As the wife of the Amal of Spain and as the mother of Theoderic’s long-awaited Italic heir, Amalasuintha had fully stepped into her father’s succession plan as the future queen of Italy—and perhaps even of an Ostrogothic-Visigothic unified kingdom.
The Collapse of Theoderic’s Best-Laid Plans
Theoderic was striving to endear his Spanish son-in-law to both the Gothic aristocracy and the Romans, in an effort to prepare him for eventual succession or guardianship in the event that Theoderic died before Athalaric reached the age of majority. He began pushing Justin for an acknowledgment of the heir, and he succeeded in having Eutharic adopted per arma by the emperor. This was the honor that Theoderic himself had received from Zeno forty years earlier. The adoption of Eutharic satisfied a common “desire for concord”82 at the same time as the thirty-five-year religious conflict between Italy and the empire, the Acacian Schism, was coming to an end. Eutharic was also granted Roman citizenship, the title of vir clarissimus, and the name of Flavius, the royal honors of the Amal family to which he belonged.83 In 518 Justin gave his consent to the most prestigious honor of the consulship,84 and he himself stood as consul together with Eutharic, so that both their names were permanently tied in the Fasti Consulares as the Eastern and Western consuls of the year 519.85 All these were important privileges, considering that the consulship previously granted by Anastasius to King Clovis was only an honorary one.
Here we encounter an interesting but obscure area that is worthy of a short digression. We know that Emperor Anastasius had granted the patrician title to Clovis as well in 508, soon after the battle of Vouillé.86 Ten years later, shortly before he died, the emperor also raised the Burgundian Sigismund to patrician rank, and this king may have held the place of master of the soldiers per Gallias in the name of the emperor.87 These were not isolated cases. Previous emperors had granted the patriciate to barbarian kings in their wish to consolidate alliances: Anthemius to the Burgundian king Chilperic II in 468, Olybrius to Gundobad in 472–474, Zeno to Theoderic; even Odovacer may have obtained the patriciate from Zeno.88 But now that Anastasius had passed away and Justin was on the throne, the Burgundian king, who felt squeezed between the two Gothic kingdoms and the Franks, was probably unhappy with the events unfolding between Italy and Spain, and Ravenna and Constantinople. An inscription from this kingdom dating to 519 does not include Eutharic’s consulship.89 “In a world where Roman title counted,” writes Wood, “one might wonder whether Eutharic’s consulship was specifically intended by Theoderic to trump Sigismund’s position as magister militum, granted by the emperor three years earlier.”90 The subsequent murder in 522 by Sigismund of his own son, who was no less than Theoderic’s grandson, could be a symptom of this tension.91
Eutharic’s consulship was such an extraordinary event that it was celebrated in great style in both capitals of the kingdom. To honor the special occasion, Eutharic commissioned Cassiodorus to write the Chronicle. Cassiodorus did so, chronicling Roman history from the foundation of the city to Eutharic’s consulship and the royal marriage, and he dedicated this work to the new prince.92 In addition, on the same occasion he proclaimed a panegyric before the senators. Only a few fragments remain of this work, which the author called to mind years later in a letter addressed to the Roman Senate for his promotion to the Praetorian prefecture: “Furthermore, with what loyal eloquence did he proclaim the father of my clemency [Eutharic] in the very Senate-House of Liberty! You remember how that noble orator extolled his deeds, showing his virtues to be more wonderful than his honors. I can prove my words to the hilt.”93 In this letter of 533, Cassiodorus, writing in the name of Athalaric, praises his own accomplishments at the court. But it was Amalasuintha who had elevated him to Praetorian prefect, and Cassiodorus acknowledged this in his letter-panegyric of the same year.94 It is not unlikely that Amalasuintha was part of the audience that witnessed Cassiodorus’s eulogies in the Senate House. Athalaric at that time was barely three years old, and Amalasuintha may well have accompanied her husband to Rome, where she spent at least part of the year 519, on perhaps her second visit to the old capital—in 500, when she was a little child, Theoderic had sojourned in Rome for almost six months, and apparently his sister Amalafrida was also there.95
Cassiodorus saw that the Romans were expecting with great enthusiasm the arrival of Prince Eutharic for the celebrations of his consulship.96 On 1 January 519, donations of different kinds and concessions of honors followed, together with games in a magnificent style:
In this year Rome saw many marvels in individual exhibitions, even Symmachus, the legate from the East, was amazed at the riches granted to Goths and Romans. He [Eutharic] gave honours to the Senate. In shows in the amphitheatres he displayed wild beasts of various sorts which the present age marveled at for their novelty. And for his spectacles, Africa in its devotion sent over the choicest of delights as well. And so, everywhere was filled with his high praise, and he was so firmly fixed in such a great love of the Roman citizens that when he returned to the sight of his glorious father at Ravenna, they still desired his presence. And there, with the exhibitions repeated, he showered such great gifts on Goths and Romans that he alone was able to surpass the consulship which he had celebrated at Rome.97
The Eastern legate Symmachus was not the only envoy of Justin who attended the ceremony. For another legate, Gratus, had arrived in Rome on 20 December 518, carrying to the pope some letters in the name of the emperor about the unity of the churches.98 All these events together must have given the impression that Theoderic’s golden rule over Italy had been renewed. The exotic animals, which astonished the Romans, and the delights sent from Africa were likely the presents of Theoderic’s sister Amalafrida and her husband Thrasamund to honor this event. These gifts also had a political significance for both kingdoms, considering that the relationship between Gothic Italy and Vandal Africa had recently undergone a period of turbulence (discussed in the next section). The processus consularis, in its customary form as a triumphal parade, was part of the celebrations, which included donations by the new consul entering the office: all this was exceptionally repeated in Ravenna in the presence of Theoderic.99
The whole series of auspicious events, first and foremost the addition to the Amal family of two children, including a male heir, must have signified happy days not only for Theoderic and Amalasuintha but for the whole kingdom. Her Roman education combined with her long experience at the palace at her father’s side had made of Amalasuintha a well-trained future queen of Italy. The learned Amal princess was now supporting her Spanish husband with advice, as her royal position required.100
From the evidence it is clear that Theoderic, through far-sighted, attentive diplomacy, was working to have Eutharic granted those privileges that many years earlier he himself had received in Constantinople, on the basis of which he had claimed his legitimacy to rule Italy. Eutharic was the only Goth in Italy who ever obtained the consulship; he was following in the footsteps of his father-in-law. These honors strengthened his position juridically, and he was the named heir.101 If Theoderic died before his grandson reached majority, he wanted his son-in-law to be equipped with the same claims that he himself had used to assert power over Italy: as ruler of the Gothic army and as a patrician with an imperial mandate. The legitimation of Eutharic was nearly complete, and Cassiodorus in his panegyric may have addressed the new prince as a sort of coregent of Theoderic, recommending that he follow his father-in-law’s advice.102 He also addressed him as dominus noster and vir gloriosus, perhaps signifying that he, like many other senators, became vir illustris and patrician soon after receiving his consulship.103 But whether he had obtained patrician rank is uncertain. Theoderic’s plan was likely that his son-in-law would take care of the kingdom of Italy for the young Athalaric, acting as the representative of the emperor as vice patrician in the West.
Eutharic’s noble origins and his military qualities (he may have played a role in an expedition in Gaul)104 mirrored the ambitions of Theoderic and made him acceptable to the Ostrogothic aristocracy. Roman titles and Theoderic’s support were not enough, however, to transform this Spanish Goth into the ruler the kingdom needed. Italy was by far the most complex portion