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Christianity opposed sacrifice and magic, and Christian emperors made laws that favored Christianity. Constantine's successors generally continued this approach, and by the end of the fourth century, Christianity had become the religion of any ambitious civil official. The wealth of the Christian Church increased dramatically in the fifth century.
Nevertheless, the city of Rome retained a paramount position as "the eternal city" and a spiritual center of the Empire. This was the first time in almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to a foreign enemy, and the sack was a major shock to contemporaries, friends and foes of the Empire alike.
The 5th century is the time period from AD 401 (represented by the Roman numerals CDI) through AD 500 (D) in accordance with the Julian calendar. The 5th century is noted for being a period of migration and political instability throughout Eurasia. It saw the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, which came to a formal end in 476 AD.
The 5th century involves the final fall of the Western Roman Empire to Goths, Vandals, Alans, Huns, Franks and other peoples. Gothic War (401-403), a Visigothic invasion of Italy led by Alaric I [16] 402 Siege of Asti (402) – Visigoths besieged Western Emperor Honorius in Asti until March, when Stilicho sent reinforcements.
Theodosius I is the only emperor that is definitely known to have visited Rome between 363 and 395. [8] Valentinian III moved his court to Rome in 450 and stayed there for the remainder of his life. [9] The population of the city had fallen from 700,000-1,000,000 at the end of the 4th century to 300,000-500,000 by 455. [10]
Throughout the 5th century, Western emperors were usually figureheads, while the Eastern emperors maintained more independence. For most of the time, the actual rulers in the West were military strongmen who took the titles of magister militum, patrician, or both, such as Stilicho, Aetius, and Ricimer. Although Rome was no longer the capital in ...
The Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the early 5th century. The Romans fought off all invaders, most famously Attila, [41] but the empire had assimilated so many Germanic peoples of dubious loyalty to Rome that the empire started to dismember itself. [42]
By the 5th century, Christianity was the empire's predominant faith, and filled the same role paganism had at the end of the 3rd century. [342] Because of the persecution, however, a number of Christian communities were riven between those who had complied with imperial authorities (traditores) and those who had refused.