Political marriages and the Arian coalition of Theoderic the Great

Monika Ożóg

Opole

Abstract

At the turn of V and VI Century, civilities arising in Italy were ruled by one of the most powerful lords of late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages – Theodoric the Great, the King of Ostrogoths and later ruler of Italy. In the opinion
of many historians, this ruler in some way marks a new age, but if we analyze his religious politics, a hypothesis can be stated that through Arian coalitions which were completed, he aimed to set up Imperium Romanum, which will be a main topic of this paper. In the Catholic–Arian relationships one can notice their national character. For Theodoric Arians are the Goths and Catholics are the Romans. It even happens that he uses the names of religions
interchangeably with the names of the nations. It leads him into political treatments aiming to form an Arian coalition of German peoples living then on the coast of the southern part of the Mediterranean Sea, in which it is not about being anti-Catholic, but more about consolidating forces to balance the power of Byzantium. The collapse of this coalition led to internal divisions between the Goths, which contributed to the recapture of Italy by Justinian.

Keywords:

Theoderic the Great, Ostrogoths, Arianism, Imperium Romanum