Sources for the Fall of Rome

An annotated bibliography for the Fall of Rome and the Barbarian Kingdoms.

Barker, P. (1981). The Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome. Wargame Research Group.

Collins, R. (1995). Early Medieval Spain: Unity in diversity 400-1000 (2nd ed.). NY: St Martins Press.

Collins, R. (2004). Visigothic Sain 409-711. Blackwell.

Collins is a bit of a guru on Spain. I only picked this up recently but I’m really enjoying it.

Coulston, J. C. N. (1990). Later Roman armour, 3rd-6th centuries AD. Journal of Roman Military Equipment Studies, 1, 139-160.

Presents a good argument for mail armour, and against leather armour, in the late Roman army. Unfortunately my own Legionaries have leather armour.

Graves, R. (1938). Count Belisarius. Penguin.

Quite a good novel. Overdoes the evil Justinian thing, but still worth a read.

Heath, I. (1980). Armies of the Dark Ages 600-1066 (2nd ed.). Wargames Research Group.

Excellent.

MacDowall,S. (1990). Goths, Huns and Romans. Argus Books.

This small booklet is pitched at the wargaming community. It provides a good introduction to the history and to wargaming the period. Includes sample scenarios.

MacDowall, S. (1994). Late Roman Infantryman 236-565 AD. Osprey. [Warrior 9].

MacDowall, S. (1995). Late Roman Cavalryman 236-565 AD. Osprey. [Warrior 15].

MacDowall, S. (1996). Germanic Warrior AD 236 – 568. Osprey. [Warrior 17].

Marcellinus, Ammianus. (1986). The Later Roman Empire (A.D. 354-378). Penguin.

Nelson, L. H [Trans.] (1991). The Chronicle of San Juan de la Pena: A Fourteenth-Century Official History of the Crown of Aragon. University of Pennsylvania Press.

I only used this for the list of Visigothic Kings.

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