View source for Amalasuintha

{{short description|Regent and queen regnant of the Ostrogoths}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox royalty
| image        = Ritratto femminile di tipo ariadne-amalasunta, 480-525 dc ca, da s.m. ai monti (musei capitolini).jpg
| caption      = Portrait head at the [[Capitoline Hill#Palazzo dei Conservatori|Palazzo dei Conservatori]], assumed to depict Amalasuintha or [[Ariadne (empress)|Ariadne]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://laststatues.classics.ox.ac.uk/database/detail.php?record=LSA-756 |title=Detail :: Last Statues of Antiquity |access-date=1 August 2025 |archive-date=13 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713233337/http://laststatues.classics.ox.ac.uk/database/detail.php?record=LSA-756 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| succession   = [[Regent]] of the [[Ostrogoths]]
| reign        = 30 August 526{{snd}}2 October 534
| reign-type   = Regency
| predecessor  = [[Athalaric]]
| pre-type     = Monarch
| succession1  = [[Queen regnant]] of the [[Ostrogoths]]
| reign1       = 2 October 534{{snd}}30 April 535
| regent1      = [[Theodahad]]
| reg-type1    = Co-monarch
| predecessor1 = [[Athalaric]]
| successor1   = [[Theodahad]] (as sole monarch)
| birth_date   = {{circa|lk=no|495}}
| death_date   = 30 April 535 (aged 39–40)
| father       = [[Theoderic the Great]]
| mother       = [[Audofleda]]
| spouse       = Traguilla<br />[[Eutharic]]
| issue        = [[Athalaric]]<br />[[Matasuintha]]
| dynasty      = [[Amali dynasty|Amali]]
| religion     = [[Arianism]]
}}
'''Amalasuintha'''<ref>The name is also spelled '''Amalasuentha''', '''Amalaswintha''', '''Amalasuntha''', '''Amalswinthe''', '''Amalasontha''', '''Amalasiuntha''', and '''Amalsenta'''.</ref> (495 – 30 April 535) was a ruler of the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom]] from 526 to 535. Initially serving as [[regent]] for her son [[Athalaric]], she became [[queen regnant]] after his premature death.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Amalasuntha Amalasuntha] in the [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]</ref>  Highly educated, Amalasuintha was praised by both [[Cassiodorus]] and [[Procopius]] for her wisdom and her ability to speak three languages (Greek, Gothic, and Latin).<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Vitiello |first=Massimiliano |title="Nourished at the Breast of Rome": The Queens of Ostrogothic Italy and the Education of the Roman Elite |date=2006 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41234687 |journal=Rheinisches Museum für Philologie |volume=149 |issue=3/4 |pages=402 |jstor=41234687 |issn=0035-449X |archive-date=18 December 2022 |access-date=18 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218221226/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41234687 |url-status=live }}</ref> Her status as an independent female monarch, and obvious affinity for Roman culture, caused discontent among the Gothic nobles in her court, and she was deposed and killed after six months of sole rule. [[List of Roman emperors#Later Eastern emperors (457–1453)|Eastern Roman Emperor]] [[Justinian I]] used her death as a ''[[casus belli]]'' to invade Italy, setting off the [[Gothic War (535–554)|Gothic War]].

== Family ==
Amalasuintha was likely born in Ravenna in 495, the only child of [[Theodoric the Great|Theodoric]] and his wife [[Audofleda]], the sister of [[Clovis I|Clovis]], King of the Franks.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Jansen |first=Sharon L. |title=Amalasuintha of Italy, "An Ill-Fated Gothic Queen" |url=https://www.monstrousregimentofwomen.com/2022/04/amalasuintha-of-italy-ill-fated-gothic.html |access-date=2022-12-18 |archive-date=18 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218215724/https://www.monstrousregimentofwomen.com/2022/04/amalasuintha-of-italy-ill-fated-gothic.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The union of Amalasuintha's parents were of a political purpose, as many royal marriages were at the time. Theodoric married Audofleda about the year 493, after he had defeated the various Gothic kingdoms and sought an alliance with the Franks.<ref name=":4" /> Amalasuintha was born into the [[Amal dynasty|Amali dynasty]] on her father's side, which dynasty comprised Goths of Germanic descent.<ref>{{Cite web |title=FamilyTreeDNA - Genetic Testing for Ancestry, Family History & Genealogy |url=https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/amal-amali/about |access-date=2022-12-18 |website=www.familytreedna.com |language=en |archive-date=18 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218234137/https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/amal-amali/about |url-status=live }}</ref> Like her father, Amalasuintha was married out of political reasons to [[Eutharic]], an Amali prince, to ensure a legitimate heir to the throne.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Vitiello |first=Massimiliano |title=Theohadad: A Platonic King at the Collapse of Ostrogothic Italy |publisher=Toronto: University of Toronto Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4426-4783-1 |pages=34}}</ref> They had two children together, Athalaric and Matasuntha. Eutharic died in 522, causing Theodoric some alarm, as his kingdom lacked an adult male heir to inherit the throne.<ref name=":5" /> As Amalasuintha's son [[Athalaric]] was only 10 years old at the time of Theodoric's death, Amalasuintha took control of the kingdom alongside her son as regent<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Lawler |first=Jennifer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pAxeCgAAQBAJ |title=Encyclopedia of Women in the Middle Ages |date=2018-01-16 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0111-3 |pages=15–16 |language=en}}</ref> and, although accounts by Cassiodorus and Procopius refer to Athalaric as King, she effectively ruled on his behalf.

==Rule==
[[File:Diptych Rufus Gennadius Probus Orestes VandA 139-1866.jpg|thumb|[[Consular diptych]] of Rufius Gennadius Probus Orestes, [[Victoria and Albert museum]]. Portraits of Amalasuintha and her son Athalaric are above the inscription, flanking the cross.]]

===Regent===
According to Procopius, the Goth aristocracy wanted Athalaric to be raised in the Gothic manner, but Amalasuintha wanted him to resemble the Roman princes.<ref name=":1" /> Amalasuintha had close ties to the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine emperor]] [[Justinian I]], which would have made her adherence to Roman learning and customs especially objectionable to her fellow Goths. The regency lasted until 534, when Athalaric died from what was most likely the combination of excessive drinking<ref name=":7" /> (a part of Gothic culture) and a disease, probably diabetes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frye |first=David |title=Athalaric's Health and the Ostrogothic Character |date=1995 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44172211 |journal=Byzantion |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=249–251 |jstor=44172211 |issn=0378-2506}}</ref> In order to secure the power in the Amali name, Amalasuintha created the consortium regni that allowed her to continue to rule as queen while still presenting a public face that honored conservative Gothic tradition. She then appointed her older cousin Theodahad to rule as co-regent, in which Amalasuintha would play the male character and Theodahad would play the woman, as male and female monarchs sharing powers.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Vitiello |first=Massimiliano |title=Amalasuintha |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2017 |isbn=9780812249477 |location=Philadelphia |pages=23}}</ref> Masculinity is the main characteristic attributed to Amalasuintha by Procopius and Cassiodorus, because she had a strong determination and temperament.<ref name=":6" />

Her tremendous influence in her position as regent can be seen in a [[diptych]] of [[Rufius Gennadius Probus Orestes]] in which she appears alongside her son, Athalaric, in 530.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-0199 |title=Amalasuntha |date=January 2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-518792-2 |archive-date=3 November 2021 |access-date=18 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211103184328/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-0199 |url-status=live }}</ref> Deeply imbued with the old Roman culture, she gave to her son's education a more refined and literary turn than suited her Goth subjects. Conscious of her unpopularity, she banished – and afterwards put to death – three Gothic nobles whom she suspected of conspiring against her rule.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Procopius |title=The wars of Justinian |last2=Kaldellēs |first2=Antōnios Emm |last3=Mladjov |first3=Ian |date=2014 |publisher=Hackett Publishing Company |isbn=978-1-62466-170-9 |location=Indianapolis Cambridge |pages=256 |translator-last=Dewing |translator-first=H. B.}}</ref> One of whom has been suggested by Amory, Heather and Heydemann, to have been Tuluin (a powerful Gothic noble and General).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Arnold |first=Jonathan J. |title=A companion to Ostrogothic Italy |last2=Bjornlie |first2=Michael Shane |last3=Sessa |first3=Kristina |date=2016 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-31376-7 |series=Brill's companions to European history |location=Leiden |pages=34}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Amory |first=Patrick |title=People and identity in ostrogothic Italy, 489-554 |date=1997 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-57151-7 |series=Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought |location=Cambridge |pages=160}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Heather |first=Peter J. |title=Rome resurgent: war and empire in the age of Justinian |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-936275-2 |series=Ancient warfare and civilization |location=New York |pages=143}}</ref> At the same time, she opened negotiations with Justinian, with the view of removing herself and the Gothic treasure to [[Constantinople]].

===Queen regnant===
After Athalaric's death, Amalasuintha became queen and ruled alone for a short while before making her cousin [[Theodahad]] co-ruler with the intent of strengthening her position.<ref name=":7" /><ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Amalasuntha|volume=1|page=777}}</ref>  Theodahad was a prominent leader of the Gothic military aristocracy that opposed her pro-Roman stances, and Amalasuintha believed this duumvirate might make supporters from her harshest critics.<ref name=":0" /> Instead Theodahad fostered the disaffection of the Goths, and had Amalasuintha imprisoned on the island of Martana in [[Lake Bolsena]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Death==
{{see also|Gothic War (535–554)}}
While imprisoned by her co-regent Theodahad, Amalasuintha was murdered while bathing, on 30 April 535 according to Agnellus.<ref name="EB1911" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Vitiello |first=Massimiliano |title=Amalasuintha: the transformation of queenship in the post-Roman world |date=2017 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-4947-7 |location=Philadelphia (Pa.) |pages=161}}</ref> Though historian Massimiliano Vitiello has instead suggested a date in May.<ref name=":8" /> The death of Amalasuintha was used by [[Justinian I]] as a reason to go to war with the Ostrogoths and attempt to reclaim Italy for the Roman Empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Potter |first=David Stone |title=Theodora: actress, empress, saint |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-974076-5 |series=Women in antiquity |location=New York |pages=164}}</ref> According to the Eastern Roman historian [[Procopius]], Amalasuintha was thinking about handing over Italy to Justinian around the time of her death.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Sarantis |first=Alexander |date=2009 |title=War and Diplomacy in Pannonia and the Northwest Balkans during the Reign of Justinian: The Gepid Threat and Imperial Responses |journal=Dumbarton Oaks Papers |volume=63 |pages=22 |jstor=41219761}}</ref> There is some evidence to suggest that the Byzantine Empress [[Theodora (wife of Justinian I)|Theodora]] arranged to have Amalasuintha murdered, by conspiring with Theodahad through Justinian's ambassador [[Peter the Patrician|Peter the Illyrian]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Foss |first=C. |date=2002 |title=The Empress Theodora |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44172751 |journal=Byzantion |volume=72 |issue=1 |pages=162 |jstor=44172751 |issn=0378-2506 |archive-date=30 April 2023 |access-date=4 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430201338/https://www.jstor.org/stable/44172751 |url-status=live }}</ref> Procopius believed that Theodora viewed Amalasuintha as a potential love rival and threat to her position as Empress.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Potter |first=D. S. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/907657589 |title=Theodora: actress, empress, saint |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-974076-5 |series=Women in antiquity |location=New York, NY |pages=139 |oclc=907657589}}</ref> However, modern scholarship has contended that Theodora was acting on Justinian's behalf in arranging Amalasuintha's murder as it gave him clear justification to attack Theodahad.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Foss |first=C. |date=2002 |title=The Empress Theodora |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44172751 |journal=Byzantion |volume=72 |issue=1 |pages=171–172 |jstor=44172751 |issn=0378-2506 |archive-date=30 April 2023 |access-date=4 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430201338/https://www.jstor.org/stable/44172751 |url-status=live }}</ref>  

In 536, Theodahad was deposed by [[Vitiges|Witigis]], who had forcibly married Amalasuintha's daughter [[Mataswintha|Matasuintha]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Potter |first=David Stone |title=Theodora: actress, empress, saint |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-974076-5 |series=Women in antiquity |location=New York |pages=32–33}}</ref> With the people's support, Witigis had Theodahad put to death.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Grierson |first=P. |date=1941 |title=Election and Inheritance in Early Germanic Kingship |journal=The Cambridge Historical Journal |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1017/S1474691300003425 |jstor=3020840}}</ref>

== Sources ==
The letters of [[Cassiodorus]], chief minister and literary adviser of Amalasuintha, and the histories of [[Procopius]] and [[Jordanes]], give us our chief information as to the character of Amalasuintha.<ref name="EB1911"/> Cassiodorus was a part of a greater pro-Roman party that desired to Romanize the traditional Ostrogothic kingship, further evidence of the pro-Roman circle that Amalasuintha surrounded herself with.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Foote|first=David|date=2009|title=Reviewed Work: Il principe, il filosofo, il guerriero: Lineamenti di pensiero politico nell'Italia ostrogota by Massimiliano Vitiell|jstor=42586872|journal=Mediaevistik |volume=22}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Nuremberg chronicles f 143r 3.jpg|thumb|upright|''Amalasiuntha regina'' – woodcut from the [[Nuremberg Chronicle]] (1493)]]

=== Arts ===
The life of Amalasuintha was made the subject of a [[tragedy]], the first play written by the young [[Carlo Goldoni]] and presented at [[Milan]] in 1733.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vitiello |first1=Massimiliano |title=Amalasuintha The Transformation of Queenship in the Post-Roman World |date=2017 |isbn=9780812249477 |page=1 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |url=https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15727_toc.html |access-date=7 September 2020 |archive-date=24 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024001255/https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15727_toc.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Romanian poet [[George Coșbuc]] wrote a poem entitled ''Regina Ostrogoților (The Queen of the Ostrogoths)'' in which Amalasuintha (as Amalasunda) speaks to Theodahad (mentioned as  Teodat in the poem) shortly before he kills her.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Poezii Romanesti |url=http://www.romanianvoice.com/poezii/poezii/regina.php |access-date=2022-04-28 |website=www.romanianvoice.com |language=Romanian |archive-date=28 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200628232238/http://www.romanianvoice.com/poezii/poezii/regina.php |url-status=live }}{{Self-published source|date=August 2022}}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=August 2022}}

Amalasuintha is portrayed by [[Honor Blackman]] in the 1968 film ''[[Kampf um Rom]]''. Her character is suffocated to death in a locked bath house.''<ref>{{Citation |title=The Last Roman (1968) - IMDb |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063174/fullcredits |access-date=8 March 2020 |archive-date=21 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921200557/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063174/fullcredits |url-status=live }}{{unreliable source?|date=August 2022}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=August 2022}}''

=== Eponymy ===
[[Asteroid]] [[650 Amalasuntha]] is named in her honour.<ref name="Schmadel2012">{{Citation | first1    = Lutz D. | last1     = Schmadel| title     = Dictionary of Minor Planet Names| publisher = Springer| page      = 63| year      = 2012| isbn      = 978-3642297182| url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=aeAg1X7afOoC&pg=PA63| postscript= .}}</ref> ''Ranunculus amalasuinthae'' is a microspecies of ''[[Ranunculus auricomus]]'' known from [[Pomerania]], among others from a site situated not far from the cemetery of Goths near [[Grzybnica, Koszalin County|Grzybnica]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Halamski |first=Adam T. |date=2024 |title=Contribution à l'étude des renoncules tête d'or (Ranunculus auricomus aggr.) de la Poméranie polonaise. Trois espèces nouvelles des environs de Darłowo et Sławno |journal=Bulletin de la Société Linnéenne de Lyon |volume=93 |issue=7–8 |pages=169–205 |issn=2554-5280}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ranunculus amalasuinthae {{!}} International Plant Names Index |url=https://beta.ipni.org/n/77347918-1 |access-date=2024-10-23 |website=beta.ipni.org}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite thesis |last=Craddock |first=Jonathan Paul |title=Amalasuintha: Ostrogothic Successor, A.D. 526–535 |type=M.A. thesis |publisher=California State University, Long Beach |year=1996 |oclc=36022347 }}
*{{cite book |last=Vitiello |first=Massimiliano |title=Amalasuintha: The Transformation of Queenship in the Post-Roman World |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-8122-4947-7 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Athalaric]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Queen of the Ostrogoths]]|years=534–535}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Theodahad]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Italian consorts}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:535 deaths]]
[[Category:6th-century women monarchs]]
[[Category:Ostrogothic queens consort]]
[[Category:Ostrogothic kings]]
[[Category:Amali dynasty]]
[[Category:6th-century monarchs in Europe]]
[[Category:6th-century murdered monarchs]]
[[Category:6th-century Ostrogothic people]]
[[Category:6th-century Italian women]]
[[Category:6th-century Christians]]
[[Category:6th-century scholars]]
[[Category:Women scholars and academics]]
[[Category:Scholars of Latin literature]]
[[Category:Scholars of Greek language]]
[[Category:Queens regnant in Europe]]
[[Category:6th-century kings of Italy]]
[[Category:6th-century women regents]]
[[Category:6th-century regents]]
[[Category:Theodoric the Great]]