbarians and bishops: army, church, and state in the
age of Arcadius and Chrysostom
I. Roman Empire, 3 95 -407
I. Title
937'.09
ISBN o-I9-8I4886-o
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Liebeschuetz,]. H. W. G. (John Hugo Wolfgang Gideon)
Barbarians and bishops: army, church, and state in the age of
Arcadius and Chrysostom I ].H. W. G. Liebeschuetz.
Includes bibliographical references.
I. German mercenaries-Byzantine Empire. 2. John Chrysostom,
Saint, d. 407-Adversaries. 3. Byzantine Empire-History-Arcadius,
395-407. I. Title.
DF543·L33 1990 949·f101-dC20 89-37625
ISBN o-19-814886-o
Printed in Great Britain by
Courier International Ltd,
Tiptree, Essex
6L
6/CJ~&-g-ze;
G~//ts
s---3'--90
for my mother
Rachel Liebeschuetz

Preface
While working on the book I have received much help and inspiration
from friends and colleagues. Edward Thompson nourished my
interest in Late Roman barbarians with numerous off-prints. Conversa
tions with Robert Markus were invariably stimulating and encour
aging. I want to thank Timothy Barnes, Maria Cesa, Barrie Jones and
John Matthews for informing me of results of their work. I learnt much
from Peter Heather's still unpublished Oxford D.Phil. thesis.
Conversations with Keith Hopwood about nomads greatly influenced
my views of Germanic warrior bands. Alan Cameron sent me a copy
of his almost complete Barbarians and Politics at the Court of
Arcadius. Richard Schofield, Ruth Rubinstein and Mme Monbeig
Goguel helped with problems of Arcadius' column. I must thank the
Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, the Bibliotheque Nationale,
and the Louvre for giving permission to reproduce drawings from
their collections, and the British Academy for a grant to pay for
photographs. My book owes more to Averil Cameron than is
acknowledged in foot-notes and bibliography. Text and notes were
typed by Adrienne Edwards and Lena Cavanagh. They as well as
Alan Sommerstein did their best to eliminate effects of my careless
ness. I am very grateful to J an et Hamilton for giving her time and
experience to read the proofs. John Cordy encouraged me to persist
with the project and eventually saw the volume through the press
with his well-known thoroughness and insight. My family for many
years shared the house with barbarians and bishops. I am grateful to
all and hope that they will be reasonably pleased with the book they
helped bring into being. Errors and omissions that remain must be
my own.
Nottingham J.H.W.G.L.
August 1989