Attila - the quest for the Sword of Mars

1. INTRODUCTION

The Huns were a major force in Europe in the first half of the 5th century. They were the first of the mighty Asian conquerors, paving the way for the Avars in the 6th, the Magyars in the 9th, and the Mongols in the 13th century.

The Huns' annihilation of the Ostrogothic Empire of Ermanaric in the 370s and the expulsion of the Visigoths set the initial impetus for the first phase of the Great Migration - the Völkerwanderung. This event shaped the face of Europe and many of its modern borders. "Attila half eine alte Welt zerstören und eine neue gründen" (Clesca, 1836: 3). Fóthi (2000: 8990) states: "it is a fact of history that the collapse of the Western Roman Empire was brought about by the movements of peoples initiated by the Huns". "Without the appearance of the Huns there would have been no Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse, no Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy, no Vandal kingdom in Africa"; Thompson (1996: 237) then adds "as early as in fact there where". But this is conjecture. It is more likely that without the Huns, the history of Europe would look very different. Heather (2015: 228) concludes: "the direct Hunnic impact on the central zone of barbarian Europe as it stood around 350 was massive." Mathisen (2019) demonstrates that in the end it was not invasions but barbarian and Roman warlords and civil wars that destroyed the Western Roman Empire. Nonetheless, without the process initiated by the Huns, the collapse of the Western Roman Empire would have been delayed, perhaps by centuries. The European Medieval period would definitely not have started in 476 but at a significantly later date.

The recorded Hunnic history extends for a century, from 376 to 469, whereby they dominated Europe in the mid-5th century. The first reliable mention of the true Huns originates from the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, datable to the year 376. In his final Book 31 of Res Gestae, he paints a horrible picture of a "race savage beyond all parallel." Mainly from Roman sources we know of the first Hunnic King Uldin (400-08) ruling from Muntenia in modern Romania, King Charaton (412/3) ruling from modern northeastern Serbia, and King Ruga (c. 422-34) ruling from modern northern Serbia. His nephew Bleda as the successor (434), Bleda and Attila as coregents (c. 434-44), and Attila as the sole king of the Huns (444-53) represent the apogee of the Huns. Attila's sons Ellac (453-54) and Dengizich (454-69) demonstrate the rapid decline of a mighty nation. Ellac lost the decisive Battle of Nedao and his life in 454. The importance of the Huns thus imploded. The head of Attila's irrelevant son, Dengizich, was brought to Constantinople in 469 and fixed on a pole. Prior to the death of Attila's youngest son, the ephemeral Ernak, the Huns vanished from history. Other tribes, particularly the expelled Visigoths and the once subdued Ostrogoths, completed the destruction of the Western Roman Empire by 476 and thus ended the first phase of the Great Migration.

Attila is undoubtedly the best-known king of the Huns. Attila was of noble origins. His father Mundzuc was the brother of the ruling kings Ruga and Octar. "Priscus' report on Attila . showing a ruler who was incredibly adroit at power politics, ruthless against enemies and traitors, yet also surprisingly modest in his lifestyle, generous to his allies, and a loving father to his sons" (Wijnendaele, 2020: 2). Attila was most likely born around 400 in the Romanian Muntenia, probably in the area of Buzau. He became co-ruler in his mid-thirties, sometime after the accession of his elder brother Bleda after April 434. In 435, the two Hunnic kings Bleda and Attila forced the Eastern Roman Empire into the humiliating Treaty of Margus. In 441-2, in the absence of Roman troops, they took their chance. Bleda and Attila destroyed all the major Eastern Roman forts and cities along the middle Danube. After the death of Bleda, Attila once again plundered the Balkans and more than 70 cities in 447. The Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II declared a shameful defeat and had to pay an enormous ransom. For August 450, Hohlfelder (1984: 54) states: "Attila, sole king of the Huns and quite likely the most powerful ruler in the world at that time". The next year, Attila invaded the Western Roman Empire, crossing the Rhine early in March 451 and pillaged Western Roman Gaul as far as Cenabum (= Orléans) at the Loire River. There, Attila was stopped in the Battle of the "Catalaunian Plains" in mid-June 451. In 452, Attila invaded Italy, devasted the northern provinces, crossed the Po River, but then returned to his capital before having sacked Mutina (Modena) - without a victory over Aetius but again with rich booty. Attila may have planned the next campaign against the Western Roman Empire to plunder the wealthy cities of Rome and Capua, but he died in the spring of 453 in his Hungarian capital.

"Even serious historians are prone to ponder why exactly Attila is so memorable - why it is, as Adrian Goldsworthy observes, that there have been many barbarian leaders, and yet Attila's is «one of the few names from antiquity that still prompt instant recognition, putting him alongside the likes of Alexander, Caesar, Cleopatra and Nero. Attila has become the barbarian of the ancient world »" (Dash, 2012).

One reason is his huge footprint. Meier (2020: 470) stresses his "spektakulären Erfolge, die er mehrfach tief in römischen Gebieten errang". Attila surely was an impressive figure, an exceptional raider who perfected his forefathers' methods of intimidation and exploitation. He was not an empire-builder, instead he was the "erfolgreichster Beutemacher" of the Huns (Sevin, 1955: 61). Booty was more important to him than land and raiding preferred to trading. He was a true master of the "gift economy" (Kradin, 1995: 26-9). Attila also was "un excellent meneur d'hommes" (Escher & Lebedynsky, 2007: 206). He had a mighty, well-equipped army and knew how to besiege and storm fortified towns. Attila sacked an enormous number of once major European cities, together with his brother Bleda, in 441 Margus (= west of Dubravica), Viminacium (= Kostolac), Singidunum (= Belgrade), Sirmium (the former Roman capital of Illyricum), and in 442 the mighty Naissus (= Nis); then, as the sole ruler of the Huns, in 447 Serdica (= Sofia), Arcadiopolis (= Lüleburgaz) and nearly Byzantium; in 451 Augsburg, Mainz, Köln, Trier, Metz, Verdun, Reims, and nearly Paris and Orléans; finally in 452 the Slovenian Emona (= Ljubljana), the Italian Aquileia, Altinum, Patavium (= Padua), Vicetia (= Vicenza), Verona, Brixia (= Brescia), Bergomum (= Bergamo), Mediolanum (= Milan), Ticinum (= Pavia), Placentia (= Piacenza), Parma, Regium Lepidi (= Reggio Emilia), and nearly Mutina (= Modena). The importance of global cities then significantly differed. In the late 4th century, the Roman Ausonius (310-395) listed the nine great cities of his world. Of these, Attila plundered Aquileia, Trier, and Mediolanum. Carthage, Antioch, and Alexandria were beyond his reach. The last two, Rome and the rich Capua, with the second-largest amphitheatre in the Roman world, were surely on his list for 453. Only one of these major nine ancient cities resisted, namely Constantinople, due to the Theodosian Walls. For the Romans, "Attila était situé tout en haut d'une échelle de dangerosité" (Escher & Lebedynsky, 2007: 207). Or, as Jordanes (Getica, 35.182) expresses it: "He was a man born into the world to shake the nations, the scourge of all lands, who in some way terrified all mankind by the dreadful rumors noised abroad concerning him."

The other reason for Attila's fame is the enigma and the many tales surrounding his unexpected death and his lost tomb. Before having achieved his ultimate triumph, to plunder Rome and Capua, Attila died unexpectedly in Hungary, in his early fifties in the presence of his new young wife in the spring of 453. This was shortly after his two most successful raids, the plundering of wealthy northern France and the perhaps even richer northern Italy. From then on, his capital and his tomb with all its riches and his allegedly gold and silver adorned coffins are lost.

Due to ancient Roman, Gallic, and Gothic scholars, several facts about the Huns are known. Gifted archaeologists and able historians have further increased our knowledge. However, the five most important questions regarding Attila and the Huns are still to be answered:

• Where is the native country of the Huns? From where did they start their conquest? The answer to this question might explain their greed for gold and the merciless persecution of their defectors. Furthermore, it could reveal their specifications for capitals, their burial practices, and their language. The answer will finally end a centuries-old discussion made without data (Chapter 2).
• Where are the capitals of Attila's royal ancestors? Where did King Uldin dwell? Where was King Charaton buried? Where is the royal tomb of King Ruga? These capitals are essential because they reflect the development of the Huns in the early 5th century and lead the way to the tombs of their rulers (Chapter 3).
• Where in 451 did Attila's important Battle of the Catalaunian Plains really take place? Was it indeed near...