I am not a scholar and have relied on the writings of those who are. The references I used are:
Fernand Braudel ‘The Identity of France’ vol. 2
Peter Brown ‘The World of Late Antiquity’
Norman Davis ‘Europe – a History’
RHC Davis ‘A History of Medieval Europe’
Robert Fossier (Ed) ‘The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Middle Ages’ vol.1
Patrick J Geary ‘Before France and Germany’
Guy Halsall ‘Barbarian Migrations and the roman West’
Denys Hay ‘The Medieval Centuries’
Peter Heather ‘The Goths’
‘The Fall of the Roman Empire’
Edward James ‘The Franks’
Sir Charles Oman ‘The Art of War in the Middle Ages’ vol1
Richard Rudglley ‘Barbarians-Secrets of the Dark Ages’
And, of course, the Internet.
I would also like to thank Nancy Dawson for her helpful and pertinent comments and for her editing.
Thanks also to Hélène Déscudé for her translation into French
Ian Pickering, October 2010