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Theodoric

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

King of the Ostrogoths; demir, King of the Ostrogoths of Pannonia. From his eighth to his 18th year Leo at Constantinople. Two years after he lived as a hostage with the Emperor his return he succeeded to the throne. In Theodoric induced Odoacer, who had as- 493 after several bloody engagements , sumed the title of King of Italy, to grant Odoacer at a banquet soon after opened him equal authority. The murder of the way for Theodoric to have himself proclaimed sole ruler . Theodoric ruled with great vigor and ability. Though, like his ancestors, he was an Arian, he never violated the peace or privileges of na, Italy, Aug. 30, 526. the Catholic Church. He died in Raven- THEODORIC I., Ki goths , succeeded Wallia in 420. During King of the Visi- Romans three times, and attempted to the interval 426-436, he made war on the take the city of Narbonne . He obtained territory both in Spain and Gaul, and subsequently became the ally of the Romans against Attila , whom he defeated at Châlons-sur-Marne in 451, but lost his life in the battle. His son Thorismund succeeded him. I., acquired the throne by the murder of THEODORIC II., son of Theodoric his brother Thorismund in himself killed by Euric, another of the sons of Theodoric I. During his short in 452, but was reign he increased the empire of the Visigoths, and advanced almost as far as the Loire. He was killed in 466. THEODORUS. See THEODORE OF THEODORUS STUDITA (THEODORE OF STUDIUM: SAINT), a Greek theological writer, abbot of Studium, was born A.D. 759 at Constantinople. He became head of the monastery of Saccudium in Bithynia, was banished to Thessalonica soon afterward for having excommunicated Constantine VI, but was recalled after the emperor's death in 797. At the monastery of Studium in Constantinople, he then became the leader of a campaign in favor of asceticism and monastic reforms. He opposed the iconoclasts (see ICONOCLAST), was involved in many ecclesiastical controversies and was banished and recalled several times during the years 809-824. He finally left Constantinople and lived at various monasteries in Bithynia, on Chalcitis and on the peninsula of Tryphon near Acrita, where he died, November 11, 826. His Letters, Catecheses, and various discourses are among his most important works. He was famous for John IV. in 642. He excommunicated Paulus, patriarch of Constantinople, and condemned the heresy of the Monothelites. His successor was Martin I. He died in 649. THEODORUS II., succeeded Romanus in 898, but died in less than a month after his election.

What Has Changed in the Last Century

The bare outline Collier's gave in 1921 still holds: Theodoric was a hostage at Constantinople as a boy, destroyed Odoacer at Ravenna in 493 (killing him at the banquet with his own hand, by most accounts) and ruled Italy until his death in 526. What has shifted is the interpretation. Collier's claim that this Arian king "never violated the peace or privileges of the Catholic Church" is now heavily qualified: his last years brought the execution of the philosopher Boethius in 524 and the death of Pope John I in custody in 526, though modern historians read these as political rather than doctrinal quarrels. Since the 1960s scholars such as Herwig Wolfram and Walter Goffart have also recast the Ostrogoths themselves, arguing that "Gothic" identity was assembled around a ruling war-band rather than inherited by a single people, while Theodoric's mausoleum in Ravenna was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1996.

Written for this edition, 2026.