ALARICO I, king of the VISIGOTHS. – Descendant of the noble line of the Balti, b. in the year 370, he for some time commanded part of the foederati Goths attached to the army of Theodosius. In 395 he was elected king of the Visigoths, and in the same year invaded Macedonia and Greece. Repulsed by Stilicho, he nevertheless succeeded in taking refuge in the part of Illyricum belonging to the Eastern Empire, where he remained with the consent of Arcadius, who also granted him the coveted office of Magister militum. But soon, with a very powerful army, he advanced into Italy. Defeated by Stilicho, first at Pollentia on the Tanaro on 6 April 402, and then near Verona, he nevertheless managed to recross the Alps unmolested and even to obtain the prefecture of Illyricum under the authority of the Western emperor Honorius. In 408, taking advantage of Stilicho’s death, he again entered Italy and this time succeeded in advancing as far as Rome and laying siege to the city. Since no agreement with Honorius was possible, on 24 August 410 he entered Rome through the Porta Salaria and remained there for three days.
Despite the many acts of violence and plundering carried out in the city, the basilicas of S. Peter and S. Paul, where many Romans had taken refuge, were chiefly spared. From Rome he moved toward southern Italy and advanced, plundering, as far as Reggio Calabria, intending to cross into Africa. When this plan failed, he turned back with the army, but, suddenly falling ill, died and was buried beneath the bed of the Busento River, near Cosenza, in 410.
BIBLI.: F. Dahn, Die Könige der Germanen, I and II, 2nd ed., Leipzig 1911; R. Keller, Stilische oder die Geschichte des weströmischen Reiches von 395-508, Berlin 1884; H. Grisar, Roma alla fine del Mondo Antico, I, new ed., Rome 1930, pp. 73-81; M. Brion, La vie d'Alaric, Paris 1930; A. Solari, La crisi dell'Impero romano, IV; La tutela barbarica, part 1, Rome 1936; G. Romano and A. Solmi, Le dominazioni barbariche in Italia (395-558), Milan 1940, pp. 75-82. Emma Santovito