The Battle of Bolia, was a battle in 469 between the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who ...

( Amal Goths) and a coalition of

Germanic tribes The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and e ...

in the Roman province of Pannonia. It was fought on the south side of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

near its confluence with the river Bolia, in present-day

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

. The Ostrogoths won, achieving supremacy in Pannonia, but soon migrated south towards richer lands.

Background

Following the death of Attila, various Germanic and other tribes sought their independence from his

empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

. They allied under the command of

Ardaric Ardaric ( la, Ardaricus; c. 450 AD) was the king of the Gepids, a Germanic tribe closely related to the Goths. He was "famed for his loyalty and wisdom," one of the most trusted adherents of Attila the Hun, who "prized him above all the other chi ...

, the

Gepid The Gepids, ( la, Gepidae, Gipedae, grc, Γήπαιδες) were an East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary and Serbia, roughly between the Tisza, Sava and Carpathian Mountains. They were said to share the religion ...

king, and defeated the Huns and supporting forces at the

Battle of Nedao The Battle of Nedao was a battle fought in Pannonia in 454 between the Huns and their former Germanic vassals. Nedao is believed to be a tributary of the Sava River. Battle After the death of Attila the Hun, allied forces of the subject peoples u ...

in 454 CE. While the role of the Ostrogoths in that battle is unclear, it resulted in their independence as well. After the Battle of Nedao, the newly freed tribes jockeyed for supremacy in Pannonia for the next fifteen years, most eventually becoming federates of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Battle

The Amal Goths were led by

Theodemir Theodemir, Theodemar, Theudemer or Theudimer was a Germanic name common among the various Germanic peoples of early medieval Europe. According to Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel (9th century), the form ''Theudemar'' is Frankish and ''Theudemir'' is Gothi ...

, brother-in-law to the Ostrogoths' chief

Valamir Valamir or Valamer (c. 420 – 469) was an Ostrogothic king in the former Roman province of Pannonia from AD 447 until his death. During his reign, he fought alongside the Huns against the Roman Empire and then, after Attila the Hun's death, ...

, who had been killed prior to the battle. The coalition included the Suevi under

Hunimund Hunimund (395 - after 469) was a leader - variously described by Jordanes as dux and as rex - of the Suebi. Hunimund fought with Ardaric against the Huns at the Battle of Nedao in 454. Afterwards Hunimund founded a small and short-lived kingdom i ...

, the Sciri under Hunulphus and Edicon ( Edeko, Edica, Edika), the

Sarmatians The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples of classical antiquity who dominated the Pontic steppe from about the 3rd century BC to the 4th cen ...

, the

Gepids The Gepids, ( la, Gepidae, Gipedae, grc, Γήπαιδες) were an East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary and Serbia, roughly between the Tisza, Sava and Carpathian Mountains. They were said to share the religion ...

, the

Rugians The Rugii, Rogi or Rugians ( grc, Ρογοί, Rogoi), were a Roman-era Germanic people. They were first clearly recorded by Tacitus, in his ''Germania'' who called them the ''Rugii'', and located them near the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Some ...

, and likely included the Heruli. The Roman Emperor

Leo I The LEO I (Lyons Electronic Office I) was the first computer used for commercial business applications. The prototype LEO I was modelled closely on the Cambridge EDSAC. Its construction was overseen by Oliver Standingford, Raymond Thompson and ...

supported the anti-

Goth A Goth is a member of the Goths, a group of East Germanic tribes. Two major political entities of the Goths were: *Visigoths, prominent in Spanish history *Ostrogoths, prominent in Italian history Goth or Goths may also refer to: * Goth (surname) ...

coalition, despite the advice of his general

Aspar Flavius Ardabur Aspar (Greek: Άσπαρ, fl. 400471) was an Eastern Roman patrician and ''magister militum'' ("master of soldiers") of Alanic-Gothic descent. As the general of a Germanic army in Roman service, Aspar exerted great influence o ...

. Despite Valamir's death, the Ostrogoths won, and the battle marked the end of the Sciri as a separate people.

Location

While some authors have simply stated that the Bolia River remains unidentified; nonetheless, in 1934 the historian

Ludwig Schmidt Ludwig Schmidt (18 July 1862 – 10 March 1944) was a German historian and librarian at the Saxon State and University Library Dresden. He is best known for his magnum opus, '' Die Geschichte der deutschen Stämme bis zum Ausgang der Völkerwande ...

attempted to identify the Bolia with the

Ipeľ The Ipeľ ( Slovak; ) or Ipoly ( Hungarian) (German: ''Eipel'', archaic Slovak: ''Jupoľ'', Latin: ''Bolia'') is a long river in Slovakia and Hungary, a tributary of the Danube River. Its source is in central Slovakia in the Slovak Ore Mountai ...

, and this identification continued to be followed by Wolfram, and several other modern authors, without further analysis. See authors cited at However, as Émilienne pointed out such an identification would not place the battle in Pannonia. In order to fix that, Wolfram then suggested that the battle was across the Danube from the mouth of the Ipeľ at , which would have placed it near what is now the village of Pilismarót, in present-day

; however, that area is not a

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

. As the battle is described as occurring in Pannonia on a plain,

Jordanes Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') a ...

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae oths'), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'', written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the o ...

'' LIII
paragraph 278
some authors place it some sixty-five kilometers further west on the eastern side of the

Little Hungarian Plain The Little Hungarian Plain or Little Alföld ( Hungarian: ''Kisalföld'', Slovak: ''Malá dunajská kotlina'', German: ''Kleine Ungarische Tiefebene'') is a plain (tectonic basin) of approximately 8,000 km² in northwestern Hungary, south- ...

, which would make the Bolia River the Concó River, and place the battle near present day Csém at .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolia, Battle of 469 Bolia Bolia Bolia