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THEODORIC

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 769 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THEODORIC , See also:

king of the See also:Ostrogoths (c. 454-526). Referring to the See also:article Goias for a See also:general statement of the position of this, the greatest ruler that the See also:Gothic nation produced, we add here some details of a more See also:personal See also:kind. Theodoric was See also:born about the See also:year 454, and was the son of Theudemir, one of three See also:brothers who reigned over the See also:East Goths, at that See also:time settled in See also:Pannonia. The See also:day of his See also:birth coincided with the arrival of the See also:news of a victory of his See also:uncle Walamir over the sons of See also:Attila. The name of Theodoric's See also:mother was Erelieva, and she is called the concubine of Theudemir. The See also:Byzantine historians generally See also:call him son of Walamir, apparently because the latter was the best known member of the royal fraternity. At the See also:age of seven he was sent as a See also:hostage to the See also:court of See also:Constantinople, and there spent ten years of his See also:life, which doubtless exercised a most important See also:influence on his subsequent career. Soon after his return to his See also:father (about 471) he secretly, with a comitatus of so,000 men, attacked the king of the Sarmatians, and wrested from him the important See also:city of Singidunum (See also:Belgrade). In 473 Theudemir, now See also:chief king of the Ostrogoths, invaded See also:Moesia and See also:Macedonia, and obtained a permanent See also:settlement for his See also:people near Thessalonica. Theodoric took the chief See also:part in this expedition, the result of which was to remove the Ostrogoths from the now barbarous Pannonia, and to See also:settle them as foederati in the See also:heart of the See also:empire. About 474 Theudemir died, and for the fourteen following years Theodoric was chiefly engaged in a See also:series of profitless See also:wars, or rather plundering, expeditions, partly against the See also:emperor See also:Zeno, but partly against a See also:rival Gothic chieftain, another Theodoric, son of Triarius.2 In 488 he set out at the See also:head of his people to win See also:Italy from See also:Odoacer.

There is no doubt that he had for this enterprise the See also:

sanction of the emperor, only too anxious to be rid of so troublesome a See also:guest. But the precise nature of the relation which was to unite the two See also:powers in the event of Theodoric's success was, perhaps purposely, See also:left vague. Theodoric's See also:complete See also:practical See also:independence, combined with a See also:great show of deference for the empire, reminds us somewhat of the relation of the old East See also:India See also:Company to the See also:Mogul See also:dynasty at See also:Delhi, but the Ostrogoth was sometimes actually at See also:war with his imperial friend. The invasion and See also:conquest of Italy occupied more than four years (488-493). Theodoric, vtho marched See also:round the head of the Venetian Gulf, had to fight a fierce See also:battle with the Gepidae, probably in the valley of the See also:Save. At the Sontius (Isonzo) he found his passage barred by Odoacer, over whom he gained a complete victory (28th of See also:August 489). A yet more decisive victory followed on the 3oth See also:September at See also:Verona. Odoacer fled to See also:Ravenna, and it seemed as if the conquest of Italy was complete. It was delayed, however, for three years by the treachery of Tufa, an officer who had deserted from the service of Odoacer, and of See also:Frederic the Rugian, one of the companions of Theodoric, as well as by the intervention of the Burgundians on behalf of Odoacer. A sally was made from Ravenna by the besieged king, who was defeated in a bloody battle in the See also:Pine See also:Wood. At length (26th of See also:February 493) the See also:long and severe See also:blockade of Ravenna was ended by a See also:capitulation, the terms of which Theodoric disgracefully violated by slaying Odoacer with his own See also:hand (15th of See also:March 493). (See ODOACER.) The See also:thirty-three years' reign of Theodoric was a time of unexampled happiness for Italy.

Unbroken See also:

peace reigned within her See also:borders (with the exception of a trifling See also:raid made by Byzantine corsairs on the See also:coast of See also:Apulia in 508). The 2In one of the intervals of friendship with the emperor in 483 Theodoric was made See also:master of the See also:household troops and in 484 See also:consul. venality of the See also:Roman officials and the turbulence of the Gothic nobles were sternly repressed. Marshes were drained, harbours formed, the See also:burden of the taxes lightened, and the See also:state of See also:agriculture so much improved that Italy, from a See also:corn-importing, became a corn-exporting See also:country. Moreover Theodoric, though adhering to the Arian creed of his forefathers, was during the greater part of his reign so conspicuously impartial in religious matters that a See also:legend which afterwards became current represented him as actually putting to See also:death a See also:Catholic See also:deacon who had turned Arian in See also:order to win his favour. At the time of the contested papal See also:election between See also:Symmachus and See also:Laurentius (496-502), Theodoric's See also:mediation was welcomed by both contending parties. Unfortunately, at the very See also:close of his reign (524), the Emperor See also:Justin's persecution of the Arians led him into a policy of See also:reprisals. He forced See also:Pope See also:John to undertake a See also:mission to Constantinople to plead for See also:toleration, and on his return threw him into See also:prison, where he died. Above all, he sullied his fame by the See also:execution of See also:Boetius and Symmachus (see BOETIUS). It should be observed, however, that the See also:motive for these acts of violence was probably See also:political rather than religious—See also:jealousy of intrigues with the imperial court rather than zeal on behalf of the Arian See also:confession. Theodoric's death, which is said to have been hastened by remorse for the execution of Symmachus, occurred on the 3oth of August 526. He was buried in the See also:mausoleum which is still one of the marvels of Ravenna (q.v.), and his See also:grandson See also:Athalaric, a boy of ten years, succeeded him, under the regency of his mother See also:Amalasuntha.

See also:

Genealogy of Theodoric. THEUDEMIR= Erelieva. d. 474 A first wife= TivonoRre=Audefleda, or a 454-526. See also:sister of See also:Clovis, concubine. I i king of the See also:Franks. Ostrogoth() Theudegotho, AIIAL.ASUNTHA=Eutharic, (or Arevagni), married d. 534. a descendant married See also:Sigismund, of the Amals. See also:Alaric II., king of the king of the Burgundians. See also:West Goths. I ATHALARIC, Witigis=MATASUexrnA=Germanus, Segeric, d. 534. See also:nephew of Amalari: , murdered Justinian. king of the by his West Goths, father's Germanus Postumus, d. 531. orders, 522. put to death by Photos, 665.

Amalafrida. a full sister of Theodoric, married Thrasamund, king of the See also:

Vandals, and was mother, by an earlier See also:marriage, of Theodahad (d. 536). AuTHORITIEs.—The authorities for the life of Theodoric are very imperfect. jordanes, See also:Procopius, and the curious fragment known as Anonymus Valesii (printed at the end of See also:Ammianus See also:Marcellinus) are the chief See also:direct See also:sources of narrative, but far the most important indirect source is the Variae (state-papers) of See also:Cassiodorus, chief See also:minister of Theodoric. Malchus furnishes some interesting particulars as to his See also:early life, and' it is possible to See also:extract a little See also:information from the turgid See also:panegyric of See also:Ennodius. Among See also:German scholars F. See also:Dahn (Konige der Germanen, ii., iii. and iv.), J. K. F. See also:Manse (Geschichte See also:des Ostgothischen Reichs in Italien, 1824), and Sartorius (Versuch uber See also:die Regierung der Ostgothen, &c.) have done most to illustrate Theodoric's principles of See also:government. The See also:English reader may consult See also:Gibbon's Decline and Fall, See also:chap. xxxix., and See also:Hodgkin's Italy and her Invaders, vol. iii. (1885), his introduction to Letters of Cassiodorus (1886) and Theodoric the Goth (See also:London and New See also:York, 1891). For the legends connected with the name of Theodoric see the article See also:DIETRICH OF See also:BERN.

(T.

End of Article: THEODORIC

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