Born Then376–476
Life during the Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Be born in a place it hit, a few years before it began, and see what it did to five ordinary lives.
What it meant for ordinary people
Over a century, Goths, Vandals, Franks, Saxons and others crossed the Roman frontier and set up kingdoms, and the last western emperor was deposed in 476. Tax and trade networks broke down, towns shrank and many farmers became dependents of local lords. For most people it was a slow loss of roads, coins and markets rather than one dramatic event.
Deaths: unknown; the population of the western provinces fell over the following two centuries.
How hard it hits each person in the game (risk of death, of being conscripted, of leaving) comes from our model, estimated from the sources.
Around the same time
- Fall of the Western Roman Empire 376–476