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Ferengi_Earwax t1_it37xb1 wrote

When Constantine made Constantinople the roman capitol, the elite of rome followed him there. I have no doubt that some families kept the lesser family members in their estates in Rome if they didn't sell them outright; however the west continued to decline. There would have absolutely been a migration of the wealthier classes at certain times to the east. Some families whose power was from holdings in the west, would have stayed until they had to relinquish that power. By the time of the west's collapse, the dominant families in Rome were high ranking members of the church. The nobles who were close to the western emperor would have been in Ravenna. By this time there were still old Roman families, but they had also intermarried various barbarian invaders at the higher ranks. There is also documented cases of people fleeing to the eastern empire after the last emperor fell. So in essence yes, but I doubt most peasants would be involved. Also you have the tribes of Germania who were conquered by the huns and went east with them until Atilla was defeated.

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MarcusXL t1_it4cw87 wrote

>So in essence yes, but I doubt most peasants would be involved.

Right. By the time of Constantine and his successors, the 'peasants' were essentially bound to the land, like later serfs. Most had no option to emigrate.

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Ferengi_Earwax t1_it4frm7 wrote

That's a good point. After the end of the crisis of the third century, diocletian began the dominate. It's usually marked 284 ad as the starting point. Diocletion declared alot of laws that weren't common to the west. Such as having people kneel and bow before him. He also decreed price ceilings on a variety of goods and that sons would inherit their own fathers job. They would need special permission to move. This is the first steps to feudalism, so I'm glad you mentioned it.

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MarcusXL t1_it4h80x wrote

It was fresh in my mind. I just had my laptop repaired so instead of doom-scrolling I read some of the books on my shelf, and one of them being Trever's "History of Ancient Civilization Vol. II: The Roman World," which covers this fairly extensively.

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