The East of the West

[Kosmo]

I'm interested in the situation of the easternmost regions of the Western Empire after the split.

 

Dalmatia remained under roman control until the death of Julius Nepos, then became part of the states of Odoacru and the Ostrogoths before returning to the Roman Empire. This looks more certain then the next ones.

 

The rest of Illyricum (Croatia proper and modern Bosnia) seem to have been under Gothic settlement after Adrianopole and this maybe the area from where Radagaisus, Alaric, Theodor Strabo and Theodoric of the Ostrogoths launched their attacks. Still I'm not very sure about it as Goths were present in many areas of the Balkans. It's also unclear what happened after the Roman conquest of the Ostrogoth kingdom in Italy. Was it overrun by Lombards, was it conquered by romans, was still roman when the slavs/avars moved to the area?

 

The fate of Pannonia (western Hungary, eastern Austria) it's even more confusing to me. Somebody (I can't remember the source) said it was given to Vandals shortly after 400 and then taken over by Huns as Vandals moved to Gaul. Some maps show it later as part of the kingdoms of Odoacru or Ostrogoths. Was it recovered by these after the fall of the Huns or the Huns never conquered it in the first place?

[Emperor Goblinus]

I believe that a portion of Illyricum was ceded to the Lombards after they aided Narses in Italy. During the Gothic Wars, there were a number of confrontations in that region, but most battles were in Italy. Also, some cities near the Danube were briefly ceded to the Avars during the reign of Maurice in the late sixth century, but I couldn't give you anymore information beyond that.

[Kosmo]

It seems that Pannonia was taken over by longobards after the defeat of the huns.

[Caius Maxentius]

There's an ethnic group or region I've seen mentioned called Vlachs, which had some kind of Romance language. It was centred somewhere around where Macedonia or Kosovo is today. Their medieval history is tied more to the Byzantine Empire, but their language suggests a close past with the Western empire.

 

Does anyone know who they were exactly, and what happened to them?

[Northern Neil]

There's an ethnic group or region I've seen mentioned called Vlachs, which had some kind of Romance language. It was centred somewhere around where Macedonia or Kosovo is today. Their medieval history is tied more to the Byzantine Empire, but their language suggests a close past with the Western empire.

 

Does anyone know who they were exactly, and what happened to them?

I believe that 'Vlach' is a general name given to all latin peoples of the Balkans/ lower Danube. They became today's Romanians and Moldovans, and their Romance language indeed indicates that they continued to speak Latin, not Greek like the rest of the Eastern Empire. Our friend Kosmo will no doubt be able to give a far more detailed picture.