Page 60 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

saints’ cults. A similar respect within a different context is evidenced in
the writings of Cassiodorus and Senarius, two palatine officials of the
Ostrogothic court of Italy, the subjects of chapter 5. The successful com-
pletion of legations is exploited as part of a professional ethos, and brings
tangible rewards in terms of career advancement and wealth. The study
of Senarius’ career sheds light on the extensive role of embassies in one
of the most important upheavals of the early sixth century, the Frankish
defeat of the Visigoths at Vouill´ ein 507. In chapter 6, a survey of sources
permits a reconstruction of some of the mechanics and protocols of un-
dertaking embassies, highlighting in particular the role of ceremonial in
their dispatch and reception.
Close attention to contemporary texts shows that embassies were not
occasional events, but were the regular currency of all levels of political
life in the fifth- and early sixth-century West. Much modern scholarship
silently assumes that unrecorded embassies must have preceded events
of which we do know, such as dynastic marriages and warfare. But be-
cause the ubiquity of political communication through embassies has not
been sufficiently acknowledged, evidence for individual legations is often
misconstrued by being viewed in isolation and, ironically, overestimated.
The embassies sent by the Gothic king Euric at the time of his acces-
sion (recorded by Hydatius), and embassies sent to him from Italy in the
470s (particularly that recorded in Ennodius’ Life of Epiphanius of Pavia),
are examples of such misinterpreted evidence. Seen as isolated and ex-
ceptional instances of diplomatic contact, both sets of embassies have
been read as crucial moments in relations between the western empire
and the Gothic kingdom, revealing decisive steps in Euric’s hostile poli-
cy towards the empire. In fact, in neither case did the embassies mark
a pivotal change: both sets of embassies arose from regular contact and
continued existing patterns of relations; both are recorded for specific
literary and historiographical reasons as part of the structure of individual
texts. Euric’s real moments of change from cooperation with the empire
to aggression remain unrecorded; the accounts of embassies show him
engaged in different activities. 108
Envoys fulfilled functions of both importance and status; magnates,
bishops, and palatine officials all sought the duties and prestige conveyed
by the successful completion of legations. A corollory of the impor-
tance of envoys to regional communities is the extent of political activity
conducted by provincial and city councils; provincial bodies appear in

108
For Euric’s accession embassies, see Andrew Gillett, ‘The Accession of Euric’, Francia 26.1 (1999),
1–40, esp. 19–32, and below, chapter 2,atnn. 142–50. For embassies of 470s, see below, chapter
4,atnn. 224–8.
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