THEODORIC I AND II, Kings of the Visigoths. - The people of the Visigoths, who, following Alaric, proclaimed king, had sacked Rome and overrun all of Italy, after the death of that bold leader of theirs, withdrew with Athaulf into southern Gaul, bound to the Empire by a foedus repeatedly violated and renewed. In 418, Theodoric I succeeded King Wallia, and, profiting from the death of Honorius and the misfortunes of the Empire, he constantly strove to expand the boundaries of the territory granted to him, pushing toward the center of Gaul, checked at times by the magister utriusque militiae Aetius and his generals, but always ready to resume his advances.
It is doubtful whether in any of the peace treaties, more than once renewed with him by the imperial government, the complete independence of the Visigothic Kingdom centered on Toulouse was recognized, or whether the semi-federation of the federated State persisted; but when the Huns of Attila poured over Gaul, Theodoric, feeling himself also threatened, drew close to Rome, and had an honorable part in the resistance, falling killed at Campus Mauricus near Troyes in 451.
Theodoric II, son of the preceding, seized the throne by killing his brother Thorismund. He maintained good relations with the Romans, especially after the sack of Rome by Genseric; he was able to play a notable part in the events that unfolded in Gaul, supporting the imperial candidacy of Avitus, fighting for Rome against the Vandals of Spain, adopting an attitude first hostile then favorable to the emperor Majorian, and succeeding in enlarging his domains toward Narbo Martius (Narbonne) and Aurelianum (Orléans). After the killing of Majorian he allied himself with the killer Flavius Ricimer, who had become very powerful. But this friendship did not succeed in saving him from the treachery of his own brother Euric, who had him killed in the year 466.
Bibliography3 works
Roberto Paribeni