ATTILA

ATTILA. — He was the leader of the Huns around the mid-5th century, initially together with his brother Bleda, then alone after Bleda was killed. He first invaded the Balkan peninsula during the Vandalic War and obtained concessions from Theodosius II. He then turned his sights toward the West, and when Valentinian III rejected his demands, he assembled a powerful army with which, at the beginning of 451, he crossed the Rhine. The battle between the Huns and the Romans (aided by the Visigoths) took place in June on the Catalaunian Plains; Attila was defeated, though he managed to retreat with his forces. The following year he invaded Italy, destroying Aquileia and Padua and sacking Milan and Pavia; seeing that further advance was impossible, the emperor began negotiations, and Pope Leo himself went to the Mincio to parley with Attila. The Pope’s influence secured a compromise from the barbarian. Attila died suddenly in Pannonia in 453, and with his death the horde of the Huns dispersed, ceasing to pose a threat to the Roman world. Documentation on Attila is very scarce; from the 8th century onward he has been known by the title “Scourge of God.”