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20. Gepids East Goths and Huns, Oh My
453 CE to 460 CE Out of the wreckage of Attila’s empire, new peoples emerge. New actors inject new elements into the political game of the late Roman empire British Museum entry for the Gepids, with some artefacts History Files Article and Regnal List of the Gepids Scirian Earring found at Bakod Puszta The problem… →
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18. All or Nothing: The Battle of Cape Bon
461 to 468 CE If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss… -Rudyard Kipling, If The East and West combine forces in one great push to take Africa backs… →
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17. The Phantom Kingdom
456 to 464 CE Emperor Majorian and his Right-Hand man Ricimer attempt to pull the empire back from the brink after the departure of Avitus. But there’s a snake in the grass, a fly in the ointment, and a bad apple in the barrel. It all leads to the creation of a new entity called… →
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16. Speaking Frankly
The Franks, Part I 280 to 480 CE We welcome the Franks onto the stage of Europe, and look at their origins, early history, ferocious reputation, and the way modern politics work their way into the telling of history. The floodgates have opened, and now the puns cannot be stopped. Kyrie eleison. We have arrived… →
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15. Unmitigated Gaul
418 CE to 456 CE A senator by the name of Eparchius Avitus is dragooned into filling the imperial shoes left behind by the well-aimed brick that took out Petronius Maximus. His life gives a framework for discussing the place of southern Gaul within the Roman empire, and how the Visigoths were settling in. And… →
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14. More Serpent than Dove
The Vandals Part III 439 to 455 CE “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be therefore as wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Matthew, 10:16 Gaiseric weathers Roman attempts to recover the African provinces, and begins to set his house in order. Marriage deals are made and broken,… →
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12. The Hun and the Saint
The Huns Part IV 450-453 CE Attila unleashed his fury on the Western empire in two back to back campaigns. The first culminated in the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields. The second ended with the famous meeting between Attila the Hun and Pope Leo I. “Attila, in an effort to bring about the wars …… →
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10. King of Africa
The Vandals Part II 408 to 439 CE The Vandals, along with their allies, the Alans and Suevi, ravage Spain before moving into Africa. There, under the leadership of their king Gaiseric, they will achieve something no other Barbarian tribe has yet accomplished. The city sits at the west end of the bay, looking out… →
The Dark Ages Podcast 