legitimate ruler, nevertheless, took no immediate action against Odoacer.
Independent barbarian kings now ruled what was once the western Empire:
Visigoths in Spain; Vandals in North Africa; Franks in Gaul; Ostrogoths
and Lombards in Italy; Angles, Saxons and Jutes in Britain. There would
never be another Emperor of a united West. It was the year 476. The
western Roman Empire had finally fallen.
However, the Church survived, to continue building that new civilization,
the cornerstone of which had already been laid nearly 450 years earlier.
Themes for study:
The Gothic victory at Adrianople in 378;
The crossing of the Rhine by a combined barbarian force on
December 31, 405;
The sackings of Rome in 410 and 455;
The final fall of the western Empire in 476.
Further reading:
Anne W. Carroll, Christ the King: Lord of History, Second Edition,
Trinity Communications, 1986, pp. 118-120;
The Catholic Encyclopaedia (1911, vol. XV, pp. 268-269);
Michael Grant, History of Rome, Book Club Associates, 1978, pp.
321-331;
Fr. John Laux, Church History, TAN Books and Publishers, 1930,
pp. 173-176.
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