Resumen de Réfugiés et exilés lors des grandes invasions du ve siècle: le cas de l’Afrique du Nord
Two cases of long distance migrations will be discussed, the massive arrival in Africa of refugees fleeing the sack of Rome in 410 and the expulsion by the Vandals from 442 of African aristocrats who took refuge mainly in Italy and in the East. The Roman State and the Church have only very marginally taken care of this problem, primarily to protect the free status of these refugees. The Church has not created specific institutions to help them. Some refugees were even seen as dangerous as heretics. However, the Roman State issued between 443 and 451 an exceptionnal series of laws allocating land and privileges to notables expulsed by the Vandals from Africa to protect their aristocratic status by highlighting an imperative of solidarity. The correspondence of bishop Theodoret of Cyrrhus shows the strong solidarity that existed between African and Eastern secular and ecclesiastical elites, in particular to prevent any social downgrading. These migrations, often temporary, do not seem to have generated new population dynamics. However, they contributed to weakening and fragmenting the imperial aristocracy.
