Goths
Goths - tribes of East Germans, lived in the 1st century. on the south coast Baltic Sea and in the area of the lower course of the Vistula, where they came from Scandinavia. From the end of the II century. began to move south and settled in the territory from the Don to the Danube. Since the III century. divided into Ostrogoths and Visigoths.
The Goths are a group of Germanic tribes who came from Scandinavia to Eastern Europe around the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 3rd century. n. NS. and captured their territories up to the Black Sea coast in the south, the lower Don in the east and the Danube in the west. The Goths were divided into two main groups: Eastern, or Ostrogoths (Ostrogoths, Greatungs) and Western, or Visigoths (Visigoths, Tervingi). Powerful flow Hunnic he destroyed the invasions, partly moved the Goths in the southern Russian steppes. Small Gothic groups survived until the 12th century. on the Black Sea coast, on the Taman Peninsula and in the Crimea. They are mentioned and "A word about Igor's regiment" ... There is an assumption that the nest of the Gothic princes Amals remained for centuries in the remote forest area of the Slavic tribe of the Drevlyans.
Ostrogoths
Ostrogoths, Ostrogoths, Greitungs are a Germanic tribe, the eastern branch of the Goths. Since the III century. settled along the Dnieper. Under King Ermanarich, they formed an extensive tribal union and occupied the territory from the Baltic to the Black Sea. They were defeated by the Huns and partly entered the Hunnic tribal union, and partly moved beyond the Danube, to the Roman territories. After the collapse of the Hunnic Union, they settled in the Danube regions. Under King Theodoric the Great (474-526), the Ostrogoths conquered Italy and founded the Ostrogothic kingdom with its capital in Verona. They were defeated by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I in the middle of the 6th century. The Ostrogoths most clearly showed themselves in the historical process by the capture of Italy and the creation of their kingdoms there.
Visigoths
Briefly:
Visigoths, Tervingi - Germanic tribe, the western branch of the Goths. Since the III century. occupied the territory from the Dniester to the mouth of the Danube. In 376, fleeing from the Huns, they received permission to settle in the territory of the Roman Empire. In 377, they raised a revolt against the Romans and defeated the troops of the emperor Valens at Adrianople (378). After that, they received permission to settle on the Balkan Peninsula and occupied the territories of Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia. From here they undertook devastating raids on Constantinople, and under the king Alaric I (395-410) - hiking in Italy. In 410, Rome was captured and plundered. Under King Ataulf (410-415) they settled in Aquitaine, where they founded the first barbarian kingdom on the territory of the Roman Empire with the capital in Toulouse. In the second half of the VI century. under King Erich (466-484), they conquered Auvergne, Provence and a significant part of the Iberian Peninsula. In 507, after the defeat of the Frankish king Clovis I on the Vuyeu Poitiers plain and the subsequent loss of Aquitaine, the center of the Visigothic kingdom moved to Spain (the Kingdom of Toledo). In the VIII century. the state of the Visigoths fell under the onslaught of the Arabs.
From the encyclopedia:
Goths, gotones(lat. Gothi, Gothones), tribes of East Germans, who lived at the beginning of AD. NS. to the south. the coast of the Baltic Sea and along the lower Vistula. Moving to the south-east, in the 1st floor. 3 c. reached the North. Black Sea region, where they mixed with local tribes. The influence of the higher culture of the Scythian-Sarmatian tribes and cities of the North. and Zap. The Black Sea region captured by G. apprx. 260, accelerated the development of the Gothic tribes. The G. were divided into tribal groups, headed by chiefs (kings). Military. Georgia's alliances were created only during the war. hikes. They made ravages, incursions into Asia Minor and the Balkan Peninsula. As a result of these campaigns, the Roman Empire was forced to cede Dacia to them (274). In the 4th century. G. adopted Christianity. The G. were divided into Visigoths and Ostrogoths. All R. In the 4th century, due to the need for defense against the Huns advancing from the east, an extensive alliance of tribes was formed from the Don to the Danube and the Baltic Sea, headed by the Ostrogothic king Ermanarich (Germanarich). In 375 the Huns defeated Georgia. Part of the Ostrogoths was driven out of the North. Black Sea region (some remained in the Crimea, the so-called Crimean Goths). The Visigoths crossed the Danube and settled in Thrace.
Visigoths, Visigoths(Visigothi), Tervingi (Thervingi), Germanic tribe, western branch of the Goths. V., who lived in the 3-4 centuries. to the east of the Dniester, they participated (from the 70s of the 4th century) in the Great Migration of Peoples. Started in the 4th century. the invasion of the Huns and their defeat of the Goths in 375 prompted V. to cross the border of Vost. Rome. empire, in a cut decided to give them land on the Danube, so that, however, they served in Rome. army. Imperial military leaders and officials brutally exploited Britain and sold them into slavery. This caused V.'s uprising, to which slaves, columns, and peasants joined. The spontaneous actions of the rebels were led by the Visigothic leader Frithigern. The uprising grew into a war against Rome. In 378, the army of Frithigern defeated the army of Rome. imp. Valens (see the Battle of Adrianople 378). The Romans lost 40 thousand people, Valens was killed. V.'s campaigns in Italy, which began in the 5th century, merged with the uprisings of Rome. slaves, to-rye went over to their side. This allowed King W. Alaric to seize Rome in 410. With the help of the Gallo-Rome rebel against the empire. population of V. was captured by the Yuzh. Gaul and founded here in 418 first on ter. Zap. Rome. empire barbarian state - Kingdom of Toulouse V. In the 2nd half. 5 c. V. conquered most Spain. Capture by Franks South. Gaul, which ended in Britain's defeat at the battle of Poitiers (507), limited Britain's domination mainly to Spain (the capital city of Toledo). Close contact with Rome. orders contributed to the transition of Britain from the tribal system to the early feudal one. From the end. 6 c. V. and local Spanish-Rome. the population began to equalize in rights, which accelerated the process of assimilation. Between 711 and 718 the state of Hungary was conquered by the Arabs.
Used materials of the Soviet military encyclopedia in 8 volumes, volume 2.
VESTGOTS (Visigoths, Tervingi), the western branch of the Goth tribe, which occupied in the 3rd c. AD vast territory north of the lower Danube and the Black Sea. Around the middle of the same century, the Visigoths crossed the Danube and invaded the Roman Empire, but a few years later, under the Emperor Aurelian, they were pushed back, although he had to evacuate the left bank of Dacia. In 376, the Visigoths, fleeing the Huns, again crossed the Danube and received permission from the Romans to settle south of it, in Lower Moesia. Two years later, dissatisfied with Roman officials, the Visigoths rebelled, defeated imperial army at the battle of Adrianople and killed the emperor Valens. Theodosius I managed to pacify the Visigoths, and they settled on the territory of the empire as peaceful settlers and allies-federates, however, after the death of Theodosius in 395, when the empire was divided between his weak and inexperienced sons, Arcadius and Honorius, the Visigoths, led by a decisive and skillful Alaric made a devastating raid on Greece. Then they moved to Italy, where Honorius, who executed in 408 on charges of treason his famous barbarian commander Stilicho, was not able to resist them. In 410 the Visigoths took Rome. Soon after the death of Alaric, they, led by Ataulf, moved to southern Gaul. Ataulf took with him Galla Placidia, sister of Honorius, and made her his wife. Having settled near Toulouse, the Visigoths began to recapture Spain from the Vandals, Alans and Suebs who had recently captured this country. In 451, the Visigoths helped the Roman general Aetius defeat the army of the Huns led by Attila in the battle on the Catalaunian fields in Gaul. In 475 they declared their independence from Rome. During the period most widespread possessions of the Visigoths included all of Spain and Gaul up to the Loire in the north. Displaced from most of Gaul by the Franks at the beginning of the 6th century, the Visigoths retained their kingdom in Spain until the Muslims put an end to their rule here in 711-713. Although the Visigoths were originally Arians, in 589 they converted to Orthodox Catholicism.
Used materials from the encyclopedia "The world around us.
The Visigoths, otherwise Visigoths and Tervinges, are part of the Gothic people who occupied from the beginning of the 3rd century. until the second half of the 4th century. land between the Lower Danube and the Dnieper. The oldest history theirs coincides with the history of the Ostrogoths, they are a separate nationality only in their Pontic dwellings, and they long time still constituted one political entity with the Ostrogoths, but they probably had a certain degree of independence, that is, special local princes who recognized only supreme power Ostrogothic king. They became completely independent even before the Hunnic invasion, probably in the first years of the reign of Ermanarik (about 350). The first undoubtedly independent prince of the Visigoths is Atanarich (366 - 381). His power extended, however, not to the entire Visigothic people, but only to most of them. The rest recognized the authority of another prince, Friedigern. Atanarich leads a three-year struggle with the Roman Empire (366 - 369), which ended in a favorable world for the Visigoths. When around 376 the Huns defeated the Ostrogoths and attacked their western neighbors, Atanarikh alone made an attempt to resist, fortifying himself on the right bank of the Dniester. Not being able to resist the enemies, he, nevertheless, did not obey them, but withdrew with all his people to the mountains of Transylvania and occupied the Semigrad region. The rest of the Visigoths, fleeing the Huns, crossed the Danube under the command of Fridigern and Alaviv; Emperor Valens gave them lands in Thrace. Tormented by hunger and oppressed by the Roman governors, the Goths soon rebelled. The emperor Valens who opposed them was defeated and killed by them at Adrianople (378). Friedigern died shortly thereafter (c. 380); his place at the head of the Visigoths was taken by Atanarich, who, for unknown reasons, could not hold out in Transylvania. He immediately made peace with Theodosius the Great. Although he soon died, nevertheless, the treaty concluded by him with the empire remained in force until the death of Theodosius; many noble Visigoths entered the Roman army and often achieved very prominent positions. The state of affairs changed when Theodosius the Great died in 395. His weak successor, Arkady, failed to maintain friendship with the Goths; the latter were indignant and in 395 they chose a king in the person of Alaric - the first who united in his hand the power over all the Visigoths. He devastated the entire Balkan Peninsula. The ruler hastened to help Byzantium Western empire, Stilikon, who forced Alaric to conclude a peace treaty (396). Epirus was granted to the Visigoths under this treaty. But already in 400, Alaric undertook his first campaign in Italy, which ended in peace in 402, according to which Alaric again retreated to Illyria. When Stilikon, in 408, fell at the hands of an assassin, Alaric again invaded Italy. The feeble emperor Honorius had neither army nor generals. Alaric penetrated unhindered to the southern extremities of the peninsula. Since negotiations with Honorius did not lead to anything (Alaric demanded food, tribute and land for his people in the northeastern provinces of the empire), the Visigoth king in August 410 occupied and plundered Rome. After a failed attempt to take over Africa (a storm broke the Gothic fleet), Alaric died in the same year 410. His son-in-law and successor Ataulf (410 - 415) continued negotiations and struggle with Honorius, but seeing that it was impossible to establish himself in Italy, in 412 he with all his people withdrew to southern Gaul, which, perhaps, was formally ceded to him by Honorius. He defeated and killed the usurper Jovin, occupied the most important cities (Narbonne, Toulouse, Bordeaux), but he failed to establish a solid Visigothic kingdom here, despite the fact that he married Placidia, sister of Honorius in 414, and sought peace with empire. Valiha (415 - 419) for several years in a row successfully fought against the Vandals, Alans and Suevi in Spain. Returning to southern Gaul, he received from the empire, by virtue of a formal treaty, the entire province of Aquitaine ("second"), where he founded the first Visigothic state, which received, according to the main city of Toulouse, the name "Toulouse" ("Tolosan"). Vali's successor was Theodoric I (419 - 451), who significantly expanded his state and fell in the battle on the Catalaunian fields. In the fight against Attila, the Visigoths were allies of the Roman commander Aetius, while their relatives, the Ostrogoths, subject to Attila, were part of the Hunnic army. Theodoric was succeeded by his eldest son Thorismund (461 - 453); but since he wanted to destroy the alliance with Rome, the Roman party, headed by the king's brother, Theodoric, killed him, after which Theodoric II (453 - 466) came to the throne, who was also killed younger brother, Eurich. During the reign of Eurychus (466 - 484), the Visigothic state reached the highest degree power. He destroyed the last remnants of Roman rule, which remained in the form of an alliance. By the end of his reign, the Visigoth state embraced all of southern and central Gaul (up to the Loire to the north and the Rhone to the east) and almost all of Spain (only the north-western corner of this peninsula was still independent under the rule of the Suevi). He also cared about the internal improvement of his state and ordered the compilation of a code of Visigothic customary law. He treated Roman culture and his Roman subjects favorably. Some of the most prominent statesmen of his reign were the Romans. Only the Catholic Church and its highest representatives, the bishops, were persecuted by him, but not out of fanaticism (he, like the entire Visigoth people, adhered to the Arian heresy), but from a political calculation: he was right, seeing in Catholicism the worst enemy of the Visigoth domination. - His son, Alaric II (485 - 507), had to fight against new enemies, the Franks, who since 486, after Chlodovik's victory over Siagrius, became the nearest neighbors of the Goths on the Loire. This neighborhood became especially dangerous for Alaric, because Chlodovik, who converted to Christianity in the form of Catholicism, found support in the Romanesque population of Gali, burdened by the rule of the Visigoth heretics. Open struggle began in 506 and ended with the defeat of the Goths at Poitiers in 507; Alaric himself fell in the battle, and the Visigoths forever lost most of their possessions in Gaul. The five-year-old son of the slain king, Amalaric (507 - 531), fled to Spain, while in Gaul Gezalikh (507 - 511), the illegitimate son of Alaric II, who took possession of the royal treasures, continued to fight for some time. A strong Ostrogothic army, sent by his grandfather, Theodoric the Great, came to the aid of Amalaric; it kept the Franks from further conquests and saved part of the Visigothic possessions in southern Gaul. The main city of the Visigoths was now Narbonne. Amalaric married the daughter of Chlodovik, but fell already in 531 in a fight with his son-in-law Hildibert I. The Ostrogoth Theudis (531 - 548) took over the throne. He continued to fight the Franks, unsuccessfully fought against Byzantium and was killed in 548. The same fate befell his successor Theodegisel (548 - 549), who oppressed the Catholics. During the reign of Agila (549 - 554), a strong Byzantine army appeared in Spain: the emperor Justinian, having destroyed the states of the Vandals and Ostrogoths, thought to conquer Spain as well. This plan failed. Although Agila was defeated by the Byzantines, the indignant soldiers killed the incompetent king and elevated the brave and energetic Atanagild (554 - 567) to the throne, who successfully repelled the enemies; some heavily fortified cities remained, however, with the Byzantines. Seeking allies, Athanagild married his two daughters to the Frankish kings Sigibert and Chilperich. His successor Leova (568 - 572) ceded Spain to his brother Leovigild, who, after Leova's death, ruled the entire state alone (572 - 586). Now is a difficult time for the Visigoths. From all sides threatened dangerous enemies: Franks, Suevi, Byzantines, who, being faithful, found open and secret allies in the Romanesque population of the country. Leovigild energetically and skillfully took up the defense of his throne. Relying on the lower classes of the people, he was able to significantly reduce the power of the local Gothic magnates, dangerous enemies royal power... He executed those who resisted; their property passed into the ownership of the king, as a result of which financial position the country began to recover. But Leovigild brought a new danger to the state by marrying his son Hermenegild in 580 to the Frankish princess Inguntis, a devout Catholic. She managed to persuade her husband to accept Catholicism; he began an open struggle against Leovigild, but was defeated and executed. At the same time, Leovigild conquered the Suevian kingdom. After a new victory over the Franks, he died in 586 in Toledo, made by him the main city of the state. - His youngest son and successor Rekared I (586 - 601) immediately after accession to the throne accepted Catholicism and tried in every possible way to persuade his people to accept this faith. Whether this unexpected move was the result of religious conviction is difficult to say; it is more likely that political considerations were decisive. Rekared wanted once and for all to destroy the religious antagonism between the Visigoths and the native Romanesque population, which was exhausting the forces of the people. But by doing so, he destroyed the last obstacle that hindered the Romanization of the Goths. The state quickly fell under the influence Catholic clergy, which from this time on governing the country almost apart from the kings. The Visigoths, who have long been inclined to religious fanaticism, soon become zealous Catholics and further history internal development their state turns almost exclusively into the history of church councils. After Rekared, the kings were quickly replaced - Leova II (601 - 603), Viterich 603 - 10), Guntimar (610 - 612), Sisibut (612 - 620), during whose reign the persecution of the Jews began in the Visigothic state, Rekared II (620 - 621 ), after whose death Svintila, a brave commander and energetic ruler, ascended the throne (621 - 631). He took from the Byzantines their last possessions in Spain and successfully defended royal power against the claims of the clergy and secular magnates. By this he incurred the vengeance of the latter. One of the aristocrats, Sisinant, supported by the clergy, rebelled against the king; having defeated the latter and tonsured him a monk, he took the throne (631 - 36); he and his successors, Kindia (636 - 640) and Tulga (640 - 641), were blind implements in the hands of the bishops. The last attempt to restore royal power to its former strength was made by Kindasving (641 - 652), who equally vigorously and severely persecuted rebellious bishops and magnates. He ordered the compilation of a code of Visigothic laws, making them binding on all his subjects. With his son. Rekisvinte (652 - 672) everything went as before and the clergy began to rule the state as before. Secular power increased somewhat under Wamba (672 - 680), a brave warrior, but not for long: Wamba was overthrown from the throne by a party of clergy, who elected Ervih as king (680 - 687), who surrendered themselves entirely to the hands of the bishops; the same should be said of his successors Egik (687 - 701), who persecuted the Jews in the most brutal manner. We know very little about Vitik (701 - 710), and even less about the last king of the Visigoths, Roderich (710 - 711). Soon after his accession to the throne, the Arabs appeared in Spain, called here, according to legend, one of whose tycoons the king had offended. The Visigoth state no longer had the strength to resist the enemies; the victory of the latter at Jerez de la Frontera destroyed the Visigothic kingdom forever. King Roderich disappeared without a trace: he was probably killed in battle. Within a few weeks, Muslims occupied almost the entire peninsula. Since that time, the name of the Visigoths has disappeared from history. Their last remnants, strongly mixed with the native Romanesque element, defended their independence in the mountainous region of Asturias. A new state was born here, but not Gothic, but Spanish. Its first hero, Pelayo, the ancestor of the Castilian kings, was, according to legend, the grandson of the Visigoth king Kindasvint. How strong the Gothic element was in this new nationality is proved by the mass of Spanish personal names, which to this day retain traces of their Gothic origin (Rodrigo, Alfonso, Hernando, etc. ), and numerous words that have passed from Gothic to Spanish and Portuguese. These words, together with the rather extensive onomastic material preserved in the Visigoth letters, acts, on coins and inscriptions, and with a few remnants of Gothic words in the code of Visigothic laws, constitute everything we know about the Visigothic language in Spain. Whole written monuments in their language have not survived to us, although they undoubtedly existed. Not a single Visigothic translation of Wulfila's Scriptures has been found yet. How long did their language last after the fall of the Visigothic kingdom - we do not know. We find the last trace of the Visigothic language in Gaul at the beginning of the 9th century: it is a collection of Gothic and Frankish personal names, compiled by Smaragd, abbot of the monastery of St. Michael, on the river Meuse. Smaragd was himself a Visigoth, probably from southern France.
Brockhaus and Efron. encyclopedic Dictionary... SPb, 1880
Literature:
Korsunsky A. R. On the development of feudal relations in Gothic Spain in the 5th-7th centuries. - In the book: The Middle Ages. Issue 10, 15, 19.M., 1957-61
Wed R. Kopke, "Dle Anfangedes Konigthums bei deo Gothen" (Berlin, 1859); R. Pallmann, Die Geschichte des Volkerwanderung "(I, Gotha, 1863, II Weimar, 1864); Felix Dahn," Die Konige der Germanen "(II, Munich, 1861; V, Würzb., 1870; VI, 2nd ed. , Leipz., 1885); him, "Urgeschichte d. germanischen n. romanischen Yolker "(vol. I," Allgem. Gesch. "ed. Oncken, II, Berlin, 1881). For Visigothic names see Bezzenberger," Ueber die A - Reibe der gotischen Sprache "(Göttingen, 1874); Dietrich, "Ueber die Aussprache des Gothischen" (Marb., 1862); Forstemann, "Geschichte des deutschen Sprachstammes, II" (p. 150 s.). Name-book Smaragda printed by Massmann in "Zeitschrift fur dentsches Alterthum" (I, 1841 , p. 388 ss.). Finally see Mackel, "Die germanischen Elemente im altfranzosischen und altprovencalischen" (1884); Goldscbmidt, "Zur Kritik der aitgerman. Elemente im Spanischen" (Lingen, 1887); Kluge, "Romanen und Germanen in ihren Wechselbeziehungen", in "Grundriss der roman. Philologie" ed. Grober, Liefer, II, 1886.
Visigoths or Visigoths(Visigoth, West Goth, i.e. Western Goths), a powerful people of Germanic origin, who lived in the first centuries of our era from the Dnieper to the Tisza, while the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) of the same tribe with them lived from the Don to the Dnieper. When the Ostrogoths, weakened by the division, fell under the rule of the Huns in the beginning of the Great Migration of Peoples, the Visigoths went to the mountains and received from the Byzantine emperor Valenta permission to settle in the devastated province of Moesia (later Romania). But soon Valens, repented that he hastened to let the violent Goths into the borders of his state, stopped listening to their complaints about the Roman officials, especially during the terrible famine that raged in Moesia. Driven to despair, the Goths rebelled under the command of their leader Friedigern, devastated Moesia and Thrace (Bulgaria), and defeated Valent in a bloody the battle of Adrianople(378), in which this emperor himself died.
Alaric I (Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 / Alareiks - "The Mighty King", Lat. Alaricus I; died in 410) - the leader and first king of the Visigoths in 382-410.
Alaric, according to Claudian, was born in about 370, or a little later, on the island of Pevke, which lies at the mouth of the Danube. Alaric belonged to the Balts family (that is, the "Brave"). According to Claudian, young Alaric learned to use a weapon and shoot a bow “instead of his father” by his teacher, which allows us to conclude that Alaric lost his father early.
If you look for an outstanding and high-status Visigothic leader, whose name would have something in common with the name of Alaric and who died in the late 70s of the 4th century, then the name of Alaviva arises, who, together with Fritigern, but being called the "first", led the Visigoths to Roman Empire, and, in all likelihood, died before 377. Although this is only an assumption, since more accurate information has not reached us.
Although the 382 Treaty ended the Visigoth war with the Empire, the situation in the Balkan Peninsula remained volatile. The Visigoths did not want to turn into peaceful plowmen and disturbed the surroundings with predatory raids. At the same time, apparently, the anti-Roman party acquired a certain weight among the Visigoths. Between 391 and 394, battles took place from time to time, and although the Visigoths were constantly failing, the overall situation became more and more uncertain.
At the end of the summer or in the fall of 391, the formations, which, in addition to the Goths, included other barbarians, crossed the Balkans and moved south: they probably wanted to establish relations with the barbarians, supporters of the usurper Maxim, after the execution of the latter, who took refuge in an inaccessible area at the mouth of the Axius ( modern Vardar) west of Thessalonica. The head of this enterprise was a Goth from Moesia Alaric, whose name is found here for the first time. It is not known whether he was then the leader of the entire tribe. Probably, Alaric was originally proclaimed a duke, that is, a commander. At the head of the army, Emperor Theodosius the Great personally set off against the enemy, but neglected the security measures on the march. The Roman troops were taken by surprise at Gebra (Maritza) and defeated, so that the skillful commander Promotus only with great difficulty managed to save the emperor. Then this commander continued operations against Alaric, which, no later than the end of 391, cost him his life. The successor of Promotus was Stilicho, who in 392 defeated and surrounded Alaric, but by order of the emperor, after the conclusion of the alliance, he was forced to release him.
On January 17, 395, Theodosius I the Great died and the union concluded in 392 ceased to exist, since one of the partners in the treaty passed away. No one aspired to a new alliance, and the Goths raised an open rebellion. Alaric was declared their "king" by the tribes that followed him. His coming to power, undoubtedly, was facilitated by his descent from the Balts clan, the noblest Gothic clan after the Amals, and yet only military successes gave him the right to be called the "Mighty King" in the eyes of his fellow tribesmen.
Of all the heroes of the peoples "barbaric" in relation to Rome and the Christian world, Alaric is perhaps best known for his "deeds". After all, it was he and his soldiers, and no one else, who in just a few days devastated the Eternal City with its cultural values, which had gathered in the city on the banks of the Tiber for many, many centuries. Such "heroic" deeds are never forgotten in world history.
The "Great Barbarian" was born on the Peike Island at the mouth of the Danube and belonged to the Balts. His personal qualities are evidenced by the fact that when he was not yet twenty years old, the Visigoths chose Alaric as their king instead of the deceased Theodosius the Great. Before that, he had already been the military leader of this German people.
Alaric fought a lot with the Visigoths. After an unsuccessful campaign against Constantinople, he devastated Macedonia and Thessaly. Through the abandoned Thermopylae Gorge, the Germans broke into Greece. The city of Athens was saved from ruin by the barbarians only thanks to a rich ransom. The cities of Corinth, Argos and Sparta were devastated. When the commander of the ruler of the Western Roman Empire Stilicho came to the aid of Greece, who landed at the head of a strong army near Corinth, the Visigoths were forced to retreat to Epirus.
The East Roman emperor Arcadius, dissatisfied with the interference in his royal affairs of the commander Stilicho, made peace with the king of the warlike Visigoths. He appointed Alaric governor of Eastern Illyria. But he was not going to be the imperial governor, having long been hatching a plan to invade Italy itself. The implementation of this plan began in the year 400.
Having invaded northern Italy, the Visigoths on the way engaged in siege and capture of small fortified cities, which were invariably plundered. This greatly slowed down the pace of their victorious advance in the Apennines. The commander Stilicho got a good opportunity to collect a large Roman army, reinforced by detachments of mercenaries from the "barbarian" tribes.
The Visigoth king, having suffered two defeats in 402 - at Polence and Verona, began to retreat to Illyria. Stilicho's army did not pursue the Visigoths, content with their expulsion from Italy. To keep the militant leader of the "barbarian people", the ruler of the Western Roman Empire concluded a treaty with Alaric, according to which he was appointed governor of all Illyria with a huge annual salary of 400 pounds of gold.
However, in 408, the ruler of Rome refused to pay a huge ransom for security. state borders... The murder of the commander Stilicho took place. The Visigoth king Alaric invaded Italy for the second time, where, without encountering strong resistance, he reached the Eternal City and laid siege to it. The onset of disease and famine forced the Romans to enter into negotiations with the "barbarians". Their leader dictated his conditions to the emperor and, expecting their unconditional fulfillment, dismissed the soldiers from the siege camp to get war booty around the country.
But in Rome, the conditions set by the Visigoth king were not accepted after heated debate. Then Alaric gathered his huge army and in 409 again laid siege to Rome. He acted surprisingly skillfully and knowingly: the "barbarians" occupied the harbor of Ostia, and the ancient city was deprived of any outside help.
After that, the Romans, foreseeing great misfortunes for themselves as besieged, proclaimed the military leader of the Germans as the main military leader of the Western Roman Empire. They proclaimed the emperor the city prefect of Attalus. Soon Alaric fell out with him and stripped him of his imperial title.
The Visigoth army for the third time approached the fortress walls of the Eternal City and, thanks to treason, burst into it through the Salar Gate. It happened on August 25, 410. The most barbaric plunder lasted for several days ancient city when countless priceless works of art perished. That which could not be taken away with itself was indulged in fire, shattered, chopped off.
Having devastated Rome, the Visigoths attacked southern Italy and began to prepare for a landing in Sicily and North Africa... However, a storm that broke out at sea sank many ships, and the king had to abandon the planned enterprise. Soon the "destroyer of the Eternal City", who was in the prime of "his glory", died.
As legend has it, Alaric's body was lowered, along with many treasures, to the bottom of the Busento River. This story still excites the imagination of treasure hunters to this day. After parting with their lucky monarch, the Visigoths elected his son-in-law Ataulf, who also participated in the devastation of Rome, as king.
ALARIC I
(Alaricus, Alarich) (about 370 - end of 410) - King of the Visigoths since 395. He invaded Thrace, took Athens, devastated Corinth, Argos, Sparta. Roman im. Arkady made peace with A. I and appointed him governor of Illyria, where the Visigoths were settled as federates. In 401 A. I raised an uprising and invaded Italy, but twice defeated in 402 by Stilicho (at Pollentia and Verona) retreated. In 408 - a second time in Italy, three times besieged Rome; 24 Aug 410 took " the eternal City"and subjected him to a 3-day defeat. Died in southern Italy, preparing for a campaign in Sicily and Africa. The invasion of A. I contributed to the liquidation of the Western Roman Empire.
Visigoths (Tervingi, Visigoths; Latin visigothi) - Germanic tribes, the western branch of the Goths. In the 4th century, the Visigoths separated from the Goths, took part in the Great Migration, invaded the territory of the Roman Empire, founded kingdoms in Gaul and Spain. In 3-4 centuries A.D. the Goths lived in the Northern Black Sea region, in the territory of Dacia they were engaged in agriculture. In 376, under the onslaught of the Huns, they crossed the Danube and received permission to settle in the territory of the Roman Empire. Oppression by local authorities led to an uprising of the Goths, in 378 they defeated the army of the emperor Valens near Adrianople, the emperor himself was killed in battle. In 382, the successor of Valens, Emperor Theodosius I the Great, made peace with the Goths and settled them in Moesia as federates. In 395, under the leadership of Alaric, the Goths left Moesia and moved first south to Greece, and then to Italy, where they repeatedly invaded, starting in 401. It culminated in the sack of Rome in 410. In the same year, Alaric died, and his successor Ataulf took the Visigoths to southern Gaul, and in 415 the Visigoths appeared in Spain.
In 418, the patrician Constantine, who later became Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, Constantine III, concluded an agreement with the Visigoths to settle them as federates in the province of Aquitaine Secunda in the lower reaches of the Garonne and Loire rivers. The founding of the Visigothic kingdom is associated with this date, the center of which became Toulouse. Valia, the leader of the Visigoths, died soon after. His successor Theodoric I, who died in the battle with Attila in the Catalaunian fields in 451, is considered the first Visigothic king.
The Visigoths persistently sought to expand the territory under their control; they remained as federates until 475, when the son of Theodoric I, Eirich, proclaimed himself an independent king. Eirich compiled a code of laws written in Latin. In the second half of the 5th century, the Visigoths conquered most of Spain. Eirich was an ardent adherent of Arianism, his son Alaric II adhered to a policy of religious tolerance. In 507 he was defeated in the war with Frankish king Clovis and died at the Battle of Poitiers. The Visigoths lost their possessions in Gaul, with the exception of Septimania, a narrow strip of land stretching along the coast from the Pyrenees to the Rhone, with its capital at Narbonne. Spain became the main part of the possessions of the Visigothic kingdom, the royal court first settled in Barcelona, and from 554 it was in Toledo. In the middle of the 6th century, the Byzantines tried to defeat the Visigothic War, but failed, although South coast Spain remained in their power until the 620s.
Visigoths, representing the dominant kingdom ethnic group, confiscated from some of the local landowners two-thirds of their arable land. Close contact with the Roman order and culture contributed to the Romanization of the Visigoths, they gradually mixed with the local Spanish-Roman population and were assimilated by them. Visigothic kings felt themselves to be the successors of Rome, copying the ceremonial and legislation of the Roman Empire. Initially, the kings adhered to Arianism. Under Leovigilde (572-586), the interpenetration between the Gothic and Spanish-Roman nobility intensified, the king himself was married to a sister of the Catholic bishops Leander and Isidore of Seville, who held the cathedra in 579-600 and 600-636 gakh and turned Seville into an educational center. King Leovigild was succeeded by his son Recared (586-601). In 589 he convened a council at Toledo, where Arianism was condemned; Spain adopted the Nicene Creed. Catholic Church received an exceptional influence in the Visigothic kingdom; church cathedrals collected in Toledo acquired the significance of the highest government body... Under the influence of the ecclesiastical clergy, general legislation was formed, which marked the final merger of the Visigoths and the Spanish-Romans. Under King Recesvinte (652-672), the legal code "Liber Judicorum" was adopted, modeled on the Code of Justinian.
Kings Svintila (621-631), Hindasvint (641-652), Wamba (672-680) had to fight for the strength of royal power with the will of the church clergy and local nobility. The internal fragility of the country manifested itself in 711, when the Arabs invaded the Iberian Peninsula: after the first defeat of King Roderich, the local nobility ceased resistance. King Ardon, elected in 713 in the northeast of the country, fought with the Arabs until 717-718, and by 725 the entire Visigothic kingdom had submitted to the invaders, with the exception of a small territory in the Cantabrian mountains - the future Asturias.
4 387
Political arena of the late 4th century
The Western Roman Empire was literally torn apart by barbarian tribes. From unreliable Roman allies, the so-called federates, the Germans turned into real contenders for the Roman inheritance, they wanted to be the rulers of Europe. They reckoned with Rome insofar as it was necessary to obtain a legal base for their conquests, to fight other tribes.
At the same time, the barbarians quickly and willingly adopted the social, political, legal and cultural foundations of a great power, recognizing the Romans as an undoubted authority in all these areas. The era was so eventful that now its history is hardly perceived even by connoisseurs of the past. Too many names, too tangled relationships, and all this against the background of the great migration of peoples ...
The emergence of the Visigoths
New states with their kings arose here and there, and after a while their borders changed their outlines beyond recognition. Among the most powerful players in the geopolitical arena of that time were the Visigoths. In just twenty years (from 395) they covered a huge distance from the Balkan to the Iberian Peninsula, captured and destroyed Rome, settled in southern France, and took a direct part in Spanish affairs. There were several tens of thousands of them, but possessing high mobility and belligerence, even such, by modern standards, a small number of people seriously influenced the history of the entire continent.
So, Alaric's successor Ataulf led his people to Gaul. He, unlike his predecessor, was able to negotiate with the Roman emperor Honorius. Territories in Western and South-Western Gaul between the Garonne and the Loire with the cities of Bordeaux, Toulouse and Poitiers were transferred to the Visigoths. In this case, the exit to Mediterranean stayed behind Rome. The main task for the Visigoths was the timely receipt of bread.
In long campaigns and wars, the representatives of the tribe largely lost their farming skills, so the food issue was quite acute for them. The Romans promised the barbarians a regular supply of grain. However, after a while they had to break this part of the treaty because of the rebellion in Africa. The Visigoths were forced to move from Gaul to Spain. Two years later (in 415) they returned to the Gallic lands, concluding a new treaty with Rome. The king of the Visigoths at this moment is Valia. Fulfilling the obligations under this treaty, the Visigoths in 416 again went to Spain, where they successfully fought against the Vandals and Alans.
Founding of the Visigothic Kingdom
After the end of this war in 418, they returned to Aquitaine II (the same province in southern Gaul that was assigned to them under the terms of the treaty). Valia dies before returning, and Theodoric I becomes the new king. 418 is considered the year of the founding of the Visigothic kingdom. The wealthy Toulouse becomes the capital of the state.
The Visigoths were settled interspersed with the indigenous Romanized population. At first, the aborigines had only to supply the federates who stood as if on a military post. But with the final settlement of the Visigoths here, Rome ordered the division of the lands. According to this law, the barbarians took from the Romans two-thirds of the arable land, half of the forests and meadows. The Visigoths gradually overcame the remnants of the clan system and traditional military democracy, moving on to more civilized forms of management. However, the demands of the new era and the mixing of their customs with the classical Roman ones led to the development of new relations between rich and poor, colonists and landowners, and an early feudal state was formed.
At the same time, over time, the Gothic national cultural element itself was clearly defeated by the Romanesque, which is not surprising, given that at the time of settlement in Gaul at the beginning of the 5th century. the Visigoths (among whom there were already quite a few not only Goths) there were only about 60-80 thousand people. The state religion of the kingdom was Arianism, which was replaced by Orthodox Catholicism only at the end of the 6th century. At the same time, researchers note the role of bishops in governing the state that was unusually important for the early barbarian kingdoms.
In general, by the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Visigoths had advanced much further than most other Germans in their political, social and cultural development... For the next several decades, the Visigothic kingdom tried to expand its territory. First of all, they needed to get access to the Mediterranean Sea, which was associated with the capture of the cities of Narbonne and Arles. The Romans did not allow this to be done for a long time. The Visigoths had to fight with other alien tribes. For example, with the Huns, who in the middle of the 5th century. attempted to subjugate almost all of Western Europe.
In this war, Theodoric did not hesitate to side with the Romans and their commander Aetius. In the battle on the Catalaunian fields in 451, the Visigoths were probably the most efficient part of the anti-Hunnic coalition troops. Attila, the leader of the Huns, was defeated, but the Visigothic king fell on the battlefield. For some time after this, the Visigothic kings pursued a pro-Roman policy, but with a further weakening of the empire, they resumed their expansion both to the south and to the north. In the 470s, the troops of King Eurychus reached the mouth of the Rhone and successfully operated on the Loire, a policy of conquest began in Spain.
In 475, the Roman emperor concluded a peace treaty with Eurychus, according to which he recognized the last conquests of the Visigothic king and his complete independence... V next year after overthrow the last emperor Of the Western Roman Empire, Eurychus led an army into Arles. The conquest of Provence ended the Visigothic expansion in Gaul. Eurich did not want to continue the movement for the Rhone and Loire, and he could not - here he would have to wage fierce wars with the Franks, Burgundians, Roman legions of Siagrius. In addition, the Visigoths already possessed the most fertile and most inhabited territories of Gaul. Eurich died in 484. By this time, the area of the Visigoth kingdom was 700-750 thousand km2, the population was about 10 million.
New wars
It was largest state formed on the ruins of Rome. The relative calm of the last decade under Eurich was quickly replaced by new wars and problems. The expansion of the Franks began, the powerful king of the Ostrogoths Theodoric the Great nurtured the ideas of a general state (the Visigoths helped him to conquer Italy, and he actively intervened in internal Visigothic affairs, however, helping in the fight against external enemies).
At the Battle of Poitiers in 507, the Visigoths were utterly defeated by the Frankish king Clovis, they had to liberate most of the territories in Gaul, together with the capital Toulouse, leaving behind only a narrow strip of the Mediterranean coast. Then began a massive resettlement to Spain. The center of the state was moved to The Iberian Peninsula, where, in fact, a new kingdom was created, ruled for a long time by the delegates of Theodoric the Great. Soon, the new state had to fight the powerful Byzantines, suppress the resistance of the large Spanish cities that remained independent (for example, Cordoba), solve problems with the Suevi and negotiate with the Franks ...
The Visigothic kingdom lasted until its conquest by the Arabs at the beginning of the 7th century.
