Alaric I

## Background

There are disputing accounts of Alaric's origin. Some say he was a descendent of the noble Balti family of Thervingian Goths, while others claim that he was simply from the Thervingi tribe or Greuthingi tribe. It is generally accepted that he was originally born on Peuce Island in the Danube, in what is now Romania, but was then known as Dobruja. Regardless of his family's social status it is known that he was part of a group of Goths who were displaced by Hunnic conquest. His tribe originally set out to claim asylum in Roman territory, but quickly rebelled against poor treatment in the Gothic Wars of 376-382. He would have been a child during the war but it would have had a profound impact on his life.

Alaric grew up in a new situation. His people lived within the bounds of the Roman Empire, not as a conquered, assimilated population, but as a client state that got to rule itself and keep its traditions. Although he grew up as nominally Roman he was surrounded by men who were veterans of the Gothic War, where they proved to Rome that they did not have to deal with imperial abuse. As part of the unprecedented peace agreement the group now known as the Visigoths had agreed to provide soldiers for the Roman Army. Although the Romans had hoped that they would gradually assimilate into the empire as others had before, the Visigoths used their participation in the Roman Army and the rewards that came with it to form an aristocratic class within their territory. It is important to understand that this was a unique situation. Even though the Visigoths did live in Roman territory it was in the hinterlands and even though they had managed to fight for themselves and negotiate a better life, the situation of the average Goth in the Roman Empire was very different. In accordance with the Roman practice of subjugating conquered peoples the majority of Goths were servants and slaves. Consequently the Roman people looked down on them and would not have considered them equals.

## Military Service and Rebellion

The first mention of Alaric comes when he was named as the leader of a band of Goths who invaded Thrace but were driven back by the Roman general Stilicho. Roman chroniclers dismissed him as a barbarian but it is likely that he was already regarded as a leader by 391, possibly even king. It is known, though, that barbarian or not his forces were strong enough to keep the emperor at bay. He attempted to follow the expected route of joining the army in 392 and rose through the ranks. His service was characterized by Theodosian conflicts with attempted usurpers. In 394 he led a force that was integral to Theodosius' victory against the usurper Arbogast in the Battle of Frigidus, where the emperor ordered Gothic troops to the front to be slaughtered. Alaric had led 10,000 men into battle and at the end he was one of the few who survived. He had hoped to rise in status through military service and sacrifice but was passed over. To add insult to injury it was clear that Theodosius had deliberately used the Gothic troops as fodder, a decision that most attributed to him trying to kill two birds with one stone: he was able to put down the rebellion and able to reduce the number of semi-autonomous Goths. Consequently both were celebrated by the Romans as a victory. This seems to have opened Alaric's eyes a bit. He saw that Rome would never stop looking down on them and that there was nothing to be gained by trying to play by their rules. He made the decision to rebel and marched on Constantinople, telling his people that it was better to make a kingdom themselves than sit idly under the control of others. It is known that he was considered to be king, at least by the Goths, from this time.

The situation was not great for the Eastern Romans at this time either. Theodosius died soon after the battle on January 17 395, leaving his inexperienced teenage sons in charge. They quickly found themselves under the influence of Alaric's old foe Stilicho. Up until this point the Roman Empire had been divided into two de facto territories that were under the rule of cooperating emperors but were increasingly separate entities as the old power of Rome began to fade. Theodosius was able to temporarily join the entire empire under his control, but upon his death his two sons were each put in charge of their own half. The territory was divided according Theodosius' appointment of Arcadius as an Augustus and co-ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire when he was five years old, and Honorius' matching declaration granting him the position of co-ruler of the Western Roman Empire in 393 when he was nine.

Theodosius' eldest son Arcadius, who was 17 at the time of his death, took charge of the Eastern half of the empire, ruling from Constantinople. Although his father had made attempts to set him up to be a successful ruler, and he even was able to briefly hold power (with the help of his council of advisers) while his father was away fighting a rebellion in 394. Arcadius, who ultimately went down in history as a weak and ineffective ruler, was set up as emperor in the east under the influence of Rufinus, while his brother Honorius was set up as emperor in the west under the influence of Stilicho.

Seeing an opportunity, Alaric began pillaging the countryside and heading in the direction of Constantinople. He was opposed by Stilicho (despite being a more immediate threat to Arcadius) and was momentarily pushed back. It is likely that Stilicho would have been more successful, but Arcadius and Rufinus were too afraid of him attempting a coup. They demanded that Stilicho send part of his forces east but to stay in Greece himself. He complied and the forces arrived in Constantinople under the command of gothic soldier Gainas in 395. They were received by Arcadius and Rufinus in a public ceremony in which they turned on the advisor and assassinated him, presumably on the orders of Stilicho. Arcadius now fell under the influence of the eunuch Eutropius who may have had a hand in Rufinus' assassinations. Like Rufinus, Eutropius was extremely wary of Stilicho, which reached its peak when Stilicho claimed that Theodosius I had proclaimed him guardian of both of his sons, which would give him power over the entire empire. In response Arcadius withdrew all troops, effectively ending any chance of defeating Alaric, declared Stilicho a public enemy, and made peace with Alaric, appointing him magister militum of Illyricum (Greece). Stilicho was forced to give up the fight and withdraw back to Rome where the western court was outraged at what they considered a betrayal, but they did not take any significant action.

Tensions remained until Eutropius fell from power and was executed in 399. At this point Arcadius fell under the influence of his wife Eudoxia. With the turnover of the power behind the throne an alliance with Alaric was no longer considered necessary to rile the western court. While the eastern empire maintained effective control over Greece, in name it was handed over to the western empire. This change took away Alaric's military rank and took away any Roman rights that he had before, but he was still the main force defending the Balkans.

## Shifting Focus to Italy

In either late 401 or in 402 Alaric set his sights on Italy. His motives are unknown but the best guess is that he needed provisions. Stilicho was busy fighting on the frontier at first, allowing Alaric's forces to pillage around northern Italy for 6-9 months until they encountered Stilicho. They ended up fighting two battles. The first one was on Easter Sunday at Pollentia, and ended with a victory for Stilicho, who managed to capture Alaric's wife, children, and a significant amount of the his plunder. Stilicho pursued the retreating goths and even offered to return the hostages but Alaric refused negotiations. The second battle took place at Verona and Alaric was again defeated, with Stilicho offered a truce and allowing him to retreat from Italy. Like Alaric's motives for invading Italy, Stilicho's motives behind allowing him to leave are unclear. It likely though that Stilicho was considering his current cold war situation with the east and did not want to completely burn his bridges with a potential ally/tool. It is also possible that Stilicho's victories over Alaric were not as serious as his propogandist chroniclers reported. This is supported by an agreement made between the two in 405 which put Alaric and his men in the position of clients of the western empire. In 404-405 the goths were allowed to stay in Pannonia (western Italy) where he could keep an eye on the situation in both courts.

Tensions rose again in 405 when another gothic force under the head of Radagaisus came from the Balkans and began to plunder Italy, with the intended destination of Rome. Stilicho was able to quell this rebellion when Radagaisus split his troops into three groups which Stilicho then cornered and starved into submission. At this time it is known that Alaric was again given a military rank, this time by the west, but was not called into action.

In 406 and 407 new gothic groups crossed the Balkans into Roman territory in Gaul, putting further strain on Stilicho. Alaric took advantage of this and moved to base himself in modern-day Austria. From here he demanded the western court pay him 4,000 lbs of gold or face an invasion of Rome. Stilicho could not afford another enemy and paid the ransom, which was not a popular move back in Rome. Romans were used to thinking of themselves as the main power and concessions of any kind did not sit well with the senate. Although from a tactical standpoint this was the best decision, it weakened Stilicho's position in the western court, especially coming on the heels of allowing Alaric to escape a few years before.

Arcadius died in 408, leaving his six year old son as emperor. Ever on the hunt for more power it is thought that Stilicho's plans were to march to Constantinople and set up a regime under his rule, but he was not in the stable position that he had been in the past. It is further speculated that he intended to give Alaric a position of power in which he would go after the new invaders in Gaul. This was not to be, however. Honorius' advisor Olympius took advantage of Stilicho's power waning and proceeded to take over in a bloody coup against Stilicho's supporters while he was away fighting. While this was happening in Rome Stilicho's troops were made up of a mix of gothic and Hun soldiers under the command of the goth Sarus, who rose up in the night and killed the Huns before abandoning Stilicho to march back to the towns were their families were. He ordered that the towns not let them in, but he did not have the resources to back this up and they proceeded with their plans. He was then lured into a false sense of security by Olympius who had him killed.

Under Olypmpius' direction Alaric was again declared an enemy of the empire and Roman troops under the orders of Olympius massacred the families of non-Roman military units, presumably under the assumption that as goths they would support Alaric, even though it is likely that they actually rebelled against him. (It seems that Olympius and his supporters had expected the goths to have the same sense of ethnic nationalism that they did and did not understand that this was a cultural thing for them. They were likely also simply being racist.) This decision backfired against Olympius with thousands of gothic troops and their families defecting to Alaric and joining him in Austria.

It seems that, unlike Stilicho, Olympius did not know what to do with the power of being Honorius' main advisor (and effective ruler of the western empire). His main goal was to gain power and to strike back at the increasingly influential non-Roman factions within the empire. Although he was able to accomplish both of these goals it does not seem that he had a plan beyond that, and he was definitely not prepared for the consequences. He and his conspirators in the western court floundered after their main goal of getting rid of Stilicho and all of his supporters was accomplished. The biggest consequence of their coup though was that it left Rome defenseless; they had been relying on foreign mercenaries to protect them on the Italian peninsula **(Because actual Roman troops were out conquering??? And if not that, what were they doing?)**. Given this fact it was short-sighted and reckless to make enemies of these very troops. Despite the behavior of Olympius and his faction Alaric still attempted to settle, offering to move his people (including the new arrivals) to Pannonia in exchange for the title of Comes (as an enemy of the empire he now was without the right to collect taxes, a source of income he needed, especially with all of the new dependents that Rome had inadvertently sent his way) and a small sum of money. Against their better interests he was refused as he was considered to be a supporter of Stilicho (Despite all of their fighting. They did not seem to understand that Alaric and Stilicho were not allies by choice. Rome was losing power and the "favors" that Stilicho had done for Alaric were actually him keeping a legitimate threat at bay.)

## First Siege of Rome

When his attempts to negotiate were rejected Alaric gathered his force of 30,000 highly motivated troops and marched down from Austria toward Rome. The march was both unhurried and unopposed, perhaps doing as the Thervingi and Greuthingi had once done: move their forces slowly to their destination to allow allies to catch up. This time the ally was Ataulf, Alaric's brother-in-law, a gothic leader himself. Once again they did not resort to violence but rather set up a blockade and proceeded to wait for the Romans to either starve or give in to their demands of gold and hostages from among the Roman citizens. It is interesting to note that they went past Ravenna, where the imperial court was at the time and instead went to the most culturally important city where he had better chances given his resources. This was a lesson the Roman court could have learned from but they did not. It became clear almost right away that they would not be getting any help from the emperor as famine and disease spread throughout the city of approximately 800,000 people (making it the largest city in the world at the time). The senate eventually sent delegates to negotiate with the Visigoths, who famously told Alaric that the Roman citizens were trained and ready to fight (although they were not doing it), to which he replied "The thicker the hay, the easier mowed!" They ended up agreeing to pay him 5,000 lbs. of gold, 30,000 lbs. of silver, 4,000 silken tunics, 3,000 hides dyed scarlet, and 3,000 lbs. of pepper. To come up with the money the members of the Senate were instructed to give according to their means, but like so many wealthy people both before and after they could not seem to part with their wealth even in the face of annihilation. When the contributions from the wealthy fell short it was left to the city of Rome itself to supply the rest. Statues and pagan shrines around the city were melted down to obtain the required amount of gold, most notably the statue of Virtus, the Roman god of bravery and military might. This was a particularly poignant loss as Virtus was the personification of Rome's core values even though the empire had officially switched to Christianity. Once the ransom was paid Alaric withdrew, but this time with an extra 40,000 freed gothic slaves, more than doubling his population.

## Second Siege of Rome

At this point the senate was more realistic regarding their situation than the emperor and Olympius and sent envoys to Ravenna to urge him to make peace with the Visigoths including agreeing to give him children of the Roman elite and the military position he was seeking. Going on the questionable advice of his advisor, Honorius refused and went even further by calling 6,000 troops from Dalmatia to go garrison the city. This did not work out however, as the leader Valens (not the emperor) considered it dishonorable to go around the barbarian forces and instead met them head on. As a result his 6,000 men came up against Alaric's force of approximately 70,000 and were almost entirely destroyed, with only 100 men making it to Rome. The senate once again sent a delegation to Ravenna, this time in partnership with Pope Innocent I requesting Honorius to give concessions. They arrived at roughly the same time as the news that reinforcements led by Ataulf were crossing the alps. Honorius still refused to give in and instead ordered Hunnic mercenaries to intercept them under the lead of Olympius. The official Roman account claims that when the two forces met outside Pisa the goths lost about 1,100 men while the Romans only lost 17. This is doubtful though, considering that despite this alleged victory Olympius and his troops retreated back to Ravenna. Olympius was finally disgraced and removed from power, seeking refuge in Dalmatia. The praetorian praefect of Italy, Jovius, took his place as the power behind the throne. Jovius was an interesting and for once sensible choice for this position. He was a former friend of Stilicho and was even friends with Alaric and argued for making peace, once again opening negotiations. This time Alaric was demanding yearly tribute of gold and grain and territory for his people to settle. Behind the scenes Jovius also wrote to Honorius suggesting that he give Alaric the lead military position he had always been going for and that this concession might lead him to lessen his other demands of tribute and land. Honorius was not on board with this and even wrote an insulting letter to Alaric about it that was read out at the negotiations. Infuriated, Alaric once again broke off the talks and Jovius went to Ravenna to strengthen and develop his relationship with the emperor. At this point Honorius was fully on board with the idea of war and made Jovius swear that he would never make peace with Alaric, a term to which he agreed. As part of their preparations for war the Romans made it known that they were seeking to add a force of 10,000 Hunnic troops to fight for them, which was enough to make Alaric, ever hesitant to resort to violence, reconsider. He gathered a delegation of bishops to again change their demands, this time dropping the tribute and titles and instead only requesting land (which is really all the Visigothic peoples had ever wanted), but Ravenna was too committed to war and refused to consider it. Out of any other options Alaric, now joined by Ataulf, committed to return to Rome, beginning a second siege. The Hunnic troops never showed up, if they ever even existed.

The senate, with the backing of the people, were not willing to undergo another costly siege and agreed to talks with the Visigoths. Alaric declared that he was done with Honorius and demanded a new emperor. From the senate he chose Priscus Attalus, a Greek who held a powerful position within the Senate, although he did not turn out to be the best choice. It is not likely that Alaric had many good options, considering that he needed to choose someone who was powerful enough for the plan to succeed, but weak willed enough to be led around. Religion was also an issue. Although Rome had been officially Christian since the reign of Constantine the citizens of Rome were a mix of pagan and Christian in practice. As a Christian himself Alaric needed someone who, if not already a Christian, was willing to become one. Attalus agreed to be baptized in order to be emperor. One of his first acts was to officially give Alaric his long-sought military distinction, upon which the Visigoths lifted the siege.

Like many of his contemporaries Attalus had more confidence than power and skill and almost immediately showed himself to be less competent than the likes of Alaric, Ataulf, Stilicho, and Jovius. One of Honorius' most powerful supporters was Heraclian, the governor of the resource rich province of Africa. Alaric advised Attalus to send the stronger gothic forces but like a typical Roman he refused because he did not trust them and sent Roman forces instead. Despite the shortcomings of his candidate Alaric proceeded with his plans and marched on Ravenna with Attalus at his side in 409, bringing cities along the route under their control as they went. It was at this point that Honorius seemed to realize the enormity of his mistake and sent Jovius to speak with them and to request a situation where they would share the empire, but this backfired when Jovius, possibly fed up with the emperor's refusal to accept reality, switched sides and even went so far as to suggest humiliating the emperor by mutilating him, but Attalus was not on board. Honorius was making preparations to flee for his life to Constantinople when reinforcements arrived from the eastern empire. With 4,000 extra troops Honorius' resolve was renewed. This confidence was further bolstered when Heraclian defeated Attalus' troops and cut off supplies to Rome, threatening another famine. At this turn of events Alaric, on the advice of Jovius, dropped Attalus like the dead weight he was and offered the chance to reach new terms.

## Sack of Rome

It is impossible to say what agreement Alaric and Honorius would have reached if left to their own devices as a new player entered the situation who derailed the course of events. Sarus was a high ranking general who, somewhat like Alaric (since we do not know the truth about his family's social status) was from a noble gothic family. He had risen to prominence when Stilicho was in charge and seemed to hold a grudge against everyone in the situation, including the emperor he served. Sarus was more like Alaric than he realized: he too had been used for his military capabilities by Stilicho when he was considered useful and ignored when he was not. After the assassination of Stilicho his name was among the candidates to replace him as head advisor, and he was considered by most to be the best choice, but Honorius refused to promote him. As with Alaric, there did not seem to be anything he could do to make the Romans consider him their equal, no matter what he accomplished in their name. Although he bided his time, Sarus appears to have held a grudge against the emperor from then on. Despite, and perhaps because of, his similarities with Alaric, Sarus held a grudge against him equal to that of his grudge against the emperor. Some historians speculate that he had also been passed over in 390 as leader of the goths in favor of Alaric.

Whatever his motivations, he inadvertently played a key role in the upcoming sack of Rome when he chose to attack Alaric while he waited outside of Ravenna for Honorius. This move seems to have been primarily motivated by anger, as he is thought to only have a force of about 300 men, which was a fraction of the size of the Roman or Visigothic forces. (If this were a novel Sarus would be the shit-stirring character introduced by the author to add chaos to the narrative. Wonder if Shakespeare knew about him, he would have been inspired.) Honorius did not sanction or even seem to know about Sarus' plan, but regardless Alaric interpreted it as an attack from the emperor and formally decided to give up negotiations.

It is important to remember that Alaric's decision to sack Rome was not made lightly and he only decided to do so after all other avenues were denied him. It is thought by some historians that he even saw the event as a failure. He had not wanted to resort to violence and had only ever done so when given no choice. Although his forces did plunder Rome and benefit financially from what they took their primary motivation seems to have been the need for food. Most if not all of Alaric's motivations after becoming a Visigothic leader seem to have come from a desire to care for his people, including all of the ones driven to him by Roman racism and aggression. Also of note is the fact that Rome had not been the capital of the empire for some time at this point. The court had moved to Mediolanum (Milan) in 286 and Ravenna in 402. This does not mean that it was still a hugely important city in the minds of the European and Mediterranean worlds and it's fall to gothic forces (for the second time) was a huge shock to everyone. Writing from Bethlehem St. Jerome declared that "the city which had taken the whole world was itself taken."

Alaric began his three-day siege of Rome on August 24, 410, entering through the Salarian gate. There are conflicting reports on how he accomplished this. Some say that he was let in by conspiratorial gothic slaves while others say that citizens let him in rather than endure another siege that would starve them out. Whichever it was, he did not appear to have met much resistance. The contemporary St. Jerome reported hearing that Roman citizens were paying for their safety with gold, but ultimately concluded that their downfall had been decided by the previous periods of famine. The goths rampaged around the city, breaking into mausoleums and scattering the ashes of former emperors, and taking anything of value to be found. The notable exceptions were the churches dedicated to Peter and Paul, there are even reports that soldiers were instructed to return stolen items as Alaric was a Christian himself and did not approve. The bulk of the damage to buildings was centered around the senate and Salarian gate, but citizens all over the city were taken captive, including the sister of the emperor. Some of them were ransomed later, but others were sold into slavery. Many others were simply raped and killed outright. Wealthy citizens were interrogated and beaten to get the location of goods, in some instances even when they did not have them.

Although the sack of any city is an inherently violent act, Alaric's was considered by both sides to be somewhat restrained. Most of the buildings remained standing afterward and were simply stripped of anything valuable, and the city's basilicas were even declared places of sanctuary with the support of Alaric.

## Aftermath and Death

Riding high on his victory Alaric led his forces out of the city with their treasure and the valuable hostage of Galla Placidia, Honorius' sister. They then proceeded to loot southern Italy and had plans to go on to invade Sicily and North Africa, but these plans were foiled by a storm that wrecked the boats. Their campaign officially ended when Alaric died just months later, likely of fever. According to legend he his grieving supporters temporarily diverted the flow of the Busento river, buried him with his most precious treasures, restored the river's course, and killed the workers who knew the location. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law Ataulf who married Galla Placidia for legitimation and began the march back to Gaul.

The defeat and pillaging of Rome, a place that had been the symbol of Roman power for centuries, completely demoralized both sides of the empire, and the city would never again return to its former glory.

## Commentary

Alaric seemed to continually try to avoid violence if there was another option, but Rome also continually refused. It seems that the Romans in the western empire did not realize that they were a civilization in decline. They had been the dominant power for centuries, and did not seem to be able to accept, even when given plentiful evidence, that they were no longer on top. Their stubborn refusal to give concessions even when they clearly did not have the power to back it up is a lesson in knowing when to negotiate and when to fight. There were many times when they could have sacrificed pride when they were outmaneuvered yet they refused, and it was likely that if they had not Alaric would have been pacified. He and the people he gathered simply wanted a decent standard of living that the Romans could have allowed if they were not so concerned with maintaining ultimate power. The whole situation is an example of the consequences of concentrating power and wealth with a minority at the top while the rest of the population starves.