Gillett A. Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West, 411-533

New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. – 365 p.
ISBN13: 978-0-511-07322-9 eBook (EBL)
ISBN10: 0-511-07322-4 eBook (EBL)
ISBN13: 978-0-521-81349-5 hardback
ISBN10: 0-521-81349-2 hardbackWarfare and dislocation are obvious features of the break-up of the late Roman West, but this crucial period of change was characterised also by communication and diplomacy. The great events of the late antique West were determined by the quieter labours of countless envoys, who travelled between emperors, kings, generals, high officials, bishops, provincial councils, and cities. This book examines the role of envoys in the period from the establishment of the first ‘barbarian kingdoms’ in the West, to the eve of Justinian’s wars of reconquest. It shows how ongoing practices of Roman imperial administration shaped new patterns of political interaction in the novel context of the earliest medieval states. Close analysis of sources with special interest in embassies offers insight into a variety of genres: chronicles, panegyrics, hagiographies, letters, and epitaphs. This study makes a significant contribution to the developing field of ancient and medieval communications.List of tables pageChronological table
MapsEmbassies and political communication in the post-imperial westThe framework and conventions of embassies in the classical world
Contemporary perspectives
The provincial view of Hydatius
Hydatius and embassies
Patterns of contact
A model of political communication in the barbarian kingdoms
The hero as envoy: Sidonius Apollinaris’ Panegyric on Avitus
The circumstances of the Panegyric
Panegyric and propaganda
Themes and plotof the Panegyric
The portrayal of the envoy
The saint as envoy: fifth- and sixth-century latin bishops’ Lives
The embassy of Pope Leo I to Attila
‘The hero worn outby his labours’: Constantius, Life of Germanus of Auxerre
The Lives of Orientius of Auch and Vivianus of Saintes
‘Author of concord’: Ennodius, Life of Epiphanius of Pavia
Cassiodorus and Senarius
Diplomatic correspondence in the Variae of Cassiodorus
Senarius, ‘Ceaseless wayfarer of the world’
Negotium agendum
Prescriptive accounts of receptions
Descriptive accounts: personnel and protocolAppendix I. Chronology of Constantius, Vita Germani
Appendix II. Chronology of the life of Epiphanius of Pavia
Appendix III. Senarius’ Letters of Appointment: Cassiodorus, Variae IV, 3 and 4
Appendix IV. The text of Senarius’ Epitaph
Note on editions, commentaries, and translations of major sources