38. War in Italy

Theodahad was a poor ruler of Italy, more concerned with grabbing land for himself than with sound government.

A coin of Theodebert, the Frankish who aided the Goths against Belisarius, shows how widespread the Byzantine stylistic influence was at the time among the barbarian states of western Europe.

Despite his youth, Totila was able to reunite all Italy, Romans and Germans, in a last
blaze of Romanesque glory against the tide
of Constantinople.