Editing Fritigern (section)

==War against Valens==
{{main|Gothic War (376–382)}}
Fritigern decisively defeated  [[Lupicinus (comes per Thracias)|Lupicinus]] at the [[Battle of Marcianople]] in 376. 
The Goths went on to pillage [[Moesia]], and by 377 had gained control over most of the neighboring, richer province of [[Thracia]]. 
Valens, recognizing the severity of the situation, sent his general [[Traianus (magister peditum)|Traianus]] and asked for the aid 
of Western emperor [[Gratian]], who sent [[Richomeres]]
and [[Frigeridus (general)|Frigeridus]] to contain the Goths east of the [[Haemus Mons|Haemus]].
At the [[Battle of the Willows]], combined troops of the Western and Eastern Empire barely withstood a larger number of Goths, forcing Fritigern to withdraw into a [[Laager|wagon fort]] to recuperate. 
Valens now sent [[Saturninus (consul 383)|Saturninus]] to support Traianus.
Saturninus and Traianus built a number of fortifications to contain the Gothic camp, hoping to starve them out during the winter of 377/8 and to force them into an open field battle. Fritigern refused to abandon his fort, and instead managed to enlist the support of [[Huns|Hunnic]] and [[Alans|Alanic]] cavalry.
Saturninus could no longer maintain his blockade and was forced to retreat, returning freedom of movement to Fritigern who again took to pillaging the countryside. 
In the summer of 377, the Goths had regained access to the [[Hellespont]] and the Black Sea. They sacked [[Battle of Dibaltum|Dibaltum]]
and [[Augusta Trajana]], forcing Frigiderus to retreat to Illyria.
The Goths now threatened [[Constantinople]] itself, 
and Valens was forced to extract significant forces from the Persian front, granting considerable concessions to the Sassanids.
According to Socrates Scholasticus, the citizens of the capital accused  Valens of neglecting their defense, urging him to confront the invaders.
Valens moved his army to [[Melantias]] on 12 June, and sent 
[[Sebastianus (magister peditum)|Sebastianus]] with an advance force to engage Gothic raiding parties.
Sebastianus successfully destroyed a number of raiding parties, forcing Fritigern to consolidate his forces in the area of [[Cabyle]].
Gratian was detained in the north in his campaign against the [[Alemanni]] ([[Battle of Argentovaria]]), and unable to support Valens, who had been waiting to engage the Goths throughout June and July. When Valens heard that the Goths were moving towards Adrianople, 
he decamped and marched to meet them. 
Around 7 August, Richomeres returned from the Western campaign with the message that Gratian was now approaching.
According to Ammianus, Victor cautioned Valens to wait for Gratian, while Sebastianus urged for an immediate assault.
Fritigern sent envoys with two letters on the night of 8 August.
The first letter offered peace and a military alliance in exchange for territory in Thrace. The second letter, addressed privately to Valens, assured that he wished for peace, but asked Valens to remain mobilized so that he, Fritigern, could convince his own people of maintaining the peace.
Valens rejected the proposal and marched to engage the Goths on the following day. Fritigern won a respite by further peace negotiations allowing his allied Greuthungi cavalry to draw near.
In the ensuing [[Battle of Adrianople]], the Goths won a decisive victory.
The Roman army was routed and suffered heavy losses. Valens himself was killed in the aftermath of the battle.
Fritigern besieged the city of Adrianople itself, without success.

The Goths retook control of much of the Balkan peninsula in the aftermath of the battle. The Eastern empire, now without an emperor, feared that the Gothic populations would ally themselves with Fritigern leading to widespread insurgence. Julius, successor to Lupicinus, 
ordered the massacre of all Goths living near the frontier.
By 379, word of the massacres reached the Goths living in the interior provinces, leading to riots in Asia Minor. The Romans reacted by massacring the Goths in the interior provinces as well.

Fritigern continued the war for two years, with mixed success. [[Theodosius I]] succeeded Valens as emperor on 19 January 379. Gratian did  acknowledge Theodosius as his co-emperor and granted him control over the imperial dioceses of Dacia and Macedonia, but he  promptly returned to his northern front to deal with the Alemanni, leaving Theodosius to deal with the Gothic problem.

Theodosius drafted a new army from farmers and mercenaries.
Many attempted to avoid the draft, some mutilating their own thumbs to avoid military service, and Theodosius responded with harsh punishments for deserters, forcing even those who had mutilated themselves into service.
Theodosius' general Modares, a Goth himself, won a minor victory against Fritigern.<ref>Kulikowski, 2006, pp. 149–151.</ref>

It appears that at this point, the Greuthungi split off the Gothic army and went to [[Diocese of Pannonia|Illyricum]]. The Thervingi under Fritigern moved towards Greece, into [[Diocese of Macedonia|Macedonia and Thessaly]]. Theodosius moved to intercept them, but his army disintegrated from desertions [[Battle of Thessalonica (380)|at Thessalonica]], many of the barbarian mercenaries joining Fritigern.
At this point, Gratian was once again willing to come to aid, and his generals 
[[Arbogast (magister militum)|Arbogast]] and [[Flavius Bauto|Bauto]] successfully drove the Gothis back into Thrace by the summer of 381. 
Peace negotiations were opened, with 
Richomeres and Saturninus conducting the negotiations for the Romans.
Peace was declared on 3 October 382.
Fritigern is not mentioned again in any source after 381, and his fate is uncertain, he may have been killed in the Greek campaign, or he may have been deposed as a condition for peace.<ref>Heather, 2005, pp. 185–186; Kulikowski, 2006, pp. 152–153.</ref>