Wiemer, Hans-Ullrich Theoderic the Great. King of Goths, Ruler of Romans

Ravenna, 5 March 493: Not a bone was left in this 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 end 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 beginning of his reign could hardly expect that it would be the treacherous, bloodstained Theoderic who 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 labour military duties for the Goths, civil life and the payment of taxes for the Romans. The secret of his success, which the author of this modern biography convincingly unravels, was integration through separation! Even after 1,500 years, it is fascinating to see how Theodoric, 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 with 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 establish peace without compromise when necessary.