The genesis of the first western kingdoms in early medieval Europe has often been framed as the consequence of barbarian invasions bringing down the Roman empire in its western provinces. This article considers a considerably more corrosive factor in the breakdown of western imperial structures, i.e. the warlordism of its own military personnel, via a case study of the Gothic aristocrat Sarus’ micro‐politics of mobility. This article will show that Sarus is one of the earliest attested cases of men willing to opt out of imperial service and use violence to reintegrate themselves later. Re‐examining the rapidly shifting political circumstances, it will demonstrate that Sarus was increasingly forced to move and take independent violent action, together with his men, in order to survive. This has major implications for a newly developing early medieval European phenomenon: the transformation of regular imperial commanders into irregular warlords.

中文翻译：

---

哥特萨鲁斯：从帝国指挥官到军阀

中世纪早期欧洲最早的西方王国的起源通常被认为是野蛮人入侵使罗马帝国在其西部各省倒台的结果。本文通过对哥特式贵族萨鲁斯微观流动性政治的案例研究，认为在破坏西方帝国结构时，腐蚀因素要大得多，例如其自身的军阀军阀。这篇文章将表明，萨鲁斯是最早被证实的男人愿意放弃皇室服务并以后使用暴力使其重返社会的案例之一。重新审视迅速变化的政治局势，这将表明萨鲁斯为了生存而越来越被迫采取行动，并与他的士兵一起采取独立的暴力行动。