Preaching Romanness in the early Middle Ages: the sermon De litaniis from the Eusebius Gallicanus collection

During the fifth century, the Roman population of southern Gaul was confronted with continuously changing power relations and the transformation of traditional Roman social, political and economic structures. This article seeks to address differing perceptions of the new barbarian rule by analysing a sermon from the so‐called Eusebius Gallicanus collection. The sermon reflects the tense atmosphere in a community located in southern Gaul at the end of the fifth century. The preacher, however, attempted to put the people's fears into perspective by assigning the qualities of Christian Roman morality to the Goths, while dismissing the behaviour of the Romans as impious and barbarous.