And So Begin the Middle Ages
By a certain measure, today marks the
anniversary of the date in 476 from which the “Middle Ages” may be dated. On
this day, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustus, who
was in his mid-teens and was completely controlled by his father, Orestes, the
Magister Militum of the Roman military, was deposed by Odoacer. Orestes had
little standing to complain about the over-throw of his son's reign - Orestes
had revolted against the prior emperor and put his son on the imperial throne.
Odoacer did not bother asserting that he was another Roman emperor; he was to
be simply the King of the territories under his control.
With Romulus' resignation the imperial
regalia was packed up and shipped off to Byzantium. With this event, the
Western Roman Empire ceased to exist, its fragments now under control of
various “barbarian” tribes.
The “eastern” Roman Empire centered at
Constantinople (Byzantium) would survive another millennium until it fell to
the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
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