The period of the Western Roman Empire begins in 395 CE, when it was divided from what became the Eastern Roman Empire.
[1]
After the Empire recovered from the crises of the 3rd century CE, a series of administrative and economic reforms inaugurated a second phase of imperial rule, known as the Dominate. The Dominate was split into two distinct administrative halves: a Western half with its capital at Rome and an Eastern one, ruled first from Nicomedia in Anatolia and then from Byzantium (re-founded as Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul, by the Emperor Constantine I the Great in 330 CE). Each half was ruled by a different emperor along with a junior colleague, titled ’Caesar’. This arrangement is known as the Tetrarchy (’rule of four’), which lasted until Constantine I managed to once again rule both halves together. The Empire was divided a few more times, until Theodosius (r. 379-392 CE) united it for the final time. In 393, Theodosius once more divided the Empire, naming Arcadius emperor in the east and Honorius emperor in the west. This marks the end of the Dominate period, leading to a period of instability and, ultimately, the collapse of the Roman state in the west, yet recovery and the continuation of Roman rule in the east (which became known as the Byzantine Empire, after Constantinople’s original name).
Beginning with Honorius, the Western Empire experienced a continuous decline and a series of invasions at the hands of Germanic, Vandal, Alan, and Hun forces throughout the 5th century. In 476 CE, a Roman military officer of likely Germanic decent (though his exact ancestry is not certain) named Odoacer led a revolt against the western emperor Romulus Augustus (r. 475-476 CE), a child whose rule was overseen by his father, a high-ranking general named Orestes. Odoacer and his fellow soldiers killed Orestes and effectively deposed Romulus Augustus, and Odoacer’s authority was recognized by the Eastern Roman emperor at the time, Zeno, although he was not proclaimed Emperor in the West. In 480 CE, after the death of Julius Nepos, whom Zeno recognized as the legitimate Western Emperor, Zeno abolished the co-emperorship, claiming to rule over both halves of the Empire, although much of the Western Empire had already been lost and Italy itself remained under the control of Odoacer, who ruled as king.
[2]
[3]
Population and political organization
The Western Roman Emperor in principle maintained a formal alliance with the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, which meant that all legislation generated in one half of the Empire was to be communicated to the other half and promulgated across the entire Empire.
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In practice, the Western Roman Emperor was the slightly weaker party whose position depended on the acquiescence of the Eastern Empire; for instance, the term of the Western Emperor Valentinian III (r. 423-455 CE) required the agreement of the Eastern Emperor Theodosius II.
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Further, significant differences between the ’twin Empires’ - the language of Latin in Rome, Greek in Constantinople - always strained the commitment to unity.
[6]
The Western Emperor did not control the army. Instead, it was held by the magister equitum (’master of the cavalry’) and the magister peditum (’master of the infantry’), a new military office that gradually gained seniority over the magister equitum. Legislation in both halves of the Empire was enacted by decree, in practice meaning letters addressed to officials or to the Senate.
[7]
Directly beneath the emperor were praetorian prefects who acted on the emperor’s behalf, ’governing in his name with legal, administrative and financial powers’.
[8]
Overall, the Roman bureaucracy was comparable in size to that of Constantinople; by the end of the 4th century CE, the state provided civil positions for an estimated 40,000 people across the Empire.
[9]
The Western Empire covered roughly two million square kilometres in 400 CE. The region was divided into large prefectures, which in turn were split into dioceses containing provinces, which were then further subdivided into cities and towns managed by civic councils.
[10]
The Roman aristocracy remained a powerful influence, at least until 439 CE, when invading Vandal tribes took Carthage and much of North Africa, depriving Rome of valuable North African revenue streams.
[11]
Rome maintained a sizeable population, roughly 500,000 in 400 CE. However, a feature of the late Western Roman bureaucracy was that it ’shifted ... between four or five different imperial centres, dislocating with each change the networks of patronage and kinship, often regionally based, that supplied civil personnel’.
[12]
[1]: (Morgan 2012) James F. Morgan. 2012. The Roman Empire: Fall of the West, Survival of the East. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse.
[2]: (Cameron 1993, 187) Averil Cameron. 1993. The Later Roman Empire, A.D. 284-430. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[3]: (Burns 1991, 73-86) Thomas S. Burns. 1991. A History of the Ostrogoths. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
[4]: (Millar 2006, 1) Fergus Millar. 2006. A Greek Roman Empire: Power and Belief under Theodosius II (408-450). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
[5]: (Maenchen-Helfen 1973, 477-78) Otto Maenchen-Helfen. 1973. The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
[6]: (Millar 2006, 2) Fergus Millar. 2006. A Greek Roman Empire: Power and Belief under Theodosius II (408-450). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
[7]: (Millar 2006, 7) Fergus Millar. 2006. A Greek Roman Empire: Power and Belief under Theodosius II (408-450). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
[8]: (Hughes 2012) Ian Hughes. 2012. Aetius: Attila’s Nemesis. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books.
[9]: (Bjornlie 2016, 49) Shane M. Bjornlie. 2016. ’Governmental Administration’, in A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy, edited by Jonathan J. Arnold, Shane M. Bjornlie and Kristina Sessa, 47-72. Leiden: Brill.
[10]: (Black 2008, 181) Jeremy Black. 2008. World History Atlas. London: Dorling Kindersley.
[11]: (Hughes 2015) Ian Hughes. 2015. Patricians and Emperors: The Last Rulers of the Western Roman Empire. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books.
[12]: (Bjornlie 2016, 50) Shane M. Bjornlie. 2016. ’Governmental Administration’, in A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy, edited by Jonathan J. Arnold, Shane M. Bjornlie and Kristina Sessa, 47-72. Leiden: Brill.
| 33 T |
| Western Roman Empire - Late Antiquity |
| Mediolanum | |
| Ravenna | |
| Rome |
| Roman Empire | |
| Western Roman Empire |
| alliance with [---] |
| Roman |
| Roman Empire - Late Antiquity |
| [5,500,000 to 6,500,000] km2 |
| continuity |
| UNCLEAR: [continuity] |
| unitary state |
| Year Range | Western Roman Empire - Late Antiquity (it_western_roman_emp) was in: |
|---|---|
| (395 CE 457 CE) | Latium |
"In 395 AD the Roman empire was divided into two parts with the Western Roman Empire with its capital at Rome, and the Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople."
[1]
At time of Constantine: "Rome was now only the nominal capital of the Roman Empire. Two new cities had emerged as the major political centres of the empire: Milan in the west and Constantinople in the east. In both cases this was in large part due to their strategic locations."
[2]
"there is no sign that Theodosius ever thought of restoring the unified Empire of his grandfather, or still less of moving his base back to Italy. Instead, a separate court was reestablished in Italy, ruling mainly from Ravenna. As the evidence collected by Andrew Gillet demonstrates for the first time, the Western court did eventually move back to Rome - and in fact the letters from members of the Western Imperial family denouncing the ’Robber Council of Ephesus’ which were instigated by Leo, bishop of Rome, and were sent in early 450, happen to mark the precise moment when a truly ’Roman’ empire was reestablished, if with only a quarter century of life before it."
[3]
[1]: (Morgan 2012) Morgan, James F. 2012. The Roman Empire. Fall of the West; Survival of the East. AuthorHouse. Bloomington.
[2]: (Hughes 2012) Hughes, Iran. 2012. Aetius: Attila’s Nemesis. Casemate Publishers.
[3]: (Bjornlie 2016, 55) Bjornlie, Shane M. Governmental Administration. in Arnold, Jonathan J. Bjornlie, Shane M. Sessa, Kristina. eds. 2016. A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy. BRILL. Leiden.
"In 395 AD the Roman empire was divided into two parts with the Western Roman Empire with its capital at Rome, and the Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople."
[1]
At time of Constantine: "Rome was now only the nominal capital of the Roman Empire. Two new cities had emerged as the major political centres of the empire: Milan in the west and Constantinople in the east. In both cases this was in large part due to their strategic locations."
[2]
"there is no sign that Theodosius ever thought of restoring the unified Empire of his grandfather, or still less of moving his base back to Italy. Instead, a separate court was reestablished in Italy, ruling mainly from Ravenna. As the evidence collected by Andrew Gillet demonstrates for the first time, the Western court did eventually move back to Rome - and in fact the letters from members of the Western Imperial family denouncing the ’Robber Council of Ephesus’ which were instigated by Leo, bishop of Rome, and were sent in early 450, happen to mark the precise moment when a truly ’Roman’ empire was reestablished, if with only a quarter century of life before it."
[3]
[1]: (Morgan 2012) Morgan, James F. 2012. The Roman Empire. Fall of the West; Survival of the East. AuthorHouse. Bloomington.
[2]: (Hughes 2012) Hughes, Iran. 2012. Aetius: Attila’s Nemesis. Casemate Publishers.
[3]: (Bjornlie 2016, 55) Bjornlie, Shane M. Governmental Administration. in Arnold, Jonathan J. Bjornlie, Shane M. Sessa, Kristina. eds. 2016. A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy. BRILL. Leiden.
"In 395 AD the Roman empire was divided into two parts with the Western Roman Empire with its capital at Rome, and the Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople."
[1]
At time of Constantine: "Rome was now only the nominal capital of the Roman Empire. Two new cities had emerged as the major political centres of the empire: Milan in the west and Constantinople in the east. In both cases this was in large part due to their strategic locations."
[2]
"there is no sign that Theodosius ever thought of restoring the unified Empire of his grandfather, or still less of moving his base back to Italy. Instead, a separate court was reestablished in Italy, ruling mainly from Ravenna. As the evidence collected by Andrew Gillet demonstrates for the first time, the Western court did eventually move back to Rome - and in fact the letters from members of the Western Imperial family denouncing the ’Robber Council of Ephesus’ which were instigated by Leo, bishop of Rome, and were sent in early 450, happen to mark the precise moment when a truly ’Roman’ empire was reestablished, if with only a quarter century of life before it."
[3]
[1]: (Morgan 2012) Morgan, James F. 2012. The Roman Empire. Fall of the West; Survival of the East. AuthorHouse. Bloomington.
[2]: (Hughes 2012) Hughes, Iran. 2012. Aetius: Attila’s Nemesis. Casemate Publishers.
[3]: (Bjornlie 2016, 55) Bjornlie, Shane M. Governmental Administration. in Arnold, Jonathan J. Bjornlie, Shane M. Sessa, Kristina. eds. 2016. A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy. BRILL. Leiden.
Theodosius II, institute Codex Theodosianus in 439 CE (which applied in the Western Empire).
"Odovacer’s deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476 marked the temporary end of direct Roman imperial rule in Italy and the beginning of a seventy-five-year experiment in non-Roman (or perhaps quasi-Roman) regional government. ... a series of barbarian leaders, many of whom hailed from a single dynasty (the Amals), oversaw the armies and administration of Italy, and at times even undertook imperial projects of their own (e.g. Theoderic’s successful expansion into regions of Gaul and Western Illyricum ...)."
[1]
Western imperial dynasty 364-455 CE
Palace conspiracy toppled emperor in 455 CE.
[2]
This ended the "Western imperial dynasty founded by Valentinian I in 364".
[2]
455-476 Italy and other parts of Western Empire ruled by legitimate Emperors, recognized by the Eastern Emperor in Constaniple, but no dynasties formed after the Theodosian line ended with Emperor Valentinian III
"In 395 AD the Roman empire was divided into two parts with the Western Roman Empire with its capital at Rome, and the Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople."
[3]
[1]: (Arnold, Bjornlie and Sessa 2016, 6) Arnold, Jonathan J. Bjornlie, Shane M. Sessa, Kristina. eds. 2016. A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy. BRILL. Leiden.
[2]: (Maenchen-Helfen 1973, 482) Maenchen-Helfen, Otto. 1973. The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. University of California Press.
[3]: (Morgan 2012) Morgan, James F. 2012. The Roman Empire. Fall of the West; Survival of the East. AuthorHouse. Bloomington.
"for all the real, and very significant, commitment to the unity of the Roman Empire, the reality was that, not of two separate Empires, but of twin Empires, in one of which, that which Theodosius ruled from Constantinople, the normal language of the vast majority of the population was Greek."
[1]
"In principle, all legislation, whether generated in East or West, should be communicated to the other half of the Empire, and promulgated there."
[2]
"The Roman alliance with the Visigoths forced the Huns to lift the siege of Aureliani (Orleans) which they had begun, and to withdraw northeastward to the province of Belgica. There a great battle was fought and at the locus Mauriacus, in which the Romans with their federates and their Visigothic allies were victorious."
[3]
Son of Vandal king Gaiseric "betrothed to the emperor’s oldest daughter."
[4]
[1]: (Millar 2006, 2) Millar, Fergus. 2006. A Greek Roman Empire. Power and Belief Under Theodosius II 408-450. University of California Press. Berkeley.
[2]: (Millar 2006, 1) Millar, Fergus. 2006. A Greek Roman Empire. Power and Belief Under Theodosius II 408-450. University of California Press. Berkeley.
[3]: (Maenchen-Helfen 1973, 481) Maenchen-Helfen, Otto. 1973. The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. University of California Press.
[4]: (Maenchen-Helfen 1973, 482) Maenchen-Helfen, Otto. 1973. The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. University of California Press.
418 CE the Visigoths "finally left Spain and were settled permanently as an autonomous body on lands in southwestern Gaul, in the provinces of Aquitania secunda, Novempopulana, and Narbonensis prima." [1]
[1]: (Maenchen-Helfen 1973, 477) Maenchen-Helfen, Otto. 1973. The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. University of California Press.
"In Africa, Punic was widely spoken as well as Latin, and in a famous passage of The City of God Augustine reminds the reader that the imperious Roman capital had not only placed the yoke of dominion on defeated peoples; it had also imposed Latin as the official language (Augustine, The City of God, 19, 7)." [1]
[1]: (Triana 2011, 86) Giusto Triana. 2011. 428 AD: An Ordinary Year at the End of the Roman Empire. Princeton University Press.
Inhabitants.
Rome. Peak settlement of Rome generally thought to be c150 CE. By 300 CE still about 800,000 which had decreased to roughly 500,000 by 400 CE.
[1]
[1]: (Twine 1992 http://msaag.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/26_Twine.pdf)
levels.
1. The capital (e.g. Ravenna)
2. Administrative centers (e.g. Rome)3. Provincial capitals (Londinium)4. Larger towns5. village/vici6. pagi (rural settlements)
levels.
"Theodosius (r.379-395), made Christianity the legal or "official" religion of the empire."
[1]
1. Bishop of a patriarchate
"The churches organized themselves along the lines laid down by the geography and political order of the empire. A city (civitas), along with its surrounding rural perimeter, the foundation of imperial organization, also formed the basic unit of ecclesiastical structure. Virtually every Roman city, many of them quite small, had its own bishop. He exercised his authority over a "diocese" that ordinarily coincided with the boundaries of the civitas. These dioceses were then grouped into provinces, over which a metropolitan, the bishop of a province’s principal city, held sway. Eventually, provinces themselves were organized into large "patriarchates," each lead by one of the five preeminent bishops of the church: those in Rome, Constantinople (called "New Rome," second in prestige to the Old), Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem."
[2]
2. Metropolitan, with authority over a province
3. Bishop in civitas, with authority over a diocese
4. Presbyters or priests (elders)"Evidence from the second century suggests that a wide variety of models for local clergy existed throughout the Roman Empire. Yet the one to prevail was a three-tiered, hierarchical. In this model, the bishop served as leader of the local community and was assisted by presbyters or priests (elders) and deacons. Again, this model was established in the Antioch of Ignatius, as he underscores emphatically the necessity of gathering for learning, ritual, and teaching around a single bishop. By the end of the century this three-tiered form of ministry had spread to most early Catholic communities throughout the empire, and it would soon become the sole authoritative manner of organizing local ecclesial communities."
[3]
5. Deacons6. Sub-deacon7. Reader8. Minor order (exorcists, cantors, doorkeeper, lamplighter etc.)
[1]: (Madigan 2015, 20)
[2]: (Madigan 2015, 21)
[3]: (Madigan 2015, 14)
levels.
10 in Eastern Roman Empire
Population peaked with Augustus, declined from 3rd century. "By the time the Western Empire collapsed in 476 AD, the army was primarily a mercenary barbarian force."
[1]
"In the West, as time passed the command of the army moved away from the emperor and devolved upon the newly created magister peditum (’master of the infantry’) and magister equitum (’master of the cavalry’). In the course of time the magister peditum became the more senior of the two posts."
[2]
[1]: (Morgan 2012) Morgan, James F. 2012. The Roman Empire. Fall of the West; Survival of the East. AuthorHouse. Bloomington.
[2]: (Hughes 2012) Hughes, Iran. 2012. Aetius: Attila’s Nemesis. Casemate Publishers.
levels.
The Western Emperor was advised by a proceres palati (’notables of the palace’) in his court. These included the protectores et domestici (’corps of officer cadets’).
[1]
A former body called a consistorum that ’consisted of any individual ministers that the emperor wanted to consult about a specific topic’ became ’a formal body with specific duties’. The Western Emperor did not control the army. ’In the West, as time passed the command of the army moved away from the emperor and devolved upon the newly created magister peditum (’master of the infantry’) and magister equitum (’master of the cavalry’). In the course of time the magister peditum became the more senior of the two posts.’
[1]
Laws came from imperial decree which ’were in form, with only the rarest of exceptions, letters, almost always addressed to officials, occasionally to the Senate. This is true of both western and eastern legislation’.
[2]
Below the Emperors were praetorian prefects who ’acted as the emperor’s representatives, governing in his name with legal, administrative and financial powers.’
[1]
The Roman bureaucracy was comparable in size to that of Constantinople. ’Viewed through the baroque rhetoric of a text like the Variae the bureaucracy appears hierarchically complex and numerous, and indeed gives the impression of being on par with the eastern civil service. The swelling of governmental apparatus and personnel was certainly one of the defining features of late antique society. By the end of the 4th century the state provided civil positions for an estimated 40,000 across the empire.’
[3]
The ministers of state included the magister officiorum (’master of offices’); the comes sacrarum largitionum (’count of the sacred largesses’) who controlled finances, mines, mints, "and all revenue and expenditure in coin"; agents in rebus (’imperial couriers’), scholae (’imperial body guard’), officia dispositionum and admissionum (timetable and audiences for the emperor) under magister officiorum. These ministers also "commanded a large number of men who served as rei privatae (’private secretaries’).
[1]
NB: based on Roman Empire-Dominate
1. Emperor
2. Pretorian Prefect3. Vicarii4. Governors/praesides5. Civitas6. Vici and Coloniae7. Municipia8. Pagi
"The Tetrarchy had divided the empire in half, each half being ruled by an Augustus (emperor). Each Augustus had his own Caesar (deputy and successor) to help run his half of the empire. As part of the bureaucratic system, each of the four co-rulers had a Praefectus Praetorio (Praetorian Prefect) to help with the administration of his ’quarter’ of the empire. Each Praefectus wielded great power and could readily influence military affairs, as he retained control of the main logistical system of the empire. Although abandoned on the death of Diocletian, the system of using four Praefecti was revived under Constantine. As time passed the position of prefect became more influential, especially that of the two prefects in charge of the two imperial capitals."
[1]
[1]: (Hughes 2012) Hughes, Iran. 2012. Aetius: Attila’s Nemesis. Casemate Publishers.
[2]: (Millar 2006, 7) Millar, Fergus. 2006. A Greek Roman Empire. Power and Belief Under Theodosius II 408-450. University of California Press. Berkeley.
[3]: (Bjornlie 2016, 49) Bjornlie, Shane M. Governmental Administration. in Arnold, Jonathan J. Bjornlie, Shane M. Sessa, Kristina. eds. 2016. A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy. BRILL. Leiden.
"In the West, as time passed the command of the army moved away from the emperor and devolved upon the newly created magister peditum (’master of the infantry’) and magister equitum (’master of the cavalry’). In the course of time the magister peditum became the more senior of the two posts."
[1]
[1]: (Hughes 2012) Hughes, Iran. 2012. Aetius: Attila’s Nemesis. Casemate Publishers.
"many appointments to the administrative institutions were made entirely by inheritance or patronage and not on merit". [1]
[1]: Virtual Museum of Public Service. 2013. Rudgers. Newark. http://www.vmps.us/notitia-dignitatum
"many appointments to the administrative institutions were made entirely by inheritance or patronage and not on merit". [1]
[1]: Virtual Museum of Public Service. 2013. Rudgers. Newark. http://www.vmps.us/notitia-dignitatum
The Roman bureaucracy was comparable in size to that of Constantinople. ’Viewed through the baroque rhetoric of a text like the Variae the bureaucracy appears hierarchically complex and numerous, and indeed gives the impression of being on par with the eastern civil service. The swelling of governmental apparatus and personnel was certainly one of the defining features of late antique society. By the end of the 4th century the state provided civil positions for an estimated 40,000 across the empire.’ [1] The ministers of state included the magister officiorum (’master of offices’); the comes sacrarum largitionum (’count of the sacred largesses’) who controlled finances, mines, mints, "and all revenue and expenditure in coin"; agents in rebus (’imperial couriers’), scholae (’imperial body guard’), officia dispositionum and admissionum (timetable and audiences for the emperor) under magister officiorum. These ministers also "commanded a large number of men who served as rei privatae (’private secretaries’). [2]
[1]: (Bjornlie 2016, 49) Bjornlie, Shane M. Governmental Administration. in Arnold, Jonathan J. Bjornlie, Shane M. Sessa, Kristina. eds. 2016. A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy. BRILL. Leiden.
[2]: (Hughes 2012) Hughes, Iran. 2012. Aetius: Attila’s Nemesis. Casemate Publishers.
Theodosius II instituted Codex Theodosianus.
"As the small Republic gradually extended its dominance over its neighbours, it was forced to find ways of conducting legal dealings with people who were not Romans, but whose laws could have something in common with Roman law. The imperial jurists distinguished the ius civile, the law of the civitas from the ius gentium, law of the peoples, and the ius naturale, the law of nature. The ius gentium did not refer to anything approximating to international law, but rather to the things that the Roman ius civile had in common with the usages of other peoples."
[1]
Writing c200 CE "Papinian, perhaps the authority on law most respected in late antiquity, listed the sources of the ius civile as statutes (leges), popular resolutions (plebiscita), senatorial enactments (senatusconsulta), decrees of emperors (decreta principum) and the authoritative pronouncements of men learned in law, the jurists (auctoritas prudentium). To these was added the ius honorarium, the law contained in the Edict of the praetor, who, under the Republic and Early Empire administered law in Rome; this form of law derived its name from the praetor’s magistracy (honos) and was held to ’assist, supplement or amend’ the ius civile.".
[2]
[1]: (Harries 2001, 10) Harries, Jill. 2001. Law and Empire in Late Antiquity. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
[2]: (Harries 2001, 11) Harries, Jill. 2001. Law and Empire in Late Antiquity. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
"Like the early irrigation ditches in Italy, the gold and silver mines received considerable attention when they first started producing, but after the second century they are seldom mentioned." [1] "In the middle of the third century AD, Cyprian wrote that, ’the metals are nearly exhausted.’ Gold production in Spain peaked in the second century AD, ... but continued with reduced output for several centuries. Dacia (Romania and Hungary) was abandoned by the Romans in 271. We can be confident that the ores there were depleted." [1]
[1]: (Morgan 2012) Morgan, James F. 2012. The Roman Empire. Fall of the West; Survival of the East. AuthorHouse. Bloomington.
"The fourth and fifth centuries represent the golden age of what is termed ’patristic’ literature, works written by the great Fathers of the Church, men who, released from persecution during the reign of Constantine, now often took on the public role of statesman as well as that of bishop." [1] "Augustine (354-430), bishop of Hippo Regius in North Africa from 395 to his death. He wrote his most influential work, the City of God, during 413-426 under the immediate impact of the Visigothic sack of Rome." [2]
[1]: (Cameron 1993, 13-14) Cameron, Averil. 1993. The Later Roman Empire. AD 284-430. Harvard University Press. Cambridge.
[2]: (Maenchen-Helfen 1973, 478) Maenchen-Helfen, Otto. 1973. The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. University of California Press.
"A further consequence of the loss of Africa to the Vandals was the fact that in capturing Carthage the Vandals also appeared to have taken control of the Roman fleet. ... concerning the nature of this ’fleet’, ... most likely that the majority of the ships stationed at Carthage were merchant ships, although there may have been a few warships in Carthage as a precautionary measure against attack, and as encouragement to traders to maintain their belief in Roman domination of the Mediterranean." [1]
[1]: (Huges 2015) Huges, Ian. 2015. Patricians and Emperors: The Last Rulers of the Western Roman Empire. Pen and Sword Military.
"A further consequence of the loss of Africa to the Vandals was the fact that in capturing Carthage the Vandals also appeared to have taken control of the Roman fleet. ... concerning the nature of this ’fleet’, ... most likely that the majority of the ships stationed at Carthage were merchant ships, although there may have been a few warships in Carthage as a precautionary measure against attack, and as encouragement to traders to maintain their belief in Roman domination of the Mediterranean." [1]
[1]: (Huges 2015) Huges, Ian. 2015. Patricians and Emperors: The Last Rulers of the Western Roman Empire. Pen and Sword Military.