Beorgor

The main narrative sources about Beorgor and the Alans subordinate to him are the works of some Late Antique chroniclers (including Marcellinus Komitus and Cassiodorus ), the eulogy to Emperor Mayorian Sidonia Apollinaria ^[1] , “ Elder Vienna Fasts ” and Jordan’s Origin and Acts ^{[2] [3]} .

According to these sources, Beorgor was the ruler of a group of Alans, settled in 440 by Flavius ​​Aetius in the region of Valentinua ^[4] as Roman federates . It is not known in what kind of kinship Beorgor was with Sambida , who previously ruled these Alans. Although mentions of the name Beorgor in the chronicles refer only to the time of his death in 464, historians believe that he ascended the throne much earlier than this date. It is assumed that he was already king in 457, when the Alans from Valence were called up by the emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Majorian, to the Roman army for the impending war with the vandals . The Alans, along with other federates, participated in a campaign in Gaul and Spain , which ended in 460 with a world humiliating for Rome with King Heiserich ^{[5] [6]} .

For unknown reasons, after returning from the Spanish campaign, Beorgor broke allied relations with the Romans. For more than a year his Alans ravaged the Roman lands of southern Gaul and Northern Italy, becoming one of the most dangerous enemies of the Western Roman Empire of this time. Wanting to put an end to their attacks, in the summer of 461, Majorian moved north of the Apennine Peninsula , but in August he was overthrown and executed in Torton on the orders of patrician Ricimer . Nothing is known of the relationship that Beorgor established with Emperor Liby Sever . Perhaps the Alans never concluded a new treaty with the Romans ^{[5] [6]} .

Probably, in 463, the Visigoths of King Theodorich II managed to capture the valleys of the rivers Isère and Durance and expel the Alans from the territories they occupied. Intending to take land for settlement in the northern part of Italy, in 464 the Alans crossed the Alps and began to ravage the Padan Valley . However, on February 6, Ricimer, who opposed them with his army, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Alans in a battle near Bergamo . Among the many dead Alans was King Beorgor. The few surviving barbarians were recruited into the Roman army ^{[6] [7] [8]} .

• Alans. Western Europe and Byzantium. - Vladikavkaz: North Osset. Institute of Humanitarian Studies, 1992. - 208 p.
• Martindale JR Beorgor // Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire / AM Jones , JR Martindale. - Cambridge University Press , 1980. - Vol. II: AD 395-527. - P. 224. - ISBN 0-521-20159-4 [2001 reprint].