THE CAMBRIDGE MEDIEVAL HISTORY I 194
The Death of Attila and the Downfall of the Huns
12-21. The Death of Attila and the Downfall of the Huns
It was not until Theodosius died (28 July 450) that these wretched conditions altered. His successor, the efficient Emperor Marcian, refused, as soon as he succeeded to the throne, to continue the payment of the tribute to the king of the Huns, and the Western Empire followed his example. The outbreak of war was also due to the conduct of Gratia Justa Honoria, the sister of the Western Emperor Valentinian. She secretly offered herself as wife to the king of the Huns, but the fulfilment of the offer was refused because Attila demanded that half of the Western Empire should be given up to her as her inheritance from her father. Attila hereupon determined to take possession of the Western Empire and of Gaul first of all, for here he might reckon with certainty on the support of the Ripuarian Franks who, being split up into two sections on account of dynastic hostilities, called for his intervention, and he could in all probability count on at least the benevolent neutrality of the Visigoths.
The story that Gaiseric, out of fear of Theodoric's vengeance, stirred up Attila to make war against the Visigoths, is certainly a fable, for the African kingdom had nothing to fear from an attack on this side; nevertheless the Vandal king may have had a hand in the matter in order to weaken the West Roman Empire still further. Supposing, however, an agreement between the Goths and the Romans to be possible, Attila wrote to Theodoric as well as to the Western Emperor that he was not going to take the field against them but against their enemies. The history of the Hunnic expedition which, ended in Attila's defeat on the Campus Mauriacus near Troyes (451) has already been told in a previous chapter. Without being followed by the victors the Hunnic army returned to Hungary. Attila did not venture to repeat the expedition into Gaul; on the contrary, in the following year after having made good his losses he turned towards Italy where he had not to fear Germanic heroism.
Without encountering any resistance the Hunnic army crossed the Julian Alps in the spring of 452. After a long siege Aquileia was taken by storm and destroyed; after which the most important fortresses of Upper Italy, with the exception of Ravenna, easily fell into the hands of the enemy. A great many of the inhabitants of the terribly devastated country sought refuge on the unassailable islands of the lagoons along the Adriatic coast. Yet the real foundation of Venice which tradition has connected with the Hunnic invasion can only be traced back to the invasion of the Lombards in 568. After this Attila bethought himself of marching against Rome, but famine and disease, which broke out in his army, and the arrival in Italy of succour from the Eastern Empire, as well as superstitious fear, since the Visigoth king Alaric had died shortly after his capture of the Eternal City, kept him from carrying out his plan. Then therefore an embassy of the Romans led by Pope Leo I appeared in his camp to induce him to withdraw, he willingly shewed himself ready to conclude peace and retire.
A contemporary, the chronicler Prosper Tiro, who at that time was living in the papal service at Rome, has ascribed the retreat of the "scourge of God" to the influence of Leo's powerful personality, and later ecclesiastical tradition has naturally further enhanced the holy man's ostensible service and adorned it with all manner of supernatural circumstances. But a dispassionate historical inspection will not allow us to ascribe the saving of Italy solely to the influence of the Pope. Having returned home Attila demanded of Marcian the tribute paid by Theodosius, and on the refusal of the Emperor prepared for war against Eastern Rome But his sudden death prevented the realisation of his scheme: he died of hemorrhage when he was celebrating his wedding in the year 453 with a maiden named Ildico, the Kriemhild of the Nibelungenlied (the name is a diminutive of Hilde). The inheritance was divided among his sons, those mentioned by name being Ellak, Dengisich, and Ernac the youngest, Attila's favourite. But with this was foreshadowed the downfall of the Hunnic power, which was too much dependent on the personal quality of its leader to be able to endure.
Of the domestic life and polity of the Huns we have also accurate knowledge through the genuine fragment of Priscus. The king's headquarters were on the Hungarian steppe between the Theiss and Koros and covered a large area which was enclosed by a circular wooden fence. In the middle stood the royal residence also fenced round, a wooden erection consisting of one single hall, Attila's private and public dwelling, of ingenious architecture and furnished within with great magnificence. Among the king's circle the logades were prominent, a nobility founded on birth and service; these enjoyed the highest consideration with the ruler and the right to choose from the booty the best spoils and the richest prisoners, and they formed a kind of council of state. Out of their midst the bodyguard, the military leaders, and the envoys were taken. The highest position amongst them was occupied by Onegesius, Attila's right hand and first minister, who lived in a palace at the entrance to the court residence. Besides Huns there were also Germans and Romans among the logadesy who on account of their intelligence and culture enjoyed especial consideration. At the king's Court therefore the Latin and Gothic tongues were in predominant use together with the Hunnic. Attila ruled over his people in a wholly patriarchal manner; the administration of justice was executed through him personally in the simplest way, always just without respect of persons.
The freedom and legal protection which every subject enjoyed caused many a Roman to leave his home and settle with the uncivilised barbarians “who knew no kind of taxation.” The Huns kept, as before, their character as nomadic horsemen; they were in their element on the steppes; life in towns was repugnant to them. Justly appreciating these conditions Attila had made no attempt to effect a change in the mode of life of his people, and never thought of removing to civilised districts and setting up there a new State. His object was fully attained by keeping the Romans in subjection and making them fill his treasury.
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