Chat Ed : Hello and welcome to tonight's live BARBARIANS chat with RICHARD RUDGLEY
Tinker Mel : *chants* I want Richard! I want Richard!
Richard Rudgley : Hello fellow Barbarians!
Jane S : Thanks for a fascinating programme
Tinker Mel : I love you Richard!!
Lea : Yeah, it was great
Janine : excellent program Richard, thanksEnter questions for the interview here
Richard Rudgley : That's very kind, I'm glad that you enjoyed the programme.
Diocletian : Richard, I enjoyed the prog, but felt that you made a bit much of the date 406. After all, the barbarians had been crossing the Rhine and Danube for 300 years previously.
Richard Rudgley : You're absolutely right about that, but I think this was a turning point because this time the Vandals and their allies just kept going and the Romans couldn't kick them out. But I would say that the Vandals really knew how to gate-crash a New Year's Eve party.
jamie1529 : not alot was said about the germans barbarians
Richard Rudgley : Well, both the Vandals and the Goths were basically Germanic peoples. There'll be plenty of Germans next week, so don't worry.
almagill : Why, in terms of the Roman presence oin Britain is there so much emphasis on the southern Hadrian's Wall where there is evidence that they operated much further north for a considerable period of time?
Richard Rudgley : I would blame the English for that because the wall that was built further north was actually in Scotland and the English always try and get one over on the Scots.
MadMax : Why did you continually refer to the dark ages? This applies only to Britain, there were no dark ages elsewhere?
Richard Rudgley : MadMax, which is a very good barbaric name by the way, you're right. It's because the Dark Ages is a term that we use in Britain whereas in Germany for example they would call it the "age of migration" or the "age of wandering people". But this series is for a British audience and I think the term 'Dark Ages' is more familiar here which is why I used it.
David Mac : Thanks for a very interesting first part of your documentary. Why was,nt the Roman armies able to stop the Goths and Vandals descending down to Rome from the North. Was it because the Roman armies themselves in the North were made up of Barbarians?
Richard Rudgley : You have hit the nail on the head here. We mustn't think it was simply Romans vs Barbarians. The Romans practised their divide and rule policy and employed barbarians in their armies and also as mercenaries. In the end there were more Barbarians than Romans in the, so-called, Roman army and so the whole system imploded.
MadMax : Why did you not explain that Barbarian simply means foriegner in Latin?
Richard Rudgley : Because barbarians has come to mean much more than that. It has become a word to symbolize everything that is uncivilised. So it has become a word that means much more than simply 'a foreigner'.
Doodle_Cymru : what happened to the Vandals, after they were defeated in N Africa? as there are no traces of this Germanic people there?
Richard Rudgley : Very good questions. Some of the leaders were able to retire on their estate in different parts of Italy believe it or not. The rest just seem to have disappeared into the local population and their language seems to have died out.
mr arfan rai : richard, i think the point you made on the romans erasing the traces of other cultures is something missing in todays era. many are unaware of the romans efforts of eradicating traces of mithraism
Richard Rudgley : Well some people would say that Mithraism could easily have been the religion of Europe today, if the early Roman Christians had not put an end to it.
paulrose010 : Why were you so easy on the vandals pillaging? Saying they had 'different values' smacks of moral relativism to me - they did horrible things!
Lea : were the vandals really that bad? after all, we name our criminals who smash things up after them
Richard Rudgley : Yes that's where we get our word vandalism from - the Vandals. I want to make it clear that I'm not trying to whitewash the Vandals or any of their allies. They weren't all sweetness and light but neither were the Romans. I don't think that the Vandals were anymore violent or destructive than many of the Romans and their allies.
Neale Spence : Perhaps the light of the Roman Empire burned so strongly that these nomadic peoples were unable to resist, a sort of assimilation gone mad, the Roman Empire a victim of its own success?
Richard Rudgley : I'd agree with that to a large extent. Certainly a lot of the so-called Barbarians were drawn to the Roman Empire, sometimes purely because they wanted the treasures and gold of the Empire. But when I was filming the series I travelled straight from Mainz in Germany to Ravenna in Italy. I went from cloud, wind and rain to glorious sunshine and great espresso and I realised that maybe a lot of the Barbarians movement to the south was because of the weather.
Caroline S : Why did the Huns (and the tribes that copied them) tie up their children's heads to deform the skulls?
Richard Rudgley : They thought it looked nice. I think that may be hard for us to understand today, but body piercing has become very big in the last 10 years, so who knows, deformed skulls may be back in fashion soon!
peter s : So what did the Barbarians do for us? (time for a touch of levity here)
Richard Rudgley : I think that the Barbarians did much to create the background that led to the map of Europe as we know it today. I think that they contributed much more to technology and other tangible aspects of culture, which I think will become clearer in the second programme next week, particularly to do with swords and ships.
Tracey : where were those 2 churches in austria ?
Richard Rudgley : They are outside a small village called Globasnitz, in southern Austria.
KrisB : what were the religious beliefs of the Barbarians?
Richard Rudgley : There were many kinds. Therefore they had different religious beliefs. Originally they were Pagan but all eventually became, at least nominal, Christians.
Dr Oetker : Is Hungary called Hungary because of the Huns?
Richard Rudgley : No is the short answer. It's actually purely a coincidence.
pete scathe : Don't you think it's possible that Theodoric's 'elimination' in the mosacis might have had more to do with his Arian beliefs rather than his barbarian origin?
Richard Rudgley : I think that there's a link between being a Barbarian and being an Arian because many of the Germanic tribes were Arians. The elimination of Arianism was the elimination of an independent Germanic Christianity.
Duncan : Considering the germanic links of the current branch of the British Royal Family, do you think it likely that our Queen has barbarian blood (blue or not) running in her veins? :)
Richard Rudgley : I think most of us has Barbarian blood, even the epitome of civilisation.
Dave Eadsforth : Hi. I was intrigued to learn that the Huns vanished - have any Hun burial sites been found that yielded any DNA, and has this been matched to any modern Eoropean popluations?re are
Richard Rudgley : The Huns basically went back to where they came from. There wasn't enough grass in Europe for their horses and herds. They left very few traces of their presence in Europe and, to my knowledge, we have not been able to track them down through DNA.
lee : Was it ONLY the Huns forcing people west that affected the Roman Empire?
Richard Rudgley : Not at all. The main troublemakers were the Germanic peoples, including as we shall see next week, the English, who were really Germans in disguise.
Guy : Thanks for an interesting first episode - I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. How did you first get interested in this subject, is it partly due to the fact that history is so often shaped by those who recount it?
Richard Rudgley : Absolutely. I think it's important to try and see the other side of the story and to realise that the Barbarian cultures that gave birth to our ancestors were not simply sponges for absorbing the culture of Rome.
Chat Ed : That's it! Thanks for coming RICHARD and thanks for all your questions. In the accompanying book Richard Rudgley examines the fall of Rome, the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain and the rise of the Vikings, as the ethnic mosaic of Europe changed beyond recognition. To purchase the book Barbarians: Secrets of the Dark Ages priced 18.99 call 0870 1234 344 or go to channel4.com/shop
SUsie : Just to say thank you to richard - am now intrigued about our barbarian heritage. ff to read more.... :)
Richard Rudgley : Thank you everyone for your questions. I hope that the programme achieved what it set out to, which was to show that there are 2 sides to every story.
Nigel : thanks for the program Richard
lee : Thanx RR
Bronin : Thanks too,i've already bought your book and looking forward to receiving it
Lea : thanks everybody, especially Richard for the program
jamie1529 : look forward to the german bit next week then
sally price : thanks Richard so interesting look forward to next week
793645 : yer nice1
Richard Rudgley : And I hope you all are sufficiently interested in the hidden history of your own ancestors to find out what happens in the next part of the story.
Gary : Richard thansk for making such an intersting programme.
helly : thank i really found it interesting
Richard Rudgley leaves the room.
