Riothamus
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Riothamus (also spelled Riotimus, Rigothamus, Rigotamos), was a military leader, active circa 470, called "King of the Brittones" by Jordanes, who states in The Origin and Deeds of the Goths:
| “ | (XLV.237) Now Euric, king of the Visigoths, perceived the frequent change of Roman Emperors and strove to hold Gaul by his own right. The Emperor Anthemius heard of it and asked the Brittones for aid. Their King Riotimus came with twelve thousand men into the state of the Bituriges by the way of Ocean, and was received as he disembarked from his ships. (238) Euric, king of the Visigoths, came against them with an innumerable army, and after a long fight he routed Riotimus, king of the Brittones, before the Romans could join him. So when he had lost a great part of his army, he fled with all the men he could gather together, and came to the Burgundians, a neighboring tribe then allied to the Romans. But Euric, king of the Visigoths, seized the Gallic city of Arverna[1]; for the Emperor Anthemius was now dead. | ” |
If the name is a Latinization of "highest leader", some scholars have suggested, it may be a title, and not a personal name. It has been argued whether Jordanes' "Brittones" refers to the Bretons of Brittany, a Briton colony in Armorica in northwestern Gaul, or of the Britons of Great Britain itself. Jordanes states that they "came… by way of the Ocean", which has been taken to mean that he was a leader in Great Britain or even the leader of the British people on both sides of the English Channel. He took part in the Roman campaign against Euric, king of the Visigoths. Euric defeated his attack, and Riothamus vanishes from history among the Burgundians. A letter has survived that was written to Riothamus from Sidonius Apollinaris, bishop of Clermont, who requested his judgment for "an obscure and humble person" who has had his slaves enticed away by a group of armed Bretons. [2] Another letter from Sidonius Apollinaris records that Riothamus was betrayed by the Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, Arvandus, who told the Gothic king Euric that "the Britons stationed beyond the Loire should be attacked".
Riothamus has been identified as a candidate for the historical King Arthur by some recent scholars (notably Geoffrey Ashe[3] and Leon Fleuriot). They further note that Riothamus' last known position was near the Burgundian town of Avallon, which might have been the basis for the Arthurian connection to Avalon. In any case, Riothamus' activities in Gaul may be the seed whence grew the tradition (first recorded by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae) that Arthur crossed the English Channel from Britain and attacked Rome. Ashe has also suggested a link between Riothamus' betrayal by Arvandus and Arthur's betrayal by Mordred in the Historia Regum Britanniae.[4]
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Letter to Riothamus from Sidonius Apollinaris, introduction and text from Britannia.com
