Editing Euric

{{Short description|King of the Visigoths from 466 to 484}}
{{Other uses|Eurico (disambiguation){{!}}Eurico}}
{{for|the Suevic king of this name|Eboric}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox royalty
| succession      = [[King of the Visigoths]]
| reign           = 466 – 28 December 484
| coronation      =
| predecessor     = [[Theodoric II]]
| successor       = [[Alaric II]]
| spouse          = [[Ragnagild]]
| issue           = [[Alaric II]]
| dynasty         = [[Balt dynasty|Balt]]
| father          = [[Theodoric I]]
| mother          =
| birth_date      = {{circa}} 420
| birth_place     = 
| death_date      = {{death date and age|484|12|28|420|df=y}}
| death_place     = 
| place of burial = 
| religion        = [[Arianism]]
}}
'''Euric''' ([[Gothic language|Gothic]]: 𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃, ''Aiwareiks'', see ''[[Eric]]''), also known as '''Evaric''' ({{circa}} 420{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|p=157}} – 28 December 484), son of [[Theodoric I]], ruled as king (''rex'') of the [[Visigoths]], after murdering his brother, [[Theodoric II]],<ref>Ian Wood, ''The Merovingians Kingdoms: 450–751'', (Longman Group, 1994), 16.</ref> from 466 until his death in 484. Sometimes he is called Euric II.

==Reign==
With his capital at [[Toulouse]], Euric inherited a large portion of the Visigothic possessions in the [[Aquitaine]] region of [[Gaul]], an area that had been under Visigothic control since 415. Over the decades the Visigoths had gradually expanded their holdings at the expense of the weak Roman government, including Euric's sieges of Clermont in 475 and 476,<ref>Ian Wood, ''The Merovingians Kingdoms:450-751'', 17</ref> as well as advancing well into [[Hispania]] in the process.

Upon becoming king, Euric defeated several other Visigothic kings and chieftains in a series of civil wars and soon became the first ruler of a truly unified Visigothic nation. Taking advantage of the Romans' problems, he extended Visigothic power in Hispania, driving the [[Suebi|Suevi]] into the northwest of Iberia. By the time the [[Western Roman Empire]] ended in 476 he controlled nearly the entire [[Iberian Peninsula]].

In 469 or 470 Euric defeated the [[King of the Britons|British king]] [[Riothamus]] at [[Battle of Déols|Déols]] and expanded his kingdom even further north, possibly as far as the [[Loire River]], the [[March (territory)|march]] of [[Syagrius]] territory. During what has become known as the [[Battle of Arles (471)]], near Arelate, presently [[Arles]], Euric defeated a Roman army, killing three Roman counts and [[Anthemiolus]], son of the Roman emperor [[Anthemius]].

Previous Visigothic kings had officially ruled only as legates of the Roman emperor but Euric was the first to declare his complete independence from the puppet emperors. In 475 he forced the Western Emperor [[Julius Nepos]] to recognize his full independence instead of the status of [[foederati]] in exchange for the return of the [[Provence]] region of Gaul. The Roman citizens of Hispania then pledged their allegiance to Euric, recognizing him as their king. In the same year [[Clermont-Ferrand|Clermont(-Ferrand)]] surrendered to him after a long siege, and its bishop, [[Sidonius Apollinaris]], sued for peace.

Euric was one of the more learned of the great Visigothic kings and was the first one to formally codify his people's laws. The ''[[Code of Euric]]'' probably issued around 476<ref>King P.D. 1972 Law and society in the Visigothic Kingdom,  p 7</ref> codified the traditional laws that had been entrusted to the memory of designated specialists who had learned each article by heart. He employed many Gallo-Roman nobles in his court such as Leo of Narbonne.

At Euric's death of natural causes in 484 the Kingdom of the Visigoths encompassed a third of modern [[France]] and almost all of Iberia (i.e. except the region of [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] then expanding until the Douro river basin in present-day [[Portugal]] and by then ruled by the [[Suebi]]). {{Blockquote|The fortune of nations has often depended on accidents; and France may ascribe her greatness to the premature death of the Gothic king, at a time when his son by his wife [[Ragnachildis]], [[Alaric II]] was a helpless infant [Alaric was at least 18 when his father Euric died], and his adversary [[Clovis I|Clovis]] an ambitious and valiant youth.|[[Edward Gibbon]]|[[History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]|}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite encyclopedia |title=Euric (c.420-484) |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation |editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Frassetto |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2003 }}

==External links==
*Edward Gibbon, [https://web.archive.org/web/20050313090853/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/g/gibbon/edward/g43d/chapter37.html ''History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' Chapter 37]
*Edward Gibbon, [https://web.archive.org/web/20040817020717/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/g/g43d/chapter38.html ''History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' Chapter 38]

{{commons category-inline|Eurico}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Balti dynasty]]||415||484|name=King Euric of the Visigoths}}
{{s-reg|}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Theodoric II]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Visigothic Kingdom#List of kings|King of the Visigoths]]|years=466 – 28 December 484}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Alaric II]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Visigothic kings}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:420s births]]
[[Category:484 deaths]]
[[Category:Balt dynasty]]
[[Category:5th-century Visigothic monarchs]]
[[Category:Gothic warriors]]