80*VALENTINIAN III (35; r.425-455) (W)
Hunnic Empire (434-469)
The Huns are first recorded around 370, when they crossed the Volga River (central Russia). In their western sweep the Huns, living on horseback, easily overcame the Alani living in the plains between the Volga and Don rivers. Some of the Alani were absorbed into the Hunnic army, others managed to escape westwards to the Danube.
In 375 the Huns absorbed part of the Greuthungi Goths, living northeast of the Dniester River and later referred to as Ostrogoths; and the Tervingi Goths, living southwest of the river and later referred to as Visigoths, were driven to the Danube and in 376 the Romans allowed them to cross near the fortress of Durostorum (Silistra, southeast Bulgaria).
In 395 the Huns launched an assault through the Caucasus against both the Sassanid and East Roman empires, while a second army of Huns invaded the Balkans. By the beginning of the fifth century, the Huns were firmly established on the Great Hungarian Plain in the heart of Europe. In 406 the Hunnic king Uldin helped annihilate the army of the Gothic rebel Radagaisus. The crossing of the Rhine into Gaul by the Vandals, Alani and Suebi in 406 was in all probability triggered by the Hun’s thrusts into former Vandal and Suebic territories.
By 430 the Hunnic Empire was ruled by the two brothers, Octar (r.430) and Rua (r.422-434). In 430 a force of ten thousand Huns under Octar, campaigning west of the Hunnic realm, were utterly routed by the Burgundians. In 434 the Huns under Rua devastated Thrace and moved towards Constantinople. Unexpectedly, Rua died and Theodosius II was able to bribe the Huns to keep the peace in the Empire. Rua was succeeded by his two nephews, Bleda (r.434-445) and Attila (c.47; r.434-453), the sons of Rua’s brother, Mundzuk.
Attila the Hun (c.47; r.434-453) [1/3]
In 435 at Margus, a new treaty was negotiated in which the Romans agreed to double the tribute paid to the Huns to seven hundred pounds of gold a year; not to enter into any alliances with enemies of the Huns and to terminate any that already existed; to establish a free market on the banks of the Danube; and to release Hun prisoners held by the Romans.
Attila, like Rua, chose to have a friendly relationship with Aetius at whose disposal he would often place Hunnic mercenaries. In 436 Aetius used such mercenaries to attack the Burgundians, who had invaded and ravaged Belgica Prima (east). The Huns plundered Vangionum (=Worms) and, perhaps in revenge for the defeat in 430, slaughtered some twenty thousand Burgundians including their king Gundohar.
Leave a Reply