Theodoric II, ''Teodorico'' in
Spanish
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and
Portuguese
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* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
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, ( 426 – early 466) was the eighth King of the
Visigoths
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...
, from 453 to 466.
Biography
Theoderic II, son of
Theodoric I
Theodoric I ( got, Þiudarīks; la, Theodericus; 390 or 393 – 20 or 24 June 451) was the King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. Theodoric is famous for his part in stopping Attila (the Hun) at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where ...
, obtained the throne by killing his elder brother
Thorismund
Thorismund (also Thorismod or Thorismud, as manuscripts of our chief source confusingly attestJordanes, ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''Getica'') 81, 174, 190, 201 and elsewhere.) ( 420–453), became king of the Visigoths after his father Th ...
. The English historian
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, '' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, is ...
writes that "he justified this atrocious deed by the design which his predecessor had formed of violating his alliance with the empire." In late 458 the
Western Roman Emperor,
Majorian entered
Septimania to attack Theodoric and reclaim the province for the empire. Majorian defeated Theodoric at the
Battle of Arelate
The Battle of Arelate was fought in 458 near Arelate (Arles) between Western Roman Emperor Majorian and Visigothic king Theodoric II. After the assassination of Flavius Aetius in 454, the Visigoths began to expand their kingdom at the expense ...
, forcing the Visigoths to abandon Septimania and withdraw west to
Aquitania. Under the new treaty with the Romans, the Visigoths had to relinquish their recent conquests in
Hispania
Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hisp ...
and return to federate status. However, after the assassination of Majorian in 461, Theodoric recaptured Septimania and invaded Hispania again. Theodoric sided with
Ricimer
Flavius Ricimer ( , ; – 18/19 August 472) was a Romanized Germanic general who effectively ruled the remaining territory of the Western Roman Empire from 461 until his death in 472, with a brief interlude in which he contested power with An ...
and the new emperor
Libius Severus
Libius Severus (died 465), sometimes enumerated as Severus III, was Roman emperor, emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 461 to his death in 465. A native of Lucania,Cassiodorus, ''Chronicle''; ''Chronica Gallica of 511'', s:la:Chronica galli ...
against Majorian’s magister militum per Gallias
Aegidius
Aegidius (died 464 or 465) was the ruler of the short-lived Kingdom of Soissons from 461 to 464/465AD. Before his ascension, he became ''magister militum per Gallias'' (Master of the Soldiers for Gaul) serving under Majorian, in 458AD. An arden ...
. Theodorics' army was defeated by Aegidius at Aurelianum and his brother Frederic died in battle, which Kulikowski writes "would have important consequences for the Gothic succession." Theodoric was himself murdered in 466 by his younger brother
Euric
Euric (Gothic: ''* Aiwareiks'', see '' Eric''), also known as Evaric, or Eurico in Spanish and Portuguese (c. 420 – 28 December 484), son of Theodoric I, ruled as king (''rex'') of the Visigoths, after murdering his brother, Theodoric II, ...
, who succeeded him to the throne.
[Ian Wood, The Merovingians Kingdoms:450-751, (Longman Group, 1994), 16.]
Described by a Roman
The Gallo-Roman
Sidonius Apollinaris
Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris (5 November of an unknown year, 430 – 481/490 AD), was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius is "the single most important surviving author from 5th-century Gaul ...
wrote a famously vivid and gushing letter to his brother-in-law Agricola describing the king and his court:
References
External links
Edward Gibbon, ''History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,'' chapter 36
{{DEFAULTSORT:Theodoric 02
466 deaths
Balt dynasty
Assassinated Gothic people
5th-century murdered monarchs
5th-century Visigothic monarchs
Year of birth unknown