ISTITUZIONI E SOCIETA' 26                          (all books of the series)

Spoleto 2022, pp. XII-280, ISBN 9788868093655

This book provides the first in-depth study of the Ostrogothic king Baduila (541-552), commonly known as Totila. Relying on literary, numismatic, epigraphic, and papyrological evidence, Marco Cristini examines Baduila’s military campaigns, foreign policy, relations with bishops and monks, alleged social reforms, coinage, kingship, and political communication. Historians have traditionally investigated Baduila’s reign relying mainly on Procopius of Caesarea’s Gothic War, but recent studies about this historian have indicated that his works are heavily influenced by Justinian’s political communication and the canons of sixth-century classicizing historiography. Thanks to the new scholarship about the age of Justinian and Ostrogothic Italy, it is now possible to examine the evolution of Baduila’s rule with a growing awareness of the limits of Procopius’ narrative. By analysing the course and outcome of the second phase of the Gothic War, this book gives a comprehensive overview of the decade that marked the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Early Middle Ages in the Italian peninsula.

Contens:
Acknowledgements - A Note on Translations and Names - Introduction - 1. Baduila in Sixth-Century Sources - 1.1. The Historian and his Victim: Procopius’ Portrait of Baduila - 1.2. Baduila in Jordanes’ Works - 1.3. Baduila in the Liber Pontificalis and Other Sixth-Century Latin Chroniclers - 1.4. Baduila vs. Totila: A Tale of Two Names - 2. The Goths in the Aftermath of Ravenna’s Fall - 2.1. 540: The End of Gothic History? - 2.2. Ildibad - 2.3. Erarich - 3. Baduila’s Military Campaigns - 3.1. Waiting for Justinian: Pockets of Gothic Resistance between 540 and 541 - 3.2. The Imperial Offensive of 542 - 3.3. The Battle of Faenza - 3.4. The Gothic Offensive of 542 - 3.5. The Campaign of 543 and the Fall of Naples - 3.6. Belisarius’ Return to the West and the War in 544-5 - 3.7. The First Siege of Rome - 3.8. Belisarius at Bay: Military Operations between Early 547 and Late 548 - 3.9. 550: The Capture of Rome and the Invasion of Sicily - 3.10. Baduila’s Naval War and Narses’ March towards Italy (551-552) - 3.11. Baduila’s Finest Hour: The Battle of Busta Gallorum (July 552) - 3.12. Mission Accomplished? The Long Aftermath of Busta Gallorum - 3.13. Baduila’s Strategy and Military Expertise: A Reappraisal - 4. Baduila’s Foreign Policy - 4.1. Gothic Foreign Policy before Baduila - 4.2. Diplomatic Silence: The First Years of Baduila - 4.3. The Meeting with Pelagius - 4.4. Baduila’s First Embassy to Justinian - 4.5. Baduila and the Franks - 4.6. Baduila’s Second Embassy to Justinian - 4.7. Baduila and the Slavs - 4.8. Baduila’s Third Embassy to Justinian - 4.9. Baduila the Diplomat: A Decade of One-Way Embassies - 5. Baduila’s Relationship with Monks and Bishops - 5.1. Baduila’s Meeting with Benedict - 5.2. A Repentant Sinner: Baduila’s Relationship with the Italian Bishops - 5.3. Baduila’s Faith: The Irrelevance of Being Arian - 5.4. Vigilius, Baduila, and Justinian: Controlling Rome in the Early 540s - 5.5. The Alleged Profanation of the Roman Catacombs by Baduila’s Soldiers - 6. Social Reforms in Sixth-Century Italy?A Reappraisal - 6.1. A Twentieth-Century Revolutionary in Sixth-Century Italy - 6.2. Mission Impossible: Collecting Taxes from the Italian Landowners in the 540s - 6.3. Rents or Robbery? - 6.4. Baduila’s “Land Reform”: The Enduring Fortune of a Misunderstanding - 6.5. Baduila’s Enrolment of Slaves - 7. Baduila’s Coinage - 7.1. Coinage in Ostrogothic Italy: Imperial Models and the Process of ‘Gothicization’ - 7.2. Baduila’s Gold Coinage: Delegitimizing Justinian through Anastasius - 7.3. Baduila’s Silver Coinage: A Most Invincible Ruler - 7.4. Baduila’s Copper Coinage: The Portrait of a Gothic Emperor - 8. From Warlord to New Theoderic: The Evolution of Baduila’s Kingship - 8.1. Baduila’s Rise to Power - 8.2. The Dawn of a Warlord - 8.3. Joys and Sorrows of Warlordism - 8.4. Imitatio Theoderici: Baduila’s Political Communication from 543 to 550 - 8.5. Imitatio imperii: Baduila’s Kingship from 550 to 552 - 9. Loyalty and Identity in Baduila’s Italy - 9.1. Desertion and Deserters during Baduila’s Reign - 9.2. Fluid Loyalties - 9.3. Identity in Ostrogothic Italy - 9.4. Italian Goths or Gothic Italians in the 540s? - 10. “Of Criminal Memory”: Baduila in the Aftermath of Justinian’s Victory - 10.1. Baduila in the Pragmatica Sanctio - 10.2. Baduila and Narses’ Inscription on the Bridge over the River Aniene - 10.3. Tyrant or King? Baduila in the Second Half of the Sixth Century - Epilogue - Chronology - Maps - Bibliography - Index.