Fritigern or
Fritigernus (died ca. 380) was a Tervingian
GothicThe Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
chieftain whose decisive victory at
AdrinaopleThe Battle of Adrianople , sometimes known as the Battle of Hadrianopolis, was fought between a Roman army led by the Roman Emperor Valens and Gothic rebels led by Fritigern...
the Gothic War (376-382) extracted favourable terms for the Goths when peace was made with
GratianGratian was Roman Emperor from 375 to 383.The eldest son of Valentinian I, during his youth Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers. Upon the death of Valentinian in 375, Gratian's brother Valentinian II was declared emperor by his father's soldiers...
in 382.
War against Athanaric
Socrates ScholasticusSocrates of Constantinople, also known as Socrates Scholasticus, not to be confused with the Greek philosopher Socrates, was a Greek Christian church historian, a contemporary of Sozomen and Theodoret, who used his work; he was born at Constantinople c. 380: the date of his death is unknown...
,
SozomenSalminius Hermias Sozomenus was a historian of the Christian church.-Family and Home:He was born around 400 in Bethelia, a small town near Gaza, into a wealthy Christian family of Palestine....
, and
ZosimusZosimus was a Byzantine historian, who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I . According to Photius, he was a comes, and held the office of "advocate" of the imperial treasury.- Historia Nova :...
refer to conflicts between Fritigern and
AthanaricAthanaric was king of several branches of the Thervingian Goths for at least two decades in the fourth century. His name, Athanareiks, means "Year King" or "King for the Year" comes from the Gothic word Athni meaning "year" and the Gothic Reiks meaning "king."A probable rival of Fritigern, another...
.
Ammianus MarcellinusAmmianus Marcellinus was a fourth-century Roman historian. He wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Antiquity...
and
PhilostorgiusPhilostorgius was an Anomoean Church historian of the 4th and 5th centuries. Anomoeanism questioned the Trinitarian account of the relationship between God the Father and Christ and was considered a heresy by the Orthodox Church, which adopted the term "homoousia" in the Nicene Creed. Very little...
do not record such conflicts.
According to Socrates, Fritigern and Athanaric were rival leaders of the (Therving) Goths. As this rivalry grew into warfare, Athanaric gained the advantage, and Fritigern asked for Roman aid. The Emperor
ValensValens was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 364 to 378. He was given the eastern half of the empire by his brother Valentinian I after the latter's accession to the throne...
and the Thracian field army intervened, Valens and Fritigern defeated Athanaric, and Fritigern converted to Christianity, following the same teachings as Valens followed. Sozomen follows Socrates' account.
According to Zosimus, Athanaric (Athomaricus) was the king of the Goths (Scythians). Sometime after their victory at Adrianople, and after the accession of Theodosius, Fritigern, Alatheus, and Saphrax moved north of the Danube and defeated Athanaric, before returning south of the Danube.
The earliest sources that mention Fritigern originate from the period in which
ValensValens was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 364 to 378. He was given the eastern half of the empire by his brother Valentinian I after the latter's accession to the throne...
, emperor of the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, attacked the Thervingi (367-369) and from the period in which the
HunsThe Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
raided the Thervingi (ca. 376). In this period a civil war may have broken out between Fritigern and
AthanaricAthanaric was king of several branches of the Thervingian Goths for at least two decades in the fourth century. His name, Athanareiks, means "Year King" or "King for the Year" comes from the Gothic word Athni meaning "year" and the Gothic Reiks meaning "king."A probable rival of Fritigern, another...
, a prominent Therving ruler. Before or during this civil war, Fritigern converted to ("
ArianArianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
")
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. Nevertheless, Athanaric seems to have won this war. This is deduced by historians from the fact that Athanaric would later lead the Thervingi in battle against the Huns in 376.
The Danube Crossing
The Thervingi however were not able to keep the Huns at bay, and were under increasing pressure from the
HunsThe Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
who had already conquered their kinsmen, the Greuthungi. While Fritigern asked Valens to allow the Thervingi to cross the northern Roman border and settle in
MoesiaMoesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included territories of modern-day Southern Serbia , Northern Republic of Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobrudja, Southern Moldova, and Budjak .-History:In ancient...
or
ThraciaThracia is a Web-Based computer game created and developed by an exclusively Romanian team, part of Infotrend Consulting, and launched in 2009. At the time, it was the first endeavor of its kind. All browser games were text based, made up mostly of static content...
, with the Danube River and Roman frontier forts protecting them from the Huns, (thus this was a form of
asylumRight of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries...
), Athanaric and many of his followers retreated to Caucaland (probably
TransylvaniaTransylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
). Valens agreed to permit Fritigern's followers to enter the empire. In return, they would be subject to
military serviceMilitary service, in its simplest sense, is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft . Some nations require a specific amount of military service from every citizen...
, but would be treated the same as other Roman subjects. As it turned out, neither happened.
During the fall of 376, the Romans helped Alavivus and Fritigern's people cross the Danube and settle in the province of
MoesiaMoesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included territories of modern-day Southern Serbia , Northern Republic of Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobrudja, Southern Moldova, and Budjak .-History:In ancient...
. However, many followers of Athanaric also slipped across the river, which increased Fritigern's problems in governing his people. In 377, a famine hit the areas settled by the Thervingi, and their appeals for help went unanswered. In fact, the Roman governors of the area,
LupicinusLupicinus was a Roman lieutenant of Valens in Thrace in the late fourth century AD.His reputed poor treatment of the Thervingi Goths under Fritigern lead to the Gothic Wars, and the Battle of Adrianople.-References:...
and
MaximusMaximus is the Latin term for "greatest" or "largest". In this connexion it is used to refer to:*Circus Maximus *Pontifex Maximus, the highest priest of the ancient Roman College of Pontiffs...
, treated them badly. They sold them food only at extremely high prices, which forced many Goths to sell their children as slaves. Also they invited several Therving leaders to a feast, in which they killed and took some Therving leaders hostage. Alavivus most likely remained a hostage, but Fritigern was able to escape and he became leader of the Thervingi. Soon he declared war on the Roman Empire.
War against Valens
Fritigern led his people into battle (the Gothic War (376-382)). After a battle in 376 Lupicinus' troops were completely defeated, which meant that the total Roman territorial defense in the region vanished. As a consequence the Thervingi soon held sway over much of the neighboring, richer province of
ThraciaThracia is a Web-Based computer game created and developed by an exclusively Romanian team, part of Infotrend Consulting, and launched in 2009. At the time, it was the first endeavor of its kind. All browser games were text based, made up mostly of static content...
. The crisis continued into 378, and on August 9 of that year, Fritigern avenged his kinsmen's defeat of 109 years before at the
Battle of NaissusThe Battle of Naissus was the defeat of a Gothic coalition by the Roman Empire under Emperor Gallienus near Naissus...
by handing Rome its worst military defeat in centuries, at the Battle of Adrianople (378). Fritigern's victory soon led to the Thervings gaining control of much of the entire Balkan peninsula. Although his army lacked the siege instruments needed to take the Roman capital of
ConstantinopleConstantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, they did raid
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, leaving only small areas of the country unravaged, including the city of
AthensAthens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
.
Fritigern continued to battle the Romans with mixed success for two years after his great victory.
He is honored in the
Walhalla templeThe Walhalla temple is a hall of fame that honors laudable and distinguished Germans, famous personalities in German history — politicians, sovereigns, scientists and artists of the German tongue". The hall is housed in a neo-classical building above the Danube River, east of Regensburg, in...
as
Friediger.