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. Erratic, 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 the Byzantines 12,000. 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 signal combat between two champions.

The Goth Valaris was killed by Artabazes the Armenian, but it had been 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 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.