Wiemer, Hans-Ullrich Theoderic the Great

King of the Goths, Ruler of Romans

Ravenna, March 5, 493: There was not a bone in that scoundrel. This was how the Gothic king Theoderic commented on his murder of Odoacer, whom he had just sent to his death with a single sword stroke. With the demise of his adversary, a position had become vacant: that of ruler of the western part of the Roman Empire. Anyone who had witnessed the bloody start of his reign could hardly have expected that Theoderic, of all people, the oath-breaker and bloodstained man, would succeed in bringing the Goths and Romans a period of decades of peace and stability. This book tells the exciting story of how he managed to keep his two peoples apart through a clever division of labormilitary tasks for the Goths, civil life and tax collection for the Romans. The secret of his success, which the author of this modern biography convincingly unravels, was integration through separation! Even after 1500 years, it is fascinating to see how Theoderic, despite the great potential for conflict in matters of faith and church organisation, between warriors and civilians, in relations with the emperor in Constantinople and the Germanic kings in the West, and in the face of pressing social problems managed to maintain peace both internally and externally, but also to create peace without compromise when necessary.