Battle of the Bolia

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Battle of the Bolia
date 469
place Pannonia
output Victory of the Ostrogoths
Parties to the conflict

Ostrogoths

Coalition of the Donausueben, Gepiden, Rugier, Skiren, Heruler, Sarmatian and other tribes

Commander

King Thiudimir (Ostrogoths)

King Hunimund


In the Battle of the Bolia in 469 , the Pannonian Ostrogoths defeated a Germanic coalition of Donausueben , Skiren , Rugians , Herulers and Gepids as well as the Sarmatians allied with them on the central Danube. As a result, they achieved a supremacy in the region, but withdrew to the Balkans a little later .

prehistory

In the battle of the Nedao in 454 (maybe 455) the Germanic peoples freed themselves from Huns under the Gepid king Ardarich in the area of ​​the central Danube . The Ostrogoths had stood on the side of the Huns during the battle, but were also given their freedom. Parts of the Ostrogoths settled in Pannonia under the kings Valamir , Thiudimir and Vidimir . In the years that followed, these Pannonian Ostrogoths fought against attempts at restoration by the Huns and other barbarians who had also freed themselves from Hunnic rule on the Nedao. In 468, King Valamir repulsed a Hunn attack under Dengizich's leadership . At that time, the Suebi king Hunimund , whose kingdom bordered on that of the Ostrogoths in the north, went on a raid to Dalmatia through the land of the Goths and apparently stole their herds of cattle. King Thiudimir placed the Suebi at Lake Balaton and took Hunimund prisoner. However, he released him after he had confessed to his son in arms . A little later, in 468 or at the beginning of 469, Skiren invaded the land of the Goths from the Tisza . Allegedly they were incited to do so by Hunimund. However, the Skiren had apparently already suffered from Gothic expansion efforts, since Emperor Leo gave them arms help against the Goths. King Valamir fell fighting the Skiren, but the Goths won anyway. Thiudimir took over the rule in Valamir's part of the empire from then on. In the same year, the Suebi king Hunimund, together with other kings, forged an alliance against the Ostrogoths and attacked. At the same time, an Eastern Roman army marched in the rear of the Goths at the behest of Emperor Leo , as the latter was apparently pursuing the destruction of the Pannonian Goths.

The battle

The Suebi king Hunimund united his army with that of a king named Alaric, another Suebi or Herul king . Furthermore followed him Skiren under Edika and his son Hunulf and Sarmatian among the kings Beuka and Babai and Gepid and rugische units. With this superior force he proceeded against the Ostrogoths, who also had a hostile Eastern Roman army behind them. A battle broke out on the Bolia. The location of the battle is unknown today, as the name Bolia cannot be assigned to any known river. Possibly it was the Eipel (Ipoly), a Slovak - Hungarian border river. However, this lies to the left of the Danube, which contradicts the Origo Gothica des Jordanes , which locates the river in Pannonia to the right of the Danube. It is conceivable that the battle was fought opposite the mouth of the Eipel on the Danube. The Goths defeated the enemy coalition, whereupon the Eastern Roman army also withdrew. Edika fell in battle, Hunimund managed to escape. The year of the battle cannot be determined with absolute certainty, as the exact dating of the events is based on a single source ( John of Antioch ) and one event, the change of rule from Valamir to Thiudimir in the year 469. However, Valamir died according to this source only after the Battle of the Bolia.

Consequences of the battle

The Goths emerged victorious from the battle and consolidated their position in Pannonia. Emperor Leo gave up trying to eradicate them as a potential threat. Instead, Emperor Leo Theodoric , the son of Thiudimir, who until then had lived as a hostage in Constantinople , returned home. Perhaps Ostrom was trying to counterbalance the Pannonian Goths to those Goths who were in the Eastern Roman service and who, through Aspar and Theoderich Strabo, exerted great influence at the imperial court. Nevertheless, the Pannonian Goths had apparently achieved relatively little in the long term with their victory, since they still had not created a stable empire. One reason may have been that the Goths had largely become professional warriors and were therefore dependent on tribute or salary payments or raids. Apparently, despite the victories, this could no longer be sufficiently guaranteed in Pannonia. Major disintegration soon appeared among the losers of the battle. Odoacer , a son of the fallen Skir king Edika, moved west with Skiren, Herulers and Rugians in order to later become king in Italy , supported by the otherwise unknown Turkilinger . On the other hand, Hunulf, Edika's older son, turned to Ostrom.

The Rugier King Flaccitheus , who had recently come to power, who had not fought on the Bolia, tried to escape the influence of the Ostrogoths and wanted to march with his people to Italy. However, the Ostrogoths prevented his army from marching through. The Rugians followed a pro-Gothic policy in the years that followed. In the winter of 469/70 or 470/71, the Goths attacked Hunimund, who then migrated with parts of the Suebi to the west, where they allied with the Alamanni . Hunimund apparently lost his kingship. Presumably he is identical to the leader who attacked the city of Passau between 476 and 480 together with the Alamanni . The parts of the Suebi that remained in Pannonia initially came under Gothic suzerainty. After Theodoric's return from Constantinople in 469/70, he immediately attacked Sarmatians who had seized Singidunums . He defeated the Sarmatians and their king, Babai, who had survived the battle of the Bolia, fell. The Ostrogoths left Pannonia as early as 473, with Thiudimir and his son Theodoric marching towards the Balkans with the greater part and Vidimir invading Italy in order to later unite with the Visigoths.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Jordanes, Getica 277-279.
  2. ↑ a b c Walter Pohl , 2002 (pp. 118ff. And 126ff.)
  3. ↑ Herwig Wolfram, 2001 (p. 260)
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Herwig Wolfram, 2001 (p. 259 ff.)
  5. ↑ a b c Lotter, Bratož, Castritius, 2003 (p. 110 ff.)
  6. ↑ Herwig Wolfram: Austrian History - 378-907. Boundaries and spaces. History of Austria before its creation. Verlag Carl Ueberreuter, Vienna 1995, 2003 (p. 36 f.) ISBN 3-8000-3971-0