Matasuentha

Matasuentha (also Mataswintha or Matasuntha ) (* 518/20; † after 551) was the daughter of the Ostrogothic queen Amalasuntha and the Visigoth Eutharich († around 523). She was the granddaughter of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric and sister of his successor Athalaric .

Matasuentha was married against her will to the Ostrogothic king Witichis , who hoped for such a dynastic legitimation because he did not belong to the Amal family . During the Gothic War , bitter about the forced marriage, she contacted the Eastern Roman officer Johannes, a sub-general of General Belisarius . During the siege of Ravenna by the Eastern Romans, rumors circulated (probably inaccurate) that they had set a fire in a granary to facilitate the capture of the city. After the defeat of Witichis in the spring of 540 and the capture of Ravenna by Belisarius, she was brought to Constantinople with her husband and Theodoric's crown treasure . After Witichis' death, Matasuentha was married to Germanus , a cousin and successful general of Emperor Justinian .

Germanus might have hoped for a symbolic meaning from the marriage, especially in view of the renewed war of the Goths. He was to take command in Italy and speculated (probably not wrongly) that the Goths would have reservations about continuing the fight under these circumstances. However, Germanus died shortly afterwards. The marriage resulted in a son in 551 who was also called Germanus , but was also known as Germanus Postumus because he was born after the death of his father. Nothing is known about Matasuentha's further life.

An important source for Matasuentha's life is the Getica des Jordanes , which is partly based on the lost Gothic story of Cassiodorus . Jordanes apparently placed some hopes in the connection between Matasuenthas and Germanus, with a view to a possible renewal of the western empire. Also Procopius of Caesarea reported as part of its Histories of it (especially with regard to the fighting in Italy).

literature

• Stefan Krautschick: Matasuntha . In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . Vol. 19 (2001), pp. 432f.
• Herwig Wolfram : The Goths. From the beginning to the middle of the 6th century . 5th edition Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-33733-8 .
• Herwig Wolfram:  Matasunta. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 72:  Massimino-Mechetti. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2009, pp. 108-109.