Theodoric I.

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Theodoric I (correct name form Theoderid, Gothic Þiudareiks ; † 451 ) was king of the Visigoths from 418 to 451.

prehistory

418, the Visigoths left under their king Wallia the Iberian Peninsula to enroll in the assigned areas by the Romans Southwest Gaul settle. The assigned settlement areas were the province of Aquitania II and parts of the surrounding provinces Novempopulana and Narbonensis . However , the Visigoths were not given direct access to the Mediterranean . Wallia died unexpectedly in the Visigoth capital of Tolosa while the establishment of the new residences was in full swing .

Royalty

The deceased Wallia was succeeded by Theodoric I at the end of 418. However, details of his elevation to King of the Visigoths are not known. He was probably the husband of a daughter of the former Visigoth king Alaric and was therefore elected the new king. He completed the settlement of the Goths in southwest Gaul, which had begun under his predecessor Wallia. His policy of expansion, which was successful due to the weakness of the Western Roman Empire, led to the establishment of the Visigoth Empire , which is also called the Tolosan Empire after its first capital, Tolosa ( Toulouse ) . His territory, which extends from the Atlantic to the Loire , he expanded southwards through conquests, violating the alliance ( foedus ) concluded with the Romans in 418, taking advantage of their dwindling power.

As the federation of the Romans, Theodoric supported Castinus militarily in 422 on his campaign against the vandals in Baetica in southern Spain , but the Gothic associations exercised treason and thus caused a defeat for the Romans. When Emperor Honorius died in August 423 and John seized power in November 423 , internal political disputes broke out in the Roman Empire. Theodoric took advantage of this situation and wanted to expand his empire to the Mediterranean. So in 425 he attempted to conquer the capital of the Gallic prefecture , Arelate , which was a strategically important traffic junction from roads to Ravenna , Spain and up the Rhine to the Rhine . But the Roman army master for Gaul, Aëtius , was able to prevent the Visigoths from taking Arelate with the help of Hunnic mercenaries, who had to withdraw. The content of the contract concluded by Aëtius with Theodoric on this occasion is not known, but Gallic nobles were handed over as hostages to the Visigoth king from the Roman side to confirm it. The future Emperor Avitus came to the Visigothic court a little later, where he stayed for a while and gave lessons to Theodoric's sons. He was also able to persuade the Goths ruler to release Theodorus, who was held hostage. After the Vandals had left Spain in 429 and carried out raids in North Africa, and after the Juthungen in Raetia had to be fought by Aëtius, the Visigoths tried again - but again in vain - to conquer Arelate.

Fighting by the Western Roman Empire against the Franks - who plundered Cologne and Trier in 435 -, a rebellion by the peasant Bagauden in Aremorica and other events, Theodoric saw the opportunity to take Narbo Martius in 436 in order to establish a connection to the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees to provide routes to Spain. But Litorius , who after the further hierarchical rise of Aëtius had received the supreme command in Gaul , managed to protect the threatened city from the Visigoths with the help of Hunnic federates . Apparently Aëtius himself defeated Gothic troops when their king was absent. Theodoric was pushed back towards his capital, Tolosa. His peace proposal was rejected. The Goths remained victorious in the 439 military conflict near Tolosa. Litorius, wounded during the fighting, died soon after of his injuries in Gothic captivity. Thereupon Aëtius sent Avitus, then functioning as praefectus praetorio Galliarum , to submit a peace proposal to Theodoric, who agreed. Perhaps then the Tolosan Empire was recognized as a sovereign state. In any case, this recognition by Emperor Valentinian III. inferred from a statement by the historian Jordanes .

A daughter of Theodoric had been married to Hunerich , the son of the Vandal ruler Geiserich (429?). But since the prospect of a marriage of Hunerich with Eudocia , the daughter of the emperor Valentinian III. existed, accused Geiserich Theoderich's daughter of having plotted to murder him and sent her mutilated back to the Visigoth king in 444. From now on, this had to be hostile to the vandals. In 444 the former army master Sebastianus , who was at war with Aëtius, came to the Visigothic court in Tolosa. Relations with Aëtius could have been strained, but Theodoric soon sent his guest away again, who then conquered Barcelona and was later (450) killed on the orders of Geiseric. Theodoric was likely to have been enemies with Rechila , the King of the Suebi in Spain, since Visigoth troops supported the imperial general Vitus in a campaign against the Suebi in 446. Since they were able to provide strong defenses and Geiseric sought closer ties to the Roman Empire, Theodoric later changed his foreign policy. In February 449, the King of the Visigoths gave one of his daughters to the new King of the Suebi, Rechiar, to be his wife. His son-in-law visited Theodoric in July 449, devastated the area around the city of Caesaraugusta on his return - with the help of the Bagauden and, according to the writer Isidore of Seville, with the support of the Goths - and was able to seize Ilerdas with a ruse .

Whether Theodoric actually already passed legislation, as previously assumed, has recently been doubted again.

Fight against Attila and death

Before Attila and his Huns and other allies marched west to Gaul, he attempted to prevent an alliance between the Visigoths and the Romans. For this purpose he submitted to Theodoric the offer of a pact against the Romans, which he at the same time offered support against the Visigoths. It is unclear whether Theodoric - who initially wanted to take a neutral position - only agreed to a pact with his long-standing enemy Aëtius to combat Attila, who was pulling against Gaul, or whether he did not agree to this step only because of the Roman recognition of the independence of his state after a mediation by the Avitus already from the insight he undertook that a victory of the Huns over the Western Roman Empire also endangered the existence of his own empire. In any case, he was now an ally of the Romans. So Theodoric went into battle with his entire army and his sons Theoderic II and Thorismund , reinforced the not too strong troops of Aëtius and in June 451 initially saved the civitas Aurelianorum besieged by Attila's army . The Visigoths moved along with the troops of Aëtius the receding Attila afterwards, and it came near Troyes the battle of the catalaunian plains (about September 451). While most of the Visigoths fought under Theodoric's command on the right wing, Thorismund commanded a smaller group on the left wing under the supervision of Aëtius, who wanted to ensure with this line-up that Theodoric remained loyal to him during the fight. The Goths contributed significantly to the victory of the Roman army. Theodoric died during the battle; he either succumbed to the Ostrogoth Andages' javelin throw, or was trampled by his own people when he tried to prevent them from retreating. His body was not discovered until the next day. According to Gothic custom, the old king was honored and buried by his warriors. The Goths then immediately proclaimed Theodoric's eldest son Thorismund as the new king. Other sons of the fallen King of the Visigoths were Theodoric II, Frederich, Eurich , Retimer and Himnerith .

A plaque about him is in the Walhalla in Donaustauf .

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literature

Web links

Commons : Teodorico I  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Kampers (2005) p. 419; further variants of the name ( Theodorid (us), Theodericus, Theuderidus etc.) with evidence from Enßlin (see lit.), Col. 1735f.
  2. ^ Hydatius , Chronik 70, in: MGH Auctores antiquissimi (AA) 11: Chronica minora saec. IV. V. VI. VII. (II.) . Edited by Theodor Mommsen . Berlin 1894, p. 19; Isidor , Historia Gothorum, Vandalorum, Suevorum 23, in: MGH AA 11, p. 277; Jordanes , De origine Getarum 33, 175; Olympiodoros , fragment 35, in: C. Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum (FHG) 4, 65
  3. ↑ This is concluded from a passage by the Gallo-Roman bishop and author Sidonius Apollinaris ( Carmen 7, 505), where Theodoric II , the son of Theodoric I, describes Alaric as avus (grandfather). Presumably, Sidonius Apollinaris might not have allowed himself poetic freedom with this specified relationship.
  4. ^ So W. Enßlin, Sp. 1736.
  5. ↑ G. Kampers (2005) p. 419.
  6. ^ Hydatius, Chronik 77, in: MGH AA 11, p. 20
  7. ↑ Prosper Tiro , Chronik 1290, in: MGH AA 9 (= Chronica minora 1), p. 471; Chronica Gallica of 452 , 102, in: MGH AA 9, p. 658; Sidonius Apollinaris, epistle 7, 12, 3
  8. ↑ Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmen 7, 215ff.
  9. ↑ Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmen 7, 215ff .; 7, 495ff.
  10. ↑ Prosper Tiro, Chronik 1324 and 1326, in: MGH AA 9, p. 475; Hydatius, Chronik 107 and 110, in: MGH AA 11, p. 22f .; Merobaudes , Panegyrikus , Fragment II A 23, in: Vollmer, MGH AA 14, p. 9; Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmen 7, 246f .; 7, 475ff.
  11. ↑ Merobaudes, Panegyrikus , Fragment II B 11ff., In: MGH AA 14, p. 10; Hydatius, Chronik 112, in: MGH AA 11, p. 23
  12. ↑ Vita Orientii, in: Acta Sanct. May 1st, 61, 3
  13. ↑ Prosper Tiro, Chronik 1335, in: MGH AA 9, p. 476; Hydatius, Chronik 116, in: MGH AA 11, p. 23; Salvian , de gubernatione dei 7, 9, 39ff.
  14. ↑ Prosper Tiro, Chronik 1338, in: MGH AA 9, p. 477; Hydatius, Chronik 117, in: MGH AA 11, p. 23; Sidonius Apollinaris, carmen 7, 295ff.
  15. ^ So W. Enßlin, Sp. 1738
  16. ↑ Jordanes, De origine Getarum 36, 188
  17. ↑ Jordanes, De origine Getarum 36, 184
  18. ^ Hydatius, Chronik 129, in: MGH AA 11, p. 24 (dating to 444); Prosper Tiro, Chronik 1342, in: MGH AA 9, p. 478 (probably incorrectly dated to 440)
  19. ^ Hydatius, Chronik 134, in: MGH AA 11, p. 24
  20. ^ Hydatius, Chronik 140, in: MGH AA 11, p. 25; Jordanes, De origine Getarum 44, 229.231
  21. ^ Hydatius, Chronik 142, in: MGH AA 11, p. 25
  22. ^ Isidor, Historia Gothorum, Vandalorum, Suevorum 87, in: MGH AA 11, p. 301
  23. ↑ Jordanes, De origine Getarum 36, 185f .; Prosper Tiro, Chronik 1364, in: MGH AA 9, p. 481
  24. ↑ Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmen 7, 332ff .; 7, 336ff .; 7, 352f .; Prosper Tiro, Chronik 1364, in: MGH AA 9, p. 481; see. Jordanes, De orgine Getarum 36, 187ff.
  25. ↑ Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmen 7, 346ff .; epistle 7, 12, 3; 8, 15, 1; Jordanes, De origine Getarum 37, 195; Gregory of Tours , Ten Books, Stories 2, 7; Vita S. Aniani 7 and 10, in: MGH, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum 3, 112f .; 3, 115f.
  26. ↑ Jordanes, De origine Getarum 38, 197 and 201
  27. ↑ Jordanes, De origine Getarum 40, 209 and 41, 214; Hydatius, Chronik 150, in: MGH AA 11, p. 26
  28. ↑ Jordanes, De origine Getarum 36, 190
predecessor Office successor
Wallia Visigoth kings
418–451 		Thorismund
personal data
SURNAME Theodoric I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Theoderid
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of the Visigoths
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century
DATE OF DEATH 451