PART 5-B (AD 500 to AD 510)
Eastern Roman Empire / Ostrogoths
By
Leontius’ death the Eastern Roman Empire is in a crisis. The presence of the
Ostrogoths in
Macedonia is intolerable to
Constantinople; as such, the Imperial Court pressures their new ruler, Emperor
Olybrius, to expel the invaders from a core region of the Eastern Empire. Being a scion of the Theodosian dynasty and a member of the senatorial aristocracy affords Olybrius more good will from the Roman ruling class than his immediate predecessors ever received, but even he knows that his hold on power, likely his very survival, will be influenced by the war with the Ostrogoths. He appoints
John the Hunchback, the general who defeated
John the Scythian, to lead Imperial forces as
Magister Militum per Thracias.
Although John is an able military leader,
Theodoric the Amal is also a proven warrior who has defeated the armies of the Eastern Empire as well as other Germanic and Gothic tribes on multiple occasions. Fortunately for John, Theodoric’s forces are divided when the magister militum leads his army into Macedonia. The king sent his relative,
Sidimund, with an army to subjugate the southern provinces of
Epirus Veus,
Thessalia, and
Achaea preferably through diplomacy and force when necessary.
Arriving in the province
Macedonia I, John’s army swiftly captures Serrae and Philippi, almost putting the Romans in striking distance of Thessalonica, Theodoric’s chosen capital. Although the city has the defenses and supplies to withstand a siege long enough for Sidimund to return from Achaea, Theodoric is confident enough in his abilities to defeat the Hunchback’s forces. However, those closest to him suspect that the king’s time in Macedonia has fed his ego as he increasingly styles himself as a successor of
Alexander the Great.
The cities that John’s army took are reclaimed by Theodoric, who forces the Imperial army out of Macedonia I. The Ostrogoths begin an aggressive campaign into Thracia as Theodoric believes he can force Constantinople to agree to another settlement in order to save their capital diocese from further destruction. His army sacks
Nicopolis and burns down
Philippopolis, but their momentum is halted at
Hadrianopolis where John’s army gains their first major victory with the aid of the
Excubitores. Whereas their counterparts, the
Sholae Palatinae, have deteriorated into a ceremonial force fit for parade-ground formations, the Excubitores are renowned as elite units despite numbering around three-hundred strong. The entire regiment is deployed from the capital (which is still defended by the Scholae) under the leadership of
Justin (
Flavius Justinus), the
Comes Excubitorum.
Theodoric’s initial success is reversed by his defeat at Hadrianopolis, resulting in the Ostrogoths’ retreat to Macedonia with John and Justin in pursuit. Theodoric sacrifices his hold on Thessalonica to regroup with his people who have had greater success establishing a foothold in the diocese of
Daciae, abandoning his dreams of ruling a Gothic empire centered in Alexander’s homeland. Sigimund follows his relative’s example by retreating north, and the liberation of Greece is effectively realized.
Humbled by defeat, Theodoric sends an envoy to Constantinople with an overture for peace. He offers to relinquish his claim on the Macedonia diocese in exchange for the right to permanently settle his people in Daciae as official Foederati, creating a vassal state between the Romans and the Gepids as well as other Germanic tribes north of the lower Danube. Olybrius is in favor of the proposed agreement but they encounter strong resistance from the Roman Court who are supported by the Emperor’s mother.
Anicia Juliana’s pro-Roman views have only grown stronger since her son’s accession, and she balks at the idea of giving Roman land away to “barbarian interlopers” which she views as the policy that all but destroyed the Western Empire.
Areobindus takes the side of his wife, fearing that Theodoric will betray them at the earliest opportunity, but Olybrius overrules both of them. The Eastern Empire’s coffers can more than manage without the mountainous regions of Daciae, and allowing the Ostrogoths to guard the lower Danube provinces relieves pressure on the Imperial Army. The settlement is finalized by AD 503.
D · N · O L Y B R I V S · P · F · A V G V S T V S
Emperor of the Romans (East)
The eastern Romans and Ostrogoths remain at peace until
Amalaberge, Empress of the Western Empire, convinces Theodoric to break his truce with Constantinople. After effectively usurping the West through her son
Gordian IV, Amalaberge was confronted by Olybrius’ emissaries who demanded that their master’s lawful colleague,
Romulus Augustus, be released from the
Castellum Lucullanum. Although Amalaberge maintained the official stance that her husband and son ruled the Western Empire, no one was fooled by this legal fiction. While the Eastern Court had grown to accept Romulus’ reign despite his rise to power through rebellion, they would not tolerate leaving Italy in the hands of a barbarian-born woman regardless of her station as a Roman empress.
Amalaberge retaliates by undermining the Eastern Empire’s relationship with the Ostrogoths, using her correspondence with Theodoric to reignite his ambition to rule over a
de facto independent Gothic kingdom. Although she maintains the majority of her son’s army in Italy to maintain her hold on power, she does send to him a force of
Heruli,
Scirii and other Germanic nations that have been settled in Italy. This relatively small force is supplemented by an army of
Rugians, whose king,
Fridericus II, is Amalaberge’s grandson as well as Theodoric’s relative through his other grandmother
Gisa (wife of King
Feletheus).
After negotiating a truce with the Gepids, Theodoric returns to Macedonia in AD 506, though not to settle there as he once intended. Now he wishes to avenge the humiliation that he suffered by ravaging as much of the diocese that the Eastern Empire places so much value upon. While the Ostrogoths maintained their side of the agreement for three years, John the Hunchback’s army remained in Macedonia as a countermeasure against such betrayal. This time, however, his army is crushed on the battlefield. It is not simply another defeat; his forces are annihilated and John dies in the fighting, leaving most of the Macedonia diocese vulnerable to invasion.
The various barbarians in his army hold nothing back as their king allows them to burn and pillage the settlements in their path, including
Heraclea,
Edessa,
Beroea, and even Alexander’s birthplace of
Pella. The following
Sack of Thessalonica is particularly barbaric. Chalcedonian churches and monasteries, as well as palaces and villas, are looted and destroyed. They slaughter thousands of Romans and non-Romans alike, and force almost as much into slavery. The fall of Thessalonica has a psychological and economic impact on the Eastern Empire; by then it was the second largest city in the East and considered second only to Constantinople.
Olybrius is humiliated by Theodoric’s betrayal and levies a new army led by
Theocritus, his
Comes Domesticorum, to retaliate against the Ostrogoths. As a general, Theocritus turns out to be nowhere close to Theodoric’s caliber, and the majority of his soldiers are conscripted Thracian and Illyrian peasants supported by a minority of veterans. They are wiped out by the battle-hardened warriors led by a vengeful Gothic king. Theocritus flees back to Constantinople, leaving his men to die, and is put to death as a failure and a coward. Olybrius also executes
Armantius, his chamberlain who advised sending Theocritus against Theodoric.
Theodoric unleashes his wrath on Thracia before Olybrius can summon reinforcements from Anatolia. He does not give into the impulse of trying to conquer Constantinople, instead resorting to his usual strategy of plundering the countryside. Their pillaging continues for several months until
Justin, who was rewarded with the late
Flavius Illus’ post as
magister militum per Orientum, returns with an army of more experienced soldiers. Despite expectations on both sides, Olybrius hesitates to accept battle as he is convinced that another major defeat will mean the end of his reign. He uses Justin’s army as a threat instead. This time it is the Emperor who makes an overture of peace to the Ostrogoths, whose king agrees under the condition that Constantinople continues to recognize his rule over the Daciae diocese and pays thousands of pounds in gold and silver on a yearly basis.
The Gothic Wars devastated the the Thracian and Macedonian provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Theodoric the Goth, as he was later called, embodied the barbarian stereotype for generations of Romans, even though he was raised in Constantinople.
Olybrius resorts to propaganda to salvage his reputation, arguing that he has “defeated” Theodoric and saved the provinces of Macedonia from further Gothic attacks. Despite remaining in power through the influence of his parents, Areobindus and Anicia Juliana, Olybrius is irreparably damaged to the whole of the Roman world. Contemporary and future scholars compare him to
Honorius, and regard the Sack of Thessalonica as comparable to the
Sack of Rome in AD 410.
Theodoric returns to his new capital,
Naissus (birthplace of Constantine the Great), with the wealth of Macedonia that he plundered over the years. While he has gained the reputation of a bloodthirsty barbarian, he is to an extent assimilated into Roman culture due to his upbringing in Constantinople, albeit as a political hostage. He uses his newfound wealth to initiate a building program throughout his kingdom, restoring aqueduct, preserving ancient monuments and constructing new palaces and churches. While he favors Arianism, he begins to temper his treatment of the Chalcedonian population in his realm, exercising a degree of restraint that he had all but lost in the Gothic Wars. In gratitude to Amalaberge, he allows her brother
Thela to return to Ravenna. He also binds himself even closer to the Western Empire by proposing a marriage between
Geleswintha, one of his illegitimate daughters by an Illyrian concubine, and Gordian IV. Amalaberge agrees despite the protests of the Western Court, and the union produces a daughter,
Gordia, in AD 509.
Amalaberge’s death in AD 510 threatens Theodoric’s influence with the Western Empire. Using his connection with Gordian IV, his son-in-law as a pretext, he sends his sword-bearer
Theudis to oversee his interests in Ravenna. Magister Officiorum Boëthius allows Theudis to join the Imperial Court to maintain strong relations with the Ostrogoths, especially as the Pope’s faction in Rome moves to secure Romulus Augustus as their figurehead.
Although Theodoric was mainly remembered for his military exploits, he was also a patron of Roman and Christian art.
During his reign, he commissioned the Basilica of the Holy Emperor Constantine in his new capital of Naissus.
