Athalaric

Athalaric (* 516, † October 2 534 ) ( Gothic Aþalareiks ) was king of the Ostrogoths in the Italian peninsula. He was the grandson of Theodoric the Great and became king when he died in 526.

As Athalaric ascended the throne, he was just ten years old, which is why opposition was to be feared. For this reason, his mother Amalasuntha was used as regent; his father Eutharic had died previously. However, this regulation, as has been the minority of the king, the Gothic tradition contradicted; a guardian usually needed to be a man, but Theodoric had specifically his daughter Amalasuntha used for the well did not take over the regency itself without its own ambition. Although all government decisions on behalf Athalarichs adopted and the name Amalasunthas will not appear in laws or coins, it was the ones who determined the policy guidelines for the coming years. Athalaric enjoyed at their request, also a Roman education, but what came across the title of the Gothic nobles. Even the Roman elite in the Ostrogothic kingdom and the Catholic clergy came Athalaric contrary, but he seems to have tried in his last years of the reign, with the help of some Gothic nobles ( which the pro- Roman policy Amalasunthas disliked ) by the decisive influence of his mother to solve.

Supposedly fell Athalaric the alcohol and led a dissolute life, which led to his early death. Subsequently, shared his mother and her relative Theodahad the rule, but the Ostrogothic kingdom disintegrated soon afterwards (see also Gothic war ).