Barbarian kingdoms

The barbarian kingdoms,^[1][2][3] also referred to as the post-Roman kingdoms,^[4] the western kingdoms,^[2] or the early medieval kingdoms,^[2] were states founded by various non-Roman, primarily Germanic, peoples in Western Europe and North Africa following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century.^[1][2][3] The barbarian kingdoms were the principal governments in Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Their time is generally considered to have come to an end with Charlemagne's coronation as emperor in 800.^[5]

The formation of the barbarian kingdoms was a complicated, gradual and largely unintentional process. Their origin can be traced to the Roman state failing to handle barbarian migrants on the imperial borders, which led to both invasions and invitations into imperial territory. Despite an increasing influx of barbarians, the Romans simultaneously denied them the ability to properly integrate into the imperial framework. Barbarian rulers were at first local warlords and client kings without firm connections to any territory. Their influence only increased as Roman emperors and usurpers began to use them as pawns in civil wars. The barbarian realms only transitioned into proper territorial kingdoms after the collapse of effective Western Roman central authority.

Barbarian kings established legitimacy through connecting themselves to the Roman Empire. Virtually all barbarian rulers assumed the style dominus noster ("our lord"), previously used by Roman emperors, and many assumed the praenomen Flavius, borne by nearly all Roman emperors in late antiquity. Most rulers also assumed a subordinate position in diplomacy with the remaining Eastern Roman Empire. Many aspects of the late Roman administration survived under barbarian rule, though the old system gradually dissolved and disappeared, a process accelerated by periods of political turmoil. Because the barbarian kingdoms were much smaller than the old empire, their administration was less complex and deep, which in turn led to a considerable breakdown in living standards as well as in social and economic complexity.

The barbarian kingdoms of Western Europe were for the most part fragile and ephemeral. By the time of Charlemagne's coronation in 800, only his Frankish Kingdom remained out of the once vast and diverse network of kingdoms.