August 30 - Death of Theodoric the Great

Message Share Topic Printable Version Google Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Windows Live Yahoo Bookmarks reddit Facebook MySpace Newsvine Furl Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic

   On  August 30, 526 Theodoric the Great, ruler of the Ostrogoth Kingdom in Italy died in Ravenna at the age of 72.

Theodoric had become King of the Ostrogoths in 471 succeeding his father Theodimir. After the death of Attila in 453 the former subjects and allies of the Huns had regained their independence and had settled as Foederati of the East-Roman Empire in Pannonia, today�s Hungary.

The young Theodoric had spent ten years at the Byzantine court and at his return to his people had been appointed by the reigning Emperor Zeno to� patrician� and �magister militum� of the Empire. Despite, or indeed because, of the close relationship between the two nations, the Byzantines became over the years suspicious of the ever growing power and influence of the Ostrogoths and their King in the Balkans, and when Theodoric alluded the Ostrogoths old dreams of a homeland in Italy, Zeno supported the idea wholeheartedly and mandated the King with the task to recover Italy from its Germanic usurpers.

In 488, the Ostrogoths hit the road again, and the whole tribe, about 250.000 people, started the long trek to Italy; men, women, children, cattle and everything that could be moved.

Italy was then ruled by another Germanic warrior King, the Herulian Odoacer who in 476 had forced the last West-Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus to abdicate, and subsequently had been acclaimed King of Italy by his own Germanic mercenary troops.

Odoacer�s army was no match for the Ostrogoths and Theodoric beat the ruler of Italy in the three battles of Isonzo and Verona (489) and Adda (490). Odoacer retreated to his capital Ravenna and the Ostrogoths, no great siege specialists, beleaguered the city for three years in vain. In 493, Theodoric and Odoacer came to an agreement that would give both the shared rule over Italy. The Ostrogoths entered Ravenna, and at the banquet held to seal the pact and celebrate the friendship, the Theodoric killed his rival with his own hands, and thus became, without any further ado, the sole ruler of Italy. The Byzantine Emperor, by now it was Anastasios I, could only but acknowledge the new political realities in Italy, and , although Theodoric was in theory only the Emperor�s vice-regent, had to come to terms with Theodoric�s reign as independent King of the Ostrogoths in Italy, who had no intention to recognize Byzantine sovereignty in practice.

The Ostrogoth Kingdom (in light blue)

Theodoric�s reign in Italy had not started very promising, but it soon showed that his years in Constantinople hadn�t been wasted. The new King had understood that the ancient culture of the Romans was superior to that of his own people and did as less as possible to disrupt the political and economic status quo. His troops and their families were only rewarded with the lands that had previously belonged to Odoacer�s mercenaries. The Romans largely regained domestic self-government, with its own administration and legal system, whilst the Goths were subjected to the traditional Germanic laws. The policy of separation was taken as far as to outlaw any legal marriages between Romans and Goths.

Under Theodoric�s somewhat enlightened rule, the war torn country recovered. The King implemented a massive building program, improving the economic infrastructure, roads, canals and ports, and patronized Roman arts and literature he had learned to appreciate in Constantinople. The Goths belonged to the Arian variation of the Christian faith, but Theodoric showed a remarkable tolerance towards the orthodox Christians, something that was not a matter of course and certainly not mutual.

Italy enjoyed thirty years of peace and relative prosperity under Theodoric�s rule, with great stability in internal matters and hardly any threads from the outside. He succeeded to ally with all the major Germanic tribes on his borders, the Visigoths, Burgundians and  Franks, by treaties or marriage, and was only forced on occasions and in an emergency to rely on arms.

If this all sounds too good to be true, I can only but quote the notorious Byzantine historian Prokopios, not a writer who dispensed with praise on a barbarian easily:

� Theodoric might have been a usurping invader, but he was a true King, who didn�t lack in anything that distinguished those who had occupied the throne before him. He enjoyed the love of his own people and was highly respected by the Romans.�

Theodoric died on August 30, 526 of dysentry and his ashes were buried in his, still existing, mausoleum that he had had built for him in Ravenna.

He was succeeded by his ten year old grandson Athalaric, under the regency of Theodoric�s daughter Amalaswintha. The Ostrogoth Kingdom was only to last a further 27 years. 

To modify my favourite J.J. Norwich quote about the death of Basil II: �Theodoric died on August 30, by the 31st the decline of the Ostrogoths� Kingdom had already began.�

Mausoleum of Theodoric in Ravenna

What else happened on this day?

30 BC Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, commits suicide following the defeat of her forces against Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome. The daughter of King Ptolemy XII, Cleopatra became the lover of Julius Caesar, who helped her seize the Egyptian throne from her brother in 47 B.C

1146  European leaders outlawed the crossbow with the intention to end war for all time. (Yeah, right, that worked well!)

1922 The Battle of Dumlupinar, the final battle of the  Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) took place. (The Greco-Turkish flame war of 2004-2005 is however continued in AE�s forums on a daily base.)

Full list:

Wikipedia

Edited by Komnenos