Barbarian Kingdoms & Rise of Commercial Bourgeoisie
The Formation of the Barbarian Kingdoms and the End of the Western Empire
Long before the final fall of the Western Roman Empire, Romans and barbarians were forced to coexist, a situation largely dictated by circumstances. This uneasy coexistence laid the groundwork for the future Germanic kingdoms in Western Europe, which were formed when the Empire finally fell in 476 AD.
Many of these barbarian peoples admired the culture, political, and social organization of the Romans, viewing them as a powerful and advanced civilization. Unlike most of them, who came from loosely organized nomadic tribes, when they settled in Roman territories, they assimilated many of their customs, certain laws, and, in some cases, language and religion. This merger between Roman culture and that of the Germanic peoples would define the realms that would eventually form Feudal Europe.
When, in the 4th and 5th centuries, Roman political power demonstrated its inefficiency and inability to maintain control of the Empire, what was actually happening was that Roman society itself was transforming due to the influences of the new inhabitants of the Empire.
These federated peoples became independent kingdoms as the image of the Empire blurred. Finally, in 476, the Germanic chieftain Odoacer, who served the Roman emperor, deposed the Western ruler and sent the imperial insignia to Constantinople, symbolizing the demise of the Western Roman Empire. Kingdoms were dispersed throughout the imperial territory, with a substrate mixing Roman culture and heritage. These were ephemeral kingdoms that fell in the centuries immediately following the separation of the Empire. Some were occupied by Byzantium, a powerful civilization that emerged in the eastern part of the Empire, while others succumbed to the Muslim expansion in the 8th century.
The Vandals, Swabians, and Visigoths occupied the Iberian Peninsula. The former were expelled from Spain by the Visigoths and settled in North Africa. They attacked Rome before their disappearance, and their kingdom was destroyed by the Byzantines in the 6th century.
The Visigoths occupied Gaul and then Hispania. Their Hispanic kingdom was maintained until the 8th-century Moorish occupation.
The Franks were the first to federate with the Romans. They expelled the Visigoths from Gaul and settled there. They also drove out the Burgundians and occupied a considerable territorial extension. They were subsequently Christianized and formed one of the most cohesive Germanic kingdoms.
Other peoples who formed kingdoms in the territories of the Western Roman Empire were the Angles and Saxons in Britain and the Ostrogoths, who occupied the Italian peninsula. These kingdoms also ended up being destroyed by joining the Byzantine Empire.
The Emergence of the Commercial Bourgeoisie
The inhabitants of the towns, the bourgeoisie (a word derived from *bourg*, meaning town), were people with economic and political independence from the feudal structures.
Merchants, traders, artisans, bankers, and professionals formed a new social class that grew progressively larger.
Despite being an increasingly large social group, and although some of them had major economic power, the bourgeoisie remained in the lowest stratum of the social pyramid. They could not claim the privileges of the nobility, which were acquired by birth. The estate society was impervious to social change.
The group with the greatest weight and influence was undoubtedly the merchants. The bourgeois who got rich in business, and in some cases amassed huge fortunes, wanted to live like the nobility. Soon, they would also capture the most important political offices. They had no rights acquired by birth, but they became increasingly powerful and influential, both economically and politically.
Small traders and craftsmen bore the burden of production and trade. These groups were organized in different ways. The artisans were organized around guilds.
The development of universities led to other independent professionals benefiting from training and education. Doctors, teachers, and lawyers formed a very independent social group, necessary to articulate the performance of all the new institutions for managing political and economic life.
Besides, urban activities required workers who, unlike workers in the field, were free men working for wages.
The emergence of cities generated different types of people who had little in common. The commercial bourgeoisie was the smallest group, but also the most important.