What if a diminished Western Roman Empire continued into the Late Middle Ages too?

[Magister Militum Flavius Aetius]

The shirt-clip on a pen cap allows me to type in the meanwhile, it's just annoying as crap.

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron]

No. The aristocracy was not taxed by the state or had in turn tax reliefs. Since this class owned much of the arable land and the people who worked said land, through serfdom .

There are no recruits because people no longer care and are bound to the contracts mentioned above. The aristocracy no longer cares about military matters because the traditional cursus honorum does not exist anymore, a emperor divided the careers in senatorial or military. Plus there is no money to fund troops as you understand now.

The byzantine emperors were obsessed with it because it was the motherland, where it all started, Rome.

PS: I may be off in some things but MMFA will correct me.

Good summary. I always read that Italy was poor at this time, but did not know the specifics. I thought it was due to the Italy being overpopulated and reliant on grain imports whilst at the same time had little trade goods, or perhaps those were also important factors?

Anyway what is fascinating is that is sounds like a feudal system without the benefits, free troops, of a feudal system. Perhaps full feudalism with private funding of troops in return for not paying taxes would have been a solution? Ironically sounds a bit like the situation in today's Greece: a very wealthy population with a bankrupt state.

Wouldn't the Eastern Roman Empire have the same system though or did they live off heavy taxation of the Silk Road?

[Magister Militum Flavius Aetius]

I thought it was due to the Italy being overpopulated and reliant on grain imports whilst at the same time had little trade goods, or perhaps those were also important factors?

These were major factors.

Perhaps full feudalism with private funding of troops in return for not paying taxes would have been a solution?

The Theme system is what the solution ended up being for Anatolia and to a lesser extent Greece.

Wouldn't the Eastern Roman Empire have the same system though or did they live off heavy taxation of the Silk Road?

The East had similar problems but there was a significantly higher income and more trade, as well as a larger population. The Silk road is somewhat overplayed because the Persians taxed it heavily which made the Romans prefer to import direct through India.

[Dromikaites]

Oh sorry. I'll get back to you, busy weekend. Also my "O" key is broken so typing is a pain right now.

EDIT: For Soissions see:
Collins, "The Western Kingdoms" in The Cambridge Ancient History XIV: Late Antiquity: Empire and Successors A.D. 425-600, 112-134.
Wood, "The North-Western Provinces" in ^^that above^^, 497-524.
James, The Franks, 70-71.
Bachrach, "Merovingian Military Organization", 3.

The first and last ones I have in PDF, but the first is too big to send. You can probably get it and The Franks via your State/College Library Loan System.

Thanks a lot for the references.

Unfortunately I had little luck in finding there any source except Gregory of Tours (for the battle of Soissons) and "The Life of Saint Genevieve" for other bits and pieces of information regarding the time.

Therefore if all we have about the battle of Soissons comes from Gregory of Tours then we do not have any reason to believe the result of the battle was known in advance.