The Christian Culture Christianitas And Barbarian Cultures Germanitas

The Transitions of Roman Culture (Romanitas) As It Interacted with Christian Culture (Christianitas) And Barbarian Cultures (Germanitas)
Christianity in late antiquity runs from the Christian Roman Empire when Christianity rose under the Emperor Constantine (c. 313) up to the end of the Western Roman Empire (c. 476). The sub-Roman period transition was gradual and occurred at varying times in different places. Therefore, the exact time the period ended is varied. The late ancient Christianity lasted up to the end of the 6th century. On the other hand, Justinian conquests of the Byzantine Empire occurred between 527 and 565. However, in 476, it ended when the last emperor, Romulus Augustus died. Christianity spread from the Roman Judaea without any endorsement or state support. It became Armenia’s state religion in 301 or 314, Georgia in 337 and Ethiopia 325.the The Thessalonica Edict saw it develop into the Roman Empire’s state religion in 380
The Roman Empire persecuted Christians between the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, under the 313 AD Milan Edict and Nero. Licinius and Constantine the Great made Christianity legal in Rome. The state and local government authority were responsible for ad hoc Christians’ persecution in Rome. Persecution of Christians throughout the empire began in 250 AD. It was an indirect impact of Decius, the emperor. The edict had been used for up to eighteen months. During that time, Christians were persecuted and killed while others escaped execution or apostatized. Christianity development and growth were heavily influenced during that time, redefining the theology of Christians, including the early Church structure. The outcome of persecution involved defenses and explanation of Christianity. According to Suetonius:
“Next to the immortal Gods he honoured the memory of the leaders who had raised the estate of the Roman people from obscurity to greatness. . . .
“He always shrank from the title of Lord as reproachful and insulting. When the words ‘O just and gracious Lord!’ were uttered in a farce at which he was a spectator and all the people sprang to their feet and applauded as if they were said of him, he at once checked their unseemly flattery by look and gesture, and on the following day sharply reproved them in an edict. . . .
“The whole body of citizens with a sudden unanimous impulse proffered him the title of Father of his Country . . .” (Suetonius on Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD)).
Licinius legalized Christian worship in 313 when he issued the Milan Edict. He solved a dispute about the controversy of the Donatist in North Africa. He summoned the Nicaea Council to solve the controversy of the Arian and issue the Creed of Nicene. The Creed confirmed a belief in the beginning of Christendom, “One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church.” The rule of Constantine developed a foundation for the Christian Emperor position in the Church. Emperors believed they were responsible to God and their people’s spiritual health. They also saw the need to support and maintain orthodoxy.
However, Constantine did not completely unite Christianity in the Roman Empire. Constantius II, his successor, kept Arian bishops at his court because he was an Arian. He sent orthodox bishops away. Julian (Julian the Apostate), his successor and a philosopher, renounced Christianity for Neo-platonic and mystical paganism form when he became emperor. He altered old pagan beliefs to mimic Christian traditions such as public charity and the episcopal structure, previously unknown to Roman pagans. He got rid of all the prestige and privileges the Christian Church was accorded to re-establish old pagan belief prestige. He accepted previously exiled Christian bishops to take the role of heretics, re-opened pagan temples, promoted Judaism and returned land the Church owned to its previous owners to develop religious heterogeneity. However, his reigned ceased when he died in the East while campaigning.
The political boundaries of the Roman Empire diminished and collapsed in the west, but Christianity continued to grow and spread beyond the Empire’s old borders into lands the Romans never owned. The Western Roman Empire collapsed gradually between the 4th and 5th centuries. The “barbarian” kingdoms took over. They saw themselves as “Roman” and kept several institutions that belonged to the classical Romans. However, the new kingdoms had different political cultures and structures. They were Germanic kings who wore animal skins and had long hair became the new emperors. The kings were barbaric and had adopted Christianity when missionaries spread the gospel during the reign of the Roman Empire. Despite being converted to Christianity, they did not practice Roman Catholicism, but indulged in Arianism. Christianity continued to grow and thrive during the reign of the Germanic kings and spread to Western Europe. The Germanic Franks took over in the early 5th century. They were mainly Christina Gallo-Romans who lived in Gaul, the modern France. The natives were killed and persecuted until 496 when Clovis 1, a Frankish King, became a Christian; he left paganism for Christianity, specifically, Roman Catholicism. Gregory of Tours writes about this conversion in Book 2 of his ten books on the “History of the Franks.” He says;
“Like some new Constantine he stepped forward to the baptismal pool, ready to wash away the sores of his old leprosy and to be cleansed in flowing water from the sordid stains which he had borne so long. As he advanced for his baptism, the holy man of God addressed him in these pregnant words: ‘Bow your head in meekness, Sicamber. Worship what you have burnt, burn what you have been wont to worship.’ . . . King Clovis confessed his belief in God Almighty, three in one. He was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and marked in holy chrism with the sign of the Cross of Christ. More than three thousand of his army were baptized at the same time.” . . .
. . . “I would like to make a brief comparison between the happy outcome of the Christians who have believed in the Holy Trinity and the disasters which have befallen those who have sought to destroy it. . . . Clovis, who believed in the Trinity, crushed the heretics with divine help and enlarged his dominion to include all Gaul; but Alaric, who refused to accept the Trinity, was therefore deprived of his kingship, his subjects and, what is more important, the life hereafter.” (Gregory of Tours. Book 2).
Clovis’ fellow nobles also converted to Christianity to strengthen the newly started kingdom. He united the faith of the rulers and with that of their subjects. According to Eusebius, Christianity changed and fixed damages the Roman emperors caused during their reign;
“Of old the nations of the earth, the entire human race, were variously distributed into provincial, national, and local governments . . . . The consequences of this variety were war and strife, depopulation and captivity. . . . The origin of these may justly be ascribed to the delusion of polytheistic error. But when that instrument of our redemption, the thrice holy body of Christ was raised . . . the energy of these evil spirits was at once destroyed. . . . The manifold forms of government . . . were now no more, and one God was proclaimed to all mankind. . . . Meantime the Roman empire, the causes of multiplied governments beings thus removed, effected an easy conquest . . . its object being to unite all nations in one symphonic whole . . .” (Eusebius, pp. 606-07)
The Christian bishops promoted continuity between the Germanic kingdoms and the Empire under the Germanic kings. Germanic kings developed monasteries to become important institutions in their kingdoms. They were the core of the kingdom’s scholarship, culture and economics. They allowed the Germanic kings to develop religious institutions to help them rule their kingdoms. Christianity changed over seven centuries from being an unorganized and persecuted group of believers to a dominating Church with a hierarchical structure. It developed and grew alongside the post-Roman Europe’s political environment.
The Catholic Church developed and spread into Europe, directly affecting each element of the late-antiquity and early-medieval life. This is more so true for the relationship between religion and kings, and politics. The church moved from being dominated by the Byzantine and Roman emperors, and exerted a unique form of spiritual dominance over post-Roman Europe’s rulers. Eventually, Christianity “conquered” the entire Europe and became organized, influential and powerful by 1066 when the Norman conquered England. The church reigned for more than five centuries dividing and subjugating in the 10th century when Europe’s royal and imperial power collapsed and the feudal mutation began.






Work Cited
Eusebius, Oration on Constantine XVI, PNF Ser. 2, vol. 1, pp. 606-07. Translation revised.
The History of the Franks, by Gregory of Tours. Book 2.
The Roman biographer Suetonius on Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD). From Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars. The Life of Augustus.