Editing Arianism (section)

==Among medieval Germanic tribes==
{{Main|Christianity in the 5th century|Germanic Christianity|Gothic Christianity|Kingdom of the Lombards|Visigothic Kingdom}}
[[File:Ravenna — Arian Baptistry — Ceiling mosaic.jpg|thumb|250x250px|The ceiling mosaic of the [[Arian Baptistery]], built in [[Ravenna]] by the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom|Ostrogothic King]] [[Theodoric the Great]].]]
During the time of Arianism's flowering in [[Constantinople]], the Gothic convert and Arian bishop [[Ulfilas]] (later the subject of the letter of Auxentius cited above) was sent as a [[missionary]] to the [[Goths|Gothic tribes]] across the [[Danube]], a mission favored for political reasons by the Emperor [[Constantius II]]. The [[Homoians]] in the [[Danubian provinces]] played a major role in the [[Gothic Christianity|conversion of the Goths to Arianism]].<ref name="Szada 2021">{{cite journal |last=Szada |first=Marta |date=February 2021 |title=The Missing Link: The Homoian Church in the Danubian Provinces and Its Role in the Conversion of the Goths |journal=Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity |location=[[Berlin]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=549–584 |doi=10.1515/zac-2020-0053 |s2cid=231966053 |eissn=1612-961X |issn=0949-9571}}</ref>

[[Gothic Bible|Ulfilas's translation of the Bible into Gothic language]] and his initial success in converting the Goths to Arianism was strengthened by later events. The conversion of Goths led to a widespread diffusion of Arianism among other Germanic tribes as well, the [[Vandals]], [[Lombards|Langobards]], [[Svevi]], and [[Burgundians]].<ref name="JE2"/> When the Germanic peoples entered the provinces of the [[Western Roman Empire]] and began founding their own kingdoms there, most of them were Arian Christians.<ref name="JE2"/>

The conflict in the 4th century had seen Arian and Nicene factions struggling for control of Western Europe. In contrast, among the Arian German kingdoms established in the collapsing Western Empire in the 5th century, there existed entirely separate Arian and Nicene Churches with parallel hierarchies, each serving different sets of believers. The Germanic elites were Arians, and the Romance-majority population was Nicene.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2016-12-16|title=7.5: Successor Kingdoms to the Western Roman Empire|url=https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/History/World_History/Book%3A_World_History_-_Cultures_States_and_Societies_to_1500_(Berger_et_al.)/07%3A_Western_Europe_and_Byzantium_circa_500-1000_CE/7.05%3A_Successor_Kingdoms_to_the_Western_Roman_Empire|access-date=2021-01-16|website=Humanities LibreTexts|language=en|quote=Most of them were Christians, but, crucially, they were not Catholic Christians, who believed in the doctrine of the Trinity, that God is one God but three distinct persons of the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. They were rather Arians, who believed that Jesus was lesser than God the Father (see Chapter Six). Most of their subjects, however, were Catholics.}}</ref>

The Arian Germanic tribes were generally tolerant towards Nicene Christians and other religious minorities, including the [[Jews]].<ref name="JE2"/>

The apparent resurgence of Arianism after Nicaea was more an anti-Nicene reaction exploited by Arian sympathizers than a pro-Arian development.{{sfn|Ferguson|2005|p=200}} By the end of the 4th century it had surrendered its remaining ground to [[Trinitarianism]]. In Western Europe, Arianism, which had been taught by [[Ulfilas]], the Arian missionary to the Germanic tribes, was dominant among the [[Goths]], [[Lombards|Langobards]] and [[Vandals]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fanning|first=Steven C.|date=1981-04-01|title=Lombard Arianism Reconsidered|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.2307/2846933|journal=Speculum|volume=56|issue=2|pages=241–258|doi=10.2307/2846933|jstor=2846933|s2cid=162786616|issn=0038-7134}}</ref> By the 8th century, it had ceased to be the tribes' mainstream belief as the tribal rulers gradually came to adopt Nicene orthodoxy. This trend began in 496 with Clovis I of the Franks, then [[Reccared I]] of the [[Visigoths]] in 587 and [[Aripert I]] of the [[Lombards]] in 653.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Clovis of the Franks {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG141386|access-date=2021-01-16|website=www.britishmuseum.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=3 April 2019|title=Goths and Visigoths|url=https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-rome/goths-and-visigoths|access-date=2021-01-16|website=HISTORY|language=en}}</ref>

The [[Franks]] and the [[Anglo-Saxons]] were unlike the other Germanic peoples in that they entered the Western Roman Empire as [[Germanic paganism|Pagans]] and were converted to [[Chalcedonian Christianity]], led by their kings, [[Clovis I]] of the Franks, and [[Æthelberht of Kent]] and others in Britain. See also [[Christianity in Gaul]] and [[Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England]].<ref>Frassetto, Michael, ''Encyclopedia of barbarian Europe'', (ABC-Clio, 2003), p. 128.</ref>

The remaining tribes – the Vandals and the Ostrogoths – did not convert as a people nor did they maintain territorial cohesion. Having been militarily defeated by the armies of Emperor [[Justinian I]], the remnants were dispersed to the fringes of the empire and became lost to history. The [[Vandalic War]] of 533–534 dispersed the defeated Vandals.<ref>Procopius, Secret Histories, Chapter 11, 18</ref> Following their final defeat at the [[Battle of Mons Lactarius]] in 553, the [[Ostrogoths]] went back north and re-settled in south Austria.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

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File:CodexArgenteus06.jpg|A page from the ''[[Codex Argenteus]]'', a 6th-century [[illuminated manuscript]] of the [[Gothic Bible]]
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