![The Historians' History of the World 07 [The History of the Later Roman Empire] - Читать Любимую Русскую Полную Книгу 👉 Read-E-Book.com](/uploads/posts/books/4/4/0/3/the-historians-history-of-the-world-07-the-history-of-the-later-roman-empire-download.jpg)
The Historians' History of the World 07 [The History of the Later Roman Empire]
- Автор: Gutenberg
- Год: 1905
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: История
Электронная книга - «The Historians' History of the World 07 [The History of the Later Roman Empire]». Краткое содержание книги:
It is difficult to determine at what time this event took place; it will not be possible to arrive at a definite conclusion in the matter. According to Procopius, the defeat took place three years after the accession of the emperor Anastasius; but from the Origin we see that the sojourn in Rugia must have been far longer than it would be in this case; for in this period is included the entire reign of a king Claffo, and part of those of two kings, Gudeoc and Tato.
Therefore the time given by Procopius, “three years after,” must be regarded as an empty phrase; this also applies to the notice in the Origin, according to which the war with the Herulians began three years after the occupation of the plains of Feld, and which must be judged in the same manner, especially as no importance can be attached to the chronological tables in the first part of the Origin. On the other hand, it is certain that after their defeat the Herulians left their old seats, and before passing into Roman territory settled first in Rugia and then amongst the Gepids; as Procopius asserts that these wanderings occupied only a short time, we shall not be wrong in placing them within three to four years at the most, and thus referring the battle to about the year 508.[115] A letter of the king of the Ostrogoths, Theodoric, has been used as a point of reckoning: it was sent to the kings of the Heruli, Warni, and Thuringii, when Clovis was threatening the Visigoths with war, and probably belonged to about the year 501; from this it may be concluded that the kingdom of the Herulians on the Danube was at this time still existing in its full integrity, and that the memorable battle can only have taken place some time afterwards.
It is noteworthy that the principal means Theodoric uses to incite these kings to support the Visigoths is the endeavour to increase their fear of the Franks, of whom the kingdom of the Visigoths was in dread, nor could they see the development of the power of Clovis without some anxiety. This points to the more or less close neighbourhood of the Franks; otherwise the danger would not have been so great or so imminent. Lippertr has shown that the Thuringii and Warni must have been established directly on the frontiers of the Frank Empire towards central Germany; the Heruli to whose princes this letter was sent, must have been settled near the Frankish borders.
Without doubt they are to be identified with the Heruli, who undertook numerous expeditions to the Rhine, to Gaul, and even to Spain, and are to be distinguished from the Heruli of the Danube; their seats are also to be placed on various points of the German and Dutch north coast, as well as in the Cimbric Chersonesus. In this respect it is well to notice that Sidonius Apollinariss mentions an embassy of these Heruli to the Visigothic king Euric, and Cassiodorust mentions a letter reminding the Herulian king of the favours received by Euric; through this embassy friendly relations were established between the two peoples.
WARS WITH THE GEPIDS
[508-548 A.D.]
With that victory begins the most brilliant epoch of the history of the Lombards. It was followed by the invasion of the Lombards from the southeast into the territory of the Herulians, and they compelled the latter to seek refuge in Rugia. As Procopiusm states, hunger, and probably the advance of the Lombards in these regions, obliged the vanquished to migrate again, until they at last found protection with the powerful Gepids, who were of kindred race. On the occasion of this advance of the Lombards, the subjection of the Suavi also took place, which the Originj fixes under King Wacho the successor of Tato.
The name of Wacho became famous, and the Lombards very desirable confederates; thus in the spring of 539 the Ostrogoth king Witiges sought to obtain their help against the Byzantines, but was refused as the Lombards had already formed an alliance with the Byzantines. An alliance seems also to have existed with the Thuringii, for the first wife of Wacho, Radegund, was the daughter of the Thuringian king Bisinus. Then Wacho married Ostrogotha, the daughter of the Gepidean king, which makes it very probable that the Lombard kingdom bordered on the Gepidean, as our statement concerning the position of the plain “Feld” confirms. The two daughters he had by her were again married to Frankish kings, namely Wisigarda to King Theudebert (534-548), Walderada to Theudebald (548-555), then also to Clotaire I (561, who, compelled by the clergy, resigned her to the Bavarian duke Garibald). In connection with this and also later alliances, is the plan of Theudebert to overthrow the Byzantine Empire by the help of the Lombards and Gepids during the war in Italy, against Totila.
A Lombard King
A third wife of Wacho was Salinga, who bore him a son, Waltari. The latter reigned after his father’s death, according to the Origin for seven years, but as he was a minor he was under the guardianship of a Lombard of noble birth named Audoin, who afterwards succeeded him as king. Shortly after the accession of Audoin, the Lombards passed over into Pannonia, which had been given to them by the emperor Justinian, who had first taken it from the Goths, as Procopius states. It cannot have been a voluntary cession. Justinian had to evacuate the country because he was no longer in a position to protect it against the Lombard invasion. By the sums of money he gave to the Lombards he doubtless hoped to buy peace for the sorely tried provinces, just as the Gepids and others had been restrained from devastating the Roman province by gifts of gold.
[548-555 A.D.]
Not long after the occupation of Pannonia—according to Procopius apparently in 548—war broke out between the Gepids and Lombards. The incitements of the emperor Justinian may be considered as the chief motive; it was in his interest to destroy the friendship of the two peoples who threatened to become dangerous to the empire. The ever increasing desire of the Lombards to gain possession of the important town of Sirmium in lower Pannonia which was occupied by the Gepids, and above all, the hostile feelings which had been raised between the two peoples by disputes at the Lombard court concerning the succession (disputes which began in Wacho’s time) came to his assistance.
We are informed as to these interesting proceedings by Procopius and the Origin. Procopiusm relates as follows: “King Wacho had a cousin who by law ought to have succeeded him on his death; but in order to procure the crown for his son he had Risiulf banished from the land under a false accusation.”
Risiulf with his two sons, one named Hildichis, and a small number of his adherents fled to the Warni, and at the instigation of Wacho was murdered by them; Hildichis’ brother succumbed to an illness, whilst he himself fled and took up his residence with a Slavonian tribe, and then in the time of King Audoin, when war broke out between the Lombards and Gepids, he gave himself up to the latter who also promised to procure for him the royal crown of the Lombards. According to the Originj Wacho, son of Winigis and nephew of King Tato, expelled him from the throne. Tato’s son, the rightful heir to the throne, named Hildichis, who sought to assert his rights, was suppressed and obliged to take refuge with the Gepids who from the time of his arrival showed great hatred for the Lombards. Both reports are incomplete but supplement one another well. The event was doubtless this, that Wacho overthrew his uncle Tato, then, when he had become king, banished Tato’s son Risiulf (his cousin) and the latter’s son (Hildichis) from the country, as he wished to insure the crown for his own son Waltari, whilst, not the law, as Procopius erroneously says, but his descent and the love of the people would have won the government for the heirs of the deposed king Tato.