The restoration of Rome
Subtitle: barbarian popes & imperial pretenders
By: Peter Heather
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 470
ISBN-13: 9780199368518
Subjects: Catholic Church; History
Description: "In 476 AD, the last of Rome's emperors, known as 'Augustulus' was deposed by a barbarian general, the son of one of Attila the Hun's henchmen. With the imperial vestments dispatched to Constantinople, the curtain fell on the Roman empire in Western Europe, its territories divided among successor kingdoms constructed around barbarian military manpower. But, if the Roman Empire was dead, Romans across the old empire still lived, holding on to their lands, the values of their civilization, and their institutions. The conquering barbarians, witnessing the continuing psychological dominance of Rome, were ready to reignite the imperial flame and enjoy the benefits of its civilization. As Peter Heather shows in dazzling biographical portraits, each of the three greatest contenders--Theoderic, Justinian, and Charlemagne--operated with a different power base but was astonishingly successful in his own way. Though each in turn managed to put back together enough of the old Roman West to stake a plausible claim to the Western imperial title, none of their empires long outlived their founders' deaths. Not until the reinvention of the papacy in the eleventh century would Europe's barbarians find the means to establish a new Roman Empire, one that has lasted a thousand years"--
Notes: "First published in 2013 in Great Britain by Macmillan ..."--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 415-456) and index.
Table of contents: title: Prologue; title: Part 1. "A copy of the only empire"; title: Gens Purpura; title: A philosopher in purple; title: Part 2. "The conqueror of many nations"; title: "By the authority of God"; title: Sailing to Byzantium; title: Part 3. The father of Europe; title: Christmas day, 800; title: "The centre cannot hold"; title: Part 4.  Second coming; title: Charles the Great and Leo the Pope; title: Habemus Papam : papal lift-off; title: Epilogue : The godfather (Part 3).