The battle in Bolia is a battle held on the banks of the Bolia River in Pannonia in 469, in which the Ostrogoths of King Theodemir defeated the coalition led by the King of the Danube Suevian Hunimund . One of the most important events in the history of the Subunavia of the Great Migration Period.
| Battle of Bolia | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Conflict: Ostgotho-Suev War | |||
| date of | 469 | ||
| A place | Bolia river | ||
| Total | victory of the Ostrogoths | ||
| Opponents | |||
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| Commanders | |||
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| Losses | |||
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Content
- 1 Description
- 1.1 Historical sources
- 1.2 Background
- 1.3 Battle
- 1.4 Consequences
- 2 notes
- 3 Literature
Description
Historical Sources
The main narrative source about the battle in Bolia is the work of the Gothic historian of the middle of the 6th century Jordan " On the Origin and Acts of the Geth " [1] [2] .
Background
The battle on the Bolia River was the culmination of the war between the Ostrogoths and the Suevy [3] . The feud between the two peoples began with the seizure of King Hunimund [4] by the Ostrogoth cattle. In response, the brother of the Ostrogoth ruler, Teodemir, defeated an army of Suevs returning from a raid on Byzantine Dalmatia in battle near Lake Pelso [5] . After this defeat, Hunimund was forced to admit his submission to the Ostrogoths. Probably, in this case, the Ostrogoths acted on the position of imperial federates [6] . However, the king of the Suevs did not accept his situation: he made an alliance with the Skyrs , who rebelled against the Ostrogoths in 469 and killed their king Valamir in battle [7] . In response, the new ruler of the Ostrogoths, Theodemir, made a campaign in the lands of the Skirs and almost completely destroyed this people [8] [9] .
Battle
Frightened by the defeat of the Skirs, Hunimund entered into an alliance with neighboring peoples, who also feared the growing strength of the Ostrogoths [10] . In addition to the Hunimund Suevi, the coalition also included the Sveva of the leader Alarich [11] [12] [13] , the Sarmatians (or tongues ) of the kings Babai [14] and Bevka [15] , the remains of the Skirs led by Edika [16] and his son Gunulf [17] , rugues of King Flaccipheus , hepids and other tribes. According to the testimony of Priscus of Panius [18] , the Byzantine emperor Leo I Makella intended to support the enemies of the Ostrogoths, who sent an army under Aspar's command to help them, although this commander did not support the idea of ββwar with the Ostrogoths [2] [6] [19] . It is believed that the Byzantines played a much larger role in the formation of the anti-Ostrog coalition than Jordan reported. Perhaps the actions of Leo against the Ostrogoths of Teodemir were coordinated with the emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Procopius Antemius , who at the same time created a coalition of Franks , Burgundians , Bretons and Alans under the command of the Pavel to fight against the Visigoths of King Eirich [9] .
Having set off against the Ostrogoths, the Allied army camped on the banks of the Boliya River. Most often it is identified with the Ipel River , but a number of historians have expressed doubts about the correctness of such an identification. Here the enemies of the Ostrogoths were unexpectedly attacked by the army of King Theodemirus and his brother Vidimir I. In the bloody battle that followed, the Ostrogoths won a complete victory. The pursuit of those fleeing the battlefield lasted ten miles . Many of the warriors of the allies died (probably, among them was the king of the Skirs Edik). Moving to the battlefield, Aspar, learning about the defeat of his allies, returned with the army back to the Byzantine possessions [2] [19] .
Consequences
The victory in the battle on the Boliya River enabled King Theodemir to destroy the coalition of the Danube peoples and Byzantium created against the Ostrogoths. In the next few years, most Ostrogoth opponents were defeated. In the winter of 469/470, Teodemir made a new campaign against the Suevs: King Hunimund fled, and the remaining Danube Suevs were conquered. About 472 years old, King Babai, who died in battle, was defeated by the Ostrogoths. The Skir tribe fell apart: part of it, led by Odoacer, fled to Italy, part together with Gunulf entered the service of the Byzantines. Shortly after the battle in Bolia, Emperor Leo I Mackella, wishing to strengthen relations with King Theodemirus, returned to him his son Theodorich , who was held hostage in Constantinople . The king of the Ostrogoths also managed to make peace with the king of the rugas Flaccifeus [2] [9] [19] .
Modern historians highly value the importance of the Battle of Bolia for the history of V century Europe. They believe that the influence of this battle for the Subunavia is comparable to the influence that the battle in Catalunian fields of 451 had on Roman Gaul . After victory in Bolia, the Ostrogoths became the most influential force on the left bank of the Danube. Since that time, their opponent was only the Byzantine Empire, a successful struggle against which twenty years later led to the conquest of the Apennine Peninsula by the Ostrogoths [2] [20] .
Notes
- β Jordan . On the origin and deeds of the Getae (Β§ 273β282).
- β 1 2 3 4 5 Skrzhinskaya, 1997 , p. 348-350.
- β In the text of the Jordan, sava.
- β Martindale JR Hunimundus 2 // Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire / AM Jones , JR Martindale. - Cambridge University Press , 1980. - Vol. II: AD 395-527. - P. 574. - ISBN 0-521-20159-4 [2001 reprint].
- β Presumably, Lake Balaton or the area around the mouth of the Drava .
- β 1 2 Schukin M. B. The Gothic Way. - SPb. : Faculty of Philology, St. Petersburg State University, 2005. - S. 299-300. - ISBN 5-8465-0137-0 .
- β Martindale JR Valamer // Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire / AM Jones , JR Martindale. - Cambridge University Press , 1980. - Vol. II: AD 395-527. - P. 1135-1136. - ISBN 0-521-20159-4 [2001 reprint].
- β Martindale JR Teodemer 2 // Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire / AM Jones , JR Martindale. - Cambridge University Press , 1980. - Vol. II: AD 395-527. - P. 1069-1070. - ISBN 0-521-20159-4 [2001 reprint].
- β 1 2 3 Lotter F. VΓΆlkerverschiebungen im Ostalpen-Mitteldonau-Raum zwischen Antike und Mittelalter (375-600) . - Walter de Gruyter , 2003 .-- P. 110-113. - ISBN 978-3-1101-7855-5 .
- β Reinhard Wenskus. Bolia // Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . - Berlin / New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1978. - Bd. 3. - S. 213. - ISBN 3-11-006512-6 .
- β Martindale JR Alaricus 2 // Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire / AM Jones , JR Martindale. - Cambridge University Press , 1980. - Vol. II: AD 395-527. - P. 49. - ISBN 0-521-20159-4 [2001 reprint].
- β Skrzhinskaya, 1997 , p. 266.
- β Seeck O Alaricus 3 // Paulys RealencyclopΓ€die der classischen Altertumswissenschaft . - Bd. I, 1. - Stuttg. : JB Metzler, 1893. - Sp. 1291: German text
- β Martindale JR Babai // Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire / AM Jones , JR Martindale. - Cambridge University Press , 1980. - Vol. II: AD 395-527. - P. 207. - ISBN 0-521-20159-4 [2001 reprint].
- β Martindale JR Beuca // Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire / AM Jones , JR Martindale. - Cambridge University Press , 1980. - Vol. II: AD 395-527. - P. 229. - ISBN 0-521-20159-4 [2001 reprint].
- β Martindale JR Edeco // Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire / AM Jones , JR Martindale. - Cambridge University Press , 1980. - Vol. II: AD 395-527. - P. 385-386. - ISBN 0-521-20159-4 [2001 reprint].
- β Martindale JR Onoulphus // Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire / AM Jones , JR Martindale. - Cambridge University Press , 1980. - Vol. II: AD 395-527. - P. 806. - ISBN 0-521-20159-4 [2001 reprint].
- β Priscus of Panius . Gothic history (fragment 35).
- β 1 2 3 Tungsten H. Gotha. - SPb. : Juventa , 2003 .-- S. 378-382. - ISBN 5-87399-142-1 .
- β Budanov V.P., Gorsky A.A., Ermolova I.E. The Great Migration of Peoples: Ethnopolitical and Social Aspects. - M .: Institute of Russian History, 1999. - P. 118.
Literature
- Skrzhinskaya E. Ch. Comments on βGeticsβ of Jordan // Jordan. Getics. - SPb. : Aletheia , 1997 .-- 512 p. - ISBN 5-89329-030-1 .
- Jaques T. Dictionary of Battles and Sieges. - Westport, Connecticut - London: Greenwood Press , 2007 .-- P. 1070. - ISBN 978-0-313-33536-5 .