11. A Poetically Apt Death for a Tyrant
In 440, Attila and Bleda crossed the Danube, proceeded to plunder the Balkans, and destroyed two Roman armies while they were at it. The Roman emperor admitted defeat, and the brothers extorted from him a new treaty that paid 2000 gold kilograms upfront, plus an annual tribute of 700 gold kgs. Soon thereafter, Attila consolidated power by “unaliving” his brother, and became the sole ruler. In 447, he returned to the Balkans and ravaged them until he reached the walls of Constantinople, before recoiling. The next chapter in Attila’s brutal tale began in 450, when the Western Roman Emperor’s sister sought to escape an undesired betrothal by begging Attila’s help.
Along with her message, she sent him her engagement ring. Attila interpreted that as a marriage proposal, accepted, and asked for half of the Western Roman Empire as dowry. When the Romans balked, Attila invaded, and visited his customary brutal devastation, before he was finally defeated at the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields in 451. The next year, he invaded Italy, and sacked and plundered as he advanced down the peninsula, before he was persuaded by the pope to withdraw. He planned to attack Constantinople again in 453, but his rampage finally ended that year. He drank himself into a stupor while celebrating his wedding to a new wife, suffered a nosebleed, and choked to death on his own blood.
