Literary Continuity and Discontinuity: Late-Fifth- and Sixth-Century Culture

The impact of the barbarian invasions and settlements in Gaul can be seen in the substantial literary output of the fifth century. This literature, however, presents considerable problems for the historian. First, it is geographically confined: it almost all comes from southern and central Gaul. Very little of it relates to the north and north-east, although Salvian does describe the sack of Trier. ¹ It is also the product of a single class. Indeed the majority of fifth- and early-sixth-century writers whose works have survived were related to each other. ² Despite these limitations the surviving evidence for the fifth century depicts the period in two radically different ways. Most of the works produced in the first half of the century portray a period of social and religious cataclysm, which is arguably compatible with the archaeology of the north-eastern provinces, where evidence for decline in the cities, towns and villas, and dramatic changes in burial practices, gives a picture of disruption. By contrast Sidonius Apollinaris, the most prolific writer of the second half of the century, implies almost total continuity with the imperial past. This discrepancy makes any assessment of the extent of dislocation caused by the barbarian invasions extremely difficult. It also points to a third limitation within the sources; that of genre. To a very large extent the sources of the first part of the period which suggest calamity are moralizing tracts intended to prompt spiritual and social reform. Sidonius's writings are verse panegyrics addressed to emperors, and letters: both literary forms which tend to emphasize the traditional values of the senatorial aristocracy and imperial court. ³