1. Economic issues (inflation, reduced tax revenues) resulting from: a. A protracted plague (fairly good evidence for declining population from the 2nd to 7th centuries) b. Invasions by Germanic tribes cutting down on productivity in the outskirts of the empire
2. Political instability built into the system
And eventually the whole apparatus just couldn't be self-sustaining anymore and fell into ruin.
I also have a fondness for the theory that there was less of a "fall" than a "transformation," and that the seeds of medieval life were contained in the late empire.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-02-02 07:05 am (UTC)1. Economic issues (inflation, reduced tax revenues) resulting from:
a. A protracted plague (fairly good evidence for declining population from the 2nd to 7th centuries)
b. Invasions by Germanic tribes cutting down on productivity in the outskirts of the empire
2. Political instability built into the system
And eventually the whole apparatus just couldn't be self-sustaining anymore and fell into ruin.
I also have a fondness for the theory that there was less of a "fall" than a "transformation," and that the seeds of medieval life were contained in the late empire.