#20 – The Ostrogothic Kingdom

* In 423, Honorius, the son of Theodosius who ruled the Western part of the empire, died, of natural causes. * He had ruled for 30 years. * He was only 38 years old. * Over the next 50 years, the Western empire had a 11 emperors. * Some last for years – others lasted only months. * The last emperor of the West is usually considered to be Flavius Romulus Augustus. * Also known as Romulus Augustulus – which means “Little Augustus” * He was the son of Orestes, a Roman aristocrat who once served as a secretary in the court of Attila the Hun before coming into the service of one of the Roman emperors, Julius Nepos, in 475. * Attila ruled the huns for nearly 20 years, from 434 to 453. * The Huns came from Scythia, think modern Kazahstan, south Russia, north of Iran. * Unlike the Goths, who were Arian Christians, it is believed that the Huns practiced a form of shamanism, called Tengerism. * It was the prevailing religion of the Turks, Mongols, Hungarians, Xiongnu and Huns. * Shamanism is an animistic belief system in which all things have spirits. * This includes everything from animals and plants, to rocks and rivers. * Animals can also have significance. * Among the Huns, bears symbolized peace while wolverines symbolized war. * Still practiced today in places like Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. * Khukh tengri means “blue sky” in Mongolian, Mongolians still pray to Munkh Khukh Tengri (“Eternal Blue Sky”) * Attila was also the leader of a tribal empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, and Alans. * He was one of the most feared enemies of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. * He crossed the Danube twice and plundered the Balkans, but was unable to take Constantinople. * But he defeated the Roman army, which left the Huns virtually unchallenged in Eastern Roman lands and they raided as far south as Thermopylae. * The war came to an end in 449 with an agreement in which the Romans agreed to pay Attila 6,000 Roman pounds of golds and an annual tribute of 2100 pounds of gold. * In 450, Honoria, sister of the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III, sent Attila her engagement ring and begged him to help her escape from having to marry a Roman senator. * Imagine being THAT guy. * Attila claimed her as his bride and half the Western Roman Empire as dowry. * Attila went to Gallia Belgica to claim his dowry with an army said to be 500,000 * He was eventually defeated by an alliance of the Goths in Gaul and the Romans. * But he returned a couple of years later, and attacked Italy. * Venice was invented as a result of his attacks. * People escaped his assaults by moving to the Venetian lagoons. * It was mostly just a series of small fishing villages before then. * Italy had suffered from a terrible famine in 451 and her crops were faring little better in 452. * Attila’s ravaging of the countryside didn’t help. * But then Attila suddenly died while celebrating his latest marriage to a very beautiful young woman called Ildico. * According to Priscus, the 5th-century Roman diplomat and Greek historian: He had given himself up to excessive joy at his wedding, and as he lay on his back, heavy with wine and sleep, a rush of superfluous blood, which would ordinarily have flowed from his nose,