The Myth of Nations The Myth of Nations The Medieval Origins of Europe Patrick J. Geary PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD Copyright © 2002 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, Newjersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock, Oxfordshire 0X20 1SY All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Geary, Patrick J., 1948- The myth of nations : the medieval origins of Europe / Patrick J. Geary. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-691-09054-8 1. Europe—Ethnic relations—History. 2. Rome—Boundaries—History. 3. Nationalism—Europe—History—19th century. 4. Immigrants—Europe. 5. Rome—History—Germanic Invasions, 3rd-6th centuries. 6. Xenopho­ bia—Europe. 7. Europe—Race relations. I. Title. D135 .G43 2001 305.8'0094—dc21 2001036336 This book has been composed in Baskerville with Stone Sans display Printed on acid-free paper. ® xoxow. pup. princeton. edu Printed in the United States of America For Jean Airiau and Jim Usdan DEDICATED FRIENDS AND DEDICATED READERS WHO UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PAST FOR THE PRESENT AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction The Crisis of European Identity 1 Chapter One A Poisoned Landscape: Ethnicity and Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century 15 Chapter Two Imagining Peoples in Antiquity 41 Chapter Three Barbarians and Other Romans 63 Chapter Four New Barbarians and New Romans 93 Chapter Five The Last Barbarians? 120 CONTENTS Chapter Six Toward New European Peoples 151 Notes 175 Suggestion for Further Reading 185 Index 189 • • ♦ VIII Acknowledgments K4y reflections on the relationship between the myths of Euro­ pean peoples and the realities of contemporary nationalism have developed in dialogue with many people, especially my students and colleagues at the University of Florida, UCLA, the University of Notre Dame, and the Central European University in Budapest. During the academic years 1994-1996, the UCLA Center for Me­ dieval and Renaissance Studies conducted a series of conversations on the topic “Creating Ethnicity: The Abuse of History,” sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In the course of these conferences, I was able to refine my understanding of the re­ lationship between the distant past and the present. As a guest par­ ticipant in meetings of the European Science Foundation’s proj­ ect, “The Transformation of the Roman World,” I was privileged to interact with a wide spectrum of European scholars who are at the forefront of understanding the transformations of ethnic groups in Late Antiquity. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS After deciding to try to share what I had learned about past eth­ nicities with a general audience, I turned to many colleagues and friends for their assistance. Through the years, Otto Johnston, James Turner, and Robert Sullivan were especially helpful in clar­ ifying the background of nineteenth-century Europe. Stephen Fireman introduced me to the complexities of African ethnogen­ esis and János Bak taught me much about the realities of life in Central Europe in the twentieth century. I am particularly grate­ ful to Herwig Wolfram, Walter Pohl, Hans Hummer, and James Usdan, each of whom read early drafts of this manuscript and offered their insights and suggestions. Brigitta Van Rheinberg worked mightly to help make this book accessible to the audience for which it is intended—nonacademics who wonder about the re­ lationship between past and present. HollyJ. Grieco assisted me in preparing the manuscript. What may be of value in this book largely comes from these generous scholars and friends. The er­ rors that remain are mine. Patrick J. Geary Los Angeles The Myth of Nations