This article is taken from
Figaro Histoire
“When Europe faced the great invasions”
.
Discover in this issue the history of the demographic, political and cultural upheavals that affected Europe from the 4th to the 10th century.
“When Europe faced great invasions” Le Figaro History
Had the Rhine been frozen over?
No contemporary attests to it and the tradition which reports it actually only goes back to Edward Gibbon.
We know the propensity of the author of
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
to give dramatic colors to the decisive stages of the great invasions;
the detail is nevertheless plausible.
No bridge was able to allow the passage of the immense crowd, and no testimony evokes a crossing in boats similar to that which had allowed thirty years earlier the Goths to cross the Danube in Thrace in trunks of dug tree, according to the account of Ammianus Marcellin.
Herodian, a 3rd century historian, specifies that it was not uncommon in his time for the cold of winter to transform the courts...
This article is reserved for subscribers.
You have 95% left to discover.
Flash sale
-70% on digital subscription
I ENJOY IT
Already subscribed?
Log in