Diocese of Gaul

SeeChristianity in Gaulfor the 4th-century ecclesiastical dioceses in Roman Gaul

TheDiocese of Gaul(Latin:Dioecesis Galliarum,"diocese of the Gaul [province]s" ) was adioceseof the laterRoman Empire,under thepraetorian prefecture of Gaul.It encompassed northern and easternGaul,that is, modernFrancenorth and east of theLoire,including theLow Countriesand modernGermanywest of theRhine.

Diocese of Gaul Dioecesis Galliarum
Dioceseof theRoman Empire
314 – 486
Roman Gaul - AD 400
Capital	Augusta Treverorum
Historical era	Late Antiquity
• Established	314
• last Roman territory overrun byFranks	486

The diocese comprised the following provinces:Gallia Lugdunensis I,Gallia Lugdunensis II,Gallia Lugdunensis III,Gallia Lugdunensis IV (Senonia),Belgica I,Belgica II,Germania I,Germania II,Alpes Poenninae et GraiaeandMaxima Sequanorum.

History

The diocese was established after the reforms ofDiocletianandConstantine Iin c. 314. In the year 407, the Rhine frontier was breached, and much of Gaul lost to barbarian tribes temporarily. Roman control over most of Gaul and the Rhineland was restored until the death ofValentinian IIIin 455. The territory remaining in Roman hands after the 450s was in the south in the Auvergne and Provence until ceded in 475 and in the northwest, the so-called "Domain of Soissons".After its fall to theFranksin 486 and the end of Roman administration in northern Gaul, the diocese can be said to havede factoended.

Bibliography

• P. Heather,La caduta dell'Impero romano. Una nuova storia,2006.(in Italian)
• G. Halsall,Barbarian migrations and the Roman West, 376-568,2007.(in Italian)