Maps -- A chronology of Romans and barbarians in late antiquity -- Introduction: Romans, barbarians, and the transformation of the Roman Empire / Thomas F. X. Noble -- PART I: BARBARIAN ETHNICITY AND IDENTITY: The crisis of European identity / Patrick J. Geary -- Gothic history as historical ethnography / Herwig Wolfram -- Origo et religio: ethnic traditions and literature in early medieval texts / Herwig Wolfram -- Does the distant past impinge on the invasion age Germans? / Walter Goffart -- Defining the Franks: Frankish origins in early medieval historiography / Ian Wood -- Telling the difference : signs of ethnic identity / Walter Pohl -- Gender and ethnicity in the early Middle Ages / Walter Pohl -- Grave goods and the ritual expression of identity / Bonnie Effros --PART II: ACCOMMODATING THE BARBARIANS: The barbarians in late antiquity and how they were accommodated in the West / Walter Goffart -- Archaeological and migrations a problem of attitude? / Heinrich Harke -- Movers and shakers: the barbarians and the fall of Rome / Guy Halstall -- Foedera and foederati of the Fourth Century / Peter J. Heather -- Cities, taxes, and the accommodation of the barbarians / Wolf Liebeschutz -- PART III: BARBARIANS AND ROMANS IN MEROVINGIAN GAUL: The two faces of King Childeric: history, archaeology, historiography / Stephane Lebecq -- Frankish victory celebrations / Michael McCormick -- Administration, law, and culture in Merovingian Gaul / Ian Wood -- 'Pax et disciplina': Roman public law and the Merovingian state / Alexander Callender Murray