He was a son of king Alaric II and his first wife Theodegotho, daughter of Theodoric the Great.

When Alaric II was killed fighting Clovis I, king of the Franks, in the Battle of Vouillé ( 507 ), his kingdom fell into disarray.

" Alaric had made no provision for a successor, and although he had two sons, one was of age but illegitimate and the other the offspring of a legal marriage but still a child.

Alaric I (; 370-410 ) was the King of the Visigoths from 395 – 410.

In 401 Alaric invaded Italy, but he was defeated by the Roman half-Vandal general Flavius Stilicho at Pollentia ( modern Pollenza ) on April 6, 402.

After their setbacks against the Huns, Alaric was probably a child during the Goths ' mass migration across the Danube and their subsequent war with Rome.

As the Battle of the Frigidus, which terminated this campaign, was fought at the passes of the Julian Alps, Alaric probably learned the weakness of Italy's natural defences on its northeastern frontier at the head of the Adriatic.

Instead, Rufinus attempted to negotiate with Alaric in person, which only aroused suspicions in Constantinople that Rufinius was in league with the Goths.

It was probably in 401 that Alaric made his first invasion of Italy, Supernatural influences were not lacking to urge him to this great enterprise.

After spreading desolation through North Italy and striking terror into the citizens of Rome, Alaric was met by Stilicho at Pollentia, today in Piedmont.

Alaric, too, was a Christian, though an Arian, not Orthodox.

No blood was shed this time ; Alaric relied on hunger as his most powerful weapon.

The Basilica Aemilia in the Roman Forum did burn down, which perhaps can be attributed to Alaric: the archaeological evidence was provided by coins dating from 410 found melted in the floor.

Alaric died soon after in Cosenza, probably of fever, at the age of about forty ( assuming again, a birth around 370 AD ), and his body was, according to legend, buried under the riverbed of the Busento.

According to Gregory of Tours ' account, Alaric was intimidated by Clovis into surrendering Syagrius to Clovis ; Gregory then adds that " the Goths are a timorous race.

Despite Frankish advances in the years that followed, Alaric was not afraid to take the military initiative when it presented itself.

Alaric was forced by his magnates to meet Clovis in the Battle of Vouillé ( Summer 507 ) near Poitiers ; there the Goths were defeated and Alaric slain, according to Gregory of Tours, by Clovis himself.

In religion Alaric was an Arian, like all the early Visigothic nobles, but he greatly mitigated the persecution policy of his father Euric toward the Catholics and authorized them to hold in 506 the council of Agde.

The Ark of the Covenant was said to be have been kept in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, surviving the pillages of Rome by Genseric and Alaric I but lost when the basilica burned.

At first Honorius based his capital in Mediolanum, but when the Visigoths under King Alaric I entered Italy in 401 he moved his capital to the coastal city of Ravenna, which was protected by a ring of marshes and strong fortifications.

The next crisis was the Visigoth invasion of Italy in 402 under the formidable command of their king, Alaric.

Stilicho was absent in Raetia in the latter months of 401, when Alaric, who was also the eastern empire's magister militum in Illyricum, suddenly marched with a large army to the Julian Alps and entered Italy.

These negotiations might have succeeded had it not been for the malignant influence of another Goth, Sarus, an Amali, and therefore hereditary enemy of Alaric and his house.

Alaric II ( Gothic: Alareiks II ), also known as Alarik, Alarich, and Alarico in Spanish and Portuguese or Alaricus in Latin ( d. 507 ) succeeded his father Euric as king of the Visigoths in Toulouse on December 28, 484.

In that year, the Visigoths ' most famous king, Alaric I, took the throne, while Theodosius was succeeded by his incapable sons: Arcadius in the east and Honorius in the west.

* December 28 – The Visigoth king Euric dies and is succeeded by his son Alaric II.

* June – Battle of Verona: The Visigoths under command of king Alaric I invade Italy again and advance through the Brenner Pass.

* Battle of Vouillé: A Frankish army under command of Clovis I invades the Visigothic Kingdom and defeats king Alaric II near Poitiers.

In 405 there was a major invasion of Italy by those Alans, Sueves, and Vandals under the command of Radagaisus, disrupting Stilicho ’ s plans to re-take Illyria from the Eastern Empire with the help of Alaric.

In 394 Alaric led a Gothic force of 20, 000 that helped the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius defeat the Frankish usurper Arbogast at the Battle of Frigidus.

Subsequently, around 30, 000 Gothic soldiers defected to Alaric, and joined his march on Rome to avenge their murdered families.

In addition, Alaric forced the Senate to liberate all 40, 000 Gothic slaves in Rome.

This, combined with their post-battle rewards, prompted them to raise Alaric " on a shield " and proclaim him king ; according to Jordanes ( a Gothic historian of varying importance, depending upon who is asked ), both the new king and his people decided " rather to seek new kingdoms by their own work, than to slumber in peaceful subjection to the rule of others.

In 490, Alaric assisted his fellow Gothic king, Theodoric the Great, in his conquest of Italy by dispatching an army to raise Odoacer's siege of Pavia, where Theodoric had been trapped.

Roger Collins believes the Visigoths were a creation of the Gothic War of 376 – 382 and began as a collection of foederati ( Wolfram's " federate armies ") under Alaric I in the eastern Balkans, composed of largely Tervingi with Greuthungian and other barbarian contingents.

One of his comrades during the campaign was the Visigothic warlord Alaric, who commanded a substantial number of Gothic auxiliaries.

Alaric began his career leading a band of Gothic foederati.

As a by-product of these events, the actions of an intrigue within the Imperial court, the general, Sarus, abandoned the western army followed by his men ; this left the Emperor Honorius in Ravenna without any significant military power, and also facing the problem of a Gothic army under Alaric roaming unchecked in Etruria.

: Also see Alaric for the Gothic kings.

In 391 Alaric, a Gothic leader, rebelled against Roman control.

Goths attacked the emperor himself, but within a year Alaric was accepted as a leader of Theodosius's Gothic troops and this rebellion was over.

According to the Gothic historian Jordanes, Alaric left Rome and headed south with his troops.

* 401 – 403, Invasion of Italy by Visigoths under Alaric I, Gothic War.