Rome Changes Hands Again

Totila's behavior in Rome after the Siege enhanced his reputation. He did not kill very many—there weren't that many left to kill!) and he only destroyed part of the walls, reacting to the letter from Belisarius about preserving the great city and ensuring he would not be seen by posterity as a monster.

It looked like Totila wanted to restore Rome the way things were under Theodoric of the Ostrogoths, but he had to leave Rome with a small garrison and head south to Apulia (the "heel" of the Italian peninsula) where John the Sanguinary had re-conquered some territory on behalf of the Byzantines.

The small garrison Totila left behind was overcome by Belisarius in April 546, however (although it took two attempts). Belisarius was able to recruit from the surrounding towns to increase his army and rebuild the walls. He hadn't restored the gates when Totila returned, but he placed a fighting force that was able to counter the Goth tempts to enter. In one skirmish, Tortila's standard-bearer was killed, the standard fell, and the Byzantines tried to seize it—always seen as demoralizing for the other side. The Goths did manage to retrieve it, but retreated.

Totila returned realized that recovering Rome would require another siege, which he was not up for. He left Rome to control by the Byzantines where it remained until January 550, when Totila once again captured the city.

Justinian had many other problems during his reign as emperor, so many that he eventually gave up trying to reunite the Western Roman Empire with his Eastern half. Soon it would cease to be known as the Roman Empire and simply be the Byzantine Empire.

Let's look next time at some of the other consequential matters facing Justinian, not all of which were military.

Totila in Rome

In 546, Goth King Totila walked into Rome after a year-long siege.

The city was nearly empty due to starvation and suicide brought on by the siege. The siege had been so devastating for the inhabitants that Isaurian members of the guard helped the Goths scale the walls and open the gates.

Unlike the typical behavior of Germanic tribes when going through enemy territory, Totila had shown great restraint and not ravaged the countryside. It seems he wanted to restore the era of Theodoric, ruling the peninsula and nominally "under" the emperor in Constantinople. Totila went to St. Peter's Basilica to pray, showing his intention to be peaceful and a good leader.

If Justinian would not allow the suggested arrangement, however, Totila intended to punish Rome itself by destroying it. Justinian told Totila's messengers that Belisarius was in charge of the war, and sent them back. Totila started tearing down the outer walls: he did not want to waste leaving soldiers to hold the city, and didn't want it defensible if the Byzantines re-captured it.

Procopius wrote that Totila claimed he would turn Rome into "a sheep pasture." Hearing of this, General Belisarius (who had failed to lift the siege) wrote Totila a letter, warning him that destruction of Rome would result in the opposite of what Totila wanted to achieve: being seen as a noble ruler:

As those to whom a city owes the construction of beautiful buildings are reputed wise and civilised, so those who cause their destruction are naturally regarded by posterity as persons devoid of intelligence, true to their own nature. Of all cities under the sun Rome is admitted universally to be the greatest and most important. She attained this pre-eminence not suddenly nor by the genius of one man, but in the course of a long history throughout which emperors and nobles by their vast resources and employing skillful artists from all parts of the world have gradually made her what you see her today. Her monuments belong to posterity, and an outrage committed upon them will rightly be regarded as a great injustice to all future generations as well as to the memory of those who created them. Therefore consider well. Should you be victorious in this war, Rome destroyed will be your own loss, preserved it will be your fairest possession. Should it be your fortune to be defeated, the conqueror will owe you gratitude if you spare Rome, whereas if you demolish it, there will be no reason for clemency, while the act itself will have brought you no profit. And remember that your reputation in the eyes of the world is at stake.

Totila relented, and left a small force behind as he went south to re-take some territory that had been re-captured by John the Sanguinary.

That was an "Oops."

I'll explain tomorrow.

The Siege of Rome (545)

In May 544, General Belisarius and a mere 4000 men were camped along the Adriatic coast, sent by Emperor Justinian I to counter the Gothic army of Totila that was reclaiming territory that the Byzantines had taken from the Ostrogoths during the first part of the Gothic Wars. Totila himself was marching on Rome, ready to besiege the one major city that had resisted him before now.

There is evidence that Totila had reached out to Constantinople to suggest a healthy relationship between the two. Totila could hold Italy as a sub-domain of the old Roman (now largely Byzantine) Empire. It looked, however, like this aim was not to be achieved peacefully. Totila would have to face Constantinople to recognize his authority in Italy.

The Siege of Rome did not begin until the end of 545. Although Totila preferred open combat to sitting through long sieges, Rome was too well-defended by strong walls and could best be conquered by starving the inhabitants. Inside Rome, the Byzantine commanders Conon and Bessas had 3000 soldiers. The Gothic navy was guarding the ports from which Rome might have received fresh supplies. What supplies of grain they had were sold by Conon at inflated prices. Procopius records that the citizens who were too poor to pay were reduced to eating nettles, dogs, and even mice (and "each other's dung," but that is difficult to take as anything other than exaggeration). Famine led some to suicide.

Belisarius sent men led by Valentinus to harass the Goths. Valentinus sent messages to Conon to coordinate attacks from without and within the walls, but Conon would not open the gates and come out. Valentinus' cavalry could not do much damage against the large Gothic force outside the walls. A later attempt was betrayed by a Byzantine soldier who defected to Totila's side. The Byzantines were devastated by the Goths.

The Siege lasted a year, and ended with a betrayal. Some Isaurian Guards planned to betray the city to the Goths. Supposedly, Bessas and Conon were informed of this but took no action to deter it. In December 546, a year after the siege had begun, the Isaurians assisted Goths to scale the walls at night and then open the Asinarian Gate. The Goths entered Rome through the same gate that Belisarius had used years earlier when he originally captured it from the Ostrogoths.

Tomorrow I'll tell you what happened when Totila entered Rome, and the letter Belisarius sent him.

Totila as War Leader

King Totila of the Ostrogoths, although the enemy and a barbarian, was still recognized by Procopius as an impressive figure:

The armour in which he was clad was abundantly plated with gold and the ample adornments which hung from his cheek plates as well as his helmet and spear were not only purple, but in other respects befitting a king … And he himself, sitting upon a very large horse, began to dance under arms skillfully between the two armies. And as he rode he hurled his javelin into the air and caught it again as it quivered above him, then passed it rapidly from hand to hand, shifting it with consummate skill.

He also did not act the way the Mediterranean Procopius thought Germanic barbarians usually acted. The Roman/Byzantine depiction of Germanic warriors was of a group that ravaged the countryside. Totila, however, was well aware that he needed to win over the people as their king, and instead got what he needed to provision his army by collecting taxes from the towns he captured liberated from Byzantine rule.

He accepted Byzantine deserters into the ranks of his army, and it is said brought slaves into the military train, no doubt to provide non-fighting tasks like cooking and tending the wounded.

Totila showed restraint and wisdom in another incident, when after the siege of Naples he gained access to the town and its starving citizens. Food was sent on ships to aid them, but Totila captured those ships, killing the crew. With the surrender of the city, he prepared to use the provisions to feed the natives.

He knew, however, that starving people would show little restraint, and might very well make themselves ill by gorging too much when food became suddenly plentiful. Procopius explains his solution:

He posted sentinels at the gates and in the harbor and allowed no one to leave the city. Then he dealt out small rations, gradually increasing the quantity every day until the people had recovered their strength. The terms of the capitulation were more than faithfully observed. Conon and his followers were embarked in ships with which the Goths provided them, and when, deciding to sail for Rome, they were hindered by contrary winds, Totila furnished horses, provisions, and guides so that they could make the journey by land.

Despite wanting Byzantines out of Italy, Totila wanted peaceful relations with Constantinople. There was one prize that eluded him, however, and that was Rome, still under imperial control and defended by very strong walls. Totila preferred open battle, but Rome required a siege. Tomorrow we'll start the Siege of Rome.

Totila the Ostrogoth

Although the coins later minted during his reign as king of the Osgtrogoths name him Baduila, he has become known as Totila through the writings of men like Procopius. "Totila" was a diminutive name, made to make him sound less legitimate.

In one sense he was illegitimate, since he was not slated to become king. His uncle, King Ildibad, was assassinated in 541 and succeeded by Eraric. Eraric, however, had been negotiating with the Byzantines to hand over control of the Gothic kingdom in exchange for money. When this became known, Pavia offered the throne to Totila. Totila helped plan the assassination of Eraric after only five months of his reign, and was made king himself.

So Procopius and other writers of the empire labeled him a usurper, thereby legitimizing war against him, especially since under Eraric there was a chance for peace between Goths and Byzantines. Totila began a campaign of trying to drive out the Byzantines from Italy.

One of the first encounters between the two forces was the Battle of Faventia (modern Faenza) in the spring of 542. Totila had 5000 men against 12,000 Byzantines. It was not a planned battle, however. The Byzantines were marching away after a failed Siege of Verona. Totila sent 300 archers by a faster route to attack the Byzantines. While they were distracted by this, Totila's men approached. The Goths suggested single combat between two champions.

The Goth Valaris was killed by Artabazes the Armenian, but it had been planned as a sacrifice anyway, since Totila used the single combat to delay the Byzantines while the Goths all crossed the river Po and attacked the Byzantines from behind. The resulting disarray turned the encounter into a victory for the Goths. (One of the Byzantine commanders was the same Alexander mentioned here.) This victory netted the Goths prisoners and the capture of some military standards, a grave loss for Byzantine morale.

This was followed by the Battle of Mucellium, where Totila's men attacked from a hill, surprising and scattering the larger Byzantine force. The military commanders fled to different strongholds and failed to coordinate, giving Totila room to advance and reclaim more territory. His army also grew, attracting not only natives but also some Byzantine soldiers who had deserted their army.

The Goths were besieging Dryus, a Byzantine garrison, which was running out of supplies. This was when Belisarius arrived back in Italy. Aware of the situation in Dryus, he sent ships with supplies, whose arrival was not noted by the Goths. The Goths abandoned the siege when they realized the garrison had been re-provisioned and could hold out longer.

Totila needed information about Belisarius and his plans. Fortunately, he had former Byzantine soldiers now among his following, and he used them as spies. We will continue this tomorrow.

Belisarius Returns to Italy

The Gothic Wars (535 - 554) under Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I were created to reunify the Western Roman Empire with the Eastern. They were successful, thanks to the strategies and (in one case) subterfuge of General Belisarius. After his initial success, however, Belisarius had to return to deal with additional problems, some of them caused by his own people.

Italy had been divided among several military commanders so that no one man would gain enough power to try to set up his own kingdom. That did not mean, however, that all the commanders were ethical. One of these commanders, a man named Alexander, turned out to be corrupt. One of his corrupt acts was the crime of "coin clipping": trimming the edges off gold coins and using the gold bits to make your own coins or to sell.

Alexander also charged soldiers under his command with corruption and forced them to pay fines. His soldiers began to mutiny, and some to simply quit. The Justinian Plague also meant many commanders did not want to leave their barracks and risk becoming infected.

The Goths took advantage of this timidity. Some Goth leaders, Ildibad and Totila, decided the opportunity to re-take their territory was worth the risk of catching the plague. They easily won several battles and sieges, gaining control over much of their old kingdom except for Rome, which was too large and too well-defended.

In 544 General Belisarius was told to go to Italy and reverse these outcomes. The Plague and troubles on the eastern border made it difficult to assemble troops, however, and he only had a force of about 4000.

Belisarius and Totila had different approaches. Totila had faith that his men would prevail in open battles. Belisarius had shown that he was good at sieges. Totila did not want to be stuck inside a city or  sit outside them for months waiting for a defensive force to run out of supplies, so he destroyed the walls of towns that he conquered to prevent either of those possibilities.

Belisarius was going to go up against a strong leader and decent strategist, Totila (seen above destroying the walls of Florence). Let's meet the man next time.