Everything about The Ostrogoths totally explained
The
Ostrogoths were a branch of the
Goths, an
East Germanic tribe that played a major role in the political events of the late
Roman Empire. The other branch was the
Visigoths.
The Ostrogoths established a relatively short-lived successor state of Rome in
Italy and the
Pannonia, even briefly incorporating most of
Hispania and southern
Gaul. They reached their zenith under their Romanised king
Theodoric the Great, who patronised such late Roman figures as
Boethius and
Cassiodorus, in the first quarter of the sixth century. By mid-century, however, they'd been conquered by Rome in the
Gothic War (535–554), a war with devastating consequences for Italy.
Divided Goths: Greuthungi and Ostrogothi
The division of the Goths is first attested in 291. The
Tervingi are first attested around that date, the
Greuthungi,
Vesi, and Ostrogothi are all attested no earlier than 388. According to
Herwig Wolfram, the primary sources either use the terminology of Tervingi/Greuthungi or Vesi/Ostrogothi and never mix the pairs. That the Tervingi were the Vesi/Visigothi and the Greuthungi the Ostrogothi is also supported by
Jordanes. He identified the Visigothic kings from
Alaric I to
Alaric II as the heirs of the fourth-century Tervingian king
Athanaric and the Ostrogothic kings from
Theodoric the Great to
Theodahad as the heirs of the Greuthungian king
Ermanaric. This interpretation, however, though very common among scholars today, isn't universal. According to the Jordanes'
Getica, around 400 the Ostrogoths were ruled by Ostrogotha and derived their name from this "father of the Ostrogoths", but modern historians often assume the converse, that Ostrogotha was named after the people. This terminology therefore dropped out of use after the Goths were displaced by the
Hunnic invasions. In support of this, Wolfram cites
Zosimus as referring to a group of "Scythians" north of the
Danube who were called "Greuthungi" by the barbarians north of the
Ister. Wolfram concludes that this people was the Tervingi who had remained behind after the Hunnic conquest. Furthermore, Cassiodorus used the term "Goths" to refer only to the Ostrogoths, whom he served, and reserved the geographical term "Visigoths" for the Gallo-Spanish Goths. This usage, however, was adopted by the Visigoths themselves in their communications with the
Byzantine Empire and was in use in the seventh century.
Etymology of Greuthungi and Ostrogothi
"Greuthungi" may mean "steppe dwellers" or "people of the pebbly coasts". This is supported by evidence that geographic descriptors were commonly used to distinguish people living north of the Black Sea both before and after Gothic settlement there and by the lack of evidence for an earlier date for the name pair Tervingi-Greuthungi than the late third century. That the name "Greuthungi" has pre-Pontic, possibly Scandinavian, origins still has support today. It was in both characters together that he set out in
488, by commission from the Byzantine emperor
Zeno, to recover
Italy from
Odoacer. By
493 Ravenna was taken, where Theodoric would set up his capital. It was also at this time that Odoacer was killed by Theodoric's own hand. Ostrogothic power was fully established over Italy,
Sicily,
Dalmatia and the lands to the north of Italy. In this war the Ostrogoths and Visigoths began again to unite, if we may accept the witness of one writer that Theodoric was helped by Visigothic auxiliaries. The two branches of the nation were soon brought much more closely together; after he was forced to become regent of the Visigothic kingdom of
Toulouse, the power of Theodoric was practically extended over a large part of
Gaul and over nearly the whole of the
Iberian peninsula. Theodoric also attempted to forge an alliance with the Frankish and Burgundian kingdoms by means of a series of diplomatic marriages. This strengthening of power eventually led the Byzantine emperor to fear that Theodoric would become too strong, and motivated his subsequent alliance with the Frankish king,
Clovis I, to counter and ultimately overthrow the Ostrogoths.
A time of confusion followed the death of
Alaric II, the son-in-law of Theodoric, at the
Battle of Vouillé. The Ostrogothic king stepped in as the guardian of his grandson
Amalaric, and preserved for him all his Iberian and a fragment of his Gaul dominion. Toulouse passed to the
Franks but the Goth kept
Narbonne and its district and
Septimania, which was the last part of Gaul held by the Goths and kept the name of Gothia for many ages. While Theodoric lived, the Visigothic kingdom was practically united to his own dominion. He seems also to have claimed a kind of protectorate over the
Germanic powers generally, and indeed to have practically exercised it, except in the case of the
Franks.
The Ostrogothic dominion was now again as great in extent as and far more splendid than it could have been in the time of
Hermanaric; however it was now of a wholly different character. The dominion of Theodoric wasn't a
barbarian but a
civilized power. His twofold position ran through everything. He was at once national king of the Goths, and successor, though without any imperial titles, of the West
Roman emperors. The two nations, differing in manners, language and religion, lived side by side on the soil of Italy; each was ruled according to its own law, by the prince who was, in his two separate characters, the common sovereign of both. It is believed that between 200,000 to 250,000 Ostrogoths settled in Italy but these are guesses and the numbers may have been much lower or higher.
The picture of Theodoric's rule is drawn for us in the state papers drawn up, in his name and in the names of his successors, by his Roman minister
Cassiodorus. The Goths seem to have been thick on the ground in northern Italy; in the south they formed little more than garrisons. In Theodoric's theory the Goth was the armed protector of the peaceful Roman; the Gothic king had the toil of government, while the Roman consul had the honour. All the forms of the Roman administration went on, and the Roman policy and culture had great influence on the Goths themselves. The rule of the prince over distinct nations in the same land was necessarily despotic; the old Germanic freedom was necessarily lost. Such a system needed a Theodoric to carry it on. It broke in pieces after his death.
War with Rome (535–554)
On the death of Theodoric in
526 the Ostrogoths and Visigoths were again separated. The few instances in which they're found acting together after this time are as scattered and incidental as they were before. Amalaric succeeded to the Visigothic kingdom in Iberia and Septimania.
Provence was added to the dominion of the new Ostrogothic king
Athalaric, the grandson of Theodoric through his daughter
Amalasuntha. Both were unable to settle disputes among Gothic elites.
Theodahad, cousin of Amalasuntha and nephew of Theodoric through his sister, took over and slew them; however the usurping ushered in more bloodshed. Three more rulers stepped in during the next five years.
The weakness of the Ostrogothic position in Italy now showed itself. Byzantine emperor
Justinian I had always strived to restore as much of the West Roman Empire as he could and certainly wouldn't pass up the opportunity. In
535, he commissioned
Belisarius to attack the Ostrogoths. Belisarius quickly captured Sicily and then crossed into Italy where he captured Naples and Rome in
536 and then marched north, taking Mediolanum (
Milan) and the Ostrogoth capital of Ravenna in
540.
At this point Justinian offered the Goths a generous settlement — too generous by far in Belisarius' eyes — the right to keep an independent kingdom in the Northwest of Italy, and the demand that they merely give
half of all their treasure to the empire. Belisarius conveyed the message to the Goths, although he himself withheld from endorsing it. They, on the other hand felt there must be a snare somewhere. The Goths didn't trust Justinian, but because Belisarius had been so well-mannered in his conquest they trusted him a little more, and agreed to take the settlement only if Belisarius endorsed it. This condition made for something of an impasse.
A faction of the Gothic nobility pointed out that their own king
Witiges, who had just lost, was something of a weakling and they'd need a new one.
Eraric, the leader of the group, endorsed Belisarius and the rest of the kingdom agreed, so they offered him their crown. Belisarius was a soldier, not a statesman, and still loyal to Justinian. He made as if to accept the offer, rode to Ravenna to be crowned, and promptly arrested the leaders of the Goths and reclaimed their entire kingdom — no halfway settlements — for Byzantium.
This upset Justinian greatly: the
Persians had been attacking in the east, and he wanted a stable neutral country separating his western border from the Franks, who weren't so friendly. Belisarius was sent to face the Persians and therefore left John, a Byzantine officer, to govern Italy temporarily.
In
545 Belisarius then returned to Italy, where he found the situation had changed greatly. Eraric was slain and the pro-Roman faction of Gothic elite had been toppled. In 541 the Ostrogoths had elected a new leader
Totila; this Goth nationalist and brilliant commander had recaptured all of northern Italy and even driven the Byzantines out of Rome. Belisarius took the offensive, tricked Totila into yielding Rome along the way, but then lost it again after a jealous Justinian, fearful of Belisarius' power, starved him of supplies and reinforcements. Belisarius was forced to go on the defensive, and in
548, Justinian relieved him in favor of the
eunuch general Narses, of whom he was more trustful.
Totila was slain in the
Battle of Taginae in July
552 and his followers
Teia, Aligern, Scipuar, and Gibal were all killed or surrendered in the
Battle of Mons Lactarius in October
552 or
553.
Widin, the last attested member of the Gothic army revolted in late
550s, with minimal military help from the Franks. His uprising was fruitless; the revolt ended with Widin captured and brought to Constantinople for punishment in
561 or
562.
With that final defeat, the Ostrogothic name wholly died. The nation had practically evaporated with Theodoric's death. "The leadership of western Europe therefore passed by default to the Franks. Consequently, Ostrogothic failure and Frankish success were crucial for the development of early medieval Europe", for Theodoric had made it "his intention to restore the vigor of Roman government and Roman culture". The chance of forming a national state in Italy by the union of Roman and Germanic elements, such as those which arose in Gaul, in Iberia, and in parts of Italy under Lombard rule, was thus lost. As a result the Goths hold a different place in Iberian memory from that which they hold in Italian memory: In Italy the Goth was but a momentary invader and ruler, while in Iberia the Goth supplies an important element in the modern nation. That element has been neither forgotten nor despised. Part of the unconquered region of northern Iberia, the land of
Asturias, kept for a while the name of Gothia, as did the Gothic possessions in Gaul.
Ostrogothic culture
Of
Gothic literature in the
Gothic language we've the Bible of
Ulfilas and some other religious writings and fragments. Of Gothic legislation in
Latin we've the edict of Theodoric of the year 500, and the
Variae of Cassiodorus may pass as a collection of the state papers of Theodoric and his immediate successors. Among the Visigothic written laws had already been put forth by
Euric. Alaric II put forth a Breviarium of Roman law for his Roman subjects; but the great collection of Visigothic laws dates from the later days of the monarchy, being put forth by King
Reccaswinth about
654. This code gave occasion to some well-known comments by Montesquieu and
Gibbon, and has been discussed by Savigny (
Geschichte des romischen Rechts, ii. 65) and various other writers.
They are printed in the
Monumenta Germaniae, leges, tome i. (1902).
Of special Gothic histories, besides that of Jordanes, already so often quoted, there's the Gothic history of
Isidore, archbishop of
Seville, a special source of the history of the Visigothic kings down to
Suinthila (
621-
631). But all the Latin and
Greek writers contemporary with the days of Gothic predominance make their constant contributions. Not for special facts, but for a general estimate, no writer is more instructive than
Salvian of Marseilles in the 5th century, whose work,
De Gubernatione Dei, is full of passages contrasting the vices of the Romans with the virtues of the "barbarians", especially of the Goths. In all such pictures we must allow a good deal for exaggeration both ways, but there must be a groundwork of truth. The chief virtues that the
Roman Catholic presbyter praises in the Arian Goths are their chastity, their piety according to their own creed, their tolerance towards the Catholics under their rule, and their general good treatment of their Roman subjects. He even ventures to hope that such good people may be saved, not withstanding their
heresy. This image must have had some basis in truth, but it isn't very surprising that the later Visigoths of Iberia had fallen away from Salvian's somewhat idealistic picture.
Ostrogothic rulers
Later kings
Witiges 536–540
Ildibad 540–541
Eraric 541
Baduela 541–552 (also known as Totila)
Theia 552–553 (also known as Teiam or Teja)Further Information
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