Alaric II, also known as Alarik, Alarich, and
Alarico in
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
and
PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...
or
Alaricus in
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
(d. 507) succeeded his father
EuricEuric, also known as Evaric, Erwig, or Eurico in Spanish and Portuguese , was the younger brother of Theodoric II and ruled as king of the Visigoths, with his capital at Toulouse, from 466 until his death in 484....
in 485 and became eighth king of the Visigoths. He established his capital at
Aire-sur-l'AdourAire-sur-l'Adour is a commune in the Landes department in Aquitaine in south-western France.It lies on the river Adour in the wine area of southwest France. It is an episcopal see of the Diocese of Aire and Dax...
(
Vicus Julii). His dominions included not only the whole of
HispaniaHispania was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior...
except its north-western corner but also
Gallia AquitaniaGallia Aquitania was a province of the Roman Empire, bordered by the provinces of Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Narbonensis, and Hispania Tarraconensis...
and the greater part of an as-yet undivided
Gallia NarbonensisGallia Narbonensis was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in southern France. It was also known as Gallia Transalpina , which was originally a designation for that part of Gaul lying across the Alps from Italia...
.
Reign
In 486 Alaric II denied refuge to Afranius Syagrius, the former ruler of the
Domain of SoissonsThe Domain of Soissons or incorrectly called the Kingdom of Soissons, Kingdom of Aegidius or the Kingdom of Syagrius, was the continuation of the Western Roman Empire in Gaul during Late Antiquity...
who was defeated by
Clovis IClovis was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one king. He also introduced Christianity. He was the son of Childeric I and Basina. At age 16, he succeeded his father, in the year 481...
. Alarmed by a summons from Clovis, Alaric imprisoned and repatriated Syagrius back to Clovis I, where he was beheaded.
In 506, the Visigoths captured the city of Dertosa in the Ebro valley. There they captured the
Roman usurperUsurpers are individuals or groups of individuals who obtain and maintain the power or rights of another by force and without legal authority. Usurpers were a common feature of the late Roman Empire, especially from the crisis of the third century onwards, when political instability became the...
PeterPeter was a Roman usurper of the early sixth century, recorded in two minor sources: the Consularia Caesaraugustana and the Victoris Tunnunnensis Chronicon. He was a "tyrant" against the Visigothic rulers of Spain. When the Visigoths captured the city of Dertosa in 506, he was arrested and...
and had him executed.
In religion Alaric was an
ArianArianism is the theological teaching of Arius , a Christian priest, who was first ruled a heretic at the First Council of Nicea of 325, later exonerated in 335 at the First Synod of Tyre, and then pronounced a heretic again after his death at the First Council of Constantinople of 381...
, like all the early Visigothic nobles, but he greatly mitigated the persecuting policy of his father Euric toward the
CatholicsCatholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole...
and authorized them to hold in 506 the council of
AgdeAgde is the commune in the Hérault department in southern France that is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi. Its inhabitants are called Agathois.-Location:...
. He was on uneasy terms with the Catholic bishops of Arles as epitomized in the career of the Frankish Caesarius, bishop of Arles, born at
ChâlonsChalons may refer to:Places* Châlons, in France's Isère département* Châlons-en-Champagne, formerly Châlons-sur-Marne, in the Marne département* Chalon-sur-Saône, in the Saône-et-Loire département* Roman Catholic Diocese of Châlons...
and appointed bishop in 503. Caesarius was suspected of conspiring with the
BurgundiansThe Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe. In Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar, Veseti settled in an island or holm, which was called...
to turn over the Arelate to Burgundy, whose king had married the sister of
ClovisClovis was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one king. He also introduced Christianity. He was the son of Childeric I and Basina. At age 16, he succeeded his father, in the year 481...
, so Alaric exiled him for a year safely at
Bordeauxis a port city on the Garonne River in southwest France, with one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area at a 2008 estimate. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department...
in Aquitania before allowing him to return unharmed when the crisis had passed (
Wace, Dictionary).
He displayed similar wisdom and liberality in political affairs by appointing a commission to prepare an abstract of the Roman laws and imperial decrees, which should form the authoritative code for his Roman subjects. This is generally known as the
Breviarium Alaricianum or
Breviary of AlaricThe Breviary of Alaric is a collection of Roman law, compiled by order of Alaric II, King of the Visigoths, with the advice of his bishops and nobles, in the year 506, the twenty-second year of his reign...
.
Battle of Vouillé and aftermath
Alaric endeavoured strictly to maintain the treaty which his father had concluded with the
FranksThe Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic tribal confederation first attested in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul...
. The Frankish king
Clovis IClovis was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one king. He also introduced Christianity. He was the son of Childeric I and Basina. At age 16, he succeeded his father, in the year 481...
, however, desired to obtain the Gothic province in Gaul and he found a pretext for war in the Arianism of Alaric. The intervention of
TheodoricTheodoric the Great , was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , regent of the Visigoths , and a viceroy of the Roman Empire...
, king of the Ostrogoths and father-in-law of Alaric, proved unavailing. The two armies met in 507 at the
Battle of VouilléThe Battle of Vouillé or Vouglé was fought in the northern marches of Visigothic territory, at a small place near Poitiers , in the spring of 507 between the Franks commanded by Clovis and the Visigoths of Alaric II, the conqueror of Spain.Clovis and Anastasius I of the Byzantine Empire agreed...
, near Poitiers, where the Goths were defeated and their king, who took to flight, was overtaken and slain, it is said, by Clovis himself. As a consequence of their defeat the Visigoths lost all their possessions in
GaulGaul is a historical name used in the context of the Roman Empire in references to the region of Western Europe approximating present day France and Belgium, but also sometimes including the Po Valley, western Switzerland, and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River...
to the Franks, except
SeptimaniaSeptimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed under the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II. Under the Visigoths it was known as simply Gallia or Narbonensis. It corresponded roughly with the modern...
(i.e. the western region of Gallia Narbonensis, which includes the contemporary
ArlesArles is a city in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence.-Geography:...
and the
ProvenceProvence is a region of southeastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
). Alaric was succeeded by his illegitimate son,
GesalecGesalic was king of the Visigoths from 507 through 511. He was the illegitimate son of Alaric II. When Alaric was killed in battle by the Franks, his only legitimate son, Amalaric, was a child. The Visigoths, who didn't use a system of primogeniture, elected Gesalec to reign...
, because his legitimate son
AmalaricAmalaric, or in Spanish and Portuguese, Amalarico, was a son of king Alaric II and of Theodegotho, daughter of Theodoric the Great and his first wife. Amalaric was himself king of the Visigoths from 526 till he was assassinated in 531....
was still a child.