Editing Goths (section)

===Later division and spread of the Goths===
In the aftermath of the Hunnic onslaught, two major groups of the Goths would eventually emerge, the [[Visigoths]] and [[Ostrogoths]].<ref name="EB_Visigoth">{{cite web|title=Visigoth|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Visigoth|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190522223551/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Visigoth|archive-date=22 May 2019|access-date=19 September 2019|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]}}</ref><ref name="EB_Ostrogoth">{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ostrogoth |title=Ostrogoth |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |access-date=17 September 2019 |archive-date=25 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425120017/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ostrogoth |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Waldman|Mason|2006|pp=336–41}}{{sfn|Waldman|Mason|2006|pp=573–77}} Visigoths means the "Goths of the west", while Ostrogoths means "Goths of the east".{{sfn|Wolfram|1990|pp=24–25}} The Visigoths, led by the [[Balti dynasty]], claimed descent from the Thervingi and lived as [[foederati]] inside Roman territory, while the Ostrogoths, led by the [[Amali dynasty]], claimed descent from the Greuthungi and were subjects of the Huns.{{sfn|Heather|2018}} Procopius interpreted the name ''Visigoth'' as "western Goths" and the name ''Ostrogoth'' as "eastern Goth", reflecting the geographic distribution of the Gothic realms at that time.{{sfn|Wolfram|1990|p=26}} A people closely related to the Goths, the Gepids, were also living under Hunnic domination.{{sfn|Wolfram|1990|p=254}} A smaller group of Goths were the [[Crimean Goths]], who remained in Crimea and maintained their Gothic identity well into the [[18th century]].{{sfn|Heather|2018}}

In his biography of the [[Wessex|West Saxon]] monarch [[Alfred the Great]], the [[Welsh people|Welsh]] historian [[Asser]] states that Alfred's mother [[Osburh]] was of partial Goth ancestry through her father Oslac.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Asser's Life of King Alfred, by Albert S. Cook—A Project Gutenberg eBook |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/63384/63384-h/63384-h.htm |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref>

====Visigoths====
{{Main|Visigoths}}
{{Further|Visigothic Kingdom}}
[[File:Alaric entering Athens.jpg|upright|thumb|right|An illustration of [[Alaric I|Alaric]] entering [[Athens]] in 395. The depiction, including [[Bronze Age]] armour, is anachronistic.]]
The Visigoths were a new Gothic political unit brought together during the career of their first leader, Alaric I.{{sfn|Heather|1999|pages=47–48}} Following a major settlement of Goths in the Balkans made by Theodosius in 382, Goths received prominent positions in the Roman army.{{sfn|Kulikowski|2006|pp=156–57}} Relations with Roman civilians were sometimes uneasy. In 391, Gothic soldiers, with the blessing of Theodosius I, [[Massacre of Thessalonica|massacred]] thousands of Roman spectators at the Hippodrome in [[Thessalonica]] as vengeance for the lynching of the Gothic general [[Butheric]].{{sfn|Kulikowski|2006|pp=156–60}}

{{Main|Revolt of Alaric I}}
The Goths suffered heavy losses while serving Theodosius in the civil war of 394 against [[Eugenius]] and [[Arbogast (magister militum)|Arbogast]].{{sfn|Wolfram|1990|pp=136–38}} In 395, following the death of Theodosius I, Alaric and his Balkan Goths invaded Greece, where they sacked [[Piraeus]] (the port of [[Athens]]) and destroyed [[Corinth]], [[Megara]], [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], and [[Sparta]].{{sfn|Wolfram|1990|p=141}}<ref name="EB_Alaric">{{cite web|title=Alaric|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alaric|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020185832/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alaric|archive-date=20 October 2019|access-date=19 September 2019|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]}}</ref> Athens itself was spared by paying a large bribe, and the Eastern emperor [[Flavius Arcadius]] subsequently appointed Alaric [[magister militum]] ("master of the soldiers") in [[Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum|Illyricum]] in 397.<ref name="EB_Alaric"/>

{{Main|Gothic War (401–403)}}
In 401 and 402, Alaric made two attempts at invading Italy, but was defeated by [[Stilicho]]. In 405–406, another Gothic leader, [[Radagaisus]], also attempted to invade Italy, and was also defeated by Stilicho.{{sfn|Bennett|2004}}{{sfn|Wolfram|1990|pp=166–70}} In 408, the Western Roman emperor [[Flavius Honorius]] ordered the execution of Stilicho and his family, then incited the Roman population to massacre tens of thousands of wives and children of Goths serving in the Roman military. Subsequently, around 30,000 Gothic soldiers defected to Alaric.<ref name="EB_Alaric"/> Alaric in turn invaded Italy, seeking to pressure Honorious into granting him permission to settle his people in [[North Africa]].<ref name="EB_Alaric"/> In Italy, Alaric liberated tens of thousands of Gothic slaves, and in 410 he [[Sack of Rome (410)|sacked]] the city of Rome. Although the city's riches were plundered, the civilian inhabitants of the city were treated humanely, and only a few buildings were burned.<ref name="EB_Alaric"/> Alaric died soon afterwards, and was buried along with his treasure in an unknown grave under the [[Busento]] river.{{sfn|Wolfram|1990|p=160}}

Alaric was succeeded by his brother-in–law [[Athaulf]], husband of Honorius' sister [[Galla Placidia]], who had been seized during Alaric's sack of Rome. Athaulf settled the Visigoths in southern [[Gaul]].{{sfn|O'Callaghan}}<ref name="EB_Ataulphus">{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ataulphus |title=Ataulphus |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |access-date=17 September 2019 |archive-date=12 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212013939/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ataulphus |url-status=live }}</ref> After failing to gain recognition from the Romans, Athaulf retreated into [[Hispania]] in early 415, and was assassinated in [[Barcelona]] shortly afterwards.{{sfn|Wolfram|1990|pp=162–66}} He was succeeded by [[Sigeric]] and then [[Wallia]], who succeeded in having the Visigoths accepted by Honorius as foederati in southern Gaul, with their capital at [[Toulouse]]. Wallia subsequently inflicted severe defeats upon the [[Silingi]] Vandals and the Alans in Hispania.{{sfn|O'Callaghan}}

{{Main|Gothic War in Spain (416–418)}}

Wallia was succeeded by [[Theodoric I]] who completed the settlement of the Goths in [[Gallia Aquitania|Aquitania]].
Periodically they marched on [[Arles]], the seat of the [[praetorian prefect]] but were always pushed back. In 439 the Visigoths signed a treaty with the Romans which they kept.{{sfn|Wolfram|1990|p=176}}

{{Main|Gothic War (436–439)|Gothic War in Spain (456)|Gothic War (457–458)}}

[[File:Empire of Theodoric the Great 523.gif|thumb|upright=1.35|The maximum extent of territories ruled by [[Theodoric the Great]] in 523]]

Under [[Theodoric II]] the Visigoths allied with the Romans and fought [[Attila]] to a stalemate in the [[Battle of the Catalaunian Fields]], although Theodoric was killed in the battle.{{sfn|O'Callaghan}}{{sfn|Bennett|2004}} Under [[Euric]], the Visigoths established an independent [[Visigothic Kingdom]] and succeeded in driving the [[Suebi]] out of Hispania proper and back into [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]].{{sfn|O'Callaghan}} Although they controlled Spain, they still formed a tiny minority among a much larger [[Romanization of Hispania|Hispano-Roman]] population, approximately 200,000 out of 6,000,000.{{sfn|O'Callaghan}}

In 507, the Visigoths were pushed out of most of Gaul by the [[Franks|Frankish]] king [[Clovis I]] at the [[Battle of Vouillé]].{{sfn|Bennett|2004}} They were able to retain [[Narbonensis]] and [[Provence]] after the timely arrival of an Ostrogoth detachment sent by [[Theodoric the Great]]. The defeat at Vouillé resulted in their penetrating further into Hispania and establishing a new capital at [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]].{{sfn|O'Callaghan}}

Under [[Liuvigild]] in the latter part of the 6th century, the Visigoths succeeded in subduing the Suebi in Galicia and the Byzantines in the south-west, and thus achieved dominance over most of the [[Iberian peninsula]].{{sfn|O'Callaghan}} Liuvigild also abolished the law that prevented intermarriage between Hispano-Romans and Goths, and he remained an Arian Christian.{{sfn|O'Callaghan}} The conversion of [[Reccared I]] to [[Roman Catholicism]] in the late 6th century prompted the assimilation of Goths with the Hispano-Romans.{{sfn|O'Callaghan}}

At the end of the 7th century, the Visigothic Kingdom began to suffer from internal troubles.{{sfn|O'Callaghan}} Their kingdom fell and was progressively [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|conquered]] by the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] from 711 after the defeat of their last king [[Roderic]] at the [[Battle of Guadalete]]. Some Visigothic nobles found refuge in the mountain areas of the [[Asturias]], [[Pyrenees]] and [[Cantabria]]. According to Joseph F. O'Callaghan, the remnants of the Hispano-Gothic aristocracy still played an important role in the society of Hispania. At the end of Visigothic rule, the assimilation of Hispano-Romans and Visigoths was occurring at a fast pace. Their nobility had begun to think of themselves as constituting one people, the ''gens Gothorum'' or the ''Hispani''. An unknown number of them fled and took refuge in Asturias or Septimania. In Asturias they supported Pelagius's uprising, and joining with the indigenous leaders, formed a new aristocracy. The population of the mountain region consisted of native [[Astures]], [[Galicians]], [[Cantabri]], [[Basques]] and other groups unassimilated into Hispano-Gothic society.<ref name="O'Callaghan2013">{{cite book|author=Joseph F. O'Callaghan|title=A History of Medieval Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cq2dDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA176|date=2013|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-6872-8|page=176|access-date=13 August 2020|archive-date=5 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205080308/https://books.google.com/books?id=cq2dDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA176|url-status=live}}</ref> The Christians began to regain control under the leadership of the nobleman [[Pelagius of Asturias]], who founded the [[Kingdom of Asturias]] in 718 and defeated the Muslims at the [[Battle of Covadonga]] in c. 722, in what is taken by historians to be the beginning of the [[Reconquista]]. It was from the Asturian kingdom that modern [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]] evolved.{{sfn|O'Callaghan}}

The Visigoths were never completely [[Romanization|Romanized]]; rather, they were 'Hispanicized' as they spread widely over a large territory and population. They progressively adopted a new culture, retaining little of their original culture except for practical military customs, some artistic modalities, family traditions such as heroic songs and folklore, as well as select conventions to include Germanic names still in use in present-day Spain. It is these artifacts of the original Visigothic culture that give ample evidence of its contributing foundation for the present regional culture.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|pp=331–32}} Portraying themselves heirs of the Visigoths, the subsequent Christian Spanish monarchs declared their responsibility for the Reconquista of Muslim Spain, which was completed with the [[Fall of Granada]] in 1492.{{sfn|O'Callaghan}}

====Ostrogoths====
{{Main|Ostrogoths}}
{{Further|Ostrogothic Kingdom}}
[[File:Tomb of Theodoric the Great Ravenna (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Mausoleum of Theodoric]] in [[Ravenna]], [[Italy]]. The [[frieze]] includes a motif found in Scandinavian metal jewellery.]]
After the Hunnic invasion, many Goths became subjects of the Huns. A section of these Goths under the leadership of the Amali dynasty came to be known as the [[Ostrogoths]].{{sfn|Heather|2018}} Others sought refuge in the Roman Empire, where many of them were recruited into the Roman army. In the spring of 399, [[Tribigild]], a Gothic leader in charge of troops in [[Nakoleia]], rose up in rebellion and defeated the first imperial army sent against him, possibly seeking to emulate Alaric's successes in the west.{{sfn|Kulikowski|2006|pp=168–69}} [[Gainas]], a Goth who along with Stilicho and [[Eutropius (consul 399)|Eutropius]] had deposed [[Rufinus (consul)|Rufinus]] in 395, was sent to suppress Tribigild's rebellion, but instead plotted to use the situation to seize power in the Eastern Roman Empire. This attempt was however thwarted by the pro-Roman Goth [[Fravitta]], and in the aftermath, thousands of Gothic civilians were massacred in Constantinople,{{sfn|Pritsak|2005}} many being burned alive in the local Arian church where they had taken shelter.{{sfn|Kulikowski|2006|pp=168–69}} As late as the 6th century Goths were settled as ''[[foederati]]'' in parts of [[Asia Minor]]. Their descendants, who formed the elite ''[[Optimatoi]]'' regiment, still lived there in the early 8th century.{{sfn|Foss|2005}} While they were largely assimilated, their Gothic origin was still well–known: the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor calls them [[Gothograeci]].{{sfn|Pritsak|2005}}

The Ostrogoths fought together with the Huns at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451.{{sfn|Wolfram|1990|p=178}} Following the death of Attila and the defeat of the Huns at the [[Battle of Nedao]] in 454, the Ostrogoths broke away from Hunnic rule under their king [[Valamir]].{{sfn|Wolfram|1990|pp=259–60}} Mentions of this event were probably preserved in Slavic epic songs.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/61786841 |title=Tarasov I.M. Some plots of Gothic history mentioded in Ioachim Chronicles.2021. Part I. P.56–71. |date=January 2021 |access-date=19 November 2021 |archive-date=19 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119084932/https://www.academia.edu/61786841 |url-status=live }}</ref> Under his successor, [[Theodemir (Ostrogothic king)|Theodemir]], they utterly defeated the Huns at the [[Battle of Bassianae|Bassianae]] in 468,{{sfn|Wolfram|1990|pp=264–66}} and then defeated a coalition of Roman–supported Germanic tribes at the [[Battle of Bolia]] in 469, which gained them supremacy in [[Pannonia]].{{sfn|Wolfram|1990|pp=264–66}}

Theodemir was succeeded by his son [[Theodoric the Great|Theodoric]] in 471, who was forced to compete with [[Theodoric Strabo]], leader of the [[Thracian Goths]], for the leadership of his people.{{sfn|Thompson}} Fearing the threat posed by Theodoric to Constantinople, the Eastern Roman emperor [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]] ordered Theodoric to invade Italy in 488. By 493,{{sfn|Howatson|2011}} Theodoric had conquered all of Italy from the [[Sciri]]an [[Odoacer]], whom he killed with his own hands;{{sfn|Thompson}} he subsequently formed the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom]]. Theodoric settled his entire people in Italy, estimated at 100,000–200,000, mostly in the northern part of the country, and ruled the country very efficiently. The Goths in Italy constituted a small minority of the population in the country.{{sfn|Paul|MacMullen}} Intermarriage between Goths and Romans were forbidden, and Romans were also forbidden from carrying arms. Nevertheless, the Roman majority was treated fairly.{{sfn|Thompson}}

The Goths were briefly reunited under one crown in the early 6th century under Theodoric, who became regent of the Visigothic kingdom following the death of [[Alaric II]] at the Battle of Vouillé in 507.{{sfn|Wolfram|1997|p=193}} Shortly after Theodoric's death, the country was invaded by the Eastern Roman Empire in the [[Gothic War (535–554)|Gothic War]], which severely devastated and depopulated the Italian peninsula.{{sfn|Jacobsen|2009|p=298}} The Ostrogoths made a brief resurgence under their king [[Totila]],{{sfn|Bennett|2004}} who was, however, killed at the [[Battle of Taginae]] in 552. After the last stand of the Ostrogothic king [[Teia]] at the [[Battle of Mons Lactarius]] in 553, Ostrogothic resistance ended, and the remaining Goths in Italy were assimilated by the [[Lombards]], another Germanic tribe, who invaded Italy and founded the [[Kingdom of the Lombards]] in 567.{{sfn|Bennett|2004}}{{sfn|Wickham|Foot}}

====Crimean Goths====
{{Main|Crimean Goths}}
[[File:Mangup 10.jpg|right|thumb|Ruins of the citadel of [[Doros (Crimea)|Doros]], capital of the Crimean Goths]]
Gothic tribes who remained in the lands around the Black Sea,{{sfn|Heather|2018}} especially in [[Crimea]], were known as the [[Crimean Goths]]. During the late 5th and early 6th century, the Crimean Goths had to fend off hordes of Huns who were migrating back eastward after losing control of their European empire.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=261}} In the 5th century, [[Theodoric the Great]] tried to recruit Crimean Goths for his campaigns in Italy, but few showed interest in joining him.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=271–80}} They affiliated with the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] through the [[Metropolitanate of Gothia]], and were then closely associated with the [[Byzantine Empire]].{{sfn|Vasiliev|1936|pp=117–}}

During the Middle Ages, the Crimean Goths were in perpetual conflict with the [[Khazars]]. [[John of Gothia]], the [[metropolitan bishop]] of [[Doros (Crimea)|Doros]], capital of the Crimean Goths, briefly expelled the Khazars from Crimea in the late 8th century, and was subsequently [[canonized]] as an [[List of Eastern Orthodox saints|Eastern Orthodox saint]].{{sfn|Vasiliev|1936|pp=117–35}}

In the 10th century, the lands of the Crimean Goths were once again raided by the Khazars. As a response, the leaders of the Crimean Goths made an alliance with [[Sviatoslav I of Kiev]], who subsequently waged war upon and utterly destroyed the [[Khazar Khaganate]].{{sfn|Vasiliev|1936|pp=117–35}} In the late Middle Ages the Crimean Goths were part of the [[Principality of Theodoro]], which was conquered by the [[Ottoman Empire]] in the late 15th century. As late as the 18th century a small number of people in Crimea may still have spoken [[Crimean Gothic]].{{sfn|Bennett|1965|p=27}}