3. HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES IN ITALY. In the Middle Ages Italy took the first rank in the history of civilization. The differences that arose under the Roman rule between the Greek Orient and the Latin Oc cident continued in the new historical period and included also the religious beliefs termi nating in schism.
During the greater part of the Middle Ages, Italy was the centre of political life of the Western Empires, and in the 14th and 15th cen turies became the centre of culture.
The Middle Ages are generally supposed to begin with the year 476, because from this time till the reign of Charlemagne no Western prince held the imperial power. Nevertheless, during these three centuries the empire did not remain in the West. It was a unique institution even when, under Diocletian and his successors, it was represented by several associated princes. After 476 it was again represented in the Occi dent as a sovereign power by the resident prince at Constantinople, the legitimate heir of Romu lus Augustulus, this unity manifesting itself above all in the uniformity of the laws and of the consulships, with their similar official desig nations of the year, as long as it lasted.
Odoacer assumed the title of king out of re gard for the barbarian army of Italy, but ruled only as an imperial functionary. His residence was at Ravenna, where he maintained the Ro man form of administration with its complex organization, and its rigorous separation of the military from the civil functions. He ceded Provence to the Visigoths, conquered Dalmatia and Sicily, granted a third of the landed prop erty of the Italians to the barbarian soldiery, where they took possession and settled, and thus through the application of the principles of hospitality there arose among those people the institution of private landed property.
Odoacer's reign was a short one. Zenon sent him against the Ostrogoths under Theo doric, who desired fresh conquests. Theodoric acted as an imperial functionary. He substi tuted his own rule for that of Odoacer, resided at Ravenna, ceded to his soldiers the third of the Italian lands wherever the army was sta tioned. Thus continued the imperial sovereignty in ideal and judicial order; for the consulate continued, and as long as the Ostrogoth kings were in power, they published edicts and not laws, and an edict came within the limits of a magistrate's power, but they in reality ruled as independent sovereigns.
Theodoric endeavored to amalgamate the Goths and the Romans. He maintained, with slight alterations, the tributary and administra tive system of the last years of the empire, and in compiling the edicts, obligatory on both peoples, he established a common and general legislation. But this policy failed, especially by reason of the diverse religions of the two na tions. His failure to accomplish these ends in spired him to violence against the Romans. He was more fortunate in his external policy, for he restrained the power of Clodovicus, recon quered Provence, and maintained a moral hegemony over some of the Germanic king doms.
He was succeeded by Atalaric under the re gency of his mother, Amalasunta, who desired to govern in accord with the emperor; but, when Atalaric died, the National party, opposed to the Romans, forced her to associate with her cousin, Theodatus, who had her assassinated, thus giving toJustinian an occasion to inter fere in the affairs of Italy, and Belisarius, hav ing conquered the Vandals, was commanded by the emperor to march against Theodatus, thus beginning a war that lasted 20 years, during which the kings Vitiges, Totila and Teia, and the Byzantine generals, Belisarius and Narses, were conspicuous by their valor. At length Italy passed under the direct jurisdiction of Justinian, who rehabilitated it by Pragmatic sanction. Provence was reconquered by the Franks.
The Greek domination in the whole penin sula lasted but a short time. In 568, or there about, the Lombards invaded Italy, followed by adventurers of various races, and they continued to extend their dominion, but could not con quer the whole peninsula. Italy lost its political unity and the Roman division of it into prov inces. A Lombard kingdom was formed. Italy in part was divided into. Duchies, of which later on Pavia was the capital and its cities, the residences of dukes and gartaldii, became the of the new administrative divisions. Italy continued to be in part a Byzantine prov ince, governed by' an exatch in Ravenna, and formed of scattered regions, almost all on the coast, which slowly reorganized as military circuits.