Athalaric

Athalaric (516 – 2 October 534), king of the Ostrogoths in Italy, grandson of Theodoric the Great, became king on his grand-father's death (526).

As he was only ten years old, the regency was assumed by his mother Amalasuntha. His mother attempted to provide for him an education in the Roman tradition, but the Gothic nobles pressured her to allow them to raise him as they saw fit. As a result, he drank heavily and indulged in vicious excesses, which ruined his constitution.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.