Thorismund (Visigoths)

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Thorismund (also Thurismund, Gothic Þaurismoþs ; † 453 ) was the eldest son of the Visigoth king Theodoric I (more correctly: Theoderid) and from 451 to 453 king of the Visigoths .

Early years

Thorismund was the eldest of a total of six sons of King Theodoric I. He also had several sisters, one of whom was married in 449 to confirm an alliance with the Suebian king Rechiar . Another sister had been married to Hunerich , the son of the Vandal ruler Geiserich (429?). But when Geiseric saw an opportunity to meet Hunerich with Eudocia , the daughter of Emperor Valentinian III. to marry off, he accused his Visigoth daughter-in-law of plotting a murder against him, and in 444 sent her mutilated back to her father, breaking the vandal-Visigoth alliance.

Thorismund attained the royal dignity after the death of his father, who had died in the battle of the Catalaunian fields near Châlons-en-Champagne in 451 in the fight against the Huns of Attila . Thorismund was present at this battle, as was his brother, the later King Theodoric II. He is said to have distinguished himself during the storming of a hill, which he carried out together with the Western Roman general Aetius .

Reign

While still on the battlefield, Thorismund was made king by the army. It may have been an acclamation; a formal, legally valid election does not appear to have taken place. On the advice of Aëtius, he quickly returned to the imperial capital Tolosa ( Toulouse ) to prevent his brothers Friederich , Eurich , Retimer and Himnerith , who were staying there, from seizing the rule.

In the following year he went back into the field and fought the Alans north of the Loire . His siege of the Gallic capital Arles , with which he hoped to obtain concessions from the Romans, failed; he allowed the Roman commander to move him to withdraw.

Thorismund's reign was short; it ended as early as 453 with his murder by a servant in the knowledge of his brothers Theodoric II and Friedrich. After his death, the rule passed immediately to his brother Theoderich II , while Friedrich was appointed chief general and royal deputy.

literature

  • Konrad Bund: overthrow and deposition of the ruler in the early Middle Ages . Röhrscheid, Bonn 1979, ISBN 3-7928-0417-4 , pp. 551-553
  • Ludwig Schmidt : The East Germans . 2nd edition, Beck, Munich 1969 (reprint), pp. 474-479, 510-512

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Hydatius , Chronik 140, in: MGH AA 11, p. 25; Jordanes , De origine Getarum 44, 229.231, in: Theodor Mommsen (ed.): Auctores antiquissimi 5.1: Iordanis Romana et Getica. Berlin 1882, p. 116 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
  2. ↑ Jordanes, De origine Getarum 36, 184.
  3. ^ Prosper Tiro , Chronik 1371, in: MGH , Auctores antiquissimi (AA) 9 (= Chronica minora 1), p. 483.
  4. ^ Dietrich Claude : Adel, Kirche und Königum im Westgotenreich , Sigmaringen 1971, p. 36f. and note 1.
  5. ↑ Jordanes, De origine Getarum 36, 190 and 41; Gregory of Tours, Historiae II 7.
  6. ^ A b Gregory of Tours, Historiae II 27.
  7. ^ Hydatius, Chronik 156, in: MGH AA 11 (= Chronica minora 2), p. 27.
predecessor Office successor
Theodoric I. Visigoth kings
451–453 		Theodoric II
personal data
SURNAME Thorismund
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thurismund
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of the Visigoths
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century or 5th century
DATE OF DEATH 453