Flaccitheus (died c. 475) was the founder of the Kingdom of the Rugii.

Biography

Little is known about Flaccitheus, but he is mentioned in the work '' Vita Sancti Severini'' by

Eugippius Eugippius (circa 460 – circa 535, Castellum Lucullanum) was a disciple and the biographer of Saint Severinus of Noricum. After the latter's death in 482, he took the remains to Naples and founded a monastery on the site of a 1st-century Roman ...

. After the

Battle of Nedao The Battle of Nedao was a battle fought in Pannonia in 454 between the Huns and their former Germanic vassals. Nedao is believed to be a tributary of the Sava River. Battle After the death of Attila the Hun, allied forces of the subject peoples u ...

in 454, the Rugii had settled on the north bank of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

. During the subsequent breakdown of Roman order in

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the north, ...

, the Rugii had exploited the situation to consolidate their power. By 467, Flaccitheus had established the Kingdom of the Rugii. He was in frequent conflict with the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who ...

, and although an

Arian Christian Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God ...

, a close confidant of

Severinus of Noricum Severinus of Noricum ( 410 – 8 January 482) is a saint, known as the "Apostle to Noricum". It has been speculated that he was born in either Southern Italy or in the Roman province of Africa. Severinus himself refused to discuss his persona ...

. Flaccitheus died probably around 475, after which he was succeeded by his son Feletheus.

Primary sources

: '' Vita Sancti Severini''

Secondary sources

* Friedrich Lotter: ''Severinus von Noricum, Legende und historische Wirklichkeit: Untersuchungen zur Phase des Übergangs von spätantiken zu mittelalterlichen Denk- und Lebensformen''. Stuttgart 1976. * John Martindale, John Morris: ''

Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

''. Bd. 2. Cambridge 1980, S. 473. *

Walter Pohl Walter Pohl (born 27 December 1953, in Vienna) is an Austrian historian who is Professor of Auxiliary Sciences of History and Medieval History at the University of Vienna. He is a leading member of the Vienna School of History. Biography Walter ...

: ''Die Gepiden und die gentes an der mittleren Donau nach dem Zerfall des Attilareiches''. In:

Herwig Wolfram Herwig Wolfram (born 14 February 1934) is an Austrian historian who is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History and Auxiliary Sciences of History at the University of Vienna and the former Director of the . He is a leading member of the Vienna Sc ...

, Falko Daim (Hrsg.): ''Die Völker an der mittleren und unteren Donau im fünften und sechsten Jahrhundert''. Wien 1980, S. 239–305. *

Edward Arthur Thompson Edward Arthur Thompson (22 May 1914 – 1 January 1994) was an Irish-born British Marxist historian of classics and medieval studies. He was professor and director of the classics department at the University of Nottingham from 1948 to 1979, ...

: ''Romans and Barbarians''. Madison 1982, S. 113ff. Rugian kings 5th-century monarchs in Europe 475 deaths