Editing Ostrogoths (section)

====5th-century Pannonian Ostrogoths====
[[File:Europe and the Near East at 476 AD.png|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Barbarian kingdoms]] and tribes after the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] in 476]]
The Pannonian Ostrogoths had fought alongside both Alans and Huns.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=177}} Like several other tribal peoples, they became one of the many Hunnic vassals fighting in Europe, as in the [[Battle of Chalons]] in 451, where the Huns were defeated by the Roman general Aetius, accompanied by a contingent of Alans, and Visigoths.{{sfn|Kim|2013|pp=75, 77}} Jordanes' account of this battle certainly cannot be trusted as he wrongly attributes a good portion of the victory to the Goths, when it was the Alans who formed the "backbone of Roman defences."{{sfn|Kim|2013|p=77}} More generally, Jordanes, depicts the Amals as an ancient royal family in his ''Getica'', making them traditionally preeminent among the Goths in Ukraine, both before and during the empire of Attila. [[Valamir]], the uncle of Theodoric the Great, is even depicted as Attila's most highly valued leader along with [[Ardaric]] of the Gepids.{{sfn|Jordanes|1915|p=107 [38.199–200]}} Modern historians such as [[Peter Heather]] believe this is an exaggeration, and point out that there were at least three factions of Goths in Attila's forces.{{sfn|Heather|2009|p=222}}{{sfn|Heather|2007|pp=46–47, 72–73}}

The recorded history of the Ostrogoths as a political entity thus begins with their independence from the remains of the Hunnic Empire following the death of [[Attila the Hun]] in 453. Under Valimir they were among the peoples who were living in the [[Middle Danube]] region by this time, and whose freedom from domination by Attila's sons was confirmed by the [[Battle of Nedao]] in 454, which was led by the [[Gepids]]. It is unclear what role the Goths played in this battle, if any, and after the battle many Goths entered Roman military service, while only some began to coalesce under the leadership of Valamir and his two brothers, Vidimir and [[Theodemir (Ostrogothic king)|Theodemir]], the father of [[Theodoric the Great]].{{sfn|Burns|1984|pp=52–53}}

These Amal-led Goths apparently first settled in the Pannonian area of [[Lake Balaton]] and Sirmium ([[Sremska Mitrovica]]), on the Roman Danube frontier. The land they acquired between Vindobona (Vienna) and Sirmium ([[Sremska Mitrovica]]) was not well-managed, a fact which rendered the Ostrogoths dependent upon Constantinople for subsidies.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=178}}{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=260–261}} They came into conflict with other [[Middle Danube|Middle Danubian]] peoples including the Danubian [[Suebian]] kingdom of [[Hunimund]], and the [[Sciri]], who had arrived as part of the Hunnic empire, and this led to the death of Valimir, and eventual Gothic victory at the [[Battle of Bolia]] in 469, now under Theodemir. Theodemir, father of Theoderic, brought these Goths into East Roman territory in 473/474.{{sfn|Heather|2003|p=86}} The younger uncle of Theoderic, Vidimir, with his like-named son and some of the Pannonian Goths, headed to Italy and his son was eventually settled in Gaul.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=188, 268}}

[[File:Hermitage hall 033 - 04.jpg|thumb|The Concesti helmet was found among the burial goods of a probable Ostrogothic Prince. [[Hermitage Museum]].{{sfn|Nicholson|2018|p=378}}]] 
Theodemir and Theoderic moved their Goths around the Balkans, while in the meantime, the Thracian Goths were the main focus of Gothic power. For some time they held a part of Macedonia, controlling part of the [[Via Egnatia]] between the major Roman cities of [[Durrës]] and [[Thessalonika]]. Theodemir died in [[Cyrrhus (Macedonia)|Cyrrhus]] in 474, having made sure that Theoderic (the future "Great") was designated as successor. In the same year, the other Theoderic ("Strabo"), fell out of favour with the new emperor Zeno.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=269–270}}