Emperor, Prefects, & Kings

P.S. Barnwell examines the development of imperial and royal government in the western part of the Roman Empire and in the early "barbarian" kingdoms that were established within its frontiers - the Visigothic, Burgundian, Frankish, and Vandal nations. Covering the fifth century - the period from the death of the Emperor Theodosius to the death of the Emperor Justinian - Barnwell's book demonstrates the extent to which barbarian government was influenced by its Roman predecessor. Earlier studies have argued implicitly that the fifth century witnessed the disintegration of an ordered Roman governmental system and its replacement by a series of disorganized "Germanic" administrations. Barnwell, by contrast, examines Roman government of the fifth-century western Empire on its own terms, and then analyzes the administrations of individual Barbarian kingdoms in relation to this fifth-century Roman background. He shows that the law and government of the Barbarian kingdoms were more deeply indebted to Roman institutions than most previous historians have realized.