Bastarnae - Ultimate Fate

Ultimate Fate

Claudius II was the first of a sequence of military emperors (the so-called "Illyrian emperors" from their main ethnic origin) who restored order in the empire in the late 3rd century. These emperors followed a policy of large-scale resettlement within the empire of defeated barbarian tribes, granting them land in return for an obligation of military service much heavier than the usual conscription quota. The policy had the triple benefit, from the Roman point of view, of weakening the hostile tribe, repopulating the plague-ravaged frontier provinces (bringing their abandoned fields back into cultivation) and providing a pool of first-rate recruits for the army. But it could also be popular with the barbarian prisoners, who were often delighted by the prospect of a land grant within the empire. In the 4th century, such communities were known as laeti. The emperor Probus (r. 276-82) is recorded as resettling 100,000 Bastarnae in Moesia, in addition to other peoples (Goths, Gepids and Vandals). The Bastarnae are reported to have honoured their oath of allegiance to the emperor, while the other resettled peoples mutinied while Probus was distracted by usurpation attempts and ravaged the Danubian provinces far and wide. A further massive transfer of Bastarnae was carried out by emperor Diocletian (ruled 284-305) after he and his colleague Galerius defeated a coalition of Bastarnae and Carpi in 299. Such numbers may have amounted to a substantial proportion, if not all, of the Peucini Bastarnae: Victor claims that the Carpi resettled in Pannonia by Diocletian at the same time, together with those previously transferred by Aurelian, amounted to the entire Carpi tribe.

The remaining Bastarnae of the Ukraine disappear into obscurity in the late empire. Neither of the main ancient sources for this period, Ammianus Marcellinus and Zosimus, mention the Bastarnae in their accounts of the 4th century, possibly implying the loss of their separate identity, presumably subsumed into the neighbouring Sarmatians or Goths. If the Bastarnae remained an identifiable group, it is highly likely that they participated in the vast Gothic-led migration, driven by Hunnic pressure, that was admitted into Moesia by emperor Valens in 376 and eventually defeated and killed Valens at Adrianople in 378. Zosimus consistently refers to the migrants as "Scythians" (unlike Ammianus, who refers to them as "Goths"), specifically stating at one point that, in addition, "Goths, Taifali and other tribes" were involved.

However, after a gap of 150 years, there is a final mention of Bastarnae in the mid 5th century. In 451, the Hunnic leader Attila invaded Gaul with a large army which was ultimately routed at the Battle of Châlons by a Roman-led coalition under the general Aetius. Attila's host, according to Jordanes, included contingents from the "innumerable tribes that had been brought under his sway." One such were the Bastarnae, according to the Gallic nobleman Sidonius Apollinaris. According to E.A. Thompson, it is likely that Sidonius, whose purpose was to write a panegyric and not a history, simply added some spurious names to his list, including the Bastarnae. On the other hand, Thompson does accept that some peoples on the list are plausible e.g. Burgundians, Sciri and Franks.