| Description |
It is not the intention of this paper to explain the evolution of Attila's image in literature, but rather merely to chart its course. Therefore it can not be the purpose of this paper to examine the institutions of barbarian Europe. However it must be noted that both before and after the period of the great invasions, something recognisable as a Germanic intellectual culture existed, though these times must be considered Europe's ebb-tide as far as learning is concerned. The "period of the great invasions" is usually defined as all the movements from 375 to 568, and we are interested specifically in the movements of the Goths and Frank vis-a-vis Italy and Gaul, since it is with them that one associates the invention of runes and the writing of Ulfilas, and it was this early intellectual activity which laid the foundation for the serious German authors of the; Carolingian period, two centuries later. Indeed, it was this period which provided the backdrop for many of the epics later put down in German hand. |
