Amalasuntha
Amalasuntha (also Amalasuentha , Amalaswintha , Amalasuintha ) († April 30, 535 on Martana Island in Lake Bolsena , Latium ) was an Ostrogothic queen.
Life
The daughter of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great and Audofleda was married in 515 to Eutharic († around 523), a Visigoth who was said to be able to trace his blood line back to Ermanaric . Their marriage had two children, Athalarich (* 516; † 534) and Matasuentha (* 518; † after 550, also Mataswintha, Matasuntha).
After Theodoric's death in 526, Athalaric succeeded him to the throne, according to the deceased's wish. Since the new king ( rex ) was only 10 years old, Amalasuntha took over the reign as guardian of her son . Deeply connected with Roman culture and highly educated herself - she spoke several languages - her reign was shaped by her efforts to find a balance between the Arian Ostrogoths and the Catholic Romans. The fact that Amalasuntha also had her son trained comprehensively and in the Roman tradition - which differed greatly from the military-style world of thought of the Gothic elite - created tensions in relation to the Gothic greats. Even after her father's funeral, many Gothic leaders turned away from her because they feared that the Goths would gain supremacy in Italy. Amalasuntha herself therefore banished three Gothic nobles whom she suspected of intriguing against her rule, and later had them killed. At the same time she conducted negotiations with Emperor Justinian with the aim of moving to Constantinople together with Gothic nobles . This plan failed, however, and Amalasuntha had to allow Athalaric to be introduced to the harsh customs of the Gothic warrior class. This way of life is said to have ruined his health quickly, especially since the king soon became an alcoholic .
After the early death of Athalaric (534), she, now queen, made her cousin Theodahad co-ruler in order to strengthen her position, since the Goths would never have accepted the sole rule of a woman. She took Theodahad's oath that he would recognize her as the real mistress and be content with a representative role. But in the following year he had her captured in Ravenna , arrested on the island of Martana in Lake Bolsena and finally murdered; she was strangled in the bathroom. In ancient times the rumor circulated that Empress Theodora had secretly let her ambassador Petrus Patricius see to it that the queen would be removed, but the veracity of this accusation spread by Procopius is difficult to assess. It's probably just gossip.
Most of the surviving information on the person of Amalasuntha is provided by letters ( variae (epistulae) ) from Cassiodorus , magister officiorum and literary adviser to Amalasuntha, and the historical reports by Prokop and Jordanes .
literature
- Andreas Goltz : Feelings about power - power about feelings. To represent the rulers Theodora and Amalasuintha in the works of Prokops . In: Hormos 3 (2011), p. 236ff. ( online ; PDF; 467 kB)
- Ludo Moritz Hartmann : Amalasuntha . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, column 1715 f.
- Massimiliano Vitiello: Amalasuintha. The Transformation of Queenship in the Post-Roman World. Philadelphia 2017.
- Reinhard Wenskus : Amalaswintha . In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , Volume 1, Berlin 1973, pp. 245f.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Herwig Wolfram : The Goths and their history. CH Beck, Munich 2010, p. 92.
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
|
Athalaric 526-534 |
Ostrogothic queen |
Theodahad 534-536 |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Amalasuntha |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Amalasuentha; Amalaswintha; Amalasuintha |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Ostrogothic queen |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 5th century or 6th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 30, 535 |
| Place of death | Island in Lake Bolsena , Lazio , Italy |