Feletheus (also known as Feva, Feba, Foeba, Fevva, Fevvanus, Theuvanus; died 487) was the king of the Rugii from 475 to 487.

Biography

Feletheus was the son of Flaccitheus, king of the Rugii and founder of the Kingdom of the Rugii. His brother was Ferderuchus. Feletheus was married to the Goth Gisa, who was probably the cousin of the Amal

Ostrogothic The Ostrogoths () were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populatio ...

king

Theodoric the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal, was king of the Ostrogoths (475–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526 ...

. After the death of his father, probably in 475, Feletheus succeeded his father as king of the Rugii. Their territory at the time was based in

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

. In 476, Feletheus supported Odoacer and his Scirian and

Heruli The Heruli (also Eluri, Eruli, Herules, Herulians) were one of the smaller Germanic peoples of Late Antiquity, known from records in the third to sixth centuries AD. The best recorded group of Heruli established a kingdom north of the Middle Danu ...

an allies in the overthrow of the Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus. Feletheus was a close confidant of Severinus of Noricum. After the Eastern Roman Emperor

Zeno Zeno may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the given name * Zeno (surname) Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 B ...

attempted to create conflict between the Rugii and Odoacer, Feletheus executed his nephew Fredericus, who supported Odoacer. Odoacer subsequently invaded the Kingdom of the Rugii, utterly defeating them at a battle near present-day

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. Feletheus and his wife were captured, and executed in

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

in 487. Two years later, under his son Frideric, the Rugii joined the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great, who invaded Italy and defeated and murdered Odoacer in 493.

Primary sources

* Eugippius: '' Vita Sancti Severini'' *

Paul the Deacon Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, sc ...

: ''

History of the Lombards The ''History of the Lombards'' or the ''History of the Langobards'' () is the chief work by Paul the Deacon, written in the late 8th century. This incomplete history in six books was written after 787 and at any rate no later than 796, maybe at ...

Secondary sources

* ''

Pauly-Wissowa The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field o ...

Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedias on Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman classical studies, topics and scholarship. The first of these, or (1839–1852), was begun by compiler A ...

(RE)''. Bd. 6,2. Stuttgart 1909, Sp. 2161f. * Friedrich Lotter: ''Severinus von Noricum, Legende und historische Wirklichkeit: Untersuchungen zur Phase des Übergangs von spätantiken zu mittelalterlichen Denk- und Lebensformen''. Stuttgart 1976. * Arnold Hugh Martin Jones u.a.:'' The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire''. Bd. 1, Cambridge 1971, , {{ISBN, 978-0-521-20159-9 * Walter Pohl: ''Die Gepiden und die gentes an der mittleren Donau nach dem Zerfall des Attilareiches''. In:

Herwig Wolfram Herwig Wolfram (born 14 February 1934) is an Austrian historian who is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History and Auxiliary Sciences of History at the University of Vienna and the former Director of the . He is a leading member of the Vienna Schoo ...

, Falko Daim (Hrsg.): ''Die Völker an der mittleren und unteren Donau im fünften und sechsten Jahrhundert''. Wien 1980, S. 239ff. Rugian kings 5th-century monarchs in Europe 487 deaths 480s deaths 5th-century deaths