Theodoric I
Encyclopedia
Theodoric I sometimes called Theodorid and in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian Teodorico, was the King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. An illegitimate son of Alaric
, Theodoric is famous for defeating Attila at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where he was mortally wounded.
. The Romans had ordered King Wallia to move his people from Iberia
to Gaul
. As king, Theodoric completed the settlements of the Visigoths in Gallia Aquitania II
, Novempopulana and Gallia Narbonensis
, and then used the declining power of the Roman Empire
to extend his territory to the south.
After the death of Emperor Honorius
and the usurpation of Joannes
in 423 internal power struggles broke out in the Roman Empire. Theodoric used this situation and tried to capture the important road junction Arelate
, but the Magister militum
Aëtius
, who was assisted by the Huns
, was able to save the city.
The Visigoths concluded a treaty and were given Gallic noblemen as hostages. The later Emperor Avitus
visited Theodoric, lived at his court and taught his sons.
, who plundered Cologne
and Trier
in 435, and because of other events Theodoric saw the chance to conquer Narbo Martius
(in 436) to obtain access to the Mediterranean Sea and the roads to the Pyrenees
. But Litorius, with the aid of the Huns, could prevent the capture of the city and drove the Visigoths back to their capital Tolosa
. The peace offer of Theodoric was refused, but the king won the decisive battle at Tolosa, and Litorius soon died in Gothic imprisonment from the injuries which he had received in this battle. Avitus went – according to the orders of Aëtius – to Tolosa and offered a peace treaty which Theodoric accepted. Perhaps the Romans recognized at that time the sovereignty of the Visigoth state.
, a son of the Vandal ruler Geiseric (in 429?), but Huneric later had ambitions to wed Eudocia
, a daughter of the Emperor Valentinian III
. He therefore accused the daughter of Theodoric of planning to kill him, and in 444 had her mutilated - her ears and nose cut off - and sent back to her father. This action caused an enmity between the Visigoths and the Vandals.
An enemy of Aëtius, the former Magister militum Sebastianus, came in 444 to Tolosa. So there could have emerged strained relations with Aëtius, but Theodoric soon sent his unwelcome guest away who captured Barcelona
and was later (in 450) executed at the orders of Geiseric.
Theodoric was also an enemy of the Suevic king Rechila
in Iberia, because Visigoth troops assisted the imperial commander Vitus at his campaign against the Suevi in 446. But the ability of this people to conduct a strong defence and the better relations between Geiseric and the Roman Empire led Theodoric to change his foreign policy. He therefore married in February 449 one of his daughters to the new Suevic king Rechiar
, who visited his father-in-law at Tolosa in July 449. At the return Rechiar devastated – according to the author Isidore of Seville
with the assistance of Visigoth troops – the surrounding area of the city Caesaraugusta
and could take Ilerda
with a cunning.
Some recent scientists doubt that Theodoric took legislative measures, as it was assumed in earlier times.
advanced with his large army to Western Europe and invaded finally Gaul Avitus arranged an alliance between Theodoric and his long-standing enemy Aëtius against the Huns. Probably Theodoric accepted this coalition because he recognized the danger of the Huns to his own realm. With his whole army and his sons Thorismund
and Theodoric
he joined Aëtius.
The Visigoth and Roman troops then saved the civitas Aurelianorum
and forced Attila to withdraw (June 451).
near Troyes
in about September 451. Most Visigoths fought at the right wing under the command of Theodoric but a smaller force fought at the left under the command of Thorismund.
Theodoric's forces contributed decisively to the victory of the Romans, but he himself was killed during the battle. Jordanes
records two different accounts of his death: one was that Theodoric was thrown from his horse and trampled to death; the second was that Theodoric was slain by the spear of the Ostrogoth Andag, who was the father of Jordanes's patron Gunthigis.
The body of Theodoric was only found at the next day. According to Gothic tradition he was mourned and buried by his warriors on the battlefield. Immediately Thorismund
was elected as successor of his father. Other sons of Theodoric were Theodoric II
, Frederic, Euric
, Retimer and Himnerith.
Alaric I
Alaric I was the King of the Visigoths from 395–410. Alaric is most famous for his sack of Rome in 410, which marked a decisive event in the decline of the Roman Empire....
, Theodoric is famous for defeating Attila at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where he was mortally wounded.
Early career
In 418 he succeeded King WalliaWallia
Wallia was king of the Visigoths from 415 to 419, earning a reputation as a great warrior and prudent ruler. He was elected to the throne after Athaulf and then Sigeric were assassinated in 415....
. The Romans had ordered King Wallia to move his people from Iberia
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
to Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
. As king, Theodoric completed the settlements of the Visigoths in Gallia Aquitania II
Gallia Aquitania
Gallia Aquitania was a province of the Roman Empire, bordered by the provinces of Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Narbonensis, and Hispania Tarraconensis...
, Novempopulana and Gallia Narbonensis
Gallia Narbonensis
Gallia Narbonensis was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in southern France. It was also known as Gallia Transalpina , which was originally a designation for that part of Gaul lying across the Alps from Italia and it contained a western region known as Septimania...
, and then used the declining power of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
to extend his territory to the south.
After the death of Emperor Honorius
Honorius (emperor)
Honorius , was Western Roman Emperor from 395 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the eastern emperor Arcadius....
and the usurpation of Joannes
Joannes
Ioannes, known in English as Joannes, was a Roman usurper against Valentinian III.On the death of the Emperor Honorius , Theodosius II, the remaining ruler of the House of Theodosius hesitated in announcing his uncle's death...
in 423 internal power struggles broke out in the Roman Empire. Theodoric used this situation and tried to capture the important road junction Arelate
Arles
Arles is a city and commune in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence....
, but the Magister militum
Magister militum
Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire...
Aëtius
Flavius Aëtius
Flavius Aëtius , dux et patricius, was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was an able military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for two decades . He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian peoples pressing on the Empire...
, who was assisted by the Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
, was able to save the city.
The Visigoths concluded a treaty and were given Gallic noblemen as hostages. The later Emperor Avitus
Avitus
Eparchius Avitus was Western Roman Emperor from July 8 or July 9, 455 to October 17, 456. A Gallic-Roman aristocrat, he was a senator and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza.A representative of the Gallic-Roman aristocracy, he...
visited Theodoric, lived at his court and taught his sons.
Expansion to the Mediterranean
Because the Romans had to fight against the FranksFranks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
, who plundered Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
and Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
in 435, and because of other events Theodoric saw the chance to conquer Narbo Martius
Narbonne
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
(in 436) to obtain access to the Mediterranean Sea and the roads to the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
. But Litorius, with the aid of the Huns, could prevent the capture of the city and drove the Visigoths back to their capital Tolosa
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. The peace offer of Theodoric was refused, but the king won the decisive battle at Tolosa, and Litorius soon died in Gothic imprisonment from the injuries which he had received in this battle. Avitus went – according to the orders of Aëtius – to Tolosa and offered a peace treaty which Theodoric accepted. Perhaps the Romans recognized at that time the sovereignty of the Visigoth state.
Conflict with Vandals
A daughter of Theodoric had been married to HunericHuneric
Huneric or Honeric was King of the Vandals and the oldest son of Genseric. He dropped the imperial politics of his father and concentrated mainly on internal affairs. He was married to Eudocia, daughter of western Roman Emperor Valentinian III and Licinia Eudoxia. She left him, probably in 472...
, a son of the Vandal ruler Geiseric (in 429?), but Huneric later had ambitions to wed Eudocia
Princess Eudocia
Eudocia, or Eudoxia was the eldest daughter of Roman emperor Valentinian III and his wife, Licinia Eudoxia. She was thus the granddaughter on her mother's side of Eastern emperor Theodosius II and his wife, the poet Aelia Eudocia; and on her father's side of Western emperor Constantius III and his...
, a daughter of the Emperor Valentinian III
Valentinian III
-Family:Valentinian was born in the western capital of Ravenna, the only son of Galla Placidia and Flavius Constantius. The former was the younger half-sister of the western emperor Honorius, and the latter was at the time Patrician and the power behind the throne....
. He therefore accused the daughter of Theodoric of planning to kill him, and in 444 had her mutilated - her ears and nose cut off - and sent back to her father. This action caused an enmity between the Visigoths and the Vandals.
An enemy of Aëtius, the former Magister militum Sebastianus, came in 444 to Tolosa. So there could have emerged strained relations with Aëtius, but Theodoric soon sent his unwelcome guest away who captured Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
and was later (in 450) executed at the orders of Geiseric.
Theodoric was also an enemy of the Suevic king Rechila
Rechila
Rechila was the Suevic King of Galicia from 438 until his death. There are few primary sources for his life, but Hydatius was a contemporary Christian chronicler in Galicia....
in Iberia, because Visigoth troops assisted the imperial commander Vitus at his campaign against the Suevi in 446. But the ability of this people to conduct a strong defence and the better relations between Geiseric and the Roman Empire led Theodoric to change his foreign policy. He therefore married in February 449 one of his daughters to the new Suevic king Rechiar
Rechiar
Rechiar or Rechiarius was the Suevic King of Galicia from 448 until his death. He was the first Catholic Germanic king in Europe and one of the most innovative and belligerent of the Suevi monarchs...
, who visited his father-in-law at Tolosa in July 449. At the return Rechiar devastated – according to the author Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
with the assistance of Visigoth troops – the surrounding area of the city Caesaraugusta
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
and could take Ilerda
Lleida
Lleida is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida, as well as the largest city in the province and it had 137,387 inhabitants , including the contiguous municipalities of Raimat and Sucs. The metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants...
with a cunning.
Some recent scientists doubt that Theodoric took legislative measures, as it was assumed in earlier times.
Alliance against the Huns
When Attila the HunAttila the Hun
Attila , more frequently referred to as Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire, which stretched from the Ural River to the Rhine River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. During his reign he was one of the most feared...
advanced with his large army to Western Europe and invaded finally Gaul Avitus arranged an alliance between Theodoric and his long-standing enemy Aëtius against the Huns. Probably Theodoric accepted this coalition because he recognized the danger of the Huns to his own realm. With his whole army and his sons Thorismund
Thorismund
Thorismund became king of the Visigoths after his father Theodoric was killed in the Battle of Châlons in 451 CE...
and Theodoric
Theodoric II
Theodoric II was King of Visigoths from 453 to 466.Theoderic II, son of Theodoric I, obtained the throne by killing his elder brother Thorismund...
he joined Aëtius.
The Visigoth and Roman troops then saved the civitas Aurelianorum
Orléans
-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...
and forced Attila to withdraw (June 451).
Battle of Châlons
Then Aëtius and Theodoric followed the Huns and fought against them at the Battle of ChâlonsBattle of Chalons
The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains , also called the Battle of Châlons sur Marne, took place in AD 451 between a coalition led by the Visigothic king Theodoric I and the Roman general Flavius Aëtius, against the Huns and their allies commanded by their leader Attila...
near Troyes
Troyes
Troyes is a commune and the capital of the Aube department in north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about southeast of Paris. Many half-timbered houses survive in the old town...
in about September 451. Most Visigoths fought at the right wing under the command of Theodoric but a smaller force fought at the left under the command of Thorismund.
Theodoric's forces contributed decisively to the victory of the Romans, but he himself was killed during the battle. Jordanes
Jordanes
Jordanes, also written Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life....
records two different accounts of his death: one was that Theodoric was thrown from his horse and trampled to death; the second was that Theodoric was slain by the spear of the Ostrogoth Andag, who was the father of Jordanes's patron Gunthigis.
The body of Theodoric was only found at the next day. According to Gothic tradition he was mourned and buried by his warriors on the battlefield. Immediately Thorismund
Thorismund
Thorismund became king of the Visigoths after his father Theodoric was killed in the Battle of Châlons in 451 CE...
was elected as successor of his father. Other sons of Theodoric were Theodoric II
Theodoric II
Theodoric II was King of Visigoths from 453 to 466.Theoderic II, son of Theodoric I, obtained the throne by killing his elder brother Thorismund...
, Frederic, Euric
Euric
Euric, also known as Evaric, Erwig, or Eurico in Spanish and Portuguese , Son of Theodoric I and the younger brother of Theodoric II and ruled as king of the Visigoths, with his capital at Toulouse, from 466 until his death in 484.He inherited a large portion of the Visigothic possessions in the...
, Retimer and Himnerith.