Ostrogothic Kingdom 1

Ostrogothic Kingdom
Regnum OstrogothicorumKingdom of the
Ostrogoths

← 493–553
→

The Ostrogothic Kingdom at its greatest extent.

Capital Ravenna

Language(s) Latin, Gothic

Religion Arianism among the Goths,

Chalcedonian Christianity among the Romans

Government Monarchy

King

- 493–526 Theodoric the Great (first)

- 552–553 Teia (last)

Historical era Late Antiquity

- Battles of Isonzo and Verona 489

- Fall of Ravenna 493

- Start of Gothic War 535

- Battle of Mons Lactarius 553

The Ostrogothic Kingdom established by the Ostrogoths in Italy and neighbouring areas lasted from 493 to 553. In
Italy the Ostrogoths replaced Odoacer, the de facto ruler of Italy who had deposed the last emperor of the Western
Roman Empire in 476. The Gothic kingdom reached its zenith under the rule of its first king, Theodoric the Great.
Most of the social institutions in the late Western Roman Empire were preserved during his rule.
Starting in 535, the Eastern Roman Empire invaded Italy. The Ostrogothic ruler at that time, Witiges, could not
defend successfully and was finally captured when the capital Ravenna fell. The Ostrogoths rallied around a new
leader, Totila, and largely managed to reverse the conquest, but were eventually defeated. The last king of the
Ostrogothic Kingdom was Teia.
Ostrogothic Kingdom 2

History

Background

The Ostrogoths
The Ostrogoths were the eastern branch of the Goths. They settled and established a powerful state in Dacia, but
during the late 4th century, they came under the dominion of the Huns. After the collapse of the Hunnic empire in
454, large numbers of Ostrogoths were settled by Emperor Marcian in the Roman province of Pannonia as foederati.
But in 460, during the reign of Leo I, because the payment of annual sums had ceased, they ravaged Illyricum. Peace
was concluded in 461, whereby the young Theodoric Amal, son of Theodemir of the Amals, was sent as a hostage to
Constantinople, where he received a Roman education.[1] In previous years, a large number of Goths, first under
Aspar and then under Theodoric Strabo, had entered service in the Roman army and were a significant political and
military power in the court of Constantinople. The period 477-483 saw a complex three-way struggle among
Theodoric the Amal, who had succeeded his father in 474, Theodoric Strabo, and the new Eastern Emperor Zeno. In
this conflict, alliances shifted regularly, and large parts of the Balkans were devastated by it. In the end, after Strabo's
death in 481, Zeno came to terms with Theodoric. Parts of Moesia and Dacia ripensis were ceded to the Goths, and
Theodoric was named magister militum praesentalis and consul for 484.[2] However, barely a year later, Theodoric
and Zeno fell out, and again Theodoric's Goths ravaged Thrace. It was then that the thought occurred to Zeno and his
advisors to kill two birds with one stone, and direct Theodoric against another troublesome neighbour of the Empire
- the Italian kingdom of Odoacer.

Odoacer's kingdom
In 476, Odoacer, a Germanic magister militum, deposed the Western Emperor Romulus Augustulus and declared
himself rex Italiae ("King of Italy"), while still nominally remaining under Imperial suzerainty. This fact was
recognized by Zeno in 477, when he appointed Odoacer to the rank of patrician. Odoacer retained the Roman
administrative system, cooperated actively with the Roman Senate, and his rule was efficient and successful. He
evicted the Vandals from Sicily in 477, and in 480 he conquered Dalmatia after the murder of Julius Nepos.[3] [4]

The conquest of Italy by the Goths

An agreement was reached between Zeno and Theodoric, stipulating that Theodoric, if victorious, was to rule in Italy
as the emperor's representative.[5] Theodoric with his people set out from Moesia in the autumn of 488, passed
through Dalmatia and crossed the Julian Alps into Italy in late August 489. The first confrontation with the army of
Odoacer was at the river Isonzo (the battle of Isonzo) on August 28. Odoacer was defeated and withdrew towards
Verona, where a month later another battle was fought, resulting in a bloody, but crushing, Gothic victory. Odoacer
fled to his capital at Ravenna, while the larger part of his army under Tufa surrendered to the Goths. Theodoric then
sent Tufa and his men against Odoacer, but he changed his allegiance again and returned to Odoacer. In 490,
Odoacer was thus able to campaign against Theodoric, take Milan and Cremona and besiege the main Gothic base at
Ticinum (Pavia). At that point, however, the Visigoths intervened, the siege of Ticinum was lifted, and Odoacer
decisively defeated at the river Adda on 11 August 490. Odoacer fled again to Ravenna, while the Senate and many
Italian cities declared themselves for Theodoric.[6]
The Goths now turned to besiege Ravenna, but since they lacked a fleet and the city could be resupplied by sea, the
siege could be endured almost indefinitely, despite privations. It was not until 492 that Theodoric was able to
procure a fleet and capture Ravenna's harbours, thus entirely cutting off communication with the outside world. The
effects of this appeared six months later, when, with the mediation of the city's bishop, negotiations started between
the two parties. An agreement was reached on 25 February 493, whereby the two should divide Italy between them.
A banquet was organised in order to celebrate this treaty. It was at this banquet, on March 15, that Theodoric, after
making a toast, killed Odoacer with his own hands. A general massacre of Odoacer's soldiers and supporters
Ostrogothic Kingdom 3

followed. Theodoric and his Goths were now masters of Italy.[7]

The reign of Theodoric the Great

The nature of Theodoric's rule

"... Theoderic was a man of great distinction and of good-will towards all men, and he ruled for thirty-three years. In his times Italy for
thirty years enjoyed such good fortune that his successors also inherited peace. For whatever he did was good. He so governed two races at
the same time, Romans and Goths, that although he himself was of the Arian sect, he nevertheless made no assault on the Catholic religion;
he gave games in the circus and the amphitheatre, so that even by the Romans he was called a Trajan or a Valentinian, whose times he took
as a model; and by the Goths, because of his edict, in which he established justice, he was judged to be in all respects their best king."

Anonymus Valesianus, Excerpta II 59-60

Like Odoacer, Theodoric was ostensibly a patricius and subject of the emperor in Constantinople, acting as his
viceroy for Italy, a position recognized by the new Emperor Anastasius in 497. At the same time, he was the king of
his own people, who were not Roman citizens. In reality, he acted as an independent ruler, although unlike Odoacer,
he meticulously preserved the outward forms of his subordinate position. The administrative machinery of Odoacer's
kingdom, in essence that of the former Empire, was retained and continued to be staffed exclusively by Romans,
such as the articulate and literate Cassiodorus. The Senate continued to function normally and was consulted on civil
appointments, and the laws of the Empire were still recognized as ruling the Roman population, though Goths were
ruled under their own traditional laws. Indeed, as a subordinate ruler, Theodoric did not possess the right to issue his
own laws (leges) in the system of Roman law, but merely edicts (edicta), or clarifications on certain details.[8] The
continuity in administration is illustrated by the fact that several senior ministers of Odoacer, like Liberius and
Cassiodorus the Elder, were retained in the new kingdom's top positions.[9] The close cooperation between
Theodoric and the Roman elite began to break down in later years, especially after the healing of the ecclesiastical
rift between Rome and Constantinople (see below), as leading senators conspired with the Emperor. This resulted in
the arrest and execution of the magister officiorum Boethius and his father-in-law, Symmachus, in 524.[10]
On the other hand, the army and all military offices remained the exclusive preserve of the Goths. The Goths were
settled mostly in northern Italy, and kept themselves largely apart from the Roman population, a tendency reinforced
by their different faiths: the Goths were mostly Arians, while the people they ruled over were following
Chalcedonian Christianity. Nevertheless, and unlike the Visigoths or the Vandals, there was considerable religious
tolerance, which was also extended towards Jews.[11] Theodoric's view was clearly expressed in his letters to the
Jews of Genoa: "The true mark of civilitas is the observance of law. It is this which makes life in communities
possible, and which separates man from the brutes. We therefore gladly accede to your request that all the privileges
which the foresight of antiquity conferred upon the Jewish customs shall be renewed to you..."[12] and "We cannot
order a religion, because no one can be forced to believe against his will."[13]
Ostrogothic Kingdom 4

Relations with the Germanic states of the West

It is in his foreign policy rather than

domestic affairs that Theodoric
appeared and acted as an independent
ruler. By means of marriage alliances,
he sought, to establish a central
position among the barbarian states of
the West. As Jordanes states: "...there
was no race left in the western realms
which Theoderic had not befriended or
brought into subjection during his
lifetime."[14] This was in part meant as
a defensive measure, and in part as a
counterbalance to the influence of the
Empire. His daughters were wedded to
the Visigothic king Alaric II and the
Burgundian prince Sigismund,[15] his
sister Amalfrida married the Vandal Theodoric's Empire - Map depicting the Germanic kingdoms in 526, the year of
Theodoric's death. Apart from Italy, Dalmatia and Provence, he exercised suzerainty over
king Thrasamund,[16] while he himself
the Visigothic Kingdom.
married Audofleda, sister of the
Frankish king Clovis I.[17]

These policies were not always successful in maintaining peace: Theodoric found himself at war with Clovis when
the latter attacked the Visigoth dominions in Gaul in 506. The Franks were rapidly successful, killing Alaric in the
Battle of Vouillé and subduing Aquitania by 507. However, starting in 508, Theodoric's generals campaigned in
Gaul, and were successful in saving Septimania for the Visigoths, as well as extending Ostrogothic rule into southern
Gaul (Provence) at the expense of the Burgundians. There in 510 Theodoric reestablished the defunct praetorian
prefecture of Gaul. Now Theodoric had a common border with the Visigothic kingdom, where, after Alaric's death,
he also ruled as regent of his infant grandson Amalaric.[18]

Family bonds also served little with Sigismund, who as a staunch Chalcedonian Catholic cultivated close ties to
Constantinople. Theodoric perceived this as a threat and intended to campaign against him, but the Franks acted first
and invaded Burgundy in 523, quickly subduing it. Theodoric could only react by expanding his domains in the
Provence north of the river Durance up to the Isère River.
The peace with the Vandals, secured in 500 with the marriage alliance with Thrasamund, and their common interests
as Arian powers against Constantinople, collapsed after Thrasamund's death in 523. His successor Hilderic showed
favour to the Nicaean Catholics, and when Amalfrida protested, he had her and her entourage murdered. Theodoric
was preparing an expedition against him when he died.[19]

Relations with the Empire

"It behoves us, most clement Emperor, to seek for peace, since there are no causes for anger between us. [...] Our royalty is an imitation of
yours, modelled on your good purpose, a copy of the only Empire; and insofar as we follow you do we excel all other nations. Often you
have exhorted me to love the senate, to accept cordially the laws of past emperors, to join together in one all the members of Italy. [...]
There is moreover that noble sentiment, love for the city of Rome, from which two princes, both of whom govern in her name, should
never be disjoined."

Letter of Theodoric to Anastasius

Cassiodorus, Variae I.1
Ostrogothic Kingdom 5

Theodoric's relations with his nominal suzerain, the Eastern Roman Emperor, were always strained, for political as
well as for religious reasons. Especially during the reign of Anastasius, these led to several collisions, none of which
however escalated into general warfare. In 504-505, Theodoric's forces launched a campaign to recover Pannonia
and the strategically important town of Sirmium, formerly parts of the praetorian prefecture of Italy, which were now
occupied by the Gepids. The campaign was successful, but it also led to a brief conflict with imperial troops, where
the Goths and their allies were victorious. Domestically, the Acacian schism between the patriarchates of Rome and
Constantinople, caused by imperial support for the Henotikon, as well as Anastasius' Monophysite beliefs, played
into Theodoric's hands, since the clergy and the Roman aristocracy of Italy, headed by Pope Symmachus, vigorously
opposed them. Thus, for a time, Theodoric could count on their support. The war between the Franks and Visigoths
led to renewed friction between Theodoric and the Emperor, as Clovis successfully portrayed himself as the
champion of the Catholic Church against the "heretical" Arian Goths, gaining the Emperor's support. This even led
to the dispatch of a fleet by Anastasius in 508, which ravaged the coasts of Apulia.[20]
With the ascension of Justin I in 518, a more harmonious relationship seemed to be restored. Eutharic, Theodoric's
son-in-law and designated successor, was appointed consul for the year 519, while in 522, to celebrate the healing of
the Acacian schism, Justin allowed both consuls to be appointed by Theodoric.[21] Soon, however, renewed tension
would result from Justin's anti-Arian legislation, and tensions grew between the Goths and the Senate, whose
members, as Chalcedonians, now shifted their support to the Emperor. The suspicions of Theodoric were confirmed
by the interception of compromising letters between leading senators and Constantinople, which led to the
imprisonment and execution of Boethius in 524. Pope John I was sent to Constantinople to mediate on the Arians'
behalf, and, although he achieved his mission, on his return he was imprisoned and died shortly after. These events
further stirred popular sentiment against the Goths.[22]

Death of Theodoric and dynastic disputes

After the death of Theodoric on 30 August 526, his achievements began to collapse. Since Eutharic had died in 523,
Theodoric was succeeded by his infant grandson Athalaric, supervised by his mother, Amalasuntha, as regent. The
lack of a strong heir caused the network of alliances that surrounded the Ostrogothic state to disintegrate: the
Visigothic kingdom regained its autonomy under Amalaric, the relations with the Vandals turned increasingly
hostile, and the Franks embarked again on expansion, subduing the Thuringians and the Burgundians and almost
evicting the Visigoths from their last holdings in southern Gaul.[23] The position of predominance which the
Ostrogothic Kingdom had enjoyed under Theodoric in the West now passed irrevocably to the Franks.
This dangerous external climate was exacerbated by the regency's weak domestic position. Amalasuntha was
Roman-educated and intended to continue her father's policies of conciliation between Goths and Romans. To that
end, she actively courted the support of the Senate and the newly ascended Emperor Justinian I, even providing him
with bases in Sicily during the Vandalic War. However, these ideas did not find much favour with the Gothic nobles,
who in addition resented being ruled by a woman. They protested when she resolved to give her son a Roman
education, preferring that Athalaric be raised as a warrior. She was forced to discharge his Roman tutors, but instead
Athalaric turned to a life of dissipation and excess, which would send him to a premature death.[24]

"[Amalasuntha] feared she might be despised by the Goths on account of the weakness of her sex. So after much thought she decided [...]
to summon her cousin Theodahad from Tuscany, where he led a retired life at home, and thus she established him on the throne. But he
was unmindful of their kinship and, after a little time, had her taken from the palace at Ravenna to an island of the Bulsinian lake where he
kept her in exile. After spending a very few days there in sorrow, she was strangled in the bath by his hirelings."

Jordanes, Getica 306

Eventually, a conspiracy started among the Goths to overthrow her. Amalasuntha resolved to move against them, but
as a precaution, she also made preparations to flee to Constantinople, and even wrote to Justinian asking for
protection. In the event she managed to execute the three leading conspirators, and her position remained relatively
secure until, in 533, Athalaric's health began to seriously decline. Amalasuntha then turned for support to her only
Ostrogothic Kingdom 6

relative, her cousin Theodahad, while at the same time sending ambassadors to Justinian and proposing to cede Italy
to him. Justinian indeed sent an able agent of his, Peter of Thessalonica, to carry out the negotiations, but before he
had even crossed into Italy, Athalaric had died (on 2 October 534), Amalasuntha had crowned Theodahad as king in
an effort to secure his support, and he had deposed and imprisoned her. Theodahad, who was of a peaceful
disposition, immediately sent envoys to announce his ascension to Justinian and to reassure him of Amalasuntha's
safety.[25]
Justinian immediately reacted by offering his support to the deposed queen, but in early May 535, she was
executed.a[›] This crime served as a perfect excuse for Justinian, fresh from his forces' victory over the Vandals, to
invade the Gothic realm in retaliation.[26] Theodahad tried to prevent the war, sending his envoys to Constantinople,
but Justinian was already resolved to reclaim Italy. Only by renouncing his throne in the Empire's favour could
Theodahad hope to avert war.

Rulers of the Ostrogothic Kingdom

• Theodoric the Great (Thiudoric) 489-526
• Athalaric (Atthalaric) 526-534
• Theodahad (Thiudahad) 534-536
• Witiges (Wittigeis) 536-540
• Ildibad (Hildibad) 540-541
• Eraric the Rugian (Heraric, Ariaric) 541
• Totila (Baduila) 541-552
• Teia (Theia, Teja) 552-553

Culture

Architecture
Because of the kingdom's short history, no
fusion of the two peoples and their art was
achieved. However, under the patronage of
Theodoric and Amalasuntha, large-scale
restoration of ancient Roman buildings was
undertaken, and the tradition of Roman civic
architecture continued. In Ravenna, new
churches and monumental buildings were
erected, several of which survive. The
The Palace of Theodoric, as depicted on the walls of St. Apollinare Nuovo. The
Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, its figures between the columns, representing Theodoric and his court, were removed
baptistry, and the Archiepiscopal Chapel after the East Roman conquest.
follow the typical late Roman architectural
and decorative motifs, but the Mausoleum of Theodoric displays purely Gothic elements, such as its construction not
from the usual brick, but of massive slabs of Istrian limestone, or the 300-ton single-piece roof stone.
Ostrogothic Kingdom 7

Literature
All of the surviving literature written in the Ostrogothic kingdom is in Latin, though some older works were copied
in Greek and Gothic (e.g. the Codex Argenteus), and the literature is solidly in the Greco-Roman tradition.
Cassiodorus, hailing from a distinguished background, and himself entrusted with high offices (consul and magister
officiorum) represents the Roman ruling class. Like many others of his background, he served Theodoric and his
heirs loyally and well, something expressed in the writings of the period. In his Chronica, used later by Jordanes in
his Getica, as well as in the various panegyrics written by him and other prominent Romans of the time for the
Gothic kings, Roman literary and historical tradition is put in the service of their Gothic overlords. His privileged
position enabled him to compile the Variae Epistolae, a collection of state correspondence, which gives great insight
into the inner workings of the Gothic state. Boethius is another prominent figure of the period. Well-educated and
also from a distinguished family, he wrote works on mathematics, music and philosophy. His most famous work,
Consolatio philosophiae, was written while imprisoned on charges of treason.

In popular culture
• The 1876 historical novel A Struggle for Rome by Felix Dahn (and its two-part screen adaptation in 1968 [27] and
1969 [28]) focuses on the struggle between the Byzantines, the Ostrogoths and the native Italians over control of
Italy after Theodoric's death.
• In the 1941 alternate history novel Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague de Camp, a modern archaeologist is
transported through time to Ostrogothic Italy, helps to stabilise it after Theodoric's death and averts its conquest
by Justinian.
• Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine Mosaic series takes place in a setting based on Ostrogothic Italy and the East Roman
Empire, just before the Gothic War.
• Gary Jennings' 1993 novel Raptor documents the rise of Theodoric the Great and the Ostrogothic Kingdom
through the eyes of his hermaphrodite confidant Thorn.

Footnotes
^ a: The exact date and circumstances surrounding Amalasuntha's execution remain a mystery. In his Secret History,
Procopius proposes that Empress Theodora might have had a hand in the affair, wishing to get rid of a potential rival.
Although generally dismissed by historians such as Gibbon and Charles Diehl, Bury (Ch. XVIII, pp. 165-167)
considers that the story is corroborated by circumstantial evidence.

References
[1] Jordanes, Getica, 271
[2] Bury (1923), Ch. XII, pp. 413-421
[3] "At this time, Odovacar overcame and killed Odiva in Dalmatia", Cassiodorus, Chronica 1309, s.a.481
[4] Bury (1923), Ch. XII, pp. 406-412
[5] Bury (1923), Ch. XII, p. 422
[6] Bury (1923), Ch. XII, pp. 422-424
[7] Bury (1923), Ch. XII, pp. 454-455
[8] Bury (1923), Ch. XIII, pp. 422-424
[9] Bury (1923), Vol. II, Ch. XIII, p. 458
[10] Bury (1923), Ch. XVIII, pp. 153-155
[11] Bury (1923), Ch. XIII, p. 459
[12] Cassiodorus, Variae, IV.33
[13] Cassiodorus, Variae, II.27
[14] Jordanes, Getica 303
[15] Jordanes, Getica, 297
[16] Jordanes, Getica, 299
[17] Bury (1923), Ch. XIII, pp. 461-462
Ostrogothic Kingdom 8

[18] Bury (1923), Ch. XIII, p. 462

[19] Procopius, De Bello Vandalico I.VIII.11-14
[20] Bury (1923), Ch. XIII, p. 464
[21] Bury (1923), Ch. XVIII, pp. 152-153
[22] Bury (1923), Ch. XVIII, p. 157
[23] Bury (1923), Ch. XVIII, p. 161
[24] Bury (1923), Ch. XVIII, pp. 159-160
[25] Bury (1923), Ch. XVIII, pp. 163-164
[26] Procopius, De Bello Gothico I.V.1
[27] http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/ tt0063174/
[28] http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/ tt0064534/

Sources

Primary sources
• Procopius, De Bello Gothico, Volumes I-IV
• Jordanes, De origine actibusque Getarum ("The Origin and Deeds of the Goths") (http://www.ucalgary.ca/
~vandersp/Courses/texts/jordgeti.html), translated by Charles C. Mierow.
• Cassiodorus, Chronica
• Cassiodorus, Varia epistolae ("Letters") (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18590), at the Project Gutenberg
• Anonymus Valesianus, Excerpta, Pars II (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/
Excerpta_Valesiana/2*.html)

Secondary sources
• Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol. IV, Chapters 41 (http://www.
worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/roman/TheDeclineandFallofTheRomanEmpire-4/chap9.html) & 43
(http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/roman/TheDeclineandFallofTheRomanEmpire-4/
chap19.html)
• Amory, Patrick (2003). People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489-554. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 978-0521526357.
• Barnwell, P. S. (1992). Emperor, Prefects & Kings: The Roman West, 395-565. UNC Press.
ISBN 978-0807820711.
• Burns, Thomas S. (1984). A History of the Ostrogoths. Boomington.
• Bury, John Bagnell (1923). History of the Later Roman Empire Vols. I & II (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/
Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/home.html). Macmillan & Co., Ltd..
• Heather, Peter (1998). The Goths. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-0631209324.
• Wolfram, Herwig; Dunlap, Thomas (1997). The Roman Empire and its Germanic peoples. University of
California Press. ISBN 978-0520085114.
Article Sources and Contributors 9

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