06-21-2011, 03:25 PM
I might also suggest A Voyage Home to Gaul by Rutilius Namatianus
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Ro...text*.html who talks about his difficulty in getting home to Gaul in the aftermath of the sack of Rome
Pope Gregory's letters also talk about life among the ruins. The chronic insecurity leads to reduced trade and less investment in maintenance and upkeep leading to less taxes in turn leading to more insecurity.
The collapse in economic specialisation and chronic insecurity would no doubt give rise to a very bleak view of the world as indicated by this poem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ruin
McCormack's Origins of the European Economy talks quite a bit about the decline in travel in late antiquity/early medieval period.
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Ro...text*.html who talks about his difficulty in getting home to Gaul in the aftermath of the sack of Rome
Pope Gregory's letters also talk about life among the ruins. The chronic insecurity leads to reduced trade and less investment in maintenance and upkeep leading to less taxes in turn leading to more insecurity.
The collapse in economic specialisation and chronic insecurity would no doubt give rise to a very bleak view of the world as indicated by this poem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ruin
McCormack's Origins of the European Economy talks quite a bit about the decline in travel in late antiquity/early medieval period.
Andrew J M
