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TheThracian Goths, also known asMoesogoths orMoesian Goths, refers to the branches ofGoths who settled inThrace andMoesia,Roman provinces in theBalkans. These Goths were mentioned in the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries.
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EmperorValens (r. 364–378) settled Goths in Moesia and planned to use them for protection.[1] In 382, theThervingi received land in Moesia by treaty with Roman emperorTheodosius I.[2]
In the 460s, the Thracian Goths were recognizedfoederati (barbarian military aid to the Romans) of theEastern Roman Empire, and seem to have prospered.[3] They had an annual subsidy, and some influence due to their proximity to nearby Constantinople.[3] In 471, the Thracian Goths underTheodoric Strabo revolted after fearing they would be removed, Emperor Leo having come under the influence of his son-in-law, generalZeno.[3] Two years later the Pannonian Goths (Ostrogoths) underTheodemir decided to move into Thrace, presumably wanting to share the benefits of the Thracian Goths.[3] Leo made agreements with both Gothic groups, settling the Goths under Theodemir inMacedonia and renewing Strabo's subsidy and elevating him tomagister militium.[3] Zeno succeeded Leo after his death in 474, while Strabo supported a coup staged by Leo's widow to put her brotherBasiliscus on the throne; however, Zeno won back power in 476 with his Isaurian troops.[3]
In 476/77, Zeno allied himself with Theodoric Strabo's rival,Theoderic the Great or Theoderic the Amal (r. 474–526), the successor of Theodemir, and ordered him to attack Strabo. The leader of the Thracian Goths sent an embassy to the Byzantine emperor, offering peace and blaming the Amal. Zeno believed that this offering was hiding further conspiracies, and obtained that the Byzantine senate and army declare Strabo a public enemy. Zeno planned to have the two Theoderics attack each other. He sent the Amal against Strabo, with the promise of a huge East Roman force as reinforcement (478). The Ostrogoths under king Theoderic advanced as far asMarcianopolis inThrace in 478.[4] The Moesian Goths prepared to cross theBalkan Mountains (Sondis), and were then told that their Roman gold awaited south of the mountain.[4] Theoderic the Amal did not find the Roman reinforcement army he expected, but Theoderic Strabo's army instead, in a strongly fortified camp. Strabo provoked the Amal, running in front of the Moesian Gothic camp and claiming that the leadership of the Amal had reduced the Goths to fighting each other, and only for the Roman gain, to have none of the wealth for which they had moved from their territories. With this speech recalling the common interest of the Goths, Strabo forced the Amal to ask for peace. The two Theodorics agreed to put forward a joint request to the Emperor, in order to extend Moesian Gothic territory to the south.[5]
According toJordanes (fl. 551), the Moesian Goths were taught to write byUlfilas (311–383).[6] They were, according to him, still present in Moesia, "numerous, but poor and unwarlike, rich in nothing save flocks of various kinds and pasture-lands for cattle and forests for wood ... Most of them drink milk".[6]
