Ildebad

After Belisarius refused to become king, the Ostrogothic leaders turned to Uraia, the nephew of Vitiges , who had occupied Pavius and enjoyed the greatest recognition between them recently, but he refused in favor of Ildebad, the brave commander, nephew of Theudis , king of the Visigoths .

After the fall of Ravenna and the capture of King Vitigues, the situation in Italy was as follows. Partially south of the Po River, and mainly north of it, small Goths were concentrated. Separate leaders settled down with squads subordinate to them in different areas and in peacetime inspired fear in the rural population with brutal violence, extortion and robbery.

The kingdom of Ildebad at first was unlikely to consist of more than a strip of land from Pavia to Verona , and only 1,000 Gothic warriors who made up the garrison of the city of Ticino were subordinate to it. However, Ildebad was able to quickly succeed. Tarbezius (modern Treviso ) was the strongest fortress in the center of the province of Venice . He was held by the "imperial" Herul . Ildebad went on the offensive and in the battle of Tarbesia destroyed the only Roman army located north of the Po River, under the command of Vitaly, who bore the rank of commander in chief Illyric . Vitaly fled, retaining only a few of his soldiers, but he lost most of his troops in battle. In this battle, the majority of the Herul fell, too, the head of the Herul, Wisander, died. The nephew of Ildebad Totil became the commander of the garrison. After his victory over Vitaly, Ildebad became a national hero; Now the number of Goths supporting Ildebad has increased. In a short time, he captured both provinces - Liguria and Venice .

Following the recall of Belisarius , who was supposed to be sent east against the Persians , in Italy military and civilian power was divided between different leaders: Bessa, John and Constantian, and the latter received under his authority Ravenna and her garrison. The emperor who was left without the commander-in-chief of the Italian army was struck by general desertion . The further duration of the Gothic war is explained by two circumstances: firstly, the weak military forces that the Byzantines acted against the Goths; secondly, the bad administration of those cities that fell under the rule of Byzantium , why the Romans soon began to repent of sympathy for the Byzantines. Severe, even ruinous taxes - the fisk wanted to recover arrears from the time of the death of Theodorich the Great - corrupted the army and civilian population. At the same time, the emperor cut back on payments to the troops, if at all, did not suspend them.

In the second period of the war, roles changed. Now the Goths became the advancing side, and the Byzantines had to defend themselves in the areas they occupied, south of the Po River. Ildebad and Uraya even allowed themselves to arrange a bloody feud, without fear of an attack by the Byzantine soldiers. Uraya fell in this fight. Tradition says that this misfortune happened due to the clash of their wives. Uraya’s wife was distinguished by her wealth and bodily beauty, taking undoubtedly the first place among all the women in the circle of then-barbarians. Once she went to the bathhouse, dressed in shiny robes with amazing decorations, accompanied by a large retinue. Seeing there Ildibad’s wife, dressed in simple clothes, she not only did not greet her as the king’s wife, but even looking at her with contempt, she insulted her. The king stood up for the honor of his wife.

But the political role of Ildebad was very short-lived: he was killed during a feast by a gepid from his personal guard. The fact is that when this hepid was on a campaign, Ildebad ignorantly, or being guided by some other reason, married his bride to someone else.

• Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Ildebad
• Genealogie Mittelalter. Ildebad

• Procopius of Caesarea. The war with the Goths. Book III. Chapters 1-20
• Tungsten, Herwig . Goths. From the origins to the middle of the VI century / Translation from German B. Milovidov, M. Schukin. - SPb. : Juventa, 2003 .-- 654 p. - (Historical Library). - 2,000 copies. - ISBN 5-87399-142-1 .
• Western Europe . // Rulers of the World. Chronological and genealogical tables on world history in 4 vols. / Compiled by V.V. Erlikhman . - T. 2.