Theoderich der Grosse

The Age of Migrations in an Epochal Biography Ravenna, March 5, 493: "Not a bone was left in this scoundrel." Thus commented the Gothic king Theoderic on his murder of Odoacer, whom he had just dispatched from this world with a single stroke of his sword. With the end of his rival, a position had opened up: that of the ruler over the western part of the Roman Empire. Anyone who witnessed the bloody beginning of his reign could hardly expect that the perjured, bloodstained Theoderic would succeed in bringing Goths and Romans together for a decades-long period of peace and stability. This book offers the thrilling story of how he managed to keep his two peoples apart through a clever division of labor – assigning military tasks to the Goths and civil life and tax collection to the Romans. The secret of his success, which the author of this modern biography convincingly deciphers, was: Integration through Separation! Even after 1500 years, it is fascinating to observe how Theoderic managed to maintain peace both internally and externally, despite significant potential for conflict – in matters of faith and church organization, between warriors and civilians, in relations with the emperor in Constantinople and the Germanic kings in the West, as well as in the face of pressing social issues – but if necessary, also to create peace uncompromisingly.