Amalasuntha (also known as Amalasuentha or Amalaswintha) (d. 535) was a queen of the Ostrogoths. Events Beginning of the Western Wei Dynasty in China. ... This article deals with the continental Ostrogoths. ...

A daughter of Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great, she was married in 515 to Eutharic, an Ostrogoth of the old Areal line, who had previously been living in Spain. Her husband died, apparently in the early years of her marriage, leaving her with two children, Athalaric and Matasuentha. On the death of her father in 526, her son succeeded him, but she held the power as regent for her son. Deeply imbued with the old Roman culture, she gave to that son's education a more refined and literary turn than suited the ideas of her Gothic subjects. Conscious of her unpopularity she banished, and afterwards put to death, three Gothic nobles whom she suspected of intriguing against her rule, and at the same time opened negotiations with the emperor Justinian I with the view of removing herself and the Gothic treasure to Constantinople. Her son's death in 534 made little change in the posture of affairs. Theodoric the Great (454 - August 30, 526) was king of the East Goths, the Ostrogoths (488-526), ruler of Italy (493-526), and regent of the Visigoths (511-526). ... Events Births Deaths Northern Wei Xuan Wu Di, ruler of the Chinese Northern Wei Dynasty Euphemius, deposed Patriarch of Constantinople Categories: 515 ... Athalaric (516 - 2 October 534), king of the Ostrogoths in Italy, grandson of Theodoric the Great, became king on his grand-fathers death (526). ... Events May 20 - Syria and Antioch. ... A regent is an acting governor. ... Justinian I, depicted on a contemporary coin Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus or Justinian I (May 11, 483–November 13/14, 565), was Eastern Roman Emperor from AD August 1, 527 until his death. ... Map of Constantinople. ... Events January 1 - Decimus Theodorius Paulinus appointed consul, the last to hold this office in the West. ...

Now queen, Amalasuntha made her cousin Theodahad partner of her throne (not, as sometimes stated, her husband, for his wife was still living), with the intent of strengthening her position. The choice was unfortunate, for Theodahad, in spite of a varnish of literary culture, was a coward and a scoundrel. He fostered the disaffection of the Goths, and either by his orders or with his permission, Amalasuntha was imprisoned on an island in the Tuscan lake of Bolsena, where in the spring of 535 she was murdered in her bath. Theodahad (living since 507 or 511 - 536) was the king of the Ostrogoths from 534 to 536 and a nephew of Theodoric the Great through his sister. ...

The letters of Cassiodorus, chief minister and literary adviser of Amalasuntha, and the histories of Procopius and Jordanes, give us our chief information as to the character of Amalasuntha. Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (ca 484/490 - ca585), commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and writer, serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Italy, of a family that was apparently of Syrian origin. ... The writings of Procopius of Caesarea (500 ? - 565 ?), in Palestine, are the primary source of information for the rule of the emperor Justinian. ...

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica ( 1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...