Chapter V: Pannonia

„Over me are only the gods.“ – Thorigais

Uldin, King of the Huns - not all of them, but the most – is facing his nightmare. The Empire he built up in the last years could collapse if he loses this battle. The Hun King looks terrifying; his face is full of scares, his head bald and deformed. The Romans fear him, they know why so many tribes cross their borders and they know the Huns are the reason for all this, but not Roman troops will challenge Uldin, not a single army dared to cross the Danubius, today he will fight his own fellows.

Thorigais, Leader of the Eastern Goths – and some other tribes – is young, ambitious and hates the Huns. He was born as his people were already enslaved by them, he never saw the Kingdom of Ermanaric but he knows that the Goth won’t stay forever under the Hunnic rule. The young man enjoyed the Hun King’s trust, always did Thorigais anything to please Uldin, he fought his battles, even striked down the Gothic rebellion of Radagais. As the King led an army into the devastated Pannonia in 401 AD, which was left by Roman armies and Vandalian settlers, Radagais followed him dutiful, but as Uldin left to smash a rebellion in the south east, he gave the command over the Pannonian troops to his cousin. Radagais used the weakness of his new lord to shake of the Hunnic yoke. Before Uldin even could arrive in Dacia and beat down the revolt, his cousin’s head already reached him.

While the Hun King destroyed all resistance against him in Dacia, Thorigais used the time to build up his own army. He gathered the Germanic tribes around him that lived under the Hunnic rule and formed a confederation against Uldin. Even the Siligian Vasals, who were on their way to the south to enter the Imperium, joined Thorigais.

It was a cold and windy day on which Uldin attacked. The cloud of arrows that was supposed to smash Thorigais’ troops was stopped by the clouds of the sky, which turned the once dry ground into a field of mud. Lightings, like a divine omen, stroke into the trees behind the Hunnic troops. This day would be known as the Battle of the Storms. The Hunnic rule was broken on this day, only for now and only in Pannonia, but Uldin was dead and his troops defeated, Thorigais ruler of Pannonia. Soon a letter from Honorius would arrive at his residence in Savaria and an answer would follow immediately:

“Oh Augustus, you are demanding tribute, you demand that I obey your rule!? [..] You don’t rule over this land, not even over your own. Do you believe I know nothing about your Empire? […] Who shall help you, helpless little Augustus? The Goths of Gallia? They don’t save you, they rule over you! The Vandals of Italia? They don’t save you, they hate you! […] You are not my lord, there is no one ruling me; over me are only the gods!” 

Thorigais was right about what he said. Only a few months later the Vandals, under Gainas command, conquered the rebellious city of Rome. Over the next year Gainas and Godigisel stayed near Rome in Portus before they left the mainland to conquer Sicilia. In Gallia Alaric was finally able to force a peace with the Franks in the summer of 405. The land in which the Goths and Vandals should settle was secured, but Gainas refused to leave Sicilia again. Honorius was forced to grant the Vandals the islands.

Thorigais was right about the instability of Rome, but he overestimated his power. After the Huns were beaten, the confederated tribes split. The Gepids overthrew Thorigais, his Empire fell, his Goths marched to the south and joint Honorius as foederati. The Gepids stayed in Pannonia, whereas a third group of mixed heritage, on the search for land and wealth, moves to the east.

 

Map 

The Western and parts of the Eastern Roman Empire in 405 AD.

Red=Western Empire; Light Red=Goth; Striped=other foederati; Outline=Vandalian Sicily

Purple=Eastern Empire
Green=Mallius Theodorus' Empire
Magenta=Britannian Empire
Yellow=Gepids