Theodoric I, king of the Visigoths

Reign: 418 – June 451 AD
Predecessor: Wallia
Successor: Thorismund
Died: 20 June 451
Dynasty: Balt
Religion: Arianism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodoric_I [52 languages]

Theodoric I (Gothic: Þiudarīks; Latin: Theodericus; c. 390 or 393 20 or 24 June 451) was the King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. Theodoric is famous for his part in stopping Attila the Hun at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where he was killed. .. ... ....

-https://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/TOULOUSE.htm#TheodericIB

THEODERIC [Theoderid], son of --- (-killed in battle near Troyes summer 451). According to Grote[54], King Theoderic I was the son of King Walia but Wolfram says that nothing is known about the earlier life of Theoderic[55]. He was elected to succeed in 418 as THEODERIC I King of the Visigoths. Olympiodorus Thebæus records the death of “Valia, principe Gothorum”, and the succession of “Theuderichus”[56]. Iordanes names "Theoderidum" as successor of "Vallia rex Gothorum" but does not specify any relationship between the two[57]. He completed the transfer of Visigothic activity from Spain to France based on Toulouse[58].
In 422, the Visigoths marched against the Vandals in Spain but deserted their Roman allies who suffered a serious defeat[59]. The Visigoths became more aggressive in their raids against Roman towns in Gaul, besieging Arles several times between 425 and 430, and Narbonne in 437. The Romans counter-attacked Toulouse in 439, although their leader Litorius was killed[60]. The Visigoths fought for the Romans against the Suevi in Spain in 446, but made an alliance with the latter in 449, confirmed by the marriage of Theoderic’s daughter to the Suevi king[61].
King Theoderic marched with his two eldest sons into Champagne in summer 451 against Attila the Hun. He was killed in the battle of the Catalaunian fields in which the combined Roman/Visigothic forces defeated the Huns[62]. Iordanes records that he was killed "in campis statim Catalaunicisis"[63]. Gregory of Tours records that Theoderic King of the Goths was killed in battle against Attila in support of his allies the Franks[64]. The Chronica Regum Visigotthorum records that “Theuderedus” reigned for 33 years[65].

m [--- of the Visigoths, daughter of ALARIC I King of the Visigoths & his wife ---. The primary source which records Theoderic’s marriage has not been identified. His wife’s parentage and marriage are indicated by Wolfram who says that Walia was succeeded by “Theoderid, son or rather son-in-law of Alaric I”[66]. As, in another passage, Wolfram says that nothing is known about the earlier life of Theoderic[67], the basis for the latter being Alaric’s son is unknown. Wolfram quotes no primary source which corroborated his assertion that Theoderic was Alaric’s son-in-law. He cites Olympiodorus Thebæus in a footnote, but the passage in question makes no mention of any relationship between Theoderic and Alaric[68].]

King Theoderic I had more than nine children, although it is not known whether these were by his wife or by concubines:

daughter. m. Hunneric of the Vandals
THORISMUND (-murdered 453).
THEODERIC (-murdered 466).
FRIDERIC [Federico].
EURIC ([after 435]-Arles [Dec] 484).
RETEMERIS [Ricimer].
HIMNERITH.
daughter.
other daughters[97].

Ben M. Angel summary:

FMG supports the proposition that Alaric was his father-in-law, rather than father. Seeing nothing else that supports his direct descent, I'd have to go with their research.

As a result, these are his relationships:

Parents: Unknown

Siblings: Unknown

Spouse: Unknown daughter of Alaric I, King of the Visigoths (395-410)

All children presumed to be from spouse (though likely some were from concubines).

1. Unknown daughter (d. after 442), married to (in 429) and repudiated by (in 442) Huneric I, King of the Vandals

2. Thorismund, King of the Visigoths (451-453)

3. Theoderic II, King of the Visigoths (453-466)

4. Frideric (Friderico), Visigoth military leader

5. Euric I, King of the Visigoths (b. after 435, 466-484)

6. Retemiris (Ricimer), Visigoth military leader

7. Himnerith, Visigoth military leader

8. Unknown daughter, m. 449 in Toulouse Richgar/Requiario, King of the Suevi (d. 456)

Other children may exist, but they are unidentified.

Basic information and justification:

Born: Unknown. We don't even know who his parents are (barring additional proof, Alaric is his father in law).

Death: 20 June 451, Chalons (Battle of the Catalaunian Plains) was either trampled to death after falling from his horse during a charge, or pierced with a spear (likely the former), from the English Wikipedia article.

Buried: Pouan (though there is some skepticism about the assertion that the "Treasures of Pouan" were associated with his remains).

Wedding: Unknown date and location.

Occupation: King of the Visigoths (418-451)

Alternate names: Theodorid, Teodorico. Note: He has been considered kin with the Balti, but he is actually an in-law. It would be valid to call his children with his wife as part of the Balti Dynasty.

From the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy page on Toulouse (birth family not covered):

http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/TOULOUSE.htm#_Toc225040394

THEODERIC I 418-451, THORISMUND 451-453, THEODERIC II 453-466

THEODERIC [Theoderid], son of --- (-killed in battle near Troyes summer 451).

According to Grote[53], King Theoderic I was the son of King Walia but Wolfram says that nothing is known about the earlier life of Theoderic[54].

He was elected to succeed in 418 as THEODERIC I King of the Visigoths. Iordanes names "Theoderidum" as successor of "Vallia rex Gothorum" but does not specify any relationship between the two[55].

He completed the transfer of Visigothic activity from Spain to France based on Toulouse[56]. In 422, the Visigoths marched against the Vandals in Spain but deserted their Roman allies who suffered a serious defeat[57].

The Visigoths became more aggressive in their raids against Roman towns in Gaul, besieging Arles several times between 425 and 430, and Narbonne in 437. The Romans counter-attacked Toulouse in 439, although their leader Litorius was killed[58].

The Visigoths fought for the Romans against the Suevi in Spain in 446, but made an alliance with the latter in 449, confirmed by the marriage of Theoderic’s daughter to the Suevi king[59]. King Theoderic marched with his two eldest sons into Champagne in summer 451 against Attila the Hun.

He was killed in the battle of the Catalaunian fields in which the combined Roman/Visigothic forces defeated the Huns[60]. Iordanes records that he was killed "in campis statim Catalaunicisis"[61]. Gregory of Tours records that Theoderic King of the Goths was killed in battle against Attila in support of his allies the Franks[62]. The Chronica Regum Visigotthorum records that “Theuderedus” reigned for 33 years[63]. [64]

m --- of the Visigoths, daughter of ALARIC I King of the Visigoths & his wife ---.

King Theoderic I had more than nine children, although it is not known whether these were by his wife or by concubines:

1. daughter (-after 442).

She was sent back to her father at the time of the 442 revolt with her nose and ears mutilated[65].

m ([429] or after[66], repudiated 442) as his first wife, HUNERIC, son of GENSERIC King of the Vandals.

2. THORISMUND (-murdered 453).

Iordanes names (in order) "Friderichum et Eurichum, Retemerim et Himnerith" as four of the sons of "Theoderido", specifying that their father took his two older sons "Thorismud et Theodericum maiores natu" when he fought at the battle of the Catalaunian Fields, dated to 451[67]. Herimannus names "Torismod filius Theodorus rex Gothorum" when recording that he succeeded his father[68].

He was elected to succeed his father in 451 as THORISMUND King of the Visigoths. Iordanes records that he also fought "in campis statim Catalaunicisis" and succeeded after the death of his father in the same battle[69].

He made war on the Alans at Orléans and marched again on Arles[70].

The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records that “Thorismo Rex Gothorum” was killed by “Theuderico et Frederico fratribus” in 453[71]. The Chronica Regum Visigotthorum records that “Thurismodus” reigned for three years[72].

3. THEODERIC (-murdered 466). (Son of King Theodoric 418-451)

Iordanes names (in order) "Friderichum et Eurichum, Retemerim et Himnerith" as four of the sons of "Theoderido", specifying that their father took his two older sons "Thorismud et Theodericum maiores natu" when he fought at the battle of the Catalaunian Fields, dated to 451[73].

Herimannus names "Theodericus frater Torismodo regi Gothorum" when recording that he succeeded his brother[74]. He was elected to succeed after murdering his brother in 453 as THEODERIC II King of the Visigoths. The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records that “Thorismo Rex Gothorum” was killed by “Theuderico et Frederico fratribus” in 453 and that Theoderic succeeded to the throne[75]. Iordanes records that "Thederidus germanus eius" succeeded after the death of Thorismund but does not specify that he was responsible for his brother's death[76]. He invaded Spain in 454 in support of Emperor Avitus and inflicted a resounding defeat on the Suevi in 456[77]. The Chronicon Albeldense records that “Teudericus” entered Spain, defeated “Ricciarium Suevorum regem” in battle “Asturica apud Urbicum fluvium”, and pursued him into “Portucale” where he killed Requiario and captured “Bracarum”[78]. He returned to Toulouse in Mar 457 but left a Visigoth contingent which advanced through Betica, eventually taking partial control of Seville[79]. The Chronicon Albeldense records that “Teudericus” returned to Gaul after leaving Portugal and was killed “ab Eurico…fratre”[80]. Iordanes records that his brother Euric was suspected of involvement in the death of Theoderic[81]. The Chronica Regum Visigotthorum records that “Theudoricus” reigned for 7, otherwise 13, years[82].

4. FRIDERIC [Federico].

Iordanes names (in order) "Friderichum et Eurichum, Retemerim et Himnerith" as four of the sons of "Theoderido", specifying that their father took his two older sons "Thorismud et Theodericum maiores natu" when he fought at the battle of the Catalaunian Fields, dated to 451[83].

The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records that “Thorismo Rex Gothorum” was killed by “Theuderico et Frederico fratribus” in 453[84]. He shared power jointly with his brother King Theoderic II[85]. He led a military incursion into Spain in 454[86].

5. EURIC ([after 435]-Arles [Dec] 484).

Iordanes names (in order) "Friderichum et Eurichum, Retemerim et Himnerith" as four of the sons of "Theoderido", specifying that their father took his two older sons "Thorismud et Theodericum maiores natu" when he fought at the battle of the Catalaunian Fields, dated to 451[87].

He was elected to succeed in 466 as EURIC King of the Visigoths after murdering his brother King Theoderic II.

6. RETEMERIS [Ricimer].

Iordanes names (in order) "Friderichum et Eurichum, Retemerim et Himnerith" as four of the sons of "Theoderido", specifying that their father took his two older sons "Thorismud et Theodericum maiores natu" when he fought at the battle of the Catalaunian Fields, dated to 451[88].

7. HIMNERITH.

Iordanes names (in order) "Friderichum et Eurichum, Retemerim et Himnerith" as four of the sons of "Theoderido", specifying that their father took his two older sons "Thorismud et Theodericum maiores natu" when he fought at the battle of the Catalaunian Fields, dated to 451[89].

8. daughter.

Isidor's Historia Gothorum, Wandalorum, Sueborum records that "Recciarius Reccilani filius" married "Theuderedi regis Gothorum filia"[90]. The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records that “Rechiarius” married “Theodoris Regis filia” in 449[91].

Her marriage was arranged to confirm her father's alliance with the Suevi in Spain.

m (Toulouse 449[92]) REQUIARIO King of the Suevi in Spain, son of REQUILA King of the Suevi (-456).

9. other daughters[93].

References:

[53] Grote, H. (1877) Stammtafeln (reprint Leipzig, 1984), p. 17.

[54] Wolfram, H. (1998) History Of The Goths (Berkeley, California), pp. 174-5.

[55] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, p. 103.

[56] García-Guijarro Ramos, L. 'Las invasions bárbaras en Hispania y la creación del Reino Visigodo', Álvarez Palenzuela, V. Á. (coord.) (2002) Historia de España de la Edad Media (Barcelona), p. 11.

[57] Wolfram (1998), p. 175.

[58] Wolfram (1998), pp. 175-6.

[59] Wolfram (1998), p. 177.

[60] Wolfram (1998), p. 178.

[61] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, p. 113.

[62] Gregory of Tours, II.7, p. 118.

[63] Chronica Regum Visigotthorum, España Sagrada Tomo II, p. 172.

[64] Wolfram (1998), p. 174.

[65] Wolfram (1998), p. 177.

[66] Wolfram (1998), p. 177.

[67] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, XXXVI, p. 107.

[68] Herimanni Augiensis Chronicon 449, MHG SS V, p. 83.

[69] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, p. 113.

[70] Wolfram (1998), p. 178.

[71] Idatii Episcopi Chronicon, España Sagrada III, p. 368.

[72] Chronica Regum Visigotthorum, España Sagrada Tomo II, p. 172.

[73] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, XXXVI, p. 107.

[74] Herimanni Augiensis Chronicon 452, MHG SS V, p. 83.

[75] Idatii Episcopi Chronicon, España Sagrada III, p. 368.

[76] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, p. 113.

[77] Wolfram (1998), p. 179.

[78] Chronicon Albeldense 21, Patrologia Latina Vol. 129, col. 1134A.

[79] García-Guijarro (2002), p. 15.

[80] Chronicon Albeldense 21, Patrologia Latina Vol. 129, col. 1134A.

[81] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, p. 118.

[82] Chronica Regum Visigotthorum, España Sagrada Tomo II, p. 172.

[83] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, XXXVI, p. 107.

[84] Idatii Episcopi Chronicon, España Sagrada III, p. 368.

[85] Wolfram (1998), p. 202.

[86] Wolfram (1998), p. 178.

[87] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, XXXVI, p. 107.

[88] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, XXXVI, p. 107.

[89] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, XXXVI, p. 107.

[90] Isidori Historia Gothorum, Wandalorum, Sueborum 486, MGH Auct. ant. XI, p. 301.

[91] Idatii Episcopi Chronicon, España Sagrada III, p. 365.

[92] Wolfram (1998), p. 177.

[93] King Theoderic I had a "wealth of daughters" according to Wolfram (1998), p. 177.

From the English Wikipedia page on Theodoric I:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodoric_I

Theodoric I, sometimes called Theodorid and in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian Teodorico, was the King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. He was either the illegitimate son of Alaric[1] or his son-in-law[2]

Early career

In 418 he succeeded King Wallia. The Romans had ordered King Wallia to move his people from the Iberia to Gaul. As king, Theodoric completed the settlements of the Visigoths in Gallia Aquitania II, Novempopulana and Gallia Narbonensis, and then used the declining power of the Roman Empire to extend his territory to the south.

After the death of Emperor Honorius and the usurpation of Joannes in 423 internal power struggles broke out in the Roman Empire. Theodoric used this situation and tried to capture the important road junction Arelate (Arles), but the Magister militum Aëtius, who was assisted by the Huns, was able to save the city.[3]

The Visigoths concluded a treaty and were given Gallic noblemen as hostages. The later Emperor Avitus visited Theodoric, lived at his court and taught his sons.[4]

Expansion to the Mediterranean

Because the Romans had to fight against the Franks, who plundered Cologne and Trier in 435, and because of other events Theodoric saw the chance to conquer Narbo Martius (in 436) to obtain access to the Mediterranean Sea and the roads to the Pyrenees. But Litorius, with the aid of the Huns, could prevent the capture of the city and drove the Visigoths back to their capital Tolosa.[5] The peace offer of Theodoric was refused, but the king won the decisive battle at Tolosa, and Litorius soon died in Gothic imprisonment from the injuries, which he had received in this battle.[6] Avitus went – according to the orders of Aëtius – to Tolosa and offered a peace treaty which Theodoric accepted.[7] Perhaps the Romans recognized at that time the sovereignty of the Visigoth state.

Enmity with Vandals

A daughter of Theodoric had been married to Huneric, a son of the Vandal ruler Geiseric (in 429?), but Huneric later had ambitions to wed Eudocia, a daughter of the Emperor Valentinian III. He therefore accused the daughter of Theodoric of planning to kill him, and in 444 had her mutilated - her ears and nose cut off[8] - and sent back to her father.[9] This action caused an enmity between the Visigoths and the Vandals.

An enemy of Aëtius, the former Magister militum Sebastianus, came in 444 to Tolosa.[10] So there could have emerged strained relations with Aëtius, but Theodoric soon sent his unwelcome guest away who captured Barcelona and was later (in 450) executed at the orders of Geiseric.

Theodoric was also an enemy of the Suevic king Rechila in Iberia, because Visigoth troops assisted the imperial commander Vitus at his campaign against the Suevi in 446.[11] But the ability of this people to conduct a strong defence and the better relations between Geiseric and the Roman Empire led Theodoric to change his foreign policy. He therefore married in February 449 one of his daughters to the new Suevic king Rechiar, who visited his father-in-law at Tolosa in July 449.[12] At the return Rechiar devastated – according to the author Isidore of Seville with the assistance of Visigoth troops[13] – the surrounding area of the city Caesaraugusta and could take Ilerda with a cunning.

Some recent scientists doubt that Theodoric took legislative measures, as it was assumed in earlier times.[14]

Alliance against the Huns

When Attila the Hun advanced with his large army to Western Europe and invaded finally Gaul Avitus arranged an alliance between Theodoric and his long-standing enemy Aëtius against the Huns.[15] Probably Theodoric accepted this coalition because he recognized the danger of the Huns to his own realm. With his whole army and his sons Thorismund and Theodoric he joined Aëtius.

The Visigoth and Roman troops then saved the civitas Aurelianorum and forced Attila to withdraw (June 451).[16]

Battle of Châlons

Then Aëtius and Theodoric followed the Huns and fought against them at the Battle of Châlons near Troyes in about September 451. Most Visigoths fought at the right wing under the command of Theodoric but a smaller force fought at the left under the command of Thorismund.[17]

Theodoric's forces contributed decisively to the victory of the Romans, but he himself was killed during the battle. Jordanes records two different accounts of his death: one was that Theodoric was thrown from his horse and trampled to death; the second was that Theodoric was slain by the spear of the Ostrogoth Andag, who was the father of Jordanes's patron Gunthigis.

The body of Theodoric was only found at the next day. According to Gothic tradition he was mourned and buried by his warriors on the battlefield.[18] Immediately Thorismund was elected as successor of his father. Other sons of Theodoric were Theodoric II, Frederic, Euric, Retimer and Himnerith.[19]

Notes

1. ^ Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/g/gibbon/edward/g43d/chapter35.html

2. ^ (see G. Kampers, 2005, p. 419)

3. ^ Prosper, Epitoma chronicon 1290, in: MGH Auctores antiquissimi (AA) 9, p. 471; Chronica Gallica of 452, 102, in: MGH AA 9, p. 658; Sidonius Apollinaris, letters 7. 12. 3

4. ^ Sidonius Apollinaris, carmen 7. 215sqq.; 7. 495sqq.

http://home.hccnet.nl/j.a.van.waarden/index.html

5. ^ Prosper, Epitoma chronicon 1324 and 1326, in: MGH AA 9, p. 475; Hydatius, chronicle 107 und 110, in: MGH AA 11, p. 22-23; Merobaudes, panegyric, fragment II A 23, in: Vollmer, MGH AA 14, p. 9; Sidonius Apollinaris, carmen 7. 246sqq.; 7. 475sqq.

6. ^ Prosper, Epitoma chronicon 1335, in: MGH AA 9, p. 476; Hydatius, chronicle 116, in: MGH AA 11, p. 23; Salvian, de gubernatione dei 7. 9. 39sqq.

7. ^ Prosper, Epitoma chronicon 1338, in: MGH AA 9, p. 477; Hydatius, chronicle 117, in: MGH AA 11, p. 23; Sidonius Apollinaris, carmen 7. 295sqq.

8. ^ "The Fall of the West" by Adrian Goldsworthy, W&N (2009), ISBN-13:978-0297845638 (page 330)

9. ^ Jordanes, Getica 36, 184

http://www.northvegr.org/histories%20and%20chronicles/the%20origins...

10. ^ Hydatius, chronicle 129, in: MGH AA 11, p. 24 (dated into the year 444); Prosper, Epitoma chronicon 1342, in: MGH AA 9, p. 478 (wrongly dated into the year 440)

11. ^ Hydatius, chronicle 134, in: MGH AA 11, p. 24

12. ^ Hydatius, chronicle 140 and 142, in: MGH AA 11, p. 25; Jordanes, Getica 44. 229 and 231

13. ^ Isidore, Historia Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum 87, in: MGH AA 11, p. 301

http://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Historia_de_regibus_Gothorum,_Vandalo...

14. ^ G. Kampers, RGA, vol. 30, p. 420

15. ^ Sidonius Apollinaris, carmen 7. 332sqq.; 7. 336sqq.; 7. 352sqq.; Prosper, Epitoma chronicon 1364, in: MGH AA 9, p. 481; compare Jordanes, Getica 36. 187sqq.

16. ^ Sidonius Apollinaris, carmen 7, 346sqq.; letters 7. 12. 3; 8. 15. 1; Jordanes, Getica 37. 195; Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum 2. 7; Vita S. Aniani 7 und 10, in: MGH, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum 3. 112-113; 3. 115-116

17. ^ Jordanes, Getica 38. 197 and 201

18. ^ Jordanes, Getica 40. 209 and 41. 214; Hydatius, chronicle 150, in: MGH AA 11, p. 26

19. ^ Jordanes, Getica 36. 190

References

G. Kampers: Theoderid. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). vol. 30 (2005), p. 419-421.

Wilhelm Enßlin: Theoderich I. In: Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, vol. V A 2, col. 1735-1740.

http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Paulys_Realencyclop%C3%A4die_der_clas...

External links

Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 35

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/g/gibbon/edward/g43d/chapter35.html

---

King Theodoric I of the Visigoths

Balti dynasty

Died: 451

Regnal titles

King of the Visigoths 418–451

Preceded by Wallia

Succeeded by Thorismund

From the English Wikipedia page on the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, where he died:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ch%C3%A2lons

Battle of Châlons

Part of the Hunnic invasion of Gaul

Date: June 20, 451

Location: Somewhere in the northeastern part of present-day France

Result: Tactically inconclusive; withdrawal of the Huns; Strategic Roman/Visigothic victory

Belligerents:

Western Roman Empire (under Flavius Aetius), Franks (under Merovech), Visigoths (under Theodoric, killed in battle), Burgundians (under Gondioc), Alani (under Sangiban), Saxons, Armoricans, Sarmatians: 30,000 men.

Hunnic Empire (under Attila), Ostrogoths (under Valamir), Gepids (under Ardaric), Rugians (under Berik), Scirii, Thuringians, Scythians, Bastarnae, Taifals, Alamanni: 30,000 men.

Casualties and losses: unknown

---

The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (or Fields), also called the Battle of Châlons (also spelled Chalons or Chalon), took place in 451 between a coalition led by the Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I on one side and the Huns and their allies commanded by Attila on the other. It was one of the last major military operations of the Western Roman Empire and marks the apex of the career of Flavius Aetius. The battle resulted in a defeat for the Huns and considerably hindered their attempt to conquer western Europe.

Prelude

By 450 Roman control of Gaul had grown feeble, as had control over all of the provinces beyond Italy. Celtic Armorica was only nominally part of the empire. Germanic tribes prowling around Roman territory had been forcibly settled and served as foederati under their own leaders. Northern Gaul between the Rhine and Marne rivers (Gallia Belgica) had unofficially been abandoned to the Franks.

The Visigoths in Gallia Aquitania were growing restive. The Burgundians near the Alps were more submissive, but likewise awaiting openings for revolt. The only parts still securely in Roman control were the Mediterranean coastline, a band of varying width running from Aurelianum (present-day Orléans) upstream along the Loire and one downstream along the Rhône River

The historian Jordanes states that Attila was enticed by the Vandals' king Gaiseric to wage war on the Visigoths. At the same time, Gaiseric would attempt to sow strife between the Visigoths and the Western Roman Empire (Getica 36.184–6).[1]

Other contemporary writers offer different motivations: Honoria, a troublesome sister of Emperor Valentinian III, had been married off to the loyal senator Herculanus a few years before. This kept her in respectable confinement. In 450, she sent a message to the Hunnic king asking for Attila's help in escaping her confinement. She offered her hand in marriage, and half of the empire as dowry. He demanded Honoria to be delivered along with the dowry. Valentinian rejected these demands, and Attila used it as an excuse to launch a destructive campaign through Gaul.[2]

Attila crossed the Rhine early in 451 with his followers and a large number of allies, sacking Divodurum (Metz) on April 7. Other cities attacked can be determined by the hagiographic vitae written to commemorate their bishops: Nicasius was slaughtered before the altar of his church in Rheims; Servatus is alleged to have saved Tongeren with his prayers, as Genevieve is to have saved Paris.[3] Lupus, bishop of Troyes, is also credited with saving his city by meeting Attila in person.[4]

Attila's army had reached Aurelianum (Orléans) by June. This fortified city guarded an important crossing over the Loire. According to Jordanes, the Alan king Sangiban, whose foederati realm included Aurelianum, had promised to open the city gates;[5] this siege is confirmed by the account of the Vita S. Anianus and in the later account of Gregory of Tours,[6] although Sangiban's name does not appear in their accounts.

However, the inhabitants of Aurelianum shut their gates against the advancing invaders. Attila began to besiege the city, while he waited for Sangiban to deliver on his promise.

Battle

Upon learning of the invasion, the Magister militum Flavius Aetius moved quickly from Italy into Gaul. According to Sidonius Apollinaris, he was leading forth a force consisting of few and sparse auxiliaries without one regular soldier.[7]

He immediately attempted to convince Theodoric I to join him. The Visigothic king learned how few troops Aëtius had with him and decided it was wiser to wait to oppose the Huns in his own lands. Aetius turned then to the powerful local magnate Avitus for help, who was not only able to convince Theodoric to join with the Romans, but also a number of other wavering "barbarians" resident in Gaul.[8]

The combined armies then marched for Aurelianum (Orléans), reaching that city about June 14.

According to the author of the Vita S. Anianus, they had reached the besieged Aurelianum literally at the last possible minute. Attila's men had made a breach in the city's walls and had positioned a party within the city. At this very moment, news of an advancing hostile army reached the Huns. They were virtually in control of the city, but to keep it meant to be besieged in it.

Hence they broke camp and proceeded back homewards, doubtless looking for an advantageous spot to make a stand. Theodoric and Aetius followed in close pursuit.

The two forces at last met at the Catalaunian Fields on June 20, a date first proposed by J.B. Bury[9] and since accepted by many, although some sources claim September 20.

The night before the main battle, one of the Frankish forces on the Roman side encountered a band of the Gepids loyal to Attila. Jordanes' recorded number of 15,000 dead on either side for this skirmish[10] is not verifiable.

In accordance to Hunnic customs, Attila had his diviners examine the entrails of a sacrifice the morning before battle. They foretold disaster would befall the Huns and one of the enemy leaders would be killed. At the risk of his own life and hoping for Aetius to die, Attila at last gave the orders for combat, but delayed until the ninth hour so the impending sunset would help his troops to flee the battlefield in case of defeat.[11]

According to Jordanes, the Catalaunian plain rose on one side by a sharp slope to a ridge. This geographical feature dominated the battlefield and became the center of the battle. The Huns first seized the right side of the ridge, while the Romans seized the left, with the crest unoccupied between them. (Jordanes explains that the Visigoths held the right side, the Romans the left, with Sangiban of uncertain loyalty and his Alans surrounded in the middle.)

When the Hunnic forces attempted to seize the decisive central position, they were foiled by the Roman alliance. Their troops had arrived first and repulsed the Hunnic advance. The Hunnic warriors fled in disorder back into their own forces, thereby disordering the rest of Attila's army.[12]

Attila attempted to rally his forces, struggling to hold his position. Meanwhile Theodoric, while leading his own men after the disordered enemy, was killed in the assault without his men noticing. Jordanes states that Theodoric was thrown from his horse and trampled to death by his advancing men, but he also mentions another story that had Theodoric slain by the spear of the Ostrogoth Andag. Since Jordanes served as the notary of Andag's son Gunthigis, even if this latter story is not true, this version was certainly a proud family tradition.[13]

The Visigoths outstripped the speed of the Alans beside them and fell upon Attila's own Hunnic household unit. Attila was forced to seek refuge in his own camp, which he had fortified with wagons. The Romano-Gothic charge apparently swept past the Hunnic camp in pursuit; when night fell, Thorismund, son of king Theodoric, returning to friendly lines, mistakenly entered Attila's encampment. There he was wounded in the ensuing mêlée before his followers could rescue him.

Darkness also separated Aetius from his own men. As he feared that disaster had befallen them, he spent the rest of the night with his Gothic allies.[14]

On the following day, finding the battlefields "were piled high with bodies and the Huns did not venture forth", the Goths and Romans met to decide their next move. Knowing that Attila was low on provisions and "was hindered from approaching by a shower of arrows placed within the confines of the Roman camp", they started to besiege his camp. In this desperate situation, Attila remained unbowed and "heaped up a funeral pyre of horse saddles, so that if the enemy should attack him, he was determined to cast himself into the flames, that none might have the joy of wounding him and that the lord of so many races might not fall into the hands of his foes".[15]

While Attila was trapped in his camp, the Visigoths searched for their missing king and his son Thorismund. After a long search, they found Theodoric's body beneath a mound of corpses and bore him away with heroic songs in sight of the enemy.

Upon learning of his father's death, Thorismund wanted to assault Attila's camp, but Aetius dissuaded him. According to Jordanes, Aetius feared that if the Huns were completely destroyed, the Visigoths would break off their allegiance to the Roman Empire and become an even graver threat. So Aetius convinced Thorismund to quickly return home and secure the throne for himself, before his brothers could. Otherwise, civil war would ensue among the Visigoths.

Thorismund quickly returned to Tolosa (present-day Toulouse) and became king without any resistance. Gregory of Tours (Historia Francorum 2.7) claims Aëtius used the same stratagem to dismiss his Frankish allies, and collected the booty of the battlefield for himself.

On the Visigoths' withdrawal, Attila first believed it to be a feigned retreat to draw his battered forces out into the open for annihilation. So he remained within his defences for some time before he risked leaving his camp and returned home.[16]

]Forces

Both armies consisted of combatants from many peoples. Jordanes lists Aetius' allies as including (besides the Visigoths) both the Salic and Ripuarian Franks, Sarmatians, Armoricans, Liticians, Burgundians, Saxons, librones (whom he describes as "once Roman soldiers and now the flower of the allied forces"), and other Celtic or German tribes.[17]

Jordanes' list for Attila's allies includes the Gepids under their king Ardaric, as well as an Ostrogothic army led by the brothers Valamir, Theodemir (the father of the later Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great) and Widimer, scions of the Amali.[18]

Sidonius offers a more extensive list of allies: Rugians, Gepids, Gelonians, Burgundians, Sciri, Bellonotians, Neurians, Bastarnae, Thuringians, Bructeri, and Franks living along the Neckar River[19] E.A. Thompson expresses his suspicions that some of these names are drawn from literary traditions rather than from the event itself.

The Bastarnae, Bructeri, Geloni and Neuri had disappeared hundreds of years before the time of the Huns, while the Bellonoti had never existed at all: presumably the learned poet was thinking of the Balloniti, a people invented by Valerius Flaccus nearly four centuries earlier.[20]

On the other hand, Thompson believes that the presence of Burgundians on the Hunnic side is credible, noting that a group is documented as remaining east of the Rhine; likewise, he believes that the other peoples Sidonius alone mentions—the Rugians, Scirans and Thuringians—were likely participants in this battle.

However, the number of participants for either side—or in total—is entirely speculative. Jordanes reports the number of dead from this battle as 165,000, excluding the casualties of the Franko-Gepid skirmish previous to the main battle. Hydatius, a historian who lived at the time of Attila's invasion, reports the number of 300,000 dead. No primary source offers an estimate for the number of participants.

The figures of both Jordanes and Hydatius are implausibly high. Thompson remarks in a footnote, "I doubt that Attila could have fed an army of even 30,000 men."[21]

As a reference, in the early 3rd century, the Roman Empire maintained 30 legions with just under 5,200 actual men each; if we follow the general assumption that the number of auxiliaries matched the number of legionaries, then add the Praetorian Guard as 5,000 strong, and six Urban Cohorts, we find that the Empire at its height fielded a grand total of 323,000 soldiers across its territories.[22]

A better sense of the size of the forces may be found in the study of the Notitia Dignitatum by A.H.M. Jones.[23] This document is a list of officials and military units that was last updated in the first decades of the 5th century. Notitia Dignitatum lists 58 various regular units, and 33 limitanei serving either in the Gallic provinces or on the frontiers nearby; the total of these units, based on Jones analysis, is 34,000 for the regular units and 11,500 for the limitanei, or just under 46,000 all told.

While the Roman forces in Gaul had become much smaller by this time, if we accept this number as the total of all of the forces fighting with Theodoric and Aetius, we should not be too far off. Assuming that the Hunnic forces were roughly the same size as the Romano-Gothic, the number involved in battle is just under 100,000 combatants in total. This excludes the inevitable servants and camp followers who usually escape mention.

Site of the Catalaunian Fields

The actual location of the Catalaunian Fields is not known with certainty: Historian Thomas Hodgkin located the site near Méry-sur-Seine,[24] but current consensus[citation needed] places the battlefield at Châlons-en-Champagne.

In 1842, a labourer uncovered a burial at Pouan-les-Vallées (Aube), a village on the south bank of the Aube River, that consisted of a skeleton with a number of jewels and gold ornaments and buried with two swords; by the nature of its grave goods this elite burial was of a princely Germanic warrior who lived in the 5th century.

The Treasure of Pouan is conserved in the Musée Saint-Loup (Musée d'Art d'Archéologie et de Sciences Naturelles), Troyes.

The archeologist who described this find, Achille Peigné-Delacourt (1797–1881), claimed that these were the remains of Theodoric, but 20th-century historians generally have expressed their scepticism over this identification.

Notes:

1. ^ The Getica (or "Gothic History"), our principal source for this battle, is the work of Jordanes, who acknowledges that his work is based on Cassiodorus' own Gothic History, written between 526 and 533. However, the philologist Theodor Mommsen argued that Jordanes' detailed description of the battle was copied from lost writings of the Greek historian Priscus. It is available in an English translation by Charles Christopher Mierow, The Gothic History of Jordanes (Cambridge: Speculum Historiale, 1966, a reprint of the 1915 second edition); all quotations of Jordanes are taken from this edition, which is in the public domain.

http://people.ucalgary.ca/~vandersp/Courses/texts/jordgeti.html

2. ^ A modern narrative based these sources can be found in E.A. Thompson, The Huns (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), pp. 144–48. This is a posthumous revision by Peter Heather of Thompson's A History of Attila and the Huns, originally published in 1948.

3. ^ The vitae are summarized in Thomas Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders (New York: Russell & Russell, 1967 reprint of the original 1880–89 edition), volume II pp. 128ff.

4. ^ Catholic Online article on St. Lupus:

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=712

5. ^ Getica 36.194f;

6. ^ Historia Francorum 2.7.

7. ^ Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmina 7.329f.

8. ^ Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmina 7.332–356.

9. ^ Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian, 1923 (New York: Dover, 1958), p. 29 n.59.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://penelop...

10. ^ Getica 41.217

11. ^ Getica 37.196

12. ^ Getica 38.

13. ^ Getica 40.209.

14. ^ Getica 40.209–212.

15. ^ Getica 40.213.

16. ^ Getica 41.214–217.

17. ^ Getica 36.191.

18. ^ Getica 38.199.

19. ^ Carmina 7.321–325.

20. ^ E.A. Thompson, The Huns, p. 149.

21. ^ Thompson, The Huns, endnote 65, on page 300.

22. ^ This figure is based on a similar calculation made by Chester G. Starr in The Roman Empire 27 B.C. – 476 A.D. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 88.

23. ^ A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1986 reprint of the 1964 original), pp. 1417–50.

24. ^ Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, volume II, pp. 160–2.

http://www.archive.org/stream/italyandherinva08hodggoog#page/n8/mod...