1.Previous
3.Next

king's bodyguards and adviser to King Athalaric. Under King Theodahad, he became leader of the king's bodyguards and the Gothic forces in Rome. He rose to power after the overthrow of Theodahad, whose failure to counter the Byzantines at the onset of the Gothic War had angered the Gothic nobility. To strengthen his legitimacy, Vitiges married by force Mataswintha, the granddaughter of Theodoric and daughter of Amalasuntha.

1.Previous
3.Next