Survey Texts on Late-Antique Gaul

by PirataTonyinada

I'm currently on the hunt for a quality English-language monograph on late antique Gaul that covers the transition from late-Roman to Merovingian society. As an alternative, I'd also be very glad to get my hands on something a little more specialized, like Kulikowski's Late Roman Spain and its Cities or Conant's Staying Roman, as well as quality regional surveys. I've gone through Wickham's bibliography in Framing the Middle Ages and Buchberger's bibliography in Shifting Ethnic Identities in Spain and Gaul, but seem to be having trouble finding something that isn't strictly focused on the Franks.

Any help, including pointers at authors or bibliographies that could lead me to an answer, would be very much appreciated.

Alkibiades415

A bit old now, but there are some good entries in Fifth-century Gaul : a crisis of identity?, ed Drinkwater and Elton (1992).

Possibly Buchberger's Shifting ethnic identities in Spain and Gaul, 500-700 : from Romans to Goths and Franks, second part (2017). Pretty recent so the bibliography might have some new nuggets.

Libertat

Apart what u/Alkibiades415 already mentioned...

From Roman to Merovingian Gaul; by Alexander Callander Murray, covers quite well the general picture.

Roman Aristocrats in Barbarian Gaul. Strategies of Survival in an Age of Transition; by Ralph Mathisen is quite advisable too.

Late Roman Warlords by Penny McGeorge offers an interesting view on northern Gaul roman warlords, even if I'm not personally entirely convinced by the rebuttal of Edward James on Syagrius, neither considering Adovacrius and Odoacer as two different persons.

Merovingian Military Organization by Bernard Bachrach is an old study (made almost fifty years ago) but still holds well on the topic (not that iit's not under criticism, but overall much less so than his more recent studies).

Eventually, the periodic perspective might be completed by looking at some French historians, especially from the last two decades : Bruno Dumézil, Christine Delaplace, Régine LeJan, ... unfortunately, they're not translated (AFAIK).

y_sengaku

I'd also especially recommend a series of works by Ian N. Wood & Ralph W. Mathisen:

  • Harries, Jill. Sidonius Apollinaris and the Fall of Rome, AD 407-485. Oxford: OUP, 1994.
  • Mitchell, Kathleen & Ian N. Wood (eds.). The World of Gregory of Tours. Leiden: Brill, 2002.
  • Mathisen, Ralph. Roman Aristocrats in Barbarian Gaul : Strategies for Survival in an Age of Transition. Austin, TX: U of Texas P, 1993.
  • Mathisen, Ralph & Danuta Shanzer (eds.). Society and Culture in late Antique Gaul : Revisiting the Sources. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001.
  • Wood, Ian N. 'Administration, Law, and Culture in Late Antique Gaul'. In: From Roman Provinces to Medieval Kingdoms, ed. Thomas F. X. Noble, pp. 358-75. Routledge: London, 2006. (The book is actually a collection of reprinted essential essays probably for undergraduates).