Western Roman Empire - Late Antiquity

  General Description   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. ^[4] 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. ^[5] 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.