bagaudae

Updated: May 6, 2025

In the twilight of history, between the fall of Rome and the rise of the new nationalities, we dimly see the struggle going on. There is a great insurrection of the oppressed peasantry, under the name of Bagaudae, in Gaul. When the light dawns, a step has been gained. Slavery has been generally succeeded by serfdom. But serfdom is hard.

Goldwin Smith - Lectures and Essays

One cannot look into the pages of Gibbon, without seeing that the normal condition of the empire was one of revolt, civil war, invasion Pretenders, like Carausius and Allectus in Britain, setting themselves up as emperors for awhile Bands of brigands, like the Bagaudae of Gaul, and the Circumcelliones of Africa, wandering about, desperate with hunger and revenge, to slay and pillage Teutonic tribes making forays on the frontier, enlisted into the Roman armies, and bought off, or hired to keep back the tribes behind them, and perish by their brethren's swords.

Charles Kingsley - The Roman and the Teuton : A Series of Lectures delivered before the University of Cambridge