the world at the time of Jordanes (Iordanes)

Background

Iordanis, known in English as Jordanes (also Jordanis or even Iornandes, 'bold as a boar'), was a 6th century bureaucrat of the Eastern Roman Empire, who became an historian late in life.

Though he wrote a history of Rome (Romana), the book most of interest to us now is De origine actibusque Getarum (The Origin and Deeds of the Goths), or Getica, written in Latin at Constantinople about 551 AD.

Thos is the only remaining information source concerning the origin of the Gothic peoples who occupied the shores of the Baltic Sea around today's Poland, extended southward to the Black Sea, formed a distinct empire and a distinct language. They were eventually defeated by the Huns and gradually dispersed throughout Europe, to disappear by assimilation.

Jordanes was asked by a friend to write this book by the church as a summary of a lost multi-volume history of the Goths by the statesman, Cassiodorus. The major factors in the selection of Jordanes for this task were his interest in history (he was working on a history of Rome), his ability to write succinctly and his own Gothic background. He had been a high-level notarius, or secretary, of a small client state on the Roman frontier in Moesia, modern northern Bulgaria.

Others, e.g. Procopius, wrote extant works on the later history of the Goths. As the only surviving work on Gothic origins, Jordanes' Getica has been the object of much critical review.

Ancestry of Jordanes
This is the historical context of Jordanes' famous statement about himself and his associates in Getica, 50.266. Candac had a notarius, Paria, grandfather of Jordanes and father of Alanoviiamuth or Viiamuth.

If Candac was chief of the Alans in that region (which name could have included all the ethnicities) and that Jordanes' father was a Goth, what Paria's kinship by genes or law was to the Goths remains unknown. As Jordanes was notarius, or secretary to Gunthigis,[8] his office was probably hereditary. As he was a key man to the chief, this grade of notarius is aptly likened to secretary of state.

Social status and education
Jordanes, however, describes himself as agramaticus before his conversion. It is hard to imagine a secretary of state who could not read or write; therefore, he is unlikely to have meant unlettered. To read between the lines, his stressing "before my conversion" may be an effort to please the church, as all Goths at the time were suspected of Arianism. Otherwise we would have to presume that he underwent some sort of education in the church, in philosophy or oratory.

The key factor is perhaps that he was not a converted rustic drawn up out of his class, but a Gothic noble who had held a high office of state. His gentility is why, perhaps, he rose within the church and was assigned to summarize the work of a famous stateman. Some intimations of rusticism stem from his Latin, which is ungrammatical, but misapplication or failure to apply the rules of golden or silver Latin are characteristics of late Latin.

Life and times before conversion

Disposition of Danubian lands after Attila
Attila the Hun died in 453, of natural causes, so the major sources say. His sons planned to divide his empire as though it were a family estate. Getting word of this plan, and believing that to treat nations as you would property is a form of enslavement, Ardaric (Germanic name) , king of the Gepidae, raised the standard of revolt and defeated the Huns and their allies at the Battle of Nedao in 454.

The Gepidae won sovereignty in Dacia with Roman blessings. Encouraged, the Goths successfully petitioned Marcian, Roman emperor, for lands, and received Pannonia, which included Vienna (Vindobonum). This disposition required the displacement of former Sarmatians and Huns from Illyricum within it. The Sciri, the Sadagarii and part of the Alans were given Scythia Minor and Lower Moesia under a leader, Candac.

Formation of a mixed province under Candac
Candac did not carry a Gothic name. In the mix of peoples and languages of the times, it is hard to say what it might be. The name is parallel to Hunnic names, such as Ellac and Hernac, sons of Atilla. Hernac settled in Lesser Scythia also (Bulgaria) with some of the Huns then fleeing Pannonia.[citation needed]

Candac had an unnamed sister who married into the Amali, a noble family of the Goths. The latter must have been present in large numbers, probably being represented by the Sciri. Candac's sister's husband was Andag, son of Andela. Their son, Gunthigis, had a Gothic name. He was probably the Gothic leader, Godigisclus, mentioned by Procopius. He became chief of staff of Candac's army, taking the name Baza. As this little state was or became part of the Roman empire, Baza is probably the same as the Batza of pseudo-Marcellinus Comes. That Batza was posted to the Euphrates in 536 to take command of the Roman frontier there.[citation needed]

Paganism conversion theory
Jordanes was the notarius of Candac's nephew, the Gothic chief Gunthigis, ante conversionem meam ("before my conversion"). The Latin word has the same meaning as the English word deriving from it. The nature and details of the conversion remain obscure. By implication, it involved leaving his post as notarius and travelling to Italy with stays at various times in Rome. If the identification of his former employer is correct, the latter probably went to the Euphrates in 536 without the services of his former secretary.

The conversion was probably not from paganism to Christianity. The Goths had been converted with the assistance of Ulfilas (a Goth), who had been made bishop on that account. It is possible that the state of mixed peoples in which Jordanes had been notarius remained somewhat pagan despite the Gothic connection.

Arianism conversion theory
During Ulfilas' career, however, the church branded the doctrine to which he had been converted as heretical. Ulfilas saved himself and his career by travelling to Rome and recanting. The north did not give up its Arianism easily. Some claim that the issue continues today, although there is no historical descent of today's unitarianism (the philosophic doctrine, not the church in New England, which derives from Puritan times and the Swiss reform) from Arianism.

A conversion to the Nicene creed (trinitarian) and a trip to Rome to clear himself is a better explanation Jordanes' conversion, which is expressed in the virulent anti-Arianism of certain passages in Getica. In a letter to Vigilius he mentions that he was awakened by vestris interrogationibus. The word interrogatio, which derives from Roman jurisprudence and typically involved torture in that context, referred in the church to the first step of a process that became terrible to many, which we still call inquisition. Initially, however, the object of church attention was often treated with all courtesy and respect and was invited to publicly alter his views, as did Ulfilas.

If that is what happened, Jordanes, a high Gothic official, may have been invited to Rome, where he took the hint, so to speak, as he seems to have received the blandishment of church offices and comradeship as one of the inner circle. Whether he would have been allowed to return to his old position is another matter. In Jordanes' case there is no hint of any hypocrisy. His works are enthusiastic, even bubbling, and give the impression of frank sincerity. He probably was, in fact, converted. His extant writings are from a Nicene, not an Arian, perspective.

Success in the church
Not much of Jordanes' career is known: Pope Pelagius mentions a Jordanes defensor ecclesiae Romanae, "Jordanes, defender of the Roman church", which may be him. The emphasis on Roman church, as opposed to some other, seems to imply the Nicene/Arian conflict. By 551 Pope Vigilius, under detention in Constantinople, had been joined by Bishop Jordanes of Crotona (Bruttium, Italy), commonly identified with Jordanes the historian. He was probably not bishop of Ravenna, as some say.

Romana and Getica

The two remaining publications of Jordanes were written nearly together in 551 AD while Pope Vigilius was being detained at Constantinople by Justinian for refusal to cooperate. The works were assigned the epithets of Romana and Getica by Theodore Mommsen for quick reference, when they were first pubblished together as Iordanis Romana et Getica in 1882. Those names have persisted.

At Constantinople the churchmen were continually badgered and their lives were threatened. The writing project apparently began as a pastime and spiritual escape. In the first sentence of Getica, Jordanes compares the composition of Romana to a fishing trip, in which he glides his boat by the

"oram tranquilli litoris",
the "bank of a peaceful shore"
catching the little fish of the ancients.

The political environment at Constantinople
Justinian had come to power as associate emperor in 527, soon taking full and sole control at the natural death of his predecessor. He was already married to Theodora since 523. Italy at that time was a mixture of former Romans and Italians and Goths. Relations were now peaceful, now inharmonious. As to religion, Italy was in the Roman camp, while Justinian and Theodora were eastern Orthodox.

Justinian was known as the emperor who never slept. He and Theodora (who were excellent and like-minded partners) spent every bit of their time and resources on one goal: the reunification and restoration of the Roman empire. Their methods were often extreme, even ruthless. They achieved limited success, and therefore he is known as the last Roman emperor and she the empress Theodora.

Reassignment to Getica
Jordanes did not intend Romana for his own eyes only, as he dedicated it to Vigilius. The latter was probably informed of it. Before it was done, Jordanes was pulled off it and put on the Getica, which was to be a summarization of a voluminous work by Cassiodorus.

To leave Romana unfinished and suddenly take up a difficult task on a dangerous subject argues for a higher policy than his own; namely, the pope's. Jordanes said that he started the Getica at the urging of "brother" Castalius, who insisted he leave his figurative fishing trip and set sails upon the deep.

Jordanes tells us that he did not even have access to Cassiodorus' work at that time, and presumably could not obtain it due to his detention. He did have access to a great many other sources through the libraries in Constantinople, and he did have his knowledge from pre-conversion days, which also would have pre-disposed him to remember what Cassiodorus had said.

Jordanes' political stance
The De origine actibusque Getarum of Jordanes does not share the anti-Gothic sentiment at Constantinople of the times. Whether it can be said to reflect Gothic sympathies or rather to be an impartial authority is a matter of opinion. Jordanes perhaps absorbed into his work a fundamental idea of Cassiodorus (known from surviving works), that the only way to secure for the Goths a prosperous future was to bring about their peaceful absorption into the Roman Empire. Cassiodorus' view was shared by the churchmen of Rome, which is the reason why the pope was being detained in Constantinople.

Jordanes has little to say of the inner history and policy of the previous Italian kingdom of Theodoric: his interests lie, according to Mommsen, within a triangle defined by the three points Sirmium, Larissa and Constantinople. His lack of anti-Hunnish sentiment and respect for the abilities of Attila are a mark of his impartiality.

The Origin and Deeds of the Goths [full text link]

In his Preface Jordanes presents his plan: "to condense in my own style in this small book the twelve volumes of Senator on the origin and deeds of the Getae [i.e. Goths] from olden times to the present day."

Jordanes admits that he did not then have access to those twelve volumes, and could not remember the words. He added things of his own authorship according to the sense that he remembered. Thus none of the work is in the words of Cassiodorus, and there is no way now to discern which incidents came from him. The work is sometimes ascribed to Cassiodorus but most recognize Jordanes as its author.

The Getica is significant as the only remaining source on the origin of the Goths who for a time dominated east Europe and were dispersed by the Huns.

Jordanes tells us in Getica that he interrupted work on the Romana to write Getica, and then finished Romana. Jordanes states in Romana that he wrote it in the 24th year of the emperor Justinian, which began April 1, 551. In Getica he mentions a plague of nine years previous. This is probably the plague that began in Egypt in 541, reached Constantinople in 542 and went on to Italy in 543.

Because Cassiodorus' original version has not survived, Jordanes' work is one of the most important sources for the period of the migration of the European tribes, and the Ostrogoths and Visigoths in particular, from the 3rd century CE. Cassiodorus' work claims to have the Gothic "Folk songs" -- the Carmina Prisca (Latin) -- as a prime source. Recent scholarship regards this as highly questionable. The main purpose of the original work (Cassiodorus's) was to give the Gothic ruling class a glorious past - to match the past of the senatorial families of Roman Italy.

The book is important to some medieval historians because it mentions the campaign in Gaul of one Riothamus, "King of the Brettones," who was possibly a source of inspiration for the early stories of King Arthur.

The classic edition is that of 19th-century German classical scholar Theodor Mommsen (in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, auctores antiqui, v. ii.). The best surviving manuscript was the Heidelberg manuscript, written in Heidelberg, Germany, probably in the 8th century, but this was destroyed in a fire at Mommsen's house. The next of the manuscripts in historical value are the Vaticanus Palatinus of the 10th century, and the Valenciennes manuscript of the 9th century.

Jordanes, as he himself tells us a couple of times, was of Gothic descent and wrote this work as a summary of Cassiodorus' much longer treatment of the history of the Goths. Because Cassiodorus' book no longer survives, Jordanes' treatment is often our only source for some of the Gothic history it describes. He wrote the Getica during the later stages of the reign of Justinian, not too long after the demise of the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy.

Jordanes divided his work, apart from the brief introduction and conclusion, into four main sections (reflected in the contents below). These are 1) a Geographical Introduction; 2) the United Goths; 3) the Visigoths; 4) and the Ostrogoths. Other large sections, such as the discussion of the Huns, he treats as digressions of a sort.

Sources

Jordanes himself
Former notarius in a Danubian state ruled by the Goths and churchman in a nation also ruled by the Goths (Italy), Jordanes was in a position to know traditions concerning the Gothic peoples without necessarily relying on anyone else. As he was rewriting Cassiodorus' work under the same name but without reference to the text, he must have been his own strongest source.

Cassiodorus
The kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Italy, imposed at first by conquest under Alaric, became a union of Goths and native Italians, in which the Italians accepted their lot with grace and the Gothic kings tried their level best to achieve a just and lasting peace. The presence in the east of significant forces of the Roman empire, based at Constantinople, and determined to win back the territory wrested from them, served as a destabilizing factor that eventually doomed Gothic rule in Italy.

Cassiodorus was a native Italian (Squillace, Bruttium), who rose to become advisor and secretary to the Gothic kings in various high offices. His and the Goths' most successful years were perhaps the reign of Theodoric. The policy of Theodoric's government at that time was reconciliation and in that spirit he combined Italians into the government whenever he could. He asked Cassiodorus to write a work on the Goths that would, in essence, demonstrate their antiquity, nobility, experience and fitness to rule.

Theodoric died in 526 and Cassiodorus went on to serve his successors in the same capacity. He had not by any means forgotten the task assigned to him by his former king. In 533 a letter ostensibly written by King Athalaric to the senate in Rome, but ghosted by Cassiodorus, mentions the great work on the Goths, now complete, in which Cassiodorus..."restored the Amali with the illustriousness of their race." The work must have been written at Ravenna, seat of the Gothic kings, between 526 at latest and 533.

What Cassiodorus did with the manuscripts after that remains unknown. The fact that Jordanes once obtained them from a steward indicates that the wealthy Cassiodorus was able to hire at least one full-time custodian of them and other manuscripts of his; i.e., a private librarian.

Jordanes says in the preface to Getica that he obtained them from the librarian for three days in order to read them again (relegi, "I reread"), which indicates that he had read them once before. The times and places of these readings have been the concern of many scholars, as this information possibly bears on how much of Getica is based on Cassiodorus.

Gothic sovereignty came to an end with the reconquest of Italy by Belisarius, military chief of staff for Justinian, ending in 539. Cassiodorus' last ghost writing for the Gothic kings was done for Witiges, who was removed to Constantinople in 540. A number of token kings ruled from there while Belisarius established that the Goths were not going to reinvade and retake Italy (which was however taken again by the Lombards after Justinian's death).

According to Mierow, Cassiodorus retired in 540 to his home town of Squillace, where he used his wealth to build a monastery with school and library, Vivarium. The subsequent wars never got as far as there. Jordanes read and later reread the work on the Goths at the library there prior to the detention of pope Vigilius at Constantinople, which Jordanes came to share.

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