ng of the Vandals, in which he was widely supported by the
sympathy of his neighbors. To protect himself and his dominions
from this dangerous invasion Genseric by "rich gifts and pressing
solicitations inflamed the ambition of Attila," who, thus persuaded,
marched, A. D. 451, with an army of seven hundred thousand men
in his memorable invasion of Gaul. This required that not only the
forces of Theodoric, but all the power of the whole West should
stand unitedly in defense of their very homes. The battle that was
fought was the battle of Chalons. "The body of Theodoric, pierced
with honorable wounds, was discovered under a heap of the slain:
his subjects bewailed the death of their king and father; but their
tears were mingled with songs and acclamations, and his funeral
rites were performed in the face of a vanquished enemy. The
Goths, clashing their arms, elevated on a buckler his eldest son,
Torismond, to whom they justly ascribed the glory of their success;
and the new king accepted the obligation of revenge as a sacred
portion of his paternal inheritance." -- Gibbon. 203
6. Torismond was murdered in A. D. 453 by his younger
brother, Theodoric II, who reigned till 466. In 456 he invaded
Spain in an expedition against "the Suevi who had fixed their
kingdom in Gallicia,"
10
and who now "aspired to the conquest of Spain," and even
threatened to attack Theodoric under the very walls of his own
capital. "Such a challenge urged Theodoric to prevent the bold
designs of his enemy: he passed the Pyrenees at the head of the
Visigoths: the Franks and the Burgundians served under his
standard. . . . The two armies, or rather the two nations,
encountered each other on the banks of the River Urbicus, about
twelve miles from Astorga; and the decisive victory of the Goths
appeared for a while to have extirpated the name and kingdom of
the Suevi. From the field of battle Theodoric advanced to Braga,
their metropolis, which still retained the splendid vestiges of its
ancient commerce and dignity." -- Gibbon. 214 The king of the Suevi
was captured and slain by Theodoric, who "carried his victorious
arms as far as Merida," whence he returned to his capital.
7. In A. D. 466 Theodoric was assassinated by Euric, who
reigned till 485. Immediately upon his accession he renewed the
Visigothic invasion of Spain. "He passed the Pyrenees at the head
of a numerous army, subdued the cities of Saragossa and
Pampeluna, vanquished in battle the martial nobles of the
Tarragonese province, carried his victorious arms into the heart of
Lusitania, and permitted the Suevi to hold the kingdom of Gallicia
under the Gothic monarchy of Spain" which he made permanent.
225
8. "The efforts of Euric were not less vigorous nor less successful
in Gaul; and throughout the country that extends from the
Pyrenees to the Rhone and the Loire, Berry and Auvergne were
the only cities, or dioceses, which refused to acknowledge him as
their master." "As soon as Odoacer had extinguished the Western
Empire, he sought the friendship of the most powerful of the
barbarians. The new sovereign of Italy resigned to Euric, king of
the Visigoths [A. D. 476-485], all the Roman conquests beyond the
Alps as far as the Rhine and the ocean; and the Senate might
confirm this liberal gift with some ostentation of power, and
without any real loss of revenue or dominion.
9. "The lawful pretensions of Euric were justified by ambition
and success; and the Gothic nation might aspire, under his
command, to the monarchy of Spain and Gaul. Arles and
Marseilles surrendered to his arms; he oppressed the freedom of
Auvergne; and the bishop condescended
11
to purchase his recall from exile by a tribute of just, but reluctant
praise. Sidonius waited before the gates of the palace among a
crowd of ambassadors and suppliants; and their various business at
the court of Bordeaux attested the power and the renown of the
king of the Visigoths. The Heruli of the distant ocean, who
painted their naked bodies with its cerulean color, implored his
protection; and the Saxons respected the maritime provinces of a
prince who was destitute of any naval force. The tall Burgundians
submitted to his authority; nor did he restore the captive Franks till
he had imposed on that fierce nation the terms of an unequal
peace. The Vandals of Africa cultivated his useful friendship: and the
Ostrogoths of Pannonia were supported by his powerful aid against
the oppression of the neighboring Huns. The North (such are the
lofty strains of the poet) was agitated or appeased by the nod of
Euric; the great king of Persia consulted the oracle of the West;
and the aged god of the Tyber was protected by the swelling genius
of the Garonne." 236
10. The reign of Euric "was the culminating point of the
Visigothic monarchy in Gaul." -- Guizot. 24 7 He was succeeded, A.
D. 485, by his son, Alaric II, at the time "a helpless infant."
Though Alaric II reigned twenty-two years, he so "gave himself up
to the pursuit of pleasure" that his reign "was the epoch of the
decay of the Visigothic monarchy in Gaul," which indeed ended at
the death of Alaric II by the hand of Clovis the Frank, in the battle
of Poitiers, A. D. 507. Alaric II was succeeded by his infant son,
Amalaric, who was taken into Spain. And though the Visigoths still
held in Gaul "a narrow tract of seacoast from the Rhone to the
Pyrenees," from this time forward their dominion was properly in
Spain, to which country it was limited, and wherein its seat was
permanently fixed in the reign of Theudes, who succeeded
Amalaric in A. D. 531, and reigned till 548.
11. The kingdom of the Visigoths continued to flourish in all
Spain until A. D. 711. By that time luxury had so enervated them,
and their despotism and persecutions had so estranged the subject
peoples, that in a single year, 711-712, Tarik, the Saracen
